I woke up to a set of eyes looking down at me. The world was fuzzy, but slowly, my mother’s face came into focus.

“Oh, Rich!” She shouted. “He’s awake!”

I heard the sound of my father’s steps from somewhere behind me, and seconds later he was at my mother’s side, gazing down with concern.

“There he is,” he said as I looked around.

Where the Hell am I? I thought. This isn’t Nate’s cabin…

The crown molding gave it away. I was in my parent’s house, lying on the couch with an IV sticking out of my arm.

What happened?

“How are you feeling?” I heard my mother say.

“You gave us quite a scare there,” my dad added.

Images of last night spun through my head like a broken film projector, skipping frames, sometimes lagging into slow motion.

A suit…a man at a bar with thick hands…

I’d gone to a meeting with dad!

More images came through. The man laughing – Harvey! That was his name. He’d handed me something…a card, like a business card.

Thirty-four Blackborne Street. That’s where I’d gone.

The remainder of the night came flooding back to me like a sick, poisonous wave of horror as I recalled the disgusting things I’d seen.

The omegas…the children…Nate’s child!

I rocketed up to a seated position, but the pain in my abdomen flared and knocked me back down. Gasping, I looked down at the bandage, double-wrapped around my stomach.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” my dad said, putting a firm hand on my shoulder. “Easy there, killer. You were stabbed.”

“Stabbed?” I said, still feeling confused. And then I remembered.

I’d had him in my arms. Tyler’s child. I’d had him, and I’d let him go.

Tears welled up in my eyes and I turned my head into the couch so my parents wouldn’t see. Suddenly the pain in my stomach was completely overwhelmed by the pain in my heart.

I’m so sorry, Nate…

“Your friend called us,” my dad said. “Someone named Tate? We sent an ambulance to come get you.”

“Why am I not at the hospital?” I asked him.

“You were,” my mom replied. “But we had them bring you here so you could be at home.”

“There’s a nurse in the kitchen,” my dad added. “Just in case something happens. But you’re gonna be fine.”

“What happened, honey!?” My mom asked. I could hear the despair in her voice, but she was trying hard not to lose control.

“I – I went for a walk,” I stammered, trying to make something up on the spot. “Ran into some guys fighting. I tried to break it up and—”

“Damn it, Tyler!” My dad growled, trying not to let his anger show. “Why would you get involved in something like that?”

“I’m sorry, dad,” I replied. “I should have known better.”

I was crying inside, fighting back tears. I’d had Nate’s child in my arms, and I’d lost him. Now he could be anywhere – taken by those hideous men.

My forearm was killing me for some reason, and I looked down and saw my hand was clenched into a fist. I almost hadn’t noticed. But then I realized why.

“Hey, guys?” I said slowly. “Could you get me something to drink?”

“Sure, honey! What do you want?” My mom asked me.

“Whatever,” I replied. “Dad, do you have another blanket? I’m getting a little cold.”

“Sure, bud,” he said heartily. “I’ll grab you one of my wool ones from upstairs.”

Once they were both gone, I opened my hand slowly to reveal the piece of snakeskin I’d torn from the bald alpha’s suit when I went down in the street.

His face flashed through my mind.

“I don’t care who you are or how you found us. But now, you have to die.”

Bringing the scrap of my would-be murderer’s suit to my nose, I inhaled deeply.

His scent was acidic, like blood and oil mixed with acrid smoke. I wanted to cough and spit, flush my nose of the stench, but instead, I stamped the scent in my mind, letting it fill every fiber of my being.

As my mind went back to that night, poring through the details of what had happened to me, a focus and fixation came over me that pushed my body’s pain aside.

Someone else had gotten stabbed – not me.

Someone else had almost died – not me.

There were more important things right now than my stomach wound. That was nothing compared to what I was going to do to him.

The man’s face was already fixed in my mind. I’d never forget that bald head, those serpent-like eyes that squinted down at me as he raised his blade for a strike meant to kill.

But now I had his scent.

And that was all I would need to find him.

I’ll track you, and I’ll find you, you son of a bitch! And Nate’s child will be back with his father.