Cella rubbed her eyes and stared at the computer screen. She was supposed to be going over a fresh batch of resumes for the food manager position that the head hunter company had emailed her. But she couldn’t concentrate, and she couldn’t put her finger on why.
Well, she missed Cyrus.
But that was nothing new. She always missed him. Always loathed the time of night when they had to part ways. She disliked it so much that she’d considered shedding her dress clothes for coveralls and joining him on the construction crew. He’d probably think she was a loon for even thinking about it. But here she was. Missing him terribly.
Her chest ached sharply, and she rubbed her fingertips over the space, wondering what was bothering her. Closing her eyes, she settled back in her chair and delved into her feelings. Was she just missing Cyrus? Or was something else going on?
She realized that she felt an echo of emotion through the connection she shared with Cyrus. They weren’t officially mated—he hadn’t become her beloved and they hadn’t marked each other—but they were still mates. The bond between them now wasn’t strong at all, but it apparently had enough weight to it that she could feel what he was feeling. To a small extent anyway.
And what she felt right now was fear.
Cyrus was afraid.
The very idea that her strong, fierce mate was afraid made her jump from her chair. She raced from the office, the door cracking against the wall as she flung it open. “Brone!” She skidded to a halt in front of his desk. “Something’s wrong at the restaurant.”
She didn’t give him any more details, because she didn’t have any, and she didn’t wait for him to join her as she took off at a run down the hall. She had zero idea why she was so panicked suddenly, but the feeling increased as she ran through the reception area and down the hall toward the door that led to the alley between the restaurant and the club.
Behind her she could hear the heavy footsteps of the males in the family, and she was relieved she wasn’t alone.
An explosion rocked the club. She lost her footing and caught herself on the wall.
“Oh, no.” She choked the words out as she reached the door and punched in her security code to unlock it.
“Hold on.” Brone put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her from opening the door. “Let me go first.”
“Just hurry.”
Brone opened the door and moved past her. It was then she realized he was armed to the teeth, a gun in his hand and weapons strapped to his body. Behind him, Temple, Vex, and Rage moved through the doorway, past the other security door, and out into the alley.
“I’m at your back,” Ven said.
“Thanks.”
She followed the males out into the alley, rubbing the space over her heart. She reached for the connection she felt to Cyrus, and it was gone suddenly. Her eyes stung and she ground her teeth together until her fangs cut her gums.
As they reached the restaurant, she finally pieced together the noise she was hearing over the roaring in her head. There were people yelling for help within the restaurant.
“The door’s jammed,” Brone said, pulling hard on the door. “The electricity is off as well.”
Cella didn’t wait for anyone to tell her anything. There’d been an explosion in the restaurant and Cyrus was inside. She slipped silently from her heels and sprinted away from the small group. They called after her, but she was around the corner and at the front of the restaurant in seconds. The glass front had shattered, all the windows and doors nonexistent. Leaping through the nearest window, she cursed as she cut her feet on broken glass. Making her way to the door leading to the kitchen, she pulled on it, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Cyrus!” she called, jerking on the door and then banging on it.
She could hear the cries for help and smelled blood, but she couldn’t hear Cyrus.
“Damn it, female,” Vex said. “You don’t just run into a building that exploded like that.”
“Cyrus is in there.”
“Are you sure?”
“I just feel it.”
“Okay.” He pulled on the door, and she wanted to tell him that she hadn’t been able to budge it a bit either, but he was stronger than her, and she was going to hope for the best. He let out an unholy grunt and the door started to creak, the hinges protesting the violent pulling. He pried the door open enough she could get her fingers in between the door and the frame, which had been warped in the explosion. Adding her own strength, which seemed even more powerful in her panic, they were able to pull the door open together.
She and Vex shone their cell phone flashlights into the room when the door had been pulled free of the frame. What she saw left her cold from the inside out.
The ceiling had collapsed.
“No, no, no.” She picked her way through the debris until she couldn’t move forward anymore because of the ceiling. “Cyrus! Cyrus!”
She felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Calm down,” Vex said. “You’re panicking.”
“Hello! The fucking ceiling collapsed!” She squeezed her phone so tightly the protective cover cracked.
“Later, I’ll tell you that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you swear. But right now, you need to calm down so you can focus.” He turned her to face him. He was her friend. Her brother. A male she’d trusted on a thousand separate occasions. Nodding, she focused on the beam of light from her phone that shone on some wiring on the floor in between pieces of broken tile and glass. Blinking a few times, she rolled her shoulders and felt her panic lessen.
“That’s good. Now, focus on Cyrus. What he smells like. How he makes you feel. The connection between you as mates.”
“We’re not mates yet.”
“Bullshit. You might not have marked each other, but you’re mates. Rage and I felt connected to Angie before we mated her.”
“I felt something before the explosion, but it’s gone. I think it means...” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence because she couldn’t bear to consider the possibility.
“I don’t believe it’s gone. Focus on it. Find it within yourself.”
Cella closed her eyes and shut out everything around her and thought about Cyrus. His scent, his body, the way he purred when he saw her like his cat couldn’t contain his happiness. She felt something deep inside, a spark of a connection that felt like Cyrus, all strength and heat wrapped up in a devastatingly sexy package. Reaching for that spark, she coaxed it forward with the feelings that had been growing within her since she’d met him. She loved him, but she hadn’t told him yet. She’d wondered if her feelings were too soon, so she’d kept the thought to herself. Now, she knew that love was what connected her to him, and that it must mean he loved her too.
Heat flared within her and her fangs throbbed in response.
She inhaled deeply, turning away from Vex. Keeping her eyes closed, she scented again, sorting through the smells around her. She caught the faintest scent to her left and she opened her eyes and flashed her beam along the floor.
“This way,” she said to Vex. The two of them worked to clear the debris, tossing it aside as they moved toward the wall.
“Do you require help?” Brone called from behind them.
“We’re looking for Cyrus,” Vex called. “We’ve got this.”
“Medical personnel are on the way,” Brone said. “We’re pulling the wounded outside. The structure isn’t safe, so hurry.”
“I’m not going anywhere without my beloved.”
“I understand. Call if you need us.”
Cella and Vex continued their slow trek toward the wall. As they drew closer to it, the connection grew stronger, until she was very certain Cyrus was just ahead of them. Vex swept his beam across the wall. There was a huge dent and streaks of blood. She’d smelled it, and knew it was Cyrus’s. Giving her phone to Vex, she used both hands to plow through the wreckage, cutting her hands and breaking her nails as she hefted boards, tiles, and glass out of the way. She caught a glimpse of denim, and she put her hand on it. The connection flared a bit more, and then began to fade.
“No!” A huge piece of ceiling was covering Cyrus, and she struggled to lift it. “Vex, help!”
In a heartbeat Vex was next to her and helping her lift the ceiling. She saw Cyrus, covered with dust and blood, his body very still. The ceiling piece began to tremble as they struggled to keep it aloft. She was vaguely aware of Vex calling for assistance, but she couldn’t focus on anything but the fact she couldn’t really feel the connection to Cyrus.
“Don’t die on me!”