Page 179 of Sweetheart: Part One

My mind burned. I was out of control like I’d never been before.

Instinct was a lit fuse that I couldn’t stamp out.

Beneath me, Love held onto pack lead through the bond. It shouldn’t be possible upon defeat. And that meant only one thing: he didn’t believe I’d beaten him. He believed that he’d won.

Lead wouldn’t be mine unless I killed him.

Only, the pack wasn’t strong enough to survive that. And if the pack shattered, so would the scent match.

She wouldn’t be mine.

I growled, shoving my weight against him another fraction. His breathing heaved, his body shaking as I crushed his neck.

Whywas he making me choose?

Love or Vex.

The world spun, my vision crimson as my instinct ripped me to shreds. Then I felt something that wiped my mind blank.

Danger.

It was a jarring, soul-crushing void that swallowed up a corner of our pack bond.

Danger.

Instinct gripped me and I let go of Love, staggering to my feet.

Drake.

Ihadto get to him.

Now.

But he wasn’t here. I saw Rook vanishing through the door, and I was after him in a moment, aura still flaring but the pack lead fight, forgotten.

ROOK

Gone

She was gone.

I knew that much.

I didn’t understand why or how, I just knew, as if Drake’s end of the bond—his understanding that we hadn’t yet reached—wasme and wasn’t me all at the same time.

It was disorienting, being in here. There was a lingering scent in the room. Something sweet, clawing at my senses.

Faint, and no less earth shattering for it.

Syrup sweet…

Raspberries and treacle.

That was her.

That was Vex, I knew it as if she were standing before me right now. Not just any omega—though I’d known from the first moment Ebony had made a claim for pack lead.

She wasouromega.

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