And then I'm the one being crushed. Over six and a half feet of alpha slamming into me hard enough to lift my feet off the ground, his arms banding around my ribs like he's afraid I'll disappear if he lets go.
"Holy fuckingshit,Bells." His face is buried in my hair, his voice muffled and raw. "You just took off. Into the fucking woods. In the rain. We couldn't—Rafael tried to grab you and you just—do you have any idea how?—"
"I'm okay," I manage against his shoulder. "Phoenix. I'mokay."
He doesn't let go. If anything, he squeezes tighter, and I feel something wet against my scalp. He's crying again. Or still. Overmethis time.
"You found him." Not a question. A statement of wonder. "You actually found him."
"Yeah."
"How?"
I don't have an answer I can give him. Can't exactly explain that my omega hindbrain locked onto Rex's scent like a fucking GPS signal and dragged me through the woods until I found him sitting in the mud talking to his dead brother.
So I just shrug against his chest.
"Lucky guess."
Phoenix doesn't look like he believes me, but he lets it go. His hands linger on my shoulders when he finally pulls back, like he's not quite ready to stop touching me.
Rafael emerges from the penthouse door, phone still clutched in one hand. He takes in the scene with dark, unreadable eyes. Phoenix hovering over me, Rex standing apart like a ghost, both of us dripping onto the marble floor.
His gaze snags on Rex's hoodie hanging off my frame. The sweats I've rolled three times at the waist. His eyebrows climb toward his hairline.
"You're wearing his clothes," Rafael says flatly.
"Mine were wet. His were dry. It's not complicated."
"Riiiight." He draws the word out. "And you found each other. In the rain. At a cemetery."
"Is there a problem?"
"No problem." But his eyes are still fixed on the hoodie, something I can't read moving behind them. "Just making observations."
Phoenix steers us toward the penthouse door, one hand on my lower back. He reaches for Rex too, but Rex sidesteps the touch without acknowledging it. Phoenix's jaw tightens, but he doesn't push.
The penthouse is too bright after the dark cemetery. I squint against the lights, suddenly aware of how wrecked I must look.
Rafael falls into step beside me as we cross the threshold. Close. Closer than he usually walks.
"You scared the shit out of us," he says, low enough that only I can hear. "Running off like that."
"I had to find him."
"I know." His hand lands on my elbow, steadying me when I stumble over nothing. "But next time, you take backup. Yeah?"
"Understood."
His fingers squeeze once before dropping away.
Rex is already disappearing down the hallway, his wet footprints leaving a trail on the hardwood. He doesn't say anything. Doesn't look back. The door to Rafael's room closes behind him with a quiet click.
Not a slam. Not this time.
Somehow that's worse.
"Couch," Phoenix commands, steering me toward the sectional. "Now."