Page 102 of Talk About… Rivalry

“I’m going to drive around, see what I can find.”

“Wait, I’m coming,” Leo said, running out after him, not bothering with shoes at all.

Taylor started to move, but I held him back.

“We have to be here in case she comes back. I know you want to go but we need to be able to leave at a moment’s notice. We’ll call around and keep in contact. And if she happens to come home, we’ll be here for her.”

It wasn’t just the fact that I was just afraid of losing Sidney that ate at me. It was the fact that there was an omega in heat out there somewhere, trying to get away from us. She was in danger.

We weren’t the alphas of old that would go into a rut, and Rockwood Valley was thankfully a small town, but an omega in heat was a vulnerable state.

Not every alpha could be trusted.

My chest tightened at the thought. I had to fight to keep from throwing up. I never wanted something like this to happen. I just wish she would have trusted us.

“If she would have just waited, I have a feeling she would have scented us,” Taylor said, his voice shaky and broken. I pulled my omega into my lap as I sat down on the couch, holding him close.

“I’m going to call my mom.”

It was still early, the sun barely peeking up over the horizon, but he didn’t hesitate to dial. I sat him on the cushion next to me.

I ran upstairs for my phone to give him a moment. He didn’t protest when I came back, shifting him back on top of my lap as he talked to his mom.

His sobs were breaking my heart even further.

“I don’t know where she is, Mom. She’s not here and she’s in heat and I’m worried.”

“I’ll call Uncle Grady. He always works the early shift. He’s already going to be up, sweetie. We’re going to find your omega, I promise. Hang in there, sweetheart. I love you.”

She hung up abruptly before he could say it back. He let out another soft sob before dialing Sidney’s number for the twelfth time.

Of course, there was no answer, but he left another voicemail.

“Call us, Sidney. I need to know you’re safe,” I tacked on before he ended the voicemail.

We both sat in silence for a second. My body ached with tension and despair. I knew my scent had to be just as burnt around the edges as my omega’s.

Was she ever truly going to trust us if her scent didn’t fully come in? I knew since that first time I slept with Sidney that she was mine. If she would stop to think about it, and put her demons to rest, she would realize that we were hers, too.

Fuck, this hurt.

It felt like an empty promise every time I reassured Taylor that we’d find her, when I wasn’t so positive myself anymore.

Sidney had thrown a wrench in every plan I had and then Taylor joined the mix. I embraced the chaos for them, ready to adjust everything I was to include them and our pack.

“I swear when I get my hands on that omega, I’m going to spank her ass until she remembers that we’re not going anywhere.”

“Oh, that would help,” Taylor sassed.

It was a lot better to hear him joking, than crying. Sidney had hurt us all, even if she didn’t intend to.

She had done to us exactly what she was afraid that we would do to her, and it didn’t feel good.

Despite Avery’s fears I knew none of us would hold it against her, but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t have to work through it when her heat was over.

Maverick’s phone rang and I snatched it from the table. Avery’s name was on the screen and I answered quickly.

“We found her, Bennett, but I don’t think you’re going to like what I have to say.”

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