I watched as the truck disappeared into the night snow, feeling completely useless.

I should be with him!

He was right of course. Their logic was flawless. Going with them could jeopardize everything, but that didn’t make this any easier.

I am his alpha!

I’d spent so long trying to get him to accept me, and now that I finally succeeded, I had to take a backseat. Not even a backseat. I wasn’t even in the truck.

The snow fell quietly as I stood alone in the camp. Patrick and the other omegas were doing something in the kitchen, so I wasn’t really alone, but I sure felt like it.

I had nothing. Even the piece of snakeskin I’d snatched from the man who’d stabbed me was in Matias’s possession now. He’d taken it in case any of them hadn’t fully imprinted his scent in their minds. All I had now was my sorrow and feelings of complete inadequacy.

All I could see were the dreadful possibilities of what could happen in Portsmouth. There had been so many men at 34 Blackborne Street, enough to take on the number of alphas we had headed there now. And if they’d sent reinforcements after what had happened with me, there was no chance they’d be able to get in, let alone find Nate’s son.

“Goddamn it!” I shouted, slamming a fist against my thigh. The pain helped distract me from the torment inside me. I slammed my first down again, and again and again until my muscle was knotted and throbbing. Then I turned my back on the truck’s tracks down the driveway and walked quickly toward the back of the camp.

I wanted to be there so badly. But there was another problem with me right now, one that the other alphas had been nice enough not to bring up – I was still wounded.

My stitches were firm and my stab wound was healing rapidly, but I was still not in top condition. The last thing the boys needed was an alpha that wasn’t at his full strength, that they needed to look out for if something went wrong.

I’m useless, I thought as I made my way through the cabins, passing the vacant ones that had yet to be fixed up, and into the shadows of the trees behind the camp.

Since I’d met Nate, I’d felt helpless. Charming him had been my main concern in life. It had gone against my nature to take a slow route with an omega like him, someone who captured my instincts and my heart so quickly. All I’d wanted to do was take him, claim him for my own, but I knew I couldn’t be like that with him. He needed kid gloves, and I’d had to fight back my urges to treat him right.

And now, I was forced to do the same thing again. All I wanted was to be in that truck with them, or shifted, tearing through the snowy woods as a wolf, racing toward the captor of Nate’s son, ready to tear him to pieces to get back my mate’s baby.

But again, I was forced to take the slow route.

All I could do was hope – hope that they made it to Portsmouth and found the scent, hope that the men hadn’t left yet with Nate’s child, and hope that somehow they were able to get him back.

Hope…

“Fuck,” I swore, spitting on the ground by my feet. “I need to do more than hope!”

But what was there to do?

“This is stupid,” I said out loud. If they find the auction, will they come back and get me? There weren’t enough of them. “They’re going to get themselves killed!”

I heard a door open behind me and smelled Patrick’s scent as he came up behind me.

“Not now, Patrick,” I growled. It was rude, but right now I had other things on my mind than being polite.

“I brought you some soup,” he said, not in the least bit put off by my tone. I had to sigh at his kindness. It seemed impossible to upset Patrick. He was always looking out for everyone in the camp.

I turned and saw him holding a tall mug with steam coming out of it. He handed it to me. “Lentils. Not much for a big strong alpha like you,” he grinned. “But it’s tasty.”

I did my best to chuckle as he handed me a spoon. I dipped it into the soup, lifted it, blew on it and slid it into my mouth.

“That’s damn good, Patrick,” I told him as I swallowed. “But I don’t think anything’s going to cheer me up right now.”

“You want to be with them,” he said, sounding wise like an old sage.

“Of course I do,” I snapped. “I’m an alpha! I’m his alpha! I should be there!”

“No one could ever say you’re not determined,” Patrick grinned. “It’s hard waiting.”

“It’s impossible,” I growled. “I’d walk through Hell for him.”

I pictured Nate, sitting there in the truck with the other alphas, on his way to Portsmouth to try and find his child that I’d lost.

“There’s no use going over it again and again,” Patrick told me. “What’s done is done. All you can worry about now is what you’re going to do.”

Patrick left me with a final smile before turning away and heading back to the dining hall. Feeling bitter, I sipped my soup and thought about what was to come.

Was I really going to sit there and do nothing? Wait to see if my sweet omega returned safely to me? Or was I going to act?

“Fuck it,” I snarled, stomping back toward Nate’s cabin. “I don’t care if I’m wounded. I’m going down there anyway. They’ll be outnumbered. They’ll need me.”

And then it hit me.

They will be outnumbered if they find the place! Unless they were somehow able to sneak in, all of them, which would be doubtful considering what had happened with me, they were in for a battle they couldn’t win.

“Shit!”

I almost tore open the door to Nate’s cabin, stepped inside and found my cell phone.

They’re going to need help, I thought as I dialed. I put the phone to my ear and let it ring.