Page 102 of Stolen Omega

Too bad I’m not.

I sit down on the edge of the bed and pick the unicorn up.

Holding Ryder fills me with a warm, fuzzy feeling that I don’t fully understand, as if the stuffed toy is soaked in love and I can feel that emotion just from touching it. I hug him to my chest.

All I want to do is go around touching everything I see, soaking up all the emotions that are stored inside. I keep the unicorn clutched to my chest as I start to do just that, a smile parting my lips as I’m drawn to the next thing, and the next.

It’s like I’ve been dead on the inside for years, and this place is restarting my heart.

Little by little, I’m coming back to life.

I don’t care who brought me here, or what they want.

The Omega in me never wants to leave this room.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Archer

The drive out to my friend’s farm takes even longer than I expect, and every minute that passes in the silence of the car is another minute that the bad guys can use to get farther and farther away.

Zelena was kidnapped closing in on four hours ago now, and, so far, all I really know is the one guy on the team who I trusted more than any of the others took a payment that let it happen.

It’s a bitter bill to swallow.

I was mad at him for getting sloppy, but I know I’m the one who got sloppy.

I let my guard down around him. Let myself believe he was one of the good guys.

If he’d been anyone else, I would have been too fucking suspicious to let that new driver stick around, regardless of a clean ID check. I would have known it wasn’t worth the risk.

Because it was Castle, I did the check and cleared the driver.

Our fated mate is in danger because of that decision.

I allowed her to be taken, and I’m not going to stop looking until I find her.

It’s almost three in the morning, and so far the only update I’ve had was from Zelena’s mother by text message. She sent me a countdown timer. Apparently, there’s now a ticking clock on bringing her daughter back to her.

I have twelve hours, for some arbitrary reason.

“I’m assuming you don’t want me to answer the bitch’s message?” Russ asks.

“It’s probably better if you don’t.” That way she doesn’t know I’m only searching for Zelena to rescue my mate, not to bring her back to her psychopathic mother. “You can ask Seth if he can pause working on that poker account and check if there’s any property in Silver Grove that’s owned by an Alpha.”

“You know we don’t have to disclose that kind of info when we’re buying property?”

“I just mean, get him to check if anything’s owned by a millionaire. Considering how high the crime rate is here, and how small most of the properties are, anything owned by someone who doesn’t need to buy a house in this shit-hole town is suspicious.”

“Right. Good call.”

“We should try and find out before we get up in the air to do our search.”

“I’ve sent the message.”

I nod as I take us down another winding street in Silver Grove.

Russ has been on the look-out for the van, but the more I think about it, the less I believe we’re going to find it. There are too many places it could have been stashed away by now.

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