"What do you mean you lost him?"
Brock kept his gaze on the floor, Smitty staring at one of the bookcases like this office was the last place he wanted to be. Craig had his arms crossed, staring at Ohm angrily. Ohm seemed to be searching for the right things to say, occasionally looking at his fellow Omegas for help that they refused to offer.
"Well...we-"
"Ohm started blabbering about fucking drugs and Omega trafficking!"
Craig snapped, snapping his arms to his sides as he turned to face the other Omega.
Evan felt a shudder run through his body.
He hated talking about the dark side of their job.
The four of them had come into his office with drooping and tense wings, and a very apparent lack of a new Omega.
Now, Ohm seemed to be the only one trying to come up with an excuse for his disappearance.
"Ohm, why would you bring that up?"
Evan asked exasperatedly, glaring at the Omegas in front of him.
Ohm looked up defensively, snapping,
"Jonathan asked what we do for this 'job'! I was telling him about the docks and it kind of...slipped out."
"Ohm, you know we never mention those things unless it's business related, let alone to a 1-day-old member of our team!"
Ohm hung his head, and his wings dropped further.
He feels guilty.
Evan analyzed, realizing Ohm would be too lost in his mind to be much more help.
They had to find Jonathan.
Before anyone else did.
Turning toward Brock, Evan said calmly,
"Brock, do we know which direction he went?"
"South."
The man answered immediately, finally looking up from the ground.
"Let's send out a search party. The Canaries have been more active lately, and we need to make sure we are the first to find him."
"We've already looked everywhere. He's gone."
Mumbled Craig, looking solemnly at Evan.
"Then we'll look again."
All eight eyes turned to look at Evan, curiosity bubbling up in all of them.
He'll deal with that later.
"I want all of you to grab an Alpha and head out. Search each building you can get into, and check all the accessible rooms in any abandoned buildings you find. We'll find him."
The Omegas nodded, then headed out.
However, Brock stayed behind.
"Why are you so eager to find him? We can just wait until he reappears on our radar."
Evan blinked in surprise.
That was true, he knew they could've waited.
An Omega who didn't know what scent blockers were couldn't avoid them for forever. And the Canaries weren't exactly quiet about their whereabouts.
But, how much longer could he last without smelling that sweet vanilla and lavender again? Jonathan had smelled so sweet, yet his scent so faded from being homeless that it had taken him a moment to realize the details of his smell.
And he was so...innocent.
He could tell the Omega had been through some darkness, but in the depths of his oceanic eyes was the pure childlike curiosity.
So disconnected from the world and yet so eager to engulf it.
The light and purity of his blue eyes sucked Evan in, and he wasn't even sure if he wanted to escape.
He hadn't had a chance to see Jonathan that morning, as he had stayed up late and woke up late. By the time he had come downstairs, the Omegas had already left.
And now...gone?
Just like that?
Evan refused.
"I know that look."
Brock chuckled, startling Evan from his thoughts.
"You're intrigued. You've found something new and want to learn more about it."
Evan blinked before nodding in agreement.
Intrigued. That was the word.
Brock sighed.
"Alright. We'll find your Omega. But if anyone else asks, tell them we can't have him blabbing about where our base is."
Evan watched Brock step out of his office, probably to get Brian before searching. The Omega's words didn't process until a moment later.
"Hey! He isn't my-!"
Evan groaned, then shook his head.
He'd worry about that later.
Right now, he had to go help find Jonathan.
After leaving Scotty, Nogla, and Anthony, (the Betas) to watch the base, everyone set out South.
Alphas with Omegas, at least all except Evan.
He was the best at being a lone wolf.
He started at Jonathan's old house, taking Ohm's directions to the place before sending the Omega off with Luke.
He checked every room again, just to be sure, then stood outside, looking at the three directions that the surrounding alley split off.
North, South, and East.
North was back toward the base, and East lead out to the main roads.
South it is.
He set off at a brisk pace, turning whichever way he felt pulled.
Occasionally, the alleys opened up to a split of buildings, but even after searching every building he could get inside, there was no sign of Jonathan.
What did Ohm say? He was wearing a blue hoodie?
Well, there was definitely no sign of anything blue. Sighing, Evan headed through one more turn of alleys. One of the buildings in this part had a broken door, and as Evan was walking closer to check the last building it hit him.
Vanilla and Lavender.
