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But for how long?

I crack open the Bond and allow my anxiety to trickle through. It bleeds into our pack Bond like ink bleeding into water. This is the closest I’ll get to admitting the extent of my fear.

“I don’t know what you’re going into tomorrow, and I hate that,” I admit. “Things are ramping up so much faster than I thought they would based on the previous data. Whatever they’re doing, they’re pushing to do it faster. It started with a few Omegas randomly, but now they’re snatching a few a week. Two days ago was the wolven Omega. Day before yesterday, a vampire Omega from a minor house went missing on her way to meet a friend for coffee.”

I pivot, pulling my gaze away from the window and facing my pack.

“I feel like things are going too fast for me to keep up, but my main concern right now is your recon mission tomorrow. I’ll do everything I can to get you intel beforehand,” I promise, making it clear his safety is my priority. “But the fact is, without time to set up surveillance or eyes on the inside, there’s only so much I can do.”

“I know,” He replies, full of confidence in me, I’m not always sure I deserve. “There’s no one else I trust to have my back. I’m not worried. Whatever you can’t get, I’ll handle. I always do.”

I snort, but can’t argue. He always handles his shit; he’s not wrong about that.

“We’ll find the Omegas,” Vae adds, expression serious. “Whatever we have to do, we’ll do it.”

Caelan nods in solemn agreement.

“Yeah,” I add, clearing my throat. “We will.”

Vae stands, stretching and yawning dramatically. “Alright, you two, I’m fucking starving, and if Dax is going to make me look at screens all night, I need some fuel. Let’s go eat.”

“I’m not hungry.” I wave them off, but Vae snatches my wrist and halts me, mid-gesture. “Get serious. You need to eat. You’ve been holed up here for days.” He wrinkles his nose. “You also need a godsdamned shower. If you go much longer in this room without one, we’re going to have to fumigate the entire fucking wing. The scent neutralizers in this place have to be working overtime.”

I flip him off.

“Seriously, Daxen. Food, now. You can’t live on blood bags and cashews.” The no-nonsense look Caelan pins me with is enough for me to realize I’m not going to win this battle.

“Alright,” I concede, and follow them out of the room.

Just as we make it to our wing, my phone vibrates. I pull it out, glancing at the notification.

Fuck.

Vae leans over my shoulder. ”What?”

“Another Omega’s gone missing,” I reply, and pocket my cell with irritated, jerky movements. “They took another vampire from Tralista.”

Vae stills. “Tralista? That’s one of the clubs in Boston, right? That place is fucking packed on Thursday nights.”

“They’re getting ballsy,” I seethe. “And there were no witnesses. Apparently, she was there one minute, gone the next. This is escalating too quickly.”

I turn back, intending to continue searching and ignore my growing hunger, but Caelan stops me with a solid hand on my shoulder.

“We’ll get them,” he promises. “And we’ll figure out what the fuck is going on with the Severed and this human. We need to move fast, I agree, but you can’t ignore your basic needs. Shower. Food. Then you can lock us all in that room, and we’ll find those females.”

“We need to hurry,” I mutter, but I let him lead me—under protest—through our sitting room.

“We will,” Vae swears as he grabs bags of A negative and passes one to each of us. It’ll tie us over until the chef sends someone up with our meals.

“We’ll figure this out. We still have time.”

I sigh warily and throw myself onto the giant leather sectional in the open living room. He isn’t wrong. Technically, we still have time…

I can hear the countdown clock ticking in my mind.

Something is coming. Something is going to happen. I don’t know what, but I can feel it in my bones.

We may have time, but I’m almost positive it’s running out much faster than any of us thinks