CHAPTER 480: WHERE IS HE?

Maxwell woke up sore as hell. His whole body was screaming and he began complaining to the man beside him.

"I can’t believe you were such a damn beast yesterday. You were relentless. You should be so grateful that I allow you to-hello?" Maxwell’s heart dropped out of his chest as he realised that there was no one beside him. There was no one in the bed next to him, like he had expected.

Where did he go?

Did...did something happen to Andrew?

His heart racing, Maxwell attempted to sit up several times but his body just wouldn’t listen. Maxwell had been well and truly fucked the night prior. His body bent and pressed and squeezed in ways that normally happened over several days. He was a broken doll, and now was not the time for him to be that way.

Maxwell’s first thought was that he was in the bathroom. Maybe throwing up again. He’d thrown up last night, that was a possibility. Right?

Maxwell’s arms were noodles, his legs that of a newborn deer as he fell out of the bed and began to crawl his way towards the bathroom. He couldn’t smell, which he didn’t realise right away. Normally that was a way that he would be able to find him, but he realised he was wearing Andrew’s clothes and therefore wasn’t able to use his pheromones to trace him.

Panic was a lump in his throat as Maxwell dragged himself towards the bathroom. Please let him be there. Please let him be there. They had just come from Andrew’s worst nightmare, the worst nightmare of his Mom. He just hoped that Andrew was okay.

When Maxwell was able to finally drag himself to the bathroom and stopped on the tile, stomach first, he felt like he was going to be ill.

He wasn’t here.

Maxwell pulled himself towards the shower, just to make sure that he wasn’t there. Bile was in his throat as worry began to eat him alive. Where was he? If Andrew was here, and if he was okay, he would have heard Maxwell fall off the bed. He would have come running. Even from downstairs, he would have come running.

"Andy?" Maxwell called, wincing at the sound of his voice. He sounded terrible. Rough, but he had a voice. "Andy? Where are you?" Maxwell called, taking great effort to turn around and head for Andrew’s closet first, and then Maxwell’s. He knew that his nest had been touched, that he could tell, but nothing else.

Where was he? Where was Andrew?

Maxwell pulled himself back towards the bed, slamming his hand up and onto the top of his nightstand to grab his phone. He didn’t notice the piece of paper that fell to the ground with his phone and instead went directly to Andrew’s contact and began calling him.

Over and over and over.

He couldn’t hear Andrew’s phone in the house, in the room, so he wasn’t here. Maxwell had never felt this panicked, even when Andrew had been kidnapped. Then again, they had meant different things to each other at the time. They were working up to it, but they weren’t engaged with a wedding on the way last time.

Maxwell felt like he was choking. He’d never been this panicked before. Was Andrew even sane? Had he gone out in rut? Oh god, had he gone outside while he was in the middle of a forced rut?

His call went to voicemail and Maxwell had enough sense to leave a voicemail, but he was stuck on a loop. He didn’t call anyone else, he just kept calling Andrew over and over. No answer. No call back.

Nothing.

Then, there was a knock on the door.

"Maxy? Are you awake? I heard something fall against the floor so I thought you would come downstairs, but I didn’t see you or hear you after a while. You smell funny. Is everything okay?" Leo? What was he doing here?

Why was he here?

"Why are you over here, sweetheart?" Maxwell rasped and Leo, thinking that meant the coast was clear, pushed open the door. He had a hand covering his eyes, just in case, before he realised that Maxwell was fully clothed and on the floor.

"Alyssa! Come up here! I need help!" Leo shouted and Maxwell heard the sound of his older sister running downstairs. The heavy footfalls on the stairs could be heard throughout the house as Leo came towards Maxwell. "Are you alright? You look terrible, Maxy. More pale than usual." Maxwell would have laughed in any other circumstances. Leo was a funny child.

Maxwell was not in the mood for jokes.

Alyssa was huffing as she slammed against the open door, took in the surroundings, before she moved.

"Why are you on the floor? Are you hurt? Andy didn’t say anything about that when he left this morning." She said and it was like a wave of relief washed over him.

