Page 107 of This Pack of Ours

I didn’t like them, I realized, as they led me to their fancy car.

But I’d found comfort in the scent of an omega who wasn’t my match, so maybe scents just didn’t work right for me.

Perhaps thiswas how it was meant to be. My justice, the match of a broken omega.

Their scent made it all go away.

I stared numbly at Valerie’s blonde ponytail, watching it swing back and forth as she animatedly chatted about nothing in the front seat.

KIT

I stood at the door of the Safe House, rocking on my feet, excitement and nerves making me jittery.

Juniper had told me not to come, but I’d tried the proper way, and she wasn’t responding to any of my messages. I had to see her. I took a breath. It was going to be okay. I was going to tell her this was all just a huge misunderstanding, and I was in love with her and that I wanted her back, and then pray Vander wasn’t some psychotic liar when he said she felt the same.

I knocked.

A sleepy-looking Luna opened the door, her thick black hair all mussed.

“Kit?" she said with a yawn.

“Is Juniper here?” I asked. Luna blinked at me.

“Sure, she’s in the spare room,” she said, waving me inside. “Last door on the left.”

I walked down the corridor and knocked on the door.

“Juni?” I called out, but there was no response. I opened the door a crack, but something was wrong. Her scent was here, but not as strong as it should be. She wasn’t here. The bubbly excitement that had been swelling inside me popped, leaving me with a steadily growing, clawing fear. I checked the bond I had with her, sensing nothing but a resigned sorrow.

I stepped inside, hoping I was wrong, but there was no sign of her in the bedroom. I hurried back to the living room.

“She’s not there,” I told Luna, whose brows furrowed in confusion.

“What? That’s not right. She was there. She was in a really bad way. I think she nested in the closet?”

Luna went to the bedroom, and I started searching the rest of the house, seeking out any sign of her.

“Shit,” Luna said, looking fully awake now. “She’s gone.”

“No.” I shook my head numbly. This must be a mistake. “No, because the doctor said she was going into heat again. So she’d be here. She has to be here.”

“Fuck.” Luna moved back, pulling out her phone. “Come in. Maybe Daisy knows something?”

Why would she go anywhere else? This was the safest place for a gold pack in heat.

What was she thinking?

Luna started speaking to Daisy on the phone, her voice low and worried.

I walked down the hall, opening the door to check again. Luna was right. There were blankets and pillows shoved in the closet. Closet nesting was never a good sign.

I raked my fingers through my hair, searching more thoroughly now, looking through her things. Anything to indicate that she was coming back, but there was nothing here. I got to the garbage can in the bathroom and stared at it for a minute. When I realized what I was looking at, I took my phone out with fumbling fingers.

I called Jhin, trying not to cry. “Juniper’s missing.”

* * *

I sat—huddled in Juniper’s makeshift nest-closet when they all arrived. They looked around, confused as I squeezed myself out of the closet and just looked at them.

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