And all I can think about now is spending time with my pack.
Travel. Mountains. Oceans. Long mornings wrapped in too many blankets and sunlight on our skin. I want time with them. Time I don't have to schedule or fight for. Andwhen Autry finally goes into heat and gets pregnant, we’ll find the right place to build something new. Something better.
The elevator chimes and the doors glide open.
I open the front door, but instead of relief, my skin prickles and the hairs along the back of my neck rise.Something’s wrong.
I drop my briefcase and jacket, then take a step inside. The air hits me like a wall. It smells like…fear. Like adrenaline, and heartbreak and grief. The sharp stink of it crawls down my throat and I have to fight the urge to recoil.
“Hello?” I call out, already on edge.
Myrick’s voice answers immediately, tense and clipped. “We’re in the living room.”
I move fast.
Rounding the couch, I catch sight of the scene—and my whole world tilts.
Autry is crushed between Oli and Charlie on the couch, small and trembling, her face blotchy with tears. She’s sobbing—silently, which is so much worse than anything loud. Oli’s got one arm around her shoulder while Charlie holds her hand, white-knuckled.
My stomach drops.
“Autry?” I shove the coffee table aside without even thinking, nearly knocking it over. My knees hit the rug hard, but I don’t care. I press close, hands hovering over her thighs, her arms, her face. “Baby, what’s wrong? What happened? Talk to me.”
She shakes her head, making her hair fall forward, then she buries her face in her hands. She smells like she’s in full-on distress.No.
Frantic and confused, I look up. “Myrick?”
He’s pacing on the other side of the couch like a cagedanimal. Jaw locked. Hands fisting and flexing. I’m honestly not even sure if he heard me.
“Your friend Donall came by,” Oli says.
I blink. “Donall?” I have no idea what he has to do with this. “We’re not friends. I see him occasionally at certain events, but that’s it.”
Oli nods slowly, taking it all in. “He came here asking for you. Then he asked to talk to me for some reason. He saw Autry but called her Autumn. Kept saying it over and over like he was trying to upset her.”
That gets my attention, and a cold ripple of instinct moves through me. “What did he want?”
Myrick’s pacing quickens.
Oli’s jaw ticks. “He said he recognized her.” His dark eyes flicker to the omega curled against his side. “He accused her of being amass murderer.” The words hang in the air—half-ridiculous, but too heavy for anyone to laugh. “He said he’d be back to arrest her.”
I can’t even process what he said. It’s too…
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I let out a short, stunned laugh—except it’s not a laugh. It comes out cracked and wrong.
But before Oli can respond, Autry lets out a sound, this tiny, shattered sob—and it guts me. Her body folds tighter in on itself. Her hands are shaking. And suddenly I realize—she’s not distressed. She’s not even confused.
She’s terrified.
“Baby…” I whisper, reaching for her. But she flinches when I touch her. And the ground feels like it’s been ripped out from under me. Whatever high I was riding, whatever freedom I thought I had—it's gone now. Because none of it means anything if she’s not okay.
And clearly?—
She’s not.
I press my hand to Autry’s cheek, but she doesn’t respond. Doesn’t even look at me. She’s trembling so hard I can feel it through the couch cushions.
I turn to Charlie. “What do we need to do to snap her out of this?”
