Page 63 of His Captor

Mr. Harvey laughed in understanding. “Tell me about it. I’m just a beta, but my wife and I have five children. I remember how it was every time.”

I thanked him with a smile, then turned to head towards the corridor where the bathrooms were located.

My smile dropped and I picked up my pace within a few steps. Now that I was aware of Hayden’s absence, I could feel all sorts of strange, conflicting feelings within me. I had been aware since the weekend that Hayden and I were bonding, but we didn’t have a full bond as of yet.

I reached out for that space anyhow, hoping to feel Hayden’s mischievous, sassy, even guilty feelings as he got himself into trouble of some sort. But instead of feeling the essence of Hayden, I felt nothing at all.

No, that wasn’t true. It wasn’t nothing, like the bond didn’t exist or had been severed before fully forming. It was more like a blank on the other end, like…like Hayden was sleeping?

That didn’t make any sense.

My feelings of unease increased when I found the bathroom empty. I checked all the stalls and even, for some reason, looked up at the ceiling. Hayden wasn’t there.

I moved on to the ladies’ room, checking in there on the off chance that Hayden had wanted to pee in there, since he was pregnant. All I found in the ladies’ room, though, was a middle-aged beta who nearly screamed at me for walking into the wrong room.

I pulled out my phone, but immediately put it back. Hayden didn’t have his phone with him. He’d said something about it needing to charge before we’d left the apartment.

I kept on going down the hallway, toward the sounds of a kitchen. Hayden was exactly the type who would go check out a hotel kitchen just to see what was there. He would probably ask a bunch of nosey questions and get in everyone’s way. With any luck, the hotel manager would find him and we would be kicked out. I wouldn’t have said no to just going home and spending another quiet evening with my omega safely in my arms.

But Hayden wasn’t in the kitchen. No one in there had seen a heavily pregnant omega wander by. He wasn’t in any of the store rooms or other smaller ballrooms either. He hadn’t wandered back into the lobby, and he hadn’t gone out on the back deck. I even checked the hotel pool, figuring Hayden was nutty enough to take a dip to relieve the weight of his stomach, but he wasn’t there either.

“Is something wrong?” Mr. Harvey asked half an hour later, when I made my way back to the original ballroom.

“Have you seen Hayden at all?” I asked, not bothering to hide my nearly out-of-control worry.

“He wasn’t in the bathroom?” Mr. Harvey asked.

I shook my head. “He isn’t anywhere in the hotel that I’ve been able to find him so far.”

“That is concerning,” Mr. Harvey said. “I’ll help you search for him.”

Another fifteen minutes of searching passed, but without luck. I knew that every second that ticked past without finding Hayden increased the level of danger we were dealing with. I also knew that Colin had to be behind Hayden’s disappearance.

For that reason, I wasn’t surprised when my phone buzzed in my back pocket just as I’d stepped outside to do another quick search of the area around the hotel. I’d been considering calling Det. Shirley anyhow, and I swiped for my phone so fast I almost dropped it.

The number was unknown, but I answered it anyhow with a desperate, “Hello? Hayden?”

“Mace,” Colin’s voice greeted me.

“Colin, you bastard,” I snapped, not mincing words. “Where is he? What have you done with him?”

“Who? Your fat little omega friend?”

It felt like a black hole had opened up in my gut. Colin knew about Hayden. He had Hayden. I just had to figure out where and get to him.

“If you hurt so much as a hair on his head, I’ll kill you,” I growled.

Colin made a sound of fake offense. “You’re the one going around telling people that I’m the violent one, but listen to you.”

“I’m not messing around with you, Colin,” I said, glancing around, as if he were nearby and I could hang up the phone and deal with him in person. “Tell me where Hayden is. Give him back. He’s pregnant and vulnerable.”

“Now you’re just giving me more reasons to keep him right where he is,” Colin said. “Really, Mace, you shouldn’t tip your hand like that.”

I pinched my face shut for a moment to fight the panic and frustration growing in me. “Just…give him back.”

“Oh, I will, I will,” Colin said.

I popped my eyes open.

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