Page 75 of Escalating Alpha

“Everyone’s allowed to—he’s not a child,” I reminded her. “Unless there was reason to worry—you would have called me yourself then.”

“Yes, of course, but I started really raising the alarm after lunch,” she said with a sigh. “He was here first thing this morning and he was upset—more upset than I’ve seen Dain since coming here. He kissed Topher while he was sleeping, and when I asked him what was wrong—his answer was strange.”

“What was it?” I asked, swallowing a sigh that she didn’t just spit it out. I needed the details for his mindset, but… Just tell me already.

“He said he was going to the place where you knew he saw your soul. What does that even mean?”

“What?” I whispered.

“He came from your apartment—”

“Dain wasn’t with me last night, Maya.”

There was a long pause. “He was there. I felt him come from that direction.”

That was a surprise to me. “Tell me exactly what he said.”

“Something about if he went to the place where you knew he saw your soul, he would find the answers on how to show he loved you. That he could save his marriage and not hurt hiswifeanymore. I thought you said something and he might just go to your place for comfort or to take a breath. I didn’t—Topher woke up last night, and I wasn’t fully awake because of it.”

“It’s fine. I just don’t know…” But I did. I was pretty sure I knew where Dain meant.

Fool.

I promised Maya I’d tell her when I found him or if I needed anything else. I didn’t know how to use our bond like he did, so I might need her to walk me through it or—I was going to have to wing it.

I took the keys from Sander when we got to the vehicles and broke every speed limit driving to where my heart told me to go.

A place that had a lot of significance for me and I cursed too many days.

The place where my life completely changed.

“Isn’t this where you got infected?” Sander asked quietly when we arrived.

“Yeah.”

“Why would he comehere?” one of the other ancients asked.

“Because he saved me from falling over the edge here and that’s when…” I had feelings for him before that, but it wasn’t what we became. I’d been drowning and with the twins.

Plus, it was the first real time that I maybe realized that Dain had feelings for me? I wasn’t sure. So much was confusing from that time and pretty blurry even.

I’d also been shitfaced. That always made the memoryvague.

“Call off the search,” I muttered to the ancients when I felt him. “Let me handle this alone.”

“Of course,” Sander accepted.

I let out a slow breath and went inside, swallowing a snicker that I almost felt bad for the people who owned this place given we were going to keep trespassing every year or so.

“How long did it take you to find me?” Dain asked quietly, his back to me.

I slowed down and wasn’t sure how to handle this since that question seemed loaded. “Sander was just notified when we were leaving the office. I just found out. I immediately called Maya.”

“This wasn’t a stunt for attention or to test you, Sera,” he whispered before I heard the sloshing of liquid in a bottle.

I couldn’t hide my shock and quickly walked the rest of the distance to him. What he said next almost didn’t even registerbecause I’d never seen Dain fucking pissed drunk. His expensive suit was a mess—tie half hanging off and shirt open. Yeah, that made sense if he’d been day drinking in a hot warehouse inAugustin Chicago.

He focused on the bottle. “How long did it take you to find me?”

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