I turned toward Severen’s voice and saw him walking down the hall, toward me at a quick clip. I abandoned the nurse’s station and went to meet him.
“What’s happening?” I asked. “Do they know anything? What’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know yet,” Severen said. “They took her to emergency and I wasn’t allowed to follow. Did you–”
“I couldn’t reach Halo,” I said. “But I got Charisma. She’s going to pass the message.”
“Good.” Severen squeezed my shoulder. “You did good, man.”
I looked at him, then at my shoes. I did what I could, what I was supposed to, but it still didn’t feel like enough.
Severen guided me to a neat and tidy seating area. The waiting room was modern, state of the art, at least, on first glance. In reality the seats and carpet were showing subtle wear and witheredness from hundreds of waiting passers-by weighed down by the most difficult nights of their lives.
“Sit down. Wait here. I’ll get you a coffee.”
“Soda,” I said. I wanted something cold to hopefully snap me out of this stifling anxiety.
Chapter 4
SEVEREN
CruxandIsatin silence. Crux kept jostling his leg and looking at his phone to see if he had missed any message from Halo or Charisma. After a moment I realized it wasn’t simply a quick check as he typed on his screen.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to contact Bianca.” Crux didn’t skip a moment or look away from the screen. He scoffed, knowing how futile it was probably going to be. Bianca hadn’t spoken to Skye in over two years, but in times like this, everyone needs their mother.
“Good idea.” We needed all the encouragement we could get.
I left him to his quest, leaning my head back as far as it would go. I rolled my shoulders. “I wish they’d tell us something. How long has it been?”
“Not as long as it feels,” Crux mumbled.
As he sat beside me, my aura brushed up against his. It was tight, and congested, weathered.
I sat up and looked at him. “I know you’re not okay, but, are you okay?”
“No.” He spat out the word. “But yeah,” he nodded.
Crux had a long history with drugs and alcohol. When Halo brought Skye around, he quit the hard shit cold turkey, and mellowed his drinking to socially acceptable levels. I considered all that as a true sign of his character. Every once and a while his aura turned tight and thin, like an elastic pulled to its breaking point. Still, he hadn’t given in to the cravings. I knew he hadn’t. I would sense it through the bond.
The tough-love moment was broken by Crux’s ringtone. He looked at the display. “Halo.”
He put it on video chat. Halo’s perfect face took up the screen. She looked impeccable. Not a hair was out of place. The only hint of frazzle was in her eyes. They were bloodshot, the red clashing with her jade green irises.
“Thank god I got a hold of you,” she said. “I managed to get a flight to Port Haven. I’ll be there in a few hours. How’s Skye?”
“We don’t know,” I said. “We haven’t been told a single thing. No one’s come to see us.”
Halo stopped sorting her carry on bags and paused, recalibrating, like she had to digest my words. “But it’s been hours.”
“We know,” Crux said, sourly.
“When do you board your flight?” I asked.
“Soon. In a few minutes. I told the flight attendant that I had an emergency and my omega was in the hospital. Granted, that won’t make the plane fly faster, but they’re giving me priority seating.”
“Aren’t you already in business class?” I smirked.
