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Oh, great. Now she was pitying him because he was all sloppy and shit. Man, if he didn’t love her as much as he did, he would have hated her at this moment.

He stood up. And made damn sure his voice was as tough as she was when he spoke. “That alarm system in your house will be wired to us. If it gets triggered, I’ll”—he corrected himself—“one of us will come running. Vishous will contact you here when it’s up and rolling.”

As the silence stretched, he shrugged. “So…bye.”

He walked out the door and did not allow himself to look back.

When he got downstairs, he found Bella in the living room. The instant the female saw his face, her eyes popped wide. Clearly he looked as god-awful as he felt.

“Thanks,” he said, though he wasn’t sure what he was thanking her for. “And just so you know, the Brotherhood is going to do drive-bys on your house. Even after she leaves.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

He nodded and didn’t dawdle. At this point it was all he could do to get himself out the door without splitting wide-open and howling like a baby.

As he walked away from the house and down the lawn a little, he had no idea what to do or where to go. He probably should call Tohr, find out where the other brothers were, link up with them.

Instead he stopped dead in his tracks. Ahead, the moon was rising just above the tree line, and it was full, a fat, luminescent disk in the cold, cloudless night. He extended his arm toward it and squeezed one eye shut. Angling his line of sight, he positioned the lunar glow in the cradle of his palm and held the apparition with care.

Dimly, he heard a pounding noise coming from inside of Bella’s. Some kind of rhythmic beat.

Rhage glanced behind him as it got louder.

The front door flew open, and Mary shot out of the house, jumping off the porch, not even bothering with the steps to the ground. She ran over the frost-laden grass in her bare feet and threw herself at him, grabbing on to his neck with both arms. She held him so tightly his spine cracked.

She was sobbing. Bawling. Crying so hard her whole body was shaking.

He didn’t ask any questions, just wrapped himself around her.

“I’m not okay,” she said hoarsely between breaths. “Rhage…I’m not okay.”

He closed his eyes and held on tight.

Chapter Thirty-five

O lifted the mesh cover off the sewer pipe and shined a flashlight down into the hole. The young male inside was the one they’d caught the night before with the truck. The thing was alive, having survived the day. The storage facility had worked beautifully.

The center’s door swung open. Mr. X walked in, all pounding boots and sharp eyes. “Did it live?”

O nodded and put the mesh cover back into place. “Yeah.”

“Good.”

“I was just going to take him out again.”

“Not right now, you don’t. I want you to visit these members.” Mr. X handed over a piece of paper with seven addresses on it. “E-mail check-ins are efficient, but proving somewhat unreliable. I’m getting confirmations from these Betas, but when I talk to their squadrons, I hear reports that no one has seen them in days or longer.”

Instinct told O to step carefully. Mr. X all but accused him of killing Betas in the park, and now the Fore-lesser wanted him to go check on them?

“There a problem, Mr. O?”

“No. No, problem.”

“And another thing. I have three new recruits I’m bringing on. Their initiations are taking place over the next week and a half. Do you want to come? Watching from the sidelines provides quite a show.”

O shook his head. “I’d better stay focused here.”

Mr. X smiled. “Worried that the Omega might get distracted by your charms?”

“The Omega is not distracted by anything.”

“You’re so wrong about that. He can’t stop talking about you.”

O knew there was a good chance Mr. X was fucking with his head, but his body didn’t have the same confidence. His knees loosened and he broke out in a cold sweat.

“I’ll start on the list now,” he said, going for his jacket and keys.

Mr. X’s eyes glinted. “You do that, son, you run right along.