Evan ran toward the house, nearly tripping over the door as he stopped in the main room.
"Jonathan?"
He called, pausing before turning into the first room on the right. His scent was growing stronger, and when Evan stepped into the room he saw the blue bundle huddled in the corner.
Blue jay wings wrapped around a blue hoodie.
"Jonathan?"
Evan took a few steps closer, placing a gentle hand on the exposed head.
"Jonathan, come on. Let's get you home."
The kid groaned, then lifted his head groggily. When he looked up and saw Evan, he jumped and pushed himself away.
"E-Evan!"
"Hey, relax. I'm here alone."
Evan soothed, taking a step back so the Omega could have his space.
Jonathan relaxed slightly, wrapping his jacket closer to him.
"Ok."
He sighed, glancing at Evan every few moments. Evan nodded, then sat down as well, still giving the Omega space.
"Want to talk about it?"
Jonathan seemed surprised by the question, but if Evan had learned anything from being a gang boss, it was that you should never bottle your feelings away.
Especially with friends.
Jonathan paused, then nodded. When he opened his mouth to speak though, another voice spoke.
"Well, well, well. Looks like we got ourselves a lost fawn."
Evan whipped around to see a herd of Alphas in front of the door, more slowly seeping into the building.
The Canaries.
Slowly getting to his feet, Evan glared at the herd. The Alpha in front was smirking at Evan through narrowed eyes, his bull horns obviously sharpened to a point.
"What do you want?"
Evan demanded, holding his position.
"We just want that Omega behind you. Never seen wings like his before."
The Alpha shrugged like he believed Evan was just going to move out of the way.
"I'm afraid I can't let that happen."
Evan growled, glaring at the Alpha.
"Sir, that's the BBS leader."
Whispered one of the other Alphas to the man in front. This seemed to agitate the Alpha further and he took a step closer.
"What was your name? Vanoss? Looks like I'm just going to have to kill you for that Omega. Two birds one stone."
An angry heat flared in Evan's chest and he lowered his antlers aggressively.
"Leave Canaries. While I let you."
This triggered some snickers behind the lead Alpha before he shushed them with a hand.
"Vanoss, this isn't your fight. Besides, maybe you should know what you're getting yourself into before we duel."
Confused, Evan lifted his head to see the Alpha pulling one of his men forward out of the crowd.
"You see Vanoss,"
He purred, his mouth twisted into a smirk.
"We recently have discovered that with the right surgery, Alphas can also get wings."
The Alpha suddenly flared his wings open, a pair of simple finch wings.
Evan didn't need to ask how they had gotten them, he had seen the missing girl posters with the same wings.
"And with these wings,"
The Alpha continued, stepping toward the Alpha he had pulled forward.
"We are able to be much more efficient in our fighting."
His wings suddenly lurched toward the Alpha, smothering him before they flinched away and the lead Alpha impaled his man in the chest. Blood splattered onto Evan's face, and he had to force the bile back to his stomach. If he showed any weakness they'd end him swiftly, taking Jonathan away and doing who knows what with him.
Take that back, I know exactly what they'd do to him. And I wish I could stop it from happening to anyone ever.
The impaled Alpha stared at the horn through his chest in terror before his eyes rolled back and he fell limp, sliding off the lead Alpha's horn in a heap.
"So Vanoss,"
The Alpha spat, turning his piercing stare to the elk-horn in front of him.
"What will it be? The Omega? Or your life?"
Fear tainted the vanilla and lavender scent, making Evan grit his teeth.
He wanted to run toward Jonathan and shield him from everything, but he knew that would end poorly for both of them.
Sorry, Jonathan.
He cursed in his mind, not taking his eyes off the Alphas in front of him.
He slowly moved his right hand toward his left, finding the face of his watch and pressing it.
There was no way he could tell if it would work, but he had to hope.
"So? What's your answer?"
The Alpha asked, clearly growing impatient.
Deep breaths.
Evan told himself, trying to calm his racing heart that was already pumping adrenaline.
Was his vision going red? He was pretty sure his vision was going red.
"I think you should back the fuck off."
Evan snapped, taking a threatening step forward.
Hm. Not as calm as I would have liked.
A couple of the Alphas snarled, but the one in front laughed.
"Oh, you're going to regret that."
The Alpha leaped toward Evan, and as Evan prepared himself to counter, his vision went black.