AN OMEGA'S CYCLE: TRAPPED IN HEAT WITH MY FOUR STEPBROTHERS.

NICHOLAS’S POV

We stayed in the shop for almost an hour, and the longer we waited, the more impatient I became.

The technician had my phone connected to his computer while he worked through the information he could access, occasionally asking me questions about when the messages had started and whether the number had changed at any point.

I answered everything I could remember while watching the screen, hoping that the next thing he said would finally give me something useful.

Jayden was sitting beside me, but he had become unusually quiet. He kept shifting in his seat and checking the time, and after I noticed him doing it several times, I turned toward him. "You alright?"

He smiled stiffly. "I’m fine."

"You don’t look fine." I frowned.

"I’m just not used to sitting around watching someone stare at a computer for this long." He adjusted in his seat, his voice remaining level.

I smiled faintly. "Neither am I."

He looked at the technician before lowering his voice. "Do you really think he’ll be able to find anything?"

Slowly, I shook my head. "I don’t know."

Jayden paused for a second, letting my response linger in the air for a minute before he replied. "Then you’re not worried?"

"Of course I am." I turned back toward the computer. "I’ve been trying to figure out who this person is for weeks. If this doesn’t work, I’m back where I started."

Jayden sighed. "You won’t be back where you started. At least now you know the number can be investigated."

My lips pulled down into a frown. "That’s not enough."

Jayden sighed heavily. "Yeah, I know."

The technician suddenly moved closer to the screen, and my attention immediately shifted toward him. "I think we’ve got something."

I stood up. "What?"

He didn’t answer immediately. His fingers moved across the keyboard while several windows appeared on the screen. I moved closer, trying to understand what I was seeing.

"I’m tracing the number through the available information," he explained. "It’s not giving me an exact location, but there’s activity showing up."

My heart started beating faster. "So you found it?"

The man shook his head. "Not exactly. Give me a minute."

I nodded and stayed beside him.

The screen continued updating and I felt like we were actually getting somewhere. The technician pointed to a section of information and began checking it against another result. "There," he said. "That’s the connection."

"Can you tell where it is?" I squinted at it, trying to make sense of what I was looking at.

"Not yet."

I watched the screen. Then everything changed. The information disappeared suddenly without a trace.

The technician frowned and tried again.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice raising in panic.

He checked the number once more. "The connection dropped." he sighed, pinching his nose bridge.

I turned to him in alarm. "What does that mean?"

"It means the phone is no longer communicating."

I stared at him. "Can you reconnect?"

He paused for a second, a skeptical look on his face. "I can try." He attempted several things, but nothing came back and after another minute, he leaned back. "The phone was just turned off."

My stomach dropped. "So that’s it?"

"For now, yes." He admitted under his breath.

I stared at the screen in disbelief. "You’re telling me we were almost there and then they just turned the phone off?"

"That’s what it looks like."

I stepped away from the desk and ran a hand over my face as Jayden immediately stood up. "Nicholas."

I raised a hand to stop him. "Don’t."

He waited as I shook my head and forced myself to calm down. "I thought this was going to work."

His voice remained calm. "I know. I know."

"I actually thought we were finally going to get something, fuck." I cursed, feeling the urge to ram a fist into the wall.

"We got something," Jayden said. "We know the number is active and that it can be traced. That matters."

I turned to him. "It doesn’t feel like it. You know what? Forget it. Let’s go."

The technician gave us a few final instructions and told us that if the phone was turned on again, there might be another opportunity to trace it. I thanked him, even though I was still frustrated, and left the shop with Jayden.

We walked together for a while before reaching the point where we needed to go in different directions.

"You sure you’re alright?" Jayden asked.

"I’m disappointed." I admitted, stuffing my hands in my pockets. "But you don’t have to worry about a thing. I’ll be fine."

He looked at me carefully before nodding. "Call me when you get home."

"I will."

"And if the stalker sends anything else, don’t answer immediately. Save everything." He reminded me.

I nodded slowly. "I know."

He smiled slightly. "Good."

We separated, and I continued toward home.

I had barely gone a few streets when I noticed the feeling again.

Someone was behind me. I slowed down and the footsteps slowed too.

Oh shit.