"He told you he was leaving this morning?" Maxwell winced internally at how whiny he sounded, especially in front of children. Alyssa nodded.

"Yeah. He also said that he was going to try to wake you up and tell you. My guess is either he was able to wake you up and you don’t remember, or you didn’t stir at all." Alyssa said, sliding her hands up under Maxwell’s armpits before slinging an arm around her shoulder. "Leo, other side." She ordered and her younger brother moved without a question. The siblings looked at Maxwell as soon as he was upright.

"Are you feeling okay? What’s wrong? Is there anything I can do?" Leo asked and Maxwell wanted to laugh. There was nothing a teenager could do for him at the moment, but he appreciated the care. Jenny and Kim were written all over their actions, and it honestly soothed a part of him.

Right. He could call the others. He’d been so lost in his panic that he had forgotten he could go to the others for answers.

"My phone." Maxwell rasped and Leo bent, picking it up off the floor. He passed it over to Maxwell and Maxwell pulled up the next best person to call, especially given who was at his house. Kim.

She picked up on the first ring.

"Maxy. Glad to see that you’re up. How are you feeling?" She knew a lot of information, which meant one of two things. Either the kids had told her, someone else had told her, or Andrew had told her. Maxwell was hoping it was the last one.

"Where is Andrew?" Maxwell asked and he could hear her pause on the other side.

"Did he not tell you where he was going?" She asked carefully and Maxwell let out a breath, aware both of her children were right beside him.

"I woke up and he was gone. Do you know where he is?" Maxwell asked again and Kim sighed.

"To start off, he’s safe, and-"

"How do you know that?" Maxwell asked, cutting her off. He knew he sounded a little unhinged, and that was because he was. Andrew, his Andrew had gone into a sudden rut last night. Something that had been brought on by the pheromones of other omegas. Maxwell did not see him change back into himself. He had been too damn tired to last any longer and had to go to sleep.

Sure, Andrew could have called others over, he could have been sane enough to do that, but what if he wasn’t sane at all? Andrew was good at faking it. He was a great actor, but he was still a baby in Maxwell’s eyes. He was new to having a secondary sex that affected his everyday life. He might have thought he was fine, and he wasn’t.

It wouldn’t have been the first time that Andrew would have acted this way, and that scared Maxwell the most.

Kim’s soft sigh on the other end of the line told Maxwell that he was being crazy. Her following words cemented that he was being crazy, but Maxwell couldn’t care about others opinions right now. Not when he didn’t know where Andrew was.

"He’s checking on Nicole, Maxy. He’s fine."

"You can’t know that. Did you see him? Speak to him? Did you look into his eyes and confirm that he was okay? You don’t understand what he was like last night, Kim. He was-he was saying things he wouldn’t before." Maxwell whispered into the phone. "I am worried about him. Is he okay?" Maxwell asked, his voice shaking.

"I spoke to him almost the whole way to the hospital. Pretty much right up until he stepped in through the doors. He was pretty sane the whole time, Maxy. I promise. You have no reason to worry about him in that regard. William is with him as well and he knows that Andrew had a rut yesterday. Your Mom put the fear of god into him so he is going to keep an eye on your fiancé." Kim sighed. "I really didn’t need two fiancés of true alphas to practically be threatening me this morning, and honestly, I didn’t expect one of them to be you, Maxy." Maxwell felt his cheeks warm at the chastising tone.

He didn’t think he would be like this either, but when he woke up alone, speaking to himself? It did something to him.

"He just came back from hell, Kim. How am I supposed to be normal and controlled?" Maxwell asked her and Kim was silent on the other side. Leo next to him gave a soft sigh, patting Maxwell’s free hand.

"Stop breaking my heart. He’s doing well. I’m sure he’s just busy and he’ll give you a call soon, alright? Let the kids take care of you. Leo has been taking after Jenny and can actually cook a real meal now. Let him do that, alright?" Kim’s voice softened enough that Maxwell found himself nodding.

Whatever this was, he had a feeling that someone had planned for Maxwell freaking out. Just not well enough.