Page 65
Ezra’s edges flicker and fade. I put my free hand against his back, and he steadies.
Scarlet continues, “The omega slept beside a spring connected to the old flood channels. This morning, she could see her alpha, speak to him, remember their life, but she kept losing his bond scent. And her edges thinned a few times, but not as pronounced as Ezra.”
Pepper’s face tightens with thought and fear together. “Was there a bond break?”
“It’s not a full break. Strain and distortion.” The same words Scarlet used here.
Pepper looks at me, then Ezra. I see the moment she refuses to let panic take the lead.
“Any markers near the spring?” she asks.
“A bright white cloth tied to a branch. Tight knot. Sweet chemical smell. Wes is documenting it now.”
Pepper inhales slowly. “That’s the overlap again. Bond distress, water, old route placement, and a modern material copying the older markers.”
“That’s what I thought,” Scarlet says. “Dr. Cole, the BESTF lab doctor handling the GatorX comparisons, can run this against the earlier carrier samples. Wes will bring sterile kits for testing tomorrow if Ezra agrees.”
Ezra answers before I can. “I agree.”
The instinct to refuse rises hard in me. I don’t want people treating my mate like a specimen or people touching what is mine to protect.
I feel Pepper watching me. I breathe through my fear, forcing myself to tune out that old voice.
“Instructions too,” Pepper says. “For whatever samples Cole wants. And send over photos of the cloth and the spring approach if Wes agrees.”
“I’ll get them,” Scarlet says.
The call ends a moment later.
The room settles around us, but it doesn’t feel peaceful now. It feels charged, like the swamp before a storm when the frogs go loud and the air tastes metallic.
Pepper looks at the route stone on the table. Ezra looks at the dark windows. I look at their joined hands and make myself loosen my grip before either of them asks.
Her eyes soften. She’s here with the truth between us, holding my hand because she chose to keep holding it even after everything I’ve told her.
It makes me want to be the kind of alpha they both need. I hope I’m enough.
Chapter 15
Pepper Vines
Morning arrives soft and gray, with rain threading down the attic window and Theo’s scent tucked into the blankets around me. I stay still and let myself remember. The Saints. The east road. Theo kneeling in front of me with his hands open, telling me the worst parts of his past because I deserved truth more than comfort. Ezra’s fingers in mine. Scarlet’s voice on the phone, carrying another cracked bond.
I chose to stay last night. Daylight makes that choice real.
The stairs creak before I reach them. Theo appears below, one hand on the banister, hair damp from the shower and beard still rough from sleep. His gaze moves over me with such careful attention that my chest warms before my omega has a chance to be smug about it.
“Morning,” he says.
“Morning.”
“Did you sleep?”
“Some.”
His mouth tightens.
I point at him. “No alpha guilt before caffeine.”
