Page 71 of Redeeming His Omega Mate

I looked up from the pile of construction papers on my desk, my brows pulling together. “What do you mean, gone?”

“She’s not in the house,” she said, voice sharp with impatience.

“What about the garden?”

“She’s not anywhere, Damian. Not in the garden, not with the nanny, not in the living room. Nowhere.” Tala swallowed hard, struggling to steady herself. “The nanny said she last saw her with Kael just before he left Stonehart with his troops. And after what he said yesterday, I—” Her voice caught as if saying the words would make them real.

But I was already stuck on something else. My jaw tightened as I stood. “What did he say to you?”

She hesitated. “He said I was going to regret my decision.”

“What decision?”

“To stay in Stonehart,” she said. “With you and Aria.”

In any other circumstance, those words would have warmed my heart. After all, it’s all I’ve wanted since she came back here. But it didn’t matter if Aria wasn’t here.

“I think Kael took her with him,” Tala finally said, her voice breaking. “He’s trying to hurt me, Damian. He knows how much she means to me.”

“When did he leave the pack?” I inquired.

“The nanny said she last saw him about an hour ago.”

An hour. They couldn’t have gotten far. My mind was already working through the possibilities as I yanked open a drawer and pulled out a map, spreading it over my desk.

“We can’t let them reach Silver Fang,” Grayson said as his eyes glided through the map, his expression grim. “That’s exactly what he wants. He knows we’ll come for Aria, and he’s trying to drag us into his territory to force a fight we didn’t plan for.”

“Or he just wants to hurt her,” I muttered, my jaw tightening. “He killed his wife and lied to his entire pack. You really think he wouldn’t do this?”

Tala flinched. Through the tears streaking her face, she choked out, “Kael had a wife?”

Something inside me twisted. Seeing her like this, vulnerable, breaking apart, made my wolf restless with rage.

I pulled her into my arms. “We’ll get her back, Tala,” I murmured. “I swear it.”

Grayson cleared his throat, forcing me to focus. “If they left an hour ago, they should be here.” He pointed to a spot on the map. The forest water pond.

“They’re moving with fifty men, so they’ll be slow,” he continued. “If we take this route…” He traced a narrow path through thick woods. Dangerous ground. Rogue territory. “…we can catch up with them in forty minutes. But it’s not car accessible.”

The rogues weren’t an immediate threat, not anymore, but that didn’t mean the route was safe.

“Then we run,” I said without hesitation. “Get me twenty of our fastest shifters. We leave in ten minutes.”

Grayson nodded and took off to carry out my orders. I turned to Tala, trying to tell her to stay behind, to let Grayson and me handle this, and we would bring Aria back. But I barely got a sentence out before she cut me off, her refusal sharp.

There was nothing but determination in her eyes. She wasn’t staying behind.

So I didn’t fight her on it.

Ten minutes later, Grayson and the pack’s protectors were gathered at the pack gates, ready to move. Without hesitation, we shifted into our wolf forms and took off, racing through the muddy forest paths. The ground was slick from last night’s dew, but we didn’t slow down. I assigned two men to stay by Tala’s side at all times. She could hold her own, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

We ran for over an hour, our paws pounding against the earth. We ran past the forest pond and even farther, but there was no sign of Kael or his men.

Frustrated, I shifted back, my eyes still scanning the area sharply as possibilities raced through my mind. Where the hell were they?

“They must have taken another route,” Grayson said, shifting beside me. His chest rose and fell heavily from the run. “They knew we’d come after them, so they changed course.”

I swore under my breath, my jaw clenched. My gaze flicked to Tala. There was a quiet despair creeping in as Grayson spoke. I held her stare, willing her to see what I wasn’t saying, that we would find Aria. No matter what.

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