I turned around but nobody immediately caught my attention, so I continued walking.

A few seconds later, I heard footsteps again and this time, I stopped completely and turned around.

This time, I saw the person as they stopped too.

Who the fuck was that?

I stared at them from a distance and suddenly, the person tried to turn away.

Oh shit.

I started walking toward them with brisk steps and they immediately changed direction. "Hey!" I yelled.

They kept walking and I followed.

The person picked up their pace, and that confirmed what I had already suspected. I hurried after them until they turned into a narrow side street. I followed and finally caught up when they reached the corner.

I grabbed their arm. "Why are you following me?"

The person turned around and I froze seeing the face. "Elijah?"

He looked just as surprised to see me and for several seconds, neither of us spoke. Then I pulled my arm away. "You’ve been following me?"

"Nicholas—"

"Since this morning?" I hissed.

He hesitated and I almost laughed at the absurdity. "You have got to be kidding me."

He raised his hands in surrender. "I was trying to make sure you were safe."

I jabbed a finger into his shoulder. "You followed me all day?"

"I wasn’t following you all day." He sounded annoyed at me now.

A frown pulled down hard on my lips and I crossed my hands. "Then where were you?"

He looked away. "I didn’t go to class."

I stared at him. "You skipped class to follow me?"

"I wanted to make sure nothing happened to you." He muttered under his breath.

I laughed bitterly. "That’s pathetic."

His expression fell. "You don’t understand."

"I understand perfectly. You skipped your classes, followed me around all day without telling me and thought I wouldn’t notice."

Adrian looked mortified. "I wasn’t trying to spy on you."

"Then what were you trying to do?" I waited for an answer patiently. He didn’t answer and I shook my head. "You should have just stayed away."

"Nicholas, please."

"I’m going home." I walked away before he could say anything else.

He didn’t follow me and when I reached the house, everything was quiet. I opened the door and stepped inside, expecting to see someone in the sitting room, but there was nobody there. I started toward the stairs.

"Nicholas."

I stopped immediately. Elijah was standing near the hallway.

Of course he had gotten here before me. Alpha perks or whatever.

I sighed. "Not now." I had barely reached my bedroom before Elijah stepped in front of me. He looked like he’d been waiting for me, and judging from the frustration on his face, he clearly wasn’t planning to let me walk away this time. I stopped and stared at him, already irritated because I knew exactly what he wanted.

"Nicholas, please. Just listen to me for a minute."

I crossed my arms. "I’ve been listening to you for a month. What exactly is left to say?"

"I know you’re angry."

"Yeah, I’m not interested in hearing another apology." I rolled my eyes.

"I’m not here to apologize again." He quickly said.

That caught me off guard, and I frowned at him. "Then what are you here for?"

He hesitated before answering. "To explain what happened."

"You already explained what happened. You said you froze." I scowled.

"I did." Elijah nodded.

"And you think that’s enough?"

"No." He shook his head. "But you keep assuming I stayed quiet because I didn’t care what happened to you, and that’s not true."

I tilted my head, irritation heavy in my words. "Then why did you stay quiet?"

He looked away for a moment, clearly struggling with whether he should say what was on his mind. "Because you distracted me."

I stared at him. "What?"

"You heard me."

"No, I heard the words. I’m asking what you mean."

His jaw tightened. "Everything happened so quickly, and I wasn’t prepared for it. I couldn’t think properly because of you. You distracted me so badly that by the time the principal started shouting, I couldn’t even figure out what I was supposed to say."

My expression hardened."So you’re blaming me?"

He quickly shook his head. "I’m explaining."

I glared daggers at him. "It sounds like blame."

Elijah raised his hands in surrender. "I’m not saying you planned anything."

I scoffed. "But you’re saying I made you unable to think."

"I said you distracted me."

"And somehow that is supposed to make me feel better about you standing there while the principal humiliated me?"

"No." He sighed.

"Then what does it explain?"

He looked frustrated. "It explains why I froze. I wasn’t expecting any of it, Nicholas. I wasn’t expecting you to act the way you did, and when everything happened, I couldn’t process it quickly enough. I really am sorry, Nicholas."

I didn’t answer. I just shoved past him into my room and I closed the door behind him.

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