Page 3 of Bound By Pain
He raises an eyebrow, surprised by my calm, so I take a few minutes to boast about my girl. “Sounds stressful. And dangerous. Of course, you knotheads would be Fated to someone as strong-willed as you both are.”
I sigh, watching trees fly by out the window. Bea is definitely stubborn. Hopefully, she doesn’t hold the distance between us against me for long. I know a thousand ways I can make it up to her. Starting by eating her sweet pussy until she’s begging me to stop. Gotta make up for all the orgasms I missed!
The Virginia border flies by. My leg bounces with anticipation the closer we get to New York. My Omega is pissed. At least I assume she is, since she hasn’t responded to me in the six hours since I messaged her. With a little over eight hours left, I’ll be able to fix the mess I made by leaving her behind.
Pain sears through my ankle, making my eyes water. I scramble to pull my phone from my pocket. I share a Fated connection only with Bea, and cannot feel her other mates, so this has to be her. Frustration has a growl rattling in my chest when she doesn’t answer. “Pick up the damn phone!”
Peterson puts on the turn signal and steers us off the highway at the next exit, aiming for a gas station. “You good?”
I ignore his question, focusing on bombarding Bea with messages. All of which go unread and unanswered. If she is working, the guys from Orbital Somatic may know what happened. Dialing Caleb’s number, I press the device to my ear. Before I can hear it ringing, agony rips through my neck,originating at my scent glands. It’s so strong, bile rushes into my mouth. I barely get the door open and my seatbelt off before I’m emptying my stomach onto the pavement.
Her pain seems endless as it moves across her body. Anger and panic have my instincts surging to life. I stumble out of the car, hands clawing through my hair and tugging at the roots. My voice roars into the night, blasting the surrounding area with a crushing wave of my Alpha aura.
“What the fuck is happening to my Omega?!”
CHAPTER 3
Slamming my office door shut,I run a hand through my hair, messing the dark strands. They’re grayer than ever after the past few months of stressing over the connection between Bea and me.
I’ve been extremely irritable since she moved out. Without her presence, there is a gaping hole in my apartment. A space that screams it should be hers. Gone are the soft blankets soaked in coconut and pineapple that were haphazardly strewn over the back of the couch. The counter looks empty without her dirty coffee mug sitting beside the sink, and the bathroom seems sterile and bland without her belongings strewn across it.
Without a piece of her to calm me down, I’m going to lose my mind.
Perhaps I should grab whatever sweater she has abandoned at her desk while she is away for the weekend. She didn’t notice the last time, although that may have been because she was gone for the Primordial Covenant tour.
Is it worth the risk? I think it might be.
My office line buzzes with an intercom alert from Jane, our secretary. “Yes?”
“Mr. Acherley, Orion Walker is here to see you.”
A sigh falls from my lips as I move to open my office door. Orion has been in California for the past several weeks, assisting one of our West Coast bands after they lost their bonded Omega. Having gone through the same horrific experience, we thought it best to send someone who could understand their pain.
Not that deciding to ask for his help wasn’t uncomplicated. I’ve been worried about the effect their grief would have on him. After losing his bonded mate Serenity a few years prior, he had spiraled into alcoholism and drugs to numb the pain their broken bond created.
Vices that nearly cost his life. If I hadn’t found him when I did, he wouldn’t be here today.
Years in a rehabilitation center—and distance from New York—helped him learn to cope with his loss. Looking at him now, you would never know the broken Alpha he used to be. Confidence shines bright in each of his steps, a sureness I wish I could replicate in myself.
“Welcome back,” I say as he joins me at my desk. I take a moment to look him over, noting the dark circles beneath his eyes and the brittle edge to his smile. “How are you?”
Orion tilts one shoulder up in a shrug. “I’ve been better. California was… tougher than I expected. Being there opened a lot of old wounds. When I first arrived and saw the members of Belemorph, it was like being thrown back onto the stage and feeling Ren’s bond rip from my chest all over again.”
I feared as much, but he doesn’t appear to be spiraling, which is good. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”
He raises one eyebrow and looks at the towering stack of paperwork at the side of my desk. “Doesn’t look like you have much time to take on extra projects.”
“Work can wait,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him.
Before he can respond, sharp pain spikes through my ankle. My eyes snap down to the offending limb. It takes several long seconds before I realize it isn’t my pain I’m feeling. Concern for Bea floods my mind, but my thoughts stall when I hear Orion curse beneath his breath. Confusion tilts my head as I watch him dig his phone from his pocket and start texting.
I’m reaching for my landline, prepared to call Bea and find out what happened when a new, agonizing pain cuts through the side of my neck. I gasp, hand flying to the nonexistent wound. My eyes grow wider when I meet Orion’s panicked gaze. He’s nearly hyperventilating, knuckles white where they grip his phone and claw at his chest.
“Orion?”
“S-Shiloh,” he chokes, tears falling down his cheeks as the pain moves to the other side. “My mate—the Omega I met through heat helpers—she’s hurt. I can feel?—“
He hiccups a sob, head dropping between his knees. He can feel Bea’s pain, too?
