Chapter 8 Lost Her Twice

• ALPHA BRAHAM’S POV
• We walked out of the cathedral into a mess of reporters and flashing lights. I trailed Callie, determined not to let her out of my sight, not just for Millie’s sake, but because something in me knew this woman was barely holding on by a thread.
• I mindlinked Renan, “please come and help me drive her, she’s not okay.”
• She reached her car and was fumbling with her keys, breathing hard.
• “I’ll have my friend take you,” I said.
• She scoffed, not even looking at me. “I don’t need your help.”
• “But I insist.”
• “That’s not my problem.” She turned halfway toward me, still fuming. “You can insist all you want, it doesn’t mean I’ll…”
• She stopped midsentence.
• Renan had just stepped out of my car and walked over, quiet and composed.
• Callie’s eyes flicked to him. Her brows lifted…just slightly… and I saw the shift in her posture. Wariness, maybe even intrigue.
• “If you really insist,” she mumbled, barely audible now, “then… I’ll go with him.”
• I arched my brow but said nothing, ever polite, opened the back door for her.
• But Callie moved right past it and slid into the front passenger seat, settling in beside him.
• A smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth. Before I could close the door, Callie’s words caught my attention.
• “She was spotted at a convenience store in disguise,” she said, to Renan, phone still in hand.
• “Let’s go. Now.” I replied without hesitation.
• But Callie shook her head, voice low and firm. “No point. She’s already gone.”
• “How would you know that?” I narrowed my eyes on her. “Unless you know where she is.”
• “I don’t,” she replied bitterly. “And I wish I did. But I’ve worked with Millie long enough to know she doesn’t stay in one place once she’s been found. If they spotted her there, she’s already changed again. Probably somewhere new by now.”
• I didn’t like that.
• Didn’t like not knowing.
• Didn’t like not sensing her.
• I didn’t say another word. I got back in my car and left before they could stop me.
• The convenience store was still a media circus when I arrived. The scent of sweat, plastic perfume, and flashing bulbs filled the air. But under it all… her scent hit me like a punch to the chest.
• Sweet. Soft. Wild and haunting.
• I inhaled deeply. She had been here. Recently.
• Too recently.
• I pushed past the crowd, ignoring the phones in my face, the murmured speculations.
• “There he is again.”
• “He’s definitely the father.”
• “Where’s Millie?”
• “Does he know something?”
• I shut them out and followed the scent inside. It grew stronger near the back of the store, near a refrigerated drinks section. She had touched something here. Paused. Lingered.
• And then she was gone.
• I cursed under my breath and rushed out to scan the parking lot. My eyes scanned everything, desperate for a hint of red hair, a pair of big glasses, a hoodie that looked out of place.
• Then…movement.
• A figure slinking between cars. Too careful. Trying too hard to look invisible.
• A woman.
• Wrong height. Wrong scent.
• Still, I started toward her.
• She flinched and picked up her pace. Others noticed too. Some started to follow her.
• By the time I got to her, the disguise was already being yanked off by two overexcited strangers.
• “Got ya!”
• The woman burst out laughing, tossing the wig aside. “Got you, actually.”
• The crowd groaned. A decoy. A damn decoy.
• I turned to walk away, fury boiling inside me.
• and Callie caught up to me in the lot.
• “She’s gone, isn’t she?” Renan asked.
• I didn’t answer.
• Callie looked like she wanted to cry. “She’s good at disappearing. Always has been. Even before all this... when she got overwhelmed, she’d vanish for a day or two. Only I ever knew how to reach her. But this time, she didn’t leave a trace.”
• My wolf growled again.
• “I should be able to find her.”
• “She’s ours.” Vorn growled inside me.
• “We’re bonded.”
• Why couldn’t I sense her like I was supposed to?
• Then, as if fate decided to toy with me again, a phone buzzed.
• Callie’s.
• Her eyes widened as she read the alert. “Someone just saw her at a bus terminal downtown.”
• I didn’t wait for details.
• I was in the car before she even said the name of the terminal.
• I drove like a madman. Lights meant nothing. Honks were background noise. Pedestrians blurred past my windows.
• She was there.
• She had to be.
• I arrived to see another horde of people already crowding the terminal.
• News vans. TikTokers. Photographers. Even teenagers with hand-written signs begging for Millie to tell her side of the story.
• Parasites. All of them.
• I pushed through them, ignoring the noise, the snapping lenses, the prying hands.
• Her scent was strong.
• Strong and recent.
• I followed it like a lifeline, tracing it through the lobby, past the benches, near the ticket booth. It lingered thickly in the air, stronger than it had been at the store.
• I asked questions. No one had answers.
• Her trail grew fainter. The chaos made it harder to track. Too many people. Too many smells. Too much noise.
• And then… nothing.
• The scent vanished.
• Like she’d never been here at all.
• I froze, breath shallow, staring at the tiled floor as if it could give me a clue.
• I was still standing there, lost in frustration, when Callie and Renan caught up again.
• “We missed her,” Renan said gently, but it sounded like a gunshot in my chest.
• “Sorry,” Callie whispered, her voice hoarse.
• I didn’t reply. I didn’t trust myself to speak.
• I walked back to the car with my jaw clenched so tight I thought it might crack.
• “Do you want me to drive?” Renan offered softly.
• “No,” I growled. “Callie needs you more.”
• I shut the car door harder than I meant to and gripped the steering wheel with both hands.
• The leather groaned beneath my fingers.
• I had failed.
• She was out there, alone, pregnant, hunted, and somehow... She was mine.
• I didn’t understand it fully.
• Didn’t know what it meant yet.
• All I knew was this unbearable, gnawing ache in my chest that wouldn’t let up.
• The kind of ache only one thing could explain.
• Vorn’s voice came through the bond…raspy, broken, full of pain.
• “Because she’s our mate.”
• My heart stopped.
• No.
• No. No. No.
• I’d thought she was just the surrogate. A woman caught in a mess. A victim of betrayal.
• But it had been more from the very beginning.
• The way my wolf stirred the first time I saw her.
• The possessiveness. The anger. The urgency.
• I hadn’t wanted to believe it.
• I had wanted to stay in control.
• But now?
• Control was gone.
• Everything inside me was pulling toward her.
• Not just instinct…bond.
• Fated.
• I leaned forward, resting my head against the steering wheel, eyes shut.
• And then, for the first time in years... I screamed.