Page 57 of Bait Wolf
I found myself telling stories of my fight training, sparring with friends who I met through the club: Seymour, Everest, Aspen, and Aurora. I told him about the park nearby that me and Asha often went to, about the struggle of house hunting in a city overloaded with the wealthy. I told Ember about how strange it was to go from bottom of the barrel to being the guest of honor at parties with riches unlike any I had ever seen. The strange, incomprehensible culture of the elite, who kept their omegas hidden from view until it was time forOmega Season.
Ember was enthralled, his eyes wide, asking question after question about me, my life, my experiences. He laughed more than I expected and touched me often, a hand on my arm, shoulders bumping when we made our way to the couch.
We put on the TV and Ember leaned against me, snuggling up tight, like he was trying to get the most of me that he could. Like I was going somewhere.
The realization hit me sometime after the first episode of the baking show we were watching ended.
Ember was acting like this relationship was going to be very short lived. Maybe he thought something was going to happen to me when I went to get Asha back.
I wanted to reassure him but didn’t know how to without bringing up the depressing situation once more. If I was lucky, I’d know where Asha was long before morning... and I would barge in on those gangsters to take my sister—and my revenge.
Instead of ruining our lovely morning together with plans and plots that would only worry Ember more, I bent and kissed him on the top of his head.
Ember gripped my shirt tighter.
Neither of us moved from our comfortable position holding onto each other.
Warm and momentarily content in his arms, I couldn’t help drifting to sleep.
When I woke up, it was because I was cold and, notably, alone. The TV was still on, now playing the news, something about the mayor’s intention to clean up the valley. I would believe it when I saw it.
I sat up, listening for my mate.
“Ember?”
Even without waiting, I knew; Ember was gone. The very air felt different. Empty. My chest felt like my heart had been carved out of it. I didn’t need to search the house to know.
I did anyway, hoping that I would find Ember curled up in our bed. He wasn’t, of course. All I found was one of my notebooks, laid open on the kitchen counter, a note scrawled in messy writing.
I won’t let you lose your home or your daughter just to have me. Thank you for everything.
A strange, chilling sensation went through my body, like I had been dunked in ice cold water.
Ember thought that I would lose my home if we were together. He thought Asha was more important. True, I would do anything to be with my little girl, but I would do the same for Ember. I loved him.
The deeds to the house… that was mylastresort. I shouldn’t have kept anything from my mate. I should have told him about the P.I.
“Fuck!” I shouted into the silence.
It wasn’t too late.
Ember might have just left. For all I knew, he could still be walking down the driveway.
Without thinking, I went after him.
I burst through the front door, saw no sign of my mate, but caught a whiff of his scent, already fading.
Without thinking, I started to shift but promptly stopped as my phone vibrated in my pocket.
I pulled it out, still following Ember’s scent, pausing to decipher which direction he’d gone. I would have an easier time following the scent in my wolf form.
“What?” I demanded into the phone, without looking at the number.
“I found her.”
My steps faltered at the sound of the P.I.’s voice.
“Where is she?”
