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But I’d grown up in the Gritch District. I’d heard warnings of just such things.
“That’s a… a real thing?” Rook asked. He’d lost control of his hold on the bond. Love and Ebony were still locked down, so it was just me and him in the bond right now. I could feel his sickness, his guilt, as gut wrenching as mine was.
Leighton replied, but I couldn’t take my eyes from my phone. “Dark bonding lowers an omega’s chance at a scent match, though it doesn’t remove it completely. Some packs prefer to buy gold packs with previously established scent matches to remove the element of surprise.”
I scrolled through my pictures again, finding one I’d taken of her sleeping beside me. My knuckles brushed her cheeks and there was a ghost of a smile on her face as she hugged my arm against her. I’d been stuck there, unable to leave until she woke, and it had been impossible not to snap a shot.
She was so gentle, so sweet in that photo. Nothing of the torment and terror that had been in her eyes in the video I’d just watched.
My throat was closing up.
Leighton was still speaking.
“It’s rare to find omegas with scent matches who have either been rejected or remain undiscovered—as in Vex’s case. This makes them worth a lot. Add in a celebrity scent match, find the right buyer, and suddenly you have a valuable omega on—”
She cut off as I got to my feet.
“I just… I need some time. I think…” I couldn’t sit in here any longer. “I’ve uh… I’ve told you everything I know. If you need anything else…”
“Drake—”
“It’s okay.” Leighton cut Ebony off.
“I can call you if I need anything,” she said to me. “Let me know if you think of anything else that could be of use.”
I nodded.
“Actually,” Leighton glanced around at the others. “I have more than enough for now. I’ll get to work. You should all try and get some sleep.”
THREE
Hour Four
LOVE
Sleep was never going to happen. Not for me, not for my brothers.
The living room was as still as the bond. It was dark but for the pool lights outside that filtered in through the grand windows. I was cycling through everything that had just been said, fixated on Leighton’s words.
Taken and sold.
That was what had happened to her, because of us.
I couldn’t even feel Drake anymore. Ebony was out here, which never happened. His laptop was on his lap, and he was staring at it intently. Drake was at his side, knees to chest, shooting occasional anxious glances to the laptop screen. Rook was staring blankly at the aura boxing reruns that were playing on the TV.
“I… need to know what you meant,” Drake said quietly.
He’d been working up to it for a while, I could tell by the way he’d been shifting in his seat, glancing at me and Rook with a hurt expression.
For a long time I said nothing.
Could we afford more fractures right now? Would we survive it?
“We’re tired,” I said. “Let’s get her back, rest, and then—”
“She’s alone,” Drake cut me off. “She’s alone, and… and anything could be happening to her right now, and she was taken because she said… she said we didn’t want her.”
I stared at him, the hollow pit in my chest tumbling open further and further.
