Page 31 of The Omega Trials: Part Two

I stop the soccer ball under my foot and don’t move. Even when Maverick, one of the Beryll alphas, shoulder checks me and kicks the ball out from under my sole, I don’t move.

I find Ecker on the field, and he has the same confused and concerned look on his face that I probably do.

“I can’t feel her,” he says, a hint of panic in his voice.

“Me either.” My own voice is calm, hiding the rising tide of concern inside me.

I try to think through what I felt before this, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I could tell she was safe, having fun even. I felt her contentment through the bond. There was maybe a hint of annoyance, but nothing that told me she was in danger, and it quickly passed.

The game has stopped and Griffin jogs up to me. “What’s wrong?”

“The bond, it’s gone.”

“What do you mean gone?” Titus asks, stepping into the circle now forming.

“Dude, something’s wrong.” Ecker anxiously shoves his fingers through his sweaty hair.

“It’s okay.” Griffin claps a supportive hand on his shoulder, but Ecker shakes it off and starts pacing. “Let’s go down to the lake and check on them.”

We’ve been playing soccer for the past hour while our omegas went to the lake. Suddenly, unwanted images of Sinclair’s body floating lifeless in the water fill my mind. My throat tightens as I picture her drowning, caught on something indistinguishable at the bottom of the murky lake.

There has to be some other explanation for why the bond disappeared. If she was seriously hurt, I would have felt her fear before it went dark.

There hasto be another explanation. There justhasto.

I don’t know when I started running, but I come to a halt at the sight of the empty floats tied to the dock. No sign of Sinclair or Paisley.

Ecker turns to the Beryll alpha and presses, “Are you sure they were here?”

Griffin nods his head definitively. “Positive. I can scent Paisley. She was definitely here and not long ago.”

I close my eyes and try to focus on the scents carried in the light breeze coming off the lake. The worried knot in my chest doubles in size when I can’t catch a single hint of my mate.

Titus takes in the scene. “Their towels and clothes aren’t here, so they must have left. They didn’t just disappear on the lake.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ecker nods his head frantically. “Yeah, they probably just headed back. Sinclair can’t handle that much sun. Did she bring sunscreen? Does she even have sunscreen? We need to get her some sunscreen. Yeah, I’ll get her some. A hat too. Yeah, that will be good. Good.”

He talks in a frantic stream of consciousness that makes Titus look even more concerned than before. I don’t think he’s ever been too worried about our omega, but he doesn’t like what he’s seeing with Ecker. Neither do I.

Losing her during the Vigilance Trial was really hard on him. I’m sure this feels like bad déjà vu. His bond is fresher than mine, so everything is still heightened. The goodandthe bad. And right now, he’s feeling a lot of bad.

“This can’t be happening again. This can’t be happening again.” He shakes his head and stomps from one side of the dock to the other.

Titus naturally falls into the levelheaded leadership role. “Let’s return to our wings and see if they’re there. Then we’ll meet outside the dining hall and report back.”

It’s getting harder and harder to keep calm, but we don’t need two of us freaking out. Sinclair wasn’t in our wing, and it didn’t seem like she had returned from the lake at any point either.

“This is stupid. Let’s just go there ourselves,” Ecker insists as we wait outside the dining hall as agreed upon.

“Chill, they’ll be here any second,” Titus says, and I can’t tell if he is concerned or just annoyed. He likes to act annoyed by anything having to do with our omega. But I know he never stops caring about the pack, and that includes Sinclair now.

All of us look down the hall at the sound of approaching feet. My heart lodges in my throat as I wait for the Berylls to turn the corner. Griffin comes into view, and he doesn’t have an immediate look of concern on his face, but I still find it hard to breathe.

Especially when he opens his mouth. “Paisley’s alone in our wing. Sinclair told her she was going back to yours.”

“I wanna talk to her.” Ecker lunges forward, and both Noah and Maverick step up to stop him.

“You will not go harassing our omega. She told us all she knows.” Griffin’s tone leaves no room for argument. “But we will wait with you until she comes back or will help you look. Paisley suggested the garden. She said Sinclair likes to go there sometimes, right?”

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