Page 116 of Dark Haven Omegaverse

Tuesday Afternoon

Dark Haven Library

“We have Sadie down on the streets of Ridgefield now with a report about what is going on. Sadie, can you fill us in?”

My heart sank as the news switched from the anchor to the one on the field. She was standing in a parking lot, a huge sinkhole already sucking several cars into the void.

“Angie, it’s madness out here. This is the fourth sinkhole this week. Which begs the question, how safe is Ridgefield?”

The poor girl looked shaken. Her eyes were wide and skin pale as she reported on the disaster.

Who could blame her? There had been reports of sinkholes, insane weather, and even smaller cases of raging fires since the demons broke free.

“We have someone from the city here to talk to us. This is Don Carlton from the street department.”

“Thanks for having me,” he said with a fake smile. You could see the worry lining his features. They were all shaken. “We’re all working as hard as we can to discover the source of these sinkholes. Unfortunately, so far, we have no definitive information. Everything has been up to code and it is almost… unexplainable.”

Angie laughed, thinking it was a joke until he shook his head and walked away from her, leaving an awkward silence in his wake.

“That’s promising.” I sighed. “We have to do something.”

“What can we do?” Layne countered. “Walk out there and be like, ‘well you see, demons are the cause’?”

“Burn the whole city,” Crew muttered. “They’d suffer less.”

He’d been the hardest to adjust to the new life we were all thrust into. Fear had turned him from the fun-loving guy I’d met to a sarcastic jerk.

Then again, we were all barely medicated, missing days and taking half doses half the time to get through when the staff was absent.

A figure loomed behind the TV. It had been following me all day, a reminder I’d rationed my meds by half for two days now andreallyneeded to get the fuck out of here.

“I’m going to lunch,” I said, standing so abruptly that Roman almost tumbled off of the couch. I’d been sticking close tohim since he’d switched places with Hiro. I wondered if it was a voluntary switch or if Hiro was done with him hiding and blaming himself.

It was painful to see someone as strong as Roman beat himself down mentally. I was doing what I could to help, but I had problems in spades.

This was one he had to face and conquer on his own.

“Have fun,” Crew said pointedly, earning an annoyed huff from Layne.

“You need to get your head out of your ass. Get up,” she ordered. “We’ll head for the boiler room to get some of this fucking tension out of you and hopefully you’ll come back a happier person.”

Crew looked annoyed but stood anyway.

“Wait, no. I can’t protect you both,” Stravos challenged. “My orders are to protect Harlow at all costs.”

His panic had me raising an eyebrow. Layne walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, which wasn’t easy since he towered over her significantly. She leaned in and breathed him in… like I did with my mates.

Interesting.

“Look, my growly friend. Unless you plan to come join us, you weren’t invited anyway,” she stated. “Let me know if you ever do want to join. Harlow might be onto something, fucking these monsters...”

She yanked Crew with her to the elevator. I’d never seen a gargoyle so stunned. I gave him a sympathetic smile as I walked past.

Layne and Crew argued as they stood in the elevator waiting, not caring if we overheard. The couple had some things to figure out if Stravos was also her mate. Crew seemed reluctant to share but she was an omega… she needed an alpha.

“She’s honestly great, you should go for it. Duty doesn't mean you aren’t allowed a mate, Stravos,” I offered before piling in with Roman at my back.

Stravos followed us but his eyes were burning a hole into Layne the entire time.

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