Page 197 of Bliss & Her Idols

Now, it’s quietened to a muted despair.

Honestly, that’s worse.

I need him in my arms and to know that both that pain and despair is over.

I furiously push a branch out of the way.

I’m exploring deeper into the forest at the back of the estate, trying not to become lost. The dawn light barely filters through the thick canopy. I stumble over a log, wrinkling my nose at the earthy scent.

It feels like an entirely different world deep in the forest with the rustling of deer, which I can only catch glimpses of out of the corner of my eyes and the dawn chorus.

When I stumble into a nettle patch, I hiss at the sting. I rub the raised, prickly rash on my calf.

This is what happens, when I’m forced to wear tiny skirts like this one that Sarah lent me with a sweet, frilly blouse. My soft ballet pumps, which have a heart shaped buckle, sink into the mud.

How painful must it have been for a tiny kid to have been dropped in a large patch of nettles like this?

How must Torin have felt being abandoned here?

My limbs are weak and heavy.

Although I woke up after my heat feeling refreshed and the best that I have in weeks, last night was draining.

Torin didn’t come back.

Jin, Cricket, and I stayed up, huddling together on the hard floor, since our nest was destroyed.

None of us slept.

We made the decision together that if our Alpha wasn’t returned to us by morning, then we’d split up and search the estate for him.

We’d find a way to rescue him.

Since Jin was banned from entering the woods, it was decided that he would take the Idol camp, Cricket the manor, and I would explore the estate.

It would also give me a chance to investigate.

Torin wasn’t alone with his family anymore, and we wouldn’t allow him to believe that he had to face everything by himself.

“I’m not waiting on Una or anyone else to save us any longer.” I rubbed my hand over a pillow that was stained with red wine but still smelled of our missing Alpha. I snatched it up and pressed it to my chest. “I’ve never relied on anyone else andI think that Tor is the same. Why don’t we show him that we can face this together? It’s our joint mission. We’re all skilled. Fuck Mena, the twins, and this entire pack if they underestimate us.”

“This pack of Alphas need to watch out.” Cricket tilted up his chin. “Nobody fucks with the Knot Crusher.”

Jin looked delighted that Cricket had cussed. “Well said, little Chirp. No one fucks with the Idols. We’ll save Charming and Zero. Then together, we’llcrushthis entire empire.”

I lick my finger, rubbing it over my nettle rash.

I squint around the dark forest. “Tor!”

My voice echoes.

I stop to listen.

Nothing.

No response.

“Tor!” I yell again.

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