The Omni-Wolf’s Choice novel Chapter 90

Chapter 90: Meditation with Mom…

Ryder’s POV

My office is wrecked beyond recognition.

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I needed something to give, because the agony in my chest was threatening to split me open. So I let it be the room. My desk has been broken clean in half. The couch is shredded down to exposed springs. Chairs, coffee table-gone. Splinters and ruin everywhere, like someone stacked kindling where an office used to be.

One thing survived.

A photo-Bridget and me-pulled from her phone. Taken after we were both marked.

Goddess, I miss her.

I have been trying to reach her and getting nowhere. Every so often I catch her-just a ripple of her energy brushing against me-and every time I call back, the connection collapses into silence. Talon hasn’t been able to get Mystique either.

I am losing my mind.

I pace the trashed room naked, then head for the closet and grab the shorts I keep there. Before I can pull them on, a knock lands on the door.

My mom.

“Dear… may I come in?” she asks.

I open it for her. She steps inside and takes in the destruction without flinching. Then she

turns her head toward the hallway.

“Rosalie, please have this room handled.”

A staffer hurries in. Shame crawls up my throat as I look at what I’ve done.

“Yes, Luna. Right away.” Rosalie starts moving through the wreckage, and she gives me

a look that’s more pity than judgment.

I’m going to pay her well for this. And I’m giving her time off.

My mother’s voice softens. “Come walk with me, son. Air will help.”

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I nod, drag on a T-shirt, and shove my feet into tennis shoes. Then I fall into step beside

her.

With each pace down the hall, the ache digs deeper. Bridget is the largest piece of my

heart, and it’s been torn away. Until she’s back, I’m not whole-no matter how long it

takes to fix this.

And the longer she stays out of reach, the more my wolf frays at the edges.

Outside, she guides me to a quiet spot and gestures to a bench.

“Sit,” she says. “I know your mind is screaming. But you need to calm it. We tried it your

way. Now we try mine. You’re going to meditate.”

“Mom,” I grind out, “meditation isn’t going to put me any closer to Bridget. I should be

chasing leads.”

“You can’t chase anything if you don’t know where to run,” she replies. “We’ll quiet your

thoughts and see if you can reach her that way. Close your eyes. Breathe-deep, clean

breaths.”

She starts chanting.

I force a slow exhale and let my lids fall, dragging my heartbeat down with willpower.

At first there’s only black. Then color bleeds in-bright, shifting bands behind my eyes.

The tension in my muscles eases, and the sensation changes, like I’m slipping out of my

body and being carried somewhere else.

The garden.

I’m there again.

No Moon Goddess this time. No figures at all. Just empty space and the same brutal ache

sitting in my ribs.

And then-her.

Caramel cake.

My mate. My Luna.

The scent hits, and instinct takes over. I sprint through the garden, whipping my head left

and right, calling like a man possessed.

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“Bridget! Bridget-where are you?”

I skid to the edge of a pond.

She’s there.

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Bridget sits on the bank, and when she turns toward me, she smiles. It’s luminous-too

beautiful for a place that’s been nothing but pain.

I rush to her. She rises with her arms already reaching, and I slam into her embrace,

gripping her like she might vanish if I blink. I pull back just enough to scan her face, her

skin, every sign of injury.

“Oh, Goddess, baby… are you okay?”

“Ryder?” Her voice wavers. Confused. “Where are we? How am I here?” She looks

around, then back at me, and her smile trembles. “This is a dream, right? This is the best

dream I’ve ever had.”

I keep her against me, holding tight. I could stay locked around her forever.

But something is wrong.

Her eyes are heavy, her movements sluggish, and the scent of drugs is on her. She tries to cling to me, tries to stay present, but her body is fighting to go under.

“Bridget,” I say, urgent, “do you know where you are? Where did King Griffin take you?”

She shakes her head slowly. “No. He keeps me in a room. No windows. And… it blocks

my magic.”

My jaw clenches.

“We are trying so damn hard to find you,” I tell her. “Listen. There’s a tracker in your

necklace. You have to get it out of that room so we can pick up the signal and lock onto

your location. Do you understand me?”

Her gaze starts to drift.

