"We need to go…", Dawn told Talia while tugging on her arm.
Talia was swept away in dancing, and she needed a moment to comprehend that Dawn and Zina were next to her, urging her to leave.
She had no intention of going anywhere without an explanation.
"Where are we going?", Talia asked.
"Alpha mind-linked us.", Zina said in a hushed voice. "Everyone who can't fight needs to move to safe houses. He told us to take you with us."
"What? Why?"
"We don't know why.", Dawn said. "As Omegas, we need to follow orders. There is a security issue, and we can't fight. If we linger and things escalate, we will only be in the way."
Talia looked around and noticed that the number of women dancing reduced visibly. Does that mean the festival is over? What about Damon?
Talia glanced in the direction where Damon was, and she only saw a bag where he used to stand.
"Come on, we need to move.", Zina pulled on Talia's hand. "Don't run. We don't want to alert outsiders. You never know if troublemakers are watching us."
"My bag…", Talia cried while looking behind, in the direction where Damon used to stand.
"Leave things. Safety first.", Dawn said and pushed Talia to move.
Talia moved robotically while anxiousness swelled inside her.
Troublemakers? What if something happens to Damon? What if he gets hurt?
Talia was never in such a situation, and she had no idea what to expect.
"Do these things happen often?", Talia asked.
"Don't worry too much.", Dawn said with a comforting smile. "It's probably nothing."
Talia didn't believe her. "If it's nothing, why do we need to leave?"
"Our Alpha doesn't want to risk anyone's safety. We have these drills regularly. They will investigate and let us know when it's OK to return to our routine."
Talia didn't like this. She didn't like it, not even a little bit.
Why does she need to hide?
Sure, she can't fight, but hiding and waiting for things to settle while Damon and others are risking their lives didn't sound right.
She was imagining a fierce fight and numerous guys jumping on Damon and her heart ached. What if baddies have weapons? What if there are too many of them?
Yes, Dawn and Zina said that it's nothing, but if it's nothing, why would Damon leave that bag behind?
The bag! What if someone takes it?
Blackie and Cinna are there, and the insulated lunch bag that has food and juice and a hundred dollars in ten dollar bills that Stephanie gave her and Talia still didn't get to use any of it.
How can Talia face Stephanie if she loses that bag?
Cinna is her first toy ever and Blackie is a plushie that Damon won for her.
Each and every item in that bag was precious to Talia and she had to get it.
But Talia knew that Zina and Dawn won't let her go back. They were moving through the people on Alpha's orders and Talia used the crowd to give them a slip.
Talia moved to the left to disappear between the people and then she turned and dashed back to get her bag.
Damon worked swiftly with his warriors. With children, elderly, and non-fighting members out of the way, and many warriors mixed among the people, they could easily identify their own pack members. That didn't guarantee that some of them are not traitors, but it narrowed down the list of suspects significantly.
Damon also reached out to Alpha Maddox, Axel, and other Alphas, asking them to do the same.
In less than one hour, Damon had five people sent to the dungeon to be interrogated.
Damon was pleased to confirm that one of those five people was the main contact to two sketchy characters that general Ryder caught in the forest.
Damon's men knew that the priority will be to find out why those men were at the festival and with whom they worked. Damon was confident that he will get a report as soon as they find something, no later than the next morning.
It was not the first time for the Dark Howlers pack to go through this exercise as it's not uncommon for them to have spies infiltrating and rogues attacking.
This was like a fire drill but with werewolves and on a scale of a whole town.
With that business settled, Damon mind-linked Zina and Dawn to confirm their location and to tell them to stay put, and then he went to go to the safe house, to get Talia.
Dawn and Zina were contemplating escaping the safe house, or maybe escaping the planet, but they had a feeling that they can't escape their Alpha no matter where they go.
He told them to watch over Talia and to take her to the safe house, and they failed. The two of them huddled in the corner and waited for their doom.
Dawn and Zina looked like their souls were about to leave their bodies when Damon appeared at the door. Most of the people left the safe house by now, so it was just the three of them in the room.
Damon glanced around and his face darkened. "Where is she?"
Zina inhaled a shaky breath. "We lost her."
Damon was sure that his ears malfunctioned. "You what?"
"On our way here…", Dawn spoke in a shaky voice. "We lost her. We went back to find her, but it was in vain. Talia disappeared."
