Page 79 of Stolen Omega

But I can’t let go of losing her.

It’s too fucking hard. I’ve spent so much damn time trying to find her and then trying to find the men who took her. I can’t let go now. I can’t pretend it didn’t happen.

She’s gone, and it changes everything.

“I miss you, too,” I mumble.

“But?” he asks, sounding defeated.

I can’t say it. It feels too final. “I … I miss her, too.”

“I know.” He nods. “You were a kid, Zane. Forgive yourself. You weren’t her Alpha. We were all just kids.”

“I know that … I just—” I can’t even finish, it hurts too fucking much.

The silence in the room deepens as we look at each other. There’s nothing more to say.

He sighs. “I don’t want to wait for you forever, Zane.”

He leaves before I can think of any words that might make him stay.

I go back to sitting down on my armchair, staring at the ceiling.

My fingers grip the handles of the chair tightly.

I’m meant to be his Alpha, and I can see how much he needs me.

Instinct tells me to go after him. My teeth tingle at the thought of marking his slender throat.

I hold tight, fighting the feeling.

If I get up, if I go after him, I have to let go of everything I’ve been working toward.

I have to let go of finding the men who took Zoey. I have to let go of my anger, my rage.

He needs me. If I want to look after him, I have to mean it.

He has to become my world.

Like I know I’ll become his.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Dale

Six Years Ago

I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. Zane’s as lost as he was the last time I saw him. He’s still completely obsessed with a girl we haven’t seen in nine years. I know Zoey was special. I might have been a little younger than them, but I remember her.

I’ll never forget those big, dark eyes and that sweet, pretty voice.

But that’s all she is to us now. A memory.

I keep her alive in my mind, forgetting about that awful day and choosing to focus on what she meant to us. I don’t want to live every day regretting something I had no control over.

I don’t want to obsess over her abduction as if there was any way I ever could have helped prevent it.

I know he feels responsible, as crazy as it sounds.

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