Chapter 53

The golden gate leads to freedom.

That was the message hidden in the song, our supposed clue. None of us had any idea what the fuck it meant.

Frankly, we didn’t even know if the message was meant for us, or that it had anything to do with the disappearance of the band members wife, or any of the other Omegas that had gone missing from Eclipse. Maybe they just put it in there as an Easter egg, a weird little bonus for the fans.

But it was the closest thing we had, and I was desperate enough at this point to follow it.

So we spent the day putting together a list of every gate in Lunaris. There were the four outer gates, of course, which led past the walls into the woods and the Rogues, but they were all painted stark white. We narrowed down the other bridges based on color too, leaving us with only six to investigate.

"Are you sure about this?" Jordan's voice cut through my thoughts, laced with concern.

I turned to my friend, noting the worry etched on her face. "I have to visit them in person,” I said. “Who knows what we could miss if we don’t?”

Jordan's brow furrowed. "I know, but it's not safe for you to go alone. Let me come with you."

For a moment, I considered refusing. Jordan was my friend, and more importantly she was a civilian—I didn’t want to get her involved in what could become a dangerous excursion. On the other hand, I was only planning on looking around the gates to see if any of them were unusual, so it was just taking a glorified walk.

I wasn’t going to talk to anyone or ask questions, I wasn’t going to draw attention to myself. Then again, I’d made a pretty big stir in the media recently, so anyone could approach me… Looking at my friend's determined expression, I decided there was no reason not to have her with me.

"Alright," I conceded. "But we're just doing reconnaissance. No unnecessary risks."

We set a route that would take us past three of the six gates, deciding it would be best to break them into multiple days to not raise suspicion. We could scope out these three while we just so happened to be passing by them on our way to perfectly normal, acceptable destinations. Nobody watching us would put two and two together.

I donned a baseball cap, face mask, and sunglasses in the hopes of being less recognizable, and we set out.

Jordan proved invaluable as we navigated the pack's territory. Her knowledge of the land far surpassed mine, and she guided us efficiently from one gate to the next. Plus it was good to have someone to talk to as we walked, making me that much less suspicious and easing any potential boredom.

As much as we tried to act like two girls out on a casual day, though, I kept my eyes peeled.

The first gate was the closest, being the external gate to a stupidly overpriced gated community. Jordan pretended to stop to tie her shoe as we passed it, giving me a moment to look around. Most of the six gates, including this one, weren’t truly gold but wrought iron with large gold embellishments, but we couldn’t leave any stone unturned.

It was utterly ordinary. Nothing about it, or anything around it, stood out to me in the slightest.

The next was in the high-end mall, and I figured it was the one that saw the most traffic. It was also easier to loiter around, which was good because there was more on this one to see. It had the crests of all three major packs of Lunaris, a silent statement that it was neutral territory and anyone was accepted as long as they had the money to spend.

I looked closely at it, looking for any abnormalities in the crests or mottos, but I found nothing. The Latin was perfectly spelled, the crests were all correct, the animals were all facing the right directions… Another bust.

We couldn’t just walk into the mall and leave emptyhanded though, so to my chagrin we did actually have to do some shopping. I had ripped up most of the clothing Elroy had gotten me, so it was unfortunately necessary.

Thinking of him made my chest ache, and I had to shake him out of my head. I didn’t want to think about a different world, where I could bring Elroy shopping with me instead, showing him things, asking his opinions.

I didn’t want to imagine something I couldn’t have.

That ate up most of the day, mostly because store owners recognized me and wanted to fawn over me, hoping others would follow me to whatever stores I shopped in. It was moderately exhausting, but I did get the wardrobe essentials. I decided the empty spaces in the office bookcase could serve as my interim closet, so I kept my purchases bare-bones with the promise to come back when I was ready for more.

When we were finally free we walked back to the manor by another route, one that led us through the park. More importantly, it led us past the small zoo that was inside the park, and the third gate on today’s list.

We didn’t have to go in, but we did get a coffee and sit on the park benches just out front. It gave us a good excuse to spend a little time there, but there was nothing worth noting.

By the time we made it back to the manor the sun was starting to set, and our feet were starting to protest all the walking we’d done. “I’m gonna make notes on what we saw,” I sighed tiredly as we stepped into my office, setting down the bags. “While it’s still fresh.”

Jordan hummed, just as tired as I was, it seemed. “Not that we found anything worth noting,” she said. I shrugged.

“There’s always tomorrow,” I said, though I wasn’t very hopeful. "Thank you for coming with me today.”

Jordan smiled, her eyes warm. "Always. We'll figure this out, Olivia. I promise."

I settled into the office for the night, an ache settling in where my heart was as I realized I’d be spending another night alone. I had always been an independent person, but there was something about staying alone in a room that wasn’t even meant for sleep that just felt…sad.

Plus, I’d gotten used to Elroy’s presence, whether I wanted to or not. It was hard to sleep without it.

And, as my wolf reminded me, I wouldn’t be able to avoid him for long. Our pup still needs him, she said unhappily. They need the nourishment only he can provide.

I groaned, pressing my face into the pillow. "I know. I’ll have to go to him tomorrow.”

I didn't want to see him. Goddess Above, I didn't want to see him—just the thought made my chest burn and throb—but my wolf was right. It didn't matter how much it would hurt, the baby was growing every day and I could never risk my child’s health over a damned broken heart.