Page 108 of Bonding the Band

Meadow had gone down for a nap before Arlo and I left to run a myriad of errands so everything would be ready for Hendrix to come home. We also picked up a few final touches for the nursery while Beckett was dealing with the cops again.

“Sweets?”

There was no answer. Maybe she was sleeping really hard. I trotted up the stairs and into Meadow’s nest, but it was completely empty. I checked her bathroom, the nursery, and every other bedroom, but she was nowhere to be found.

Weird. I went to the banister and called down. “Arlo, is Meadow downstairs?”

I heard him running around and went to look as well, but our omega didn’t seem to be home at all.

“Where is she?” Arlo asked.

“I don’t know.” I checked the group chat and my private texts, but there was nothing from Meadow.

Phin:

Sweets, where are you?

Beckett:

She’s not at home?

Arlo:

Not unless she’s invisible

Or a hide and seek champion

Nerves twisted in my belly when a read receipt from Meadow popped up, but no answer followed.

“I think something’s wrong,” I told Arlo.

“Let me check the doorbell cam footage.” A moment later, he cursed and turned the phone to me. We didn’t usually have the notifications turned on, so we didn’t get a million pings a day, with all of us going in and out, but that meant we had missed Meadow leaving the pack house. “Does she look like she’s crying?”

Her face did look a lot pinker than usual. “Why would she leave? What happened?”

I retraced my steps back up to her nest, hoping for a clue. On the opposite side of the bed, her tablet was face down on the floor. When I turned it over, I found the screen cracked, but it was still open to tabloid photos of Ellie kissing Hendrix.

“What the fuck?”

Arlo appeared behind me. “Shit. Why the hell is he locking lips with that monster?”

“Fuck if I know.” I snapped a photo and sent it through a separate group chat that was just between Beckett, Arlo, and me.

Beckett:

What the hell???

I’m going to kick his ass

Phin:

We’ll go down and ask him about it

Pretty sure this is why Meadow’s gone

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Arlo protested. “He’s never given any indication he likes Ellie, and that sure as shit looks like the rehab center. He wouldn’t be fucking kissing her after everything we found out.”

“The pictures say otherwise.” I pulled up the locator app for the pack, seeing the dot for Meadow’s phone a couple of hours north of LA and moving. “Where’s she going?”

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