Damon told himself not to panic. Even he was unable to find Talia (more than once), so he shouldn't expect that two Omegas could accomplish where he failed.
Actually, Talia escaped under Damon's nose (more than once), and even his own warriors had difficulty finding her. She might be weak and skinny, but Talia is not easy to capture.
It was only about one hour, and his warriors were surrounding the Darkbourne, checking everyone who was entering and leaving the perimeter, via the road or through the forest.
Damon was confident that Talia was still in town. Every person living in Darkbourne belongs to the Dark Howlers pack. If Zina and Dawn lost Talia, there is a chance that someone else offered Talia a place to hide. After all, Talia is the MVP of the tournament, and many would recognize her as such.
Damon was confident that Talia is somewhere of her own free will. If she was in distress, he would feel it through the mate bond.
But, where could she be?
"Where did you lose her? Did she say something?"
Both Dawn and Zina shook their heads at Damon's questions.
A second later, Dawn froze. "The bag."
"What bag?", Damon asked.
"The bag you were holding. Talia wanted to go and get it, but we told her to leave it behind."
Damon chided himself internally. How could he forget about that bag?
He remembered how Talia hugged the wolf plushie, and he also remembered the worn-out Cinderella book that Talia brought with her from the Red Moon pack. Talia didn't have many things, but she cherished each and every one of them.
Damon was confident that Talia would jeopardize her safety for those trinkets. Damn it!
He was running all the way to the clearing where the bonfire was.
The bonfire was subsiding, but there were still a few dozen women dancing, and another group of giggling females joined in the fun.
The festival was ongoing without a hitch.
Damon went to the spot where he left the bag, and he was disappointed to see that the bag was missing.
Did Talia take the bag?
If she did, or if she didn't, that didn't change the fact that Damon was out of clues on where to find Talia.
'Steph? Are you in the packhouse?', Damon mind-linked Stephanie.
'Yes.'
'Did Talia come back from the festival?'
'I don't know. Why?'
'I took her to the bonfire. She wanted to dance for the Moon Goddess. We had a safety drill and I lost her.', Damon explained.
'How can you lose her?'
Damon didn't feel like explaining everything so he went with a short version, 'I told two Omegas to take her to the safe house, but she was not there. Can you check her room?'
'There is no need to check.', Stephanie said.
'You know where she is?'
'No. But you should.'
Damon didn't get it. 'What?'
'Talia is a responsible girl. If she was with you, she wouldn't leave without telling you. Think. Where could she be? Is there any place where you would look for her that she knows about it?'
Damon frowned. What place? The playing fields? Keith's screwing hideout? The ring toss game? The…
And then it hit him.
'Steph! You are brilliant!'
'I know. I know…', Stephanie grumbled, but Damon could hear that she was smiling.
Damon was back to running, this time toward the town square.
The town square was still packed with people. Music and scents of food filled the air, and the mood was merry.
Damon weaved his way between people and then he stopped to look at a lone figure standing below the clocktower.
Talia was holding the bag in front of her and twisting the handle nervously with both hands. Her eyes would dart over the faces of people just long enough to confirm that it's not Damon, but not too long to attract attention.
She was thinking about the security issue. If it was serious, how come all these people are still having fun like nothing is happening? And she was worried if Dawn and Zina will dislike her for giving them a slip, but Talia was worried the most about Damon.
What if something happened to him? What if he got hurt? What if he forgot about her?
A small breeze caressed Talia's cheeks, bringing to her the familiar scent of the forest and the dark chocolate, and she looked in that direction expectantly.
And there she saw him, standing unmovingly, unbothered by the people around him, looking back at her, like it's just the two of them in the world.
Talia stared as possessed while Damon walked toward her without breaking eye contact until he stood only half a step away from Talia and towered above her.
"Hi, kitten…", he murmured. "I'm sorry I left without notice. Something came up."
Talia's lips lifted into a smile as relief replaced her anxiety. It was Damon. It really was him. He came to find her, just how he said he will.
"You said that if we separate, I should wait here."
Damon nodded faintly. "Thank you for waiting."
"Thank you for coming to get me."
Talia inhaled sharply when Damon engulfed her in his embrace. She didn't expect that, not with all the people milling all around them.
Reluctantly, her hands moved around Damon, and she hugged him back.
"I will always come to get you, kitten, no matter where you are.", Damon whispered close to her ear and Talia smiled a little.
