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“She was looking rather pale this morning before leaving the apartment—maybe all of the extra practice made her body break down?” Leith was trying to be the voice of reason amongst our panic, but even I could tell that Ciara’s shift had thrown the massive man off.
“This is ridiculous,” I growled and crossed to the front door. “We should check on her rather than sitting here and waffling like a bunch of assholes.”
“Enzo…” Leith’s warning followed me as I went over to Ciara’s apartment door and started to bang on it. It was so similar to the first time that I’d done it that I was overwhelmed by déjà vu.
But unlike that time, Ciara wasn’t the one who answered the door.
“Why are you trying to tear my door down?” Penelope asked, her face irritated as she yanked the door open to glare at me.
“Where’s Ciara?” I asked, moving to step inside of the apartment.
“She’s not here. I thought she was with you?”
Swallowing the sudden lump in my throat I backed out of the apartment and pulled my own phone out of my pocket, tapping on Ciara’s contact which was a picture of her sticking her tongue out at the camera.
She sent me straight to voicemail and I let out a growl of frustration as I reentered our apartment where the rest of the pack was still standing as if they were frozen.
I called again, and then again until Ciara finally answered.
“Where are you?” I barked and immediately winced at how my voice sounded. “And don’t say you’re at your apartment because I know you aren’t.”
Her voice sounded odd when she spoke, almost wet like she’d been crying. “I’m at my dads’ tonight.”
My anger left me in a whoosh and my shoulders sank. “Are you okay? You’re worrying us.”
There was a pause and I could hear her sucking in a deep breath. “I’m all right. Just going to stay here and deal with things.”
“What things?” I prodded, wanting her to tell me anything that would make what was going on make sense.
“I’ll tell you guys tomorrow after the invitational,” she promised, her words thready and weak.
“She’s still going to the invitational, right?” Artie asked in a whisper that must have been just loud enough for Ciara to hear.
“Of course I’ll be there, don’t worry. I’ll see you all in the morning.”
“I love you, Ciara.” I don’t know what possessed me to say it—I never had before—but there was a creeping sense of worry that if I didn’t tell her now I would never get the chance.
Ciara sucked in an audible breath on the other end of the line. “I love you too.”
Then there was a click and she was gone.
“Something definitely isn’t right,” I said, turning to the rest of the pack who were looking at me funny. “What?”
“Nothing—” Artie hurried to say as the other two quickly made themselves busy in the kitchen. “I’m just surprised that you were the first of us to tell her those words out loud.”
“Why is that so surprising? I can be romantic.”
My words were punctuated by a chorus of snorts as the men around me made themselves scarce.
Artie gave my shoulder a pat. “Sure you can love, it’s just… I still remember that you told me you love me when I had a mouth full of fish and chips and hadn’t showered in two days because we were traveling.”
I’d brought him to Italy with me to meet my nonna a few months before she died and as soon as I saw him with her I knew that he was my omega and my soulmate.
“I think I remember it a bit differently than you.”
In my mind it had been a sweet declaration that had taken the omega off guard, making it all the sweeter when he leaned over to give me a soft kiss, both of us knowing that we would take the next step toward a bond.
“I had vinegar breath, love,” he reminded me with a playful grin.
