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He sneers down at me, but I can see what looks like sick delight shining in his dishwater-colored eyes. “That’s where you’re wrong, my little Jezebel, that little punk you liked to hang out with so much? He’s gone. Not coming back. Some rich pricks adopted him this mornin’ and he wanted me to tell you he ain’t comin’ back for your scrawny ass. So, get used to seeing my face, sweet pea. You and I are hittin’ the road tonight. Dianne’s kickin’ me out, and you’re comin’ with me.”
ChapterOne
DO YOU SMELL THAT?
Kairo
If I have to hear one more goddamn negative word out of my brother’s mouth, I’m going to deck him.
He’s been complaining about the cold for the last hour while we sit outside of D’s childhood foster home. Today is Blake’s eighteenth birthday and my brother and I are checking the house one last time to see if she came back here. She hasn’t been here any other time over the years, but I don’t know. I just have this feeling in my gut that says we missed something when we were questioning Dianne earlier. D has been a wreck all day, and we’re starting to really worry about what will happen to him if we never find her.
Earlier that day
“Rook, I don’t want to fucking talk about it right now! Y’all have been helping me search for a girl you’ve never even met forseven years, when I have no idea if she even presented as an Omega. It feels like we’re never going to find her. I’m so damn tired of being heartbroken every time we search a new city with nothing to show for it,” D says miserably. He collapses onto the couch in our rental home as the apple in his scent goes sour. “I miss her so much. I know I need to keep looking, butfuck.Knowing she could be auctioned off to some criminal right now is making me sick, man.”
Rook looks around the room at the rest of us to try to get a read on our feelings through the pack bond. We all know what he’ll find, though. Hades has been talking about Blake since we were kids, absolutely adamant she belonged in our pack, and when he was taken from their foster home with no notice, it devastated him.
The night of that fight seven years ago, after we were all arrested, Rook’s parents took D home with them. They eventually adopted him, and because of that, he never got to say goodbye to Blake. We had been looking for her passively during our teen years. The minute we were all finally eighteen, we solidified our pack bond and used every resource available to try to find her again. And considering Rook is a billionaire, there were alotof resources.
The problem is, she vanished into thin air. There’s no record of her anywhere. No school, no doctor, no police reports, absolutely nothing. There’s no death certificate anywhere, either, and I think that might be the only thing that’s kept our hope alive all these years we’ve been searching.
Rook realizes we’re all in and crouches down in front of D. “Look, I know it’s been hard not finding her, but today is her eighteenth birthday. What if she’s out there looking for you now that she’s legally aged out of the system? Do you really want to miss our chance at finding her because you’re too busy whining about how we haven’t found heryet? And trust me, D. It isyet,because wewillfind her. Have a little faith in your pack, brother.”
He stands up and holds his hands out to help him up. As Hades rises off the couch, he heaves a deep sigh. “Okay… Okay, you’re right. But somebody else needs to go to that house. If I see Phil or Dianne, I can’t promise I’ll be able to keep my cool, and I don’t feel like spending the night in jail, again.” He cracks a small smirk at that as he looks over at me. “Kai? Will you and Kas go check out the old house? Maybe try to talk to Dianne again and turn on the charm if you have to?” he asks.
I’m already nodding my head before he even finishes speaking, glancing over at my twin to see he is, too. “Of course we will, bro. We’ve got your back, although I can’t promise I won’taccidentallyrun my fist into your old foster father’s face if I see him there.” I shrug, putting both my hands out in a “what’re you gonna do” gesture.
Kaspian looks over at me and smirks, saying “Yeah, I mean we all know how clumsy Kai and I are. One of our fists might justaccidentallyland on his nose. You never know.”
Our youngest pack mate, Achilles, has been sitting in the corner silently as we debate. He finally stands up while stretching his tattooed arms high above his head and yawns. “I don’t know ‘bout y’all, but I’m starving, and I want to hit up that incredible taco truck by the fosters on Fifth.” He smirks over at the guys. “One of y’all wanna come with me? Or am I on babysitting duty for Sad Sal over there?” he asks, pointing over at a still sulking Hades.