“Bridget-focus.” I lift her face, thumb brushing her cheek. “Get the necklace outside.

That’s how we find you.”

She’s fading fast. I tap her cheeks gently, trying to keep her awake long enough to

anchor the words.

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“Get the necklace out of the room,” she repeats, like she’s memorizing it through fog. “Okay… I can do that.” Tears spill down. “I miss you so much, Ryder.”

“I know, baby,” I say, voice breaking. “Keep fighting. We’re coming for you so damn fast.”

Her head tilts, listening to something beyond me. Fear flickers across her face.

“I think he’s coming back,” she whispers, thick and sleepy. “Footsteps… someone’s

here…”

“Okay.” I breathe. “Remember-your necklace. I love you, Bridget. I’m getting to you.”

She slips from my arms like mist, dissolving until the pond and the garden are empty

again.

I snap my eyes open.

My mom is still beside me, perfectly still. Her gaze is watery, like she saw what I saw.

She places her palm over my chest, right where my heart is hammering.

“She’s going to be okay, Ryder,” she says softly. “Your mate is strong.”

I swallow hard and stand, already turning back toward the fight.

“I have to find her,” I say. “I just… I hope she holds onto what I told her. The necklace. I

know she’ll figure out how to get it out. Somehow.”

Because once we have a signal, we move.

And then we end King Griffin.

We head back inside. Warriors are posted and waiting.

So am I.

We’re just down the hall from the war room when someone calls out.

“Ryder!”

I turn.

Alpha Aurelia strides toward us with roughly ten warriors behind her. She motions them

to stop while she closes the distance to my mother and me. Amid everything, we had

still sent the coronation invitation-yet her father, Alpha Zachary, had declined with

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“Luna Kendra. Alpha Ryder,” Aurelia says, dipping her head. “I’m sorry we weren’t here for the coronation. We came the moment we heard. We’re here as allies, to support you however we can.”

“I appreciate it,” I tell her. “Come in. We’re in the war room.”

My mother smiles, ushering us forward.

“Alpha Aurelia,” my mom says briskly, shifting into command, “we can place any overflow in the dining hall. Warriors are staged there for assignments, and there’s food

laid out.”

Aurelia nods and gives her men direction. Two stay with her; the rest head downstairs

toward the main dining hall.

When we enter the war room, my father is already talking.

“As soon as we have confirmation,” he says, “we need to be able to transport instantly.”

Beta Curtis answers, “To do that, we’ll need the strongest among us. A portal that large

won’t happen without serious power.”

Aurelia steps forward. “We got here as fast as we could. I heard you needed a portal big

enough to move an army.”

Her parents walk in right behind her.

They hadn’t been in the corridor seconds ago.

Alpha Zachary grips my hand in a firm shake. “I am truly sorry this has happened. We’re

here in any capacity you need, Alpha.”

He guides his mate, Luna Adriana, into the room.

I nod to both of them. “We’ll take every bit of help we can get. Thank you.”

Luna Adriana offers a steady, encouraging smile. “When you’re ready, we can combine

our power and move you and your forces.”

“We also brought additional warriors,” Aurelia adds, then leans toward the war table.

“Where are we with the location?”

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The display over the table shifts-new data blooming into view. A detailed, 4-D terrain

model hangs in the air. My father rotates the computer-generated map with his hands,

showing what has already been cleared.

“This is our starting point,” I explain, tracking the areas with my finger. “We swept the

castle, the three properties they own, and the family homes linked to the former king and

queen. All clear.”

I indicate the edges of the model. “Caves back into the land here-we have a team

inside. Forest behind it-we’re combing that too. And these underground tunnels-Elder

Preston got us the blueprints. They branch into a series, and teams are clearing them as

we speak.”

We have been tearing through ground.

And we are still no closer to Bridget than we were at the beginning.

“This is solid work,” Aurelia says. “Every section you eliminate narrows the search. You’ll

reach your mate.”

Luna Adriana steps away from the table, her expression focused. “Let me contact my

council of witches. If anyone has picked up a trace, they’ll tell me.”

She comes from a line of powerful witches.

If there is anyone who can find a needle buried in a haystack, it’s her.

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