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“It is, but I have a feeling it’ll be worth it.”
She’s probably just making small talk, but her hopeful tone does kind of make me feel better.
I program our route into the Sat NAV and get the car started after one failed attempt.
“I haven’t driven in a while, so I apologize in advance if it gets bumpy.”
“It would take a hell of a lot to rival the worst trip I’ve ever been taken on, believe me.”
“Sounds interesting,” I tell her, starting to feel a bit more relaxed.
“Only if you think being kidnapped by an ex is interesting,” she says, laughing when my eyebrows shoot upwards.
“Wait, wait… Cheryl did mention you’d been through some shit because of some older guy. A warlock, I think?”
“Yeah. It’s kind of a long story,” she says, “but I guess we’ve got time.”
“We definitely have time.”
Chapter Fifty-Six
Cheryl
Waitinghasalwaysbeena special kind of torture for me. Being kind of hot tempered doesn’t help. I’m full of nervous energy when Noah leaves, and it doesn’t get any better as the hours start to tick away. My ability to make decisions takes a nosedive after I insist on keeping Vi and Ivy home from school. It would be careless to let them out of my sight today. That Alpha and his Betas could still be in town, waiting around to come and collect their newly acquired Omega.
My guts twist up when I think about handing Oscar over to them.
It’s not as simple as letting them take him away.
The witch will dissolve the bonds we made with him first. She’ll undo the shifter magic that Everett invoked when he marked Oscar to make him part of his pack. She’ll break the connection that exists between us as mates, the bond we made when we claimed each other.
He won’t belong to us anymore.
He’ll take the other Alpha’s mark and he’ll be lost to us.
I can’t stomach that, and I can’t think of anything more I can do to avoid it.
Noah went with Rachel to find out what they can about the Limestone Ridge pack, and we haven’t had any other bright ideas since they left. All our eggs are in their basket right now and that’s driving me a little insane.
“They’ll find something. They have to.” I repeat it over and over as I pace around the house.
I keep checking doors and windows. Making sure they’re all locked. It’s a little paranoid, I guess, but no one’s going to stop me while I’m trying to keep the rest of my pack as safe as I can.
Amanda’s still in the lounge with Vi and Ivy. Oscar fell asleep on one of the leather couches. Everett started going around checking the windows. He has keys to keep them locked. They’re all the same. He gave me one and I started from the other side of the house, mostly because it was something to do.
The more I check, the more I realize how lax we were about keeping this place secure before this happened. It seems so damn basic, and we never gave it a thought.
We have two Omegas in this pack that’s barely been started, and we never keep the front gates closed. The woods have never been fully protected against trespassers, and we haven’t been great at making sure the doors are always locked. That’s insane. It stops now.
We have too much to lose not to take this stuff seriously.
I head upstairs as Everett’s coming out of the master bedroom.
“I’ve checked every room up here,” he tells me, giving me a wry smile. “Kind of wish I’d started doing this sooner.”
“You got it done quickly,” I tell him, realizing it’s not what he meant a second later. “Oh.”
“I was lost when you got here, Cheryl. I was failing at everything. I thought I’d pulled myself together, but this whole fucking mess proves that isn’t true.” He sighs. “I messed up, and Oscar’s being stolen away by those assholes. I can’t believe pack law allows this shit.”