Glaring over at Achilles, Hades snarls at him. “Do you think Iwantto be sad? Do you think I want to spend every waking hour of the day wondering if I left my best friend in the world to be hurt or worse by those awful people? I was so happy to be adopted, but losing her broke my heart, Lee. So yeah, sorry for being fuckingsad.”
Achilles walks over to Hades, looking like somebody kicked his puppy, and wraps him in a huge bear hug. Achilles may be the smallest and youngest of us, but he’s still over six feet tall, and seeing him being so gentle with our pack mate is always cute.
“I’m so sorry, D. You know I want to find her too; I truly didn’t mean anything by it. I was just trying to lighten the mood a little. I promise I’m taking this as seriously as all of you,” he mumbles, still holding on tight to our friend. Hades finally releases an enormous sigh and hugs him back even harder. It causes Achilles to choke out, “Alright there, big guy, you’re gonna crack a rib, and my chest is too pretty for bruises.” This gets a laugh out of all of us while he looks indignant. “Hey! Don’t laugh at me, it’s true.” He’s dangerously close to pouting, so with one last chuckle, I grab Kaspian’s arm and we make our way towards the door.
As we’re walking, I turn my head to face the guys and yell, “We’ll be back tonight! Kas will keep you updated while we’re gone.”
As Kas and I settle into our rental for the week, an unassuming silver minivan, he buckles up and turns to face me. Quietly, he asks, “Do you really think we’ll find her, Kai? I know we haven’t met her but after hearing D talk about her so much since the day we met him, I feel like she’s my best friend too. I’m scared we won’t find her, and if we don’t, nobody else will ever be enough.”
I understand where he’s coming from. I don’t know what it is about tonight specifically after searching for seven long years, but I just have a gut feeling we’re going to findsomething.
Canting my head to the side to show I’m listening to him, I grab his hand and quietly say, “Kas, I know it’s been hard. Staking our teen years and our entire adult lives so far on someone we’ve never met is crazy. But we love D, and he loves Blake. I don’t really know how to explain the feeling in my gut, but I know we’re going to find her. And even if the other guys give up after tonight, I won’t. I need to find out what happened to her, because even if they pretend otherwise, I know the guys will never move on from this.”
My brother would never admit it because of the two of us, he’s always been the dark and broody twin. But the man has a gooey marshmallow center with a heavy dose of anxious thoughts. He looks back at me, and I’m pretty sure his eyes are misty.
“Kaspian Jack Sparrow! Do my eyes deceive me, or are you tearing up? I mean, I know my speeches are moving, but I definitely wasn’t expecting such an emotional audience tonight,” I tease him as he scoffs and not so discreetly wipes his eyes.
Reaching over to punch me on the arm, he says, “Shut the fuck up, you dick. I thought we agreed not to say my middle name out loud ever again. Or do you enjoy being named after apirate movie, KairoJohnnySparrow?” He smirks as he says my full name, reminding me exactly why we don’t say them out loud.
You see, our mom is obsessed with Johnny Depp. According to our fathers, Kas and I were conceived during a “pre-heat” Pirates of the Caribbean marathon. We try our best to absolutelyneverthink about our parents having sex, but unfortunately, we’re reminded every time we hear, say, or write our full names. Our last name being Sparrow is a complete coincidence, to the delight of our mother.
“Okay, okay, I give. Please, for the love of God, do not remind me,” I say, cringing and fighting a gag.
Soon enough, we’re pulling up outside the dilapidated old house where Hades met Blake. My brother and I take a minute to double check that this is the right house before we look at each other with wide eyes. I know Hades said the house was old when they lived here, and yeah, that was seven years ago, but I wasn’t expectingthis.
The once blue house is leaning precariously to the right. The moldy, rotten siding falling off into piles in the overgrown landscape. The roof where I assume he and Blake did their stargazing is bowed dangerously over the rickety-looking porch, looking like it’s going to cave in at any moment.
