Chapter 27
This is What Happens
I should have known that my happiness wouldn’t last. Should have realized that somehow, some way, my father would sense I was on the verge of contentment, and ruin it.
I’m in my nest. Mine, completely and utterly, lounging on the bed, feeling sated and content from the very thorough dicking down I’ve just received from Tic and Jude.
After they’d finished melting my brain, my stomach growled and Tic had been quick to drag Jude to the kitchen to make me dinner, despite my protest that I didn’t need food right that second.
Tic pinned me with a look and simply stated, “yes, you do, angel.”
Jude laughed and followed, saying if he didn’t help, it would take too long and I’d get hangry. To which I’d tossed a pillow at him that had fallen woefully short of the distance needed to actually hit him.
And then I’d just lain here, feeling blissful, content, truly happy for the first time in a long time. My pack takes excellent care of me, both physically and mentally, and I’ve never felt so secure. I can’t wait to tell Ren all about it. I’ve just been too busy being loved up. Packed up. Bonded to my perfect pack and my fated mates.
Fated Mates. Holy cow, I still can’t believe that happened. Still can’t believe that Creed broke their pack bonds and, for the last few months, they’ve just been alphas staying in the same house and not a pack.
But now they’re my pack.
Mine.
I kick my legs and wiggle my arms as I squeal at the thought.
I’ve honestly never been happier. And I need to share it with the freaking world…. or at the very least, with Ren.
My brow wrinkles at the thought of my friend. I haven’t heard from her yet today, which is unusual, but not uncommon, especially if she has a long rehearsal. Which is becoming more frequent recently. Especially since she’s took time off while I was in the hospital. Her jerk of a choreographer has been making her stay later to make up for lost time.
I make my languid body move, and crawl to the table at the side of the bed, where Hale plugged in my phone for me to charge. Grinning like a loon, I pull up our text thread and shoot off a message that is appropriately vague but enticing enough that I know she’ll respond as soon as she gets it.
Some part of me expects an automatic response, but it doesn’t come. So after a few minutes of just staring at my blank screen, I sigh and climb off the bed. Might as well make my way down to the kitchen and watch my alphas cook for me.
My stomach gives another growl at the thought. Maybe I can convince Tic to make me a pre-dinner snack. Something to tide me over until our actual meal.
I grab one of Creed’s discarded t-shirts and slip it on before grabbing a pair of thigh high super soft slipper socks and pulling those on as well. Just as I leave my nest, my phone vibrates. When I check it, I find a video response from Ren.
I don’t understand what I’m seeing at first. It’s just blond hair and for a moment, I think Ren accidentally recorded a video and sent it to me. But then it pulls back and I see that this is very intentional.
The blood drains from my face. Florence, my best friend in the entire fucking world, is sitting in a metal chair with arms. Her knuckles are white where she’s gripping armrests, and her knees are spread, her ankles tied to the legs. She has tears falling from her kaleidoscope eyes, soaking her cheeks, dripping off her chin. But she’s still glaring at the camera, shaking her head. At me or the person recording her?
I can feel the bonds in my chest with my pack, feel their concern over what I’m broadcasting to them, but I can’t take the time to tell them, to let them know I’m okay, but Ren isn’t.
Her eyes widen and she shakes her head faster, pressing backward, feet kicking like that will help her get away. Whatever she’s seeing is terrifying to her, draining her of her courage.
“ Don’t move, ” a voice I recognize all too well barks. And Ren stops scrambling.
“No,” I gasp when I see what she does. A sledgehammer comes into view right next to her left knee. “No. No!” I shout at the phone, glancing around like I can find something to make this stop, to save her. But this is a pre-recorded video; anything in it has already happened.
Tears flow freely down my cheeks as Ren starts scrambling again, toes pressing against the tiled floor, trying to get away, to no avail. “Please,” she begs. “Please, don’t do this. Please, Senator Bell, don’t hurt me.”
“This is what happens when you defy me, girl,” my father’s voice rumbles through the phone, just before the sledgehammer swings in an arc. Florence screams, but I can still hear the sickening crack and crunch of her knee shattering. I watch as her leg bends at an unnatural angle, as red blood spills as a shard of bone punctures her skin. I watch as her scream cuts off and she passes out from the pain, slumping in the chair, head dipping toward her chest.
I bend over, vomit spilling from me as I heave.
There’s a thundering in my ears. My heartbeat, I think as I crumple to my knees and heave again. Tears spill down my cheeks, mingling with the mess on the floor. A hand tangles in my hair, holding it back. Another big palm makes a soothing motion up and down my back as I tremble and cry and wretch. I have no control over my body. None.
“We’ve got you, baby girl,” Creed soothes low and soft. “We’ve got you. You’re okay.”
“I’m sorry,” I gasp out. “I made a mess.”
“We don’t care about that, angel. You’re fine.”
“Tell us what happened, Haven. Are you sick?”
I shake my head, still trembling. “Ren.” That’s as much as I get out before I see the sledgehammer swing and I’m heaving again. Bile splatters on the floor.
Creed curses and scoops me up, carrying me into the nearest bathroom. I need to get it the fuck together because every moment I don’t is a moment where my father could hurt Ren even more.
Creed sets me on the floor next to the toilet and then turns to flick on the shower. Tic kneels in front of me, his brown eyes soft like melting chocolate, but I can see the tension riding him. Our bond is open and they can no doubt feel my fear. It has to be driving them crazy, not knowing what caused it. “Tell us what happened, angel. Please.”
I shake my head in denial, and his brow furrows. I don’t want to say it, because maybe… Maybe… it won’t be true if I don’t.
A scream rips through the air, and I jump. My fingers lose their grip on my phone—was I still holding it?—and it clatters to the floor, face up, showing Ren slouched in the chair, her knee bent at an unnatural angle.
Tic sucks in a sharp breath and scrambles to grab it up, to hold it closer to his face. A sob leaves me, and Creed pushes his pack mate out of the way, scooping me up into his arms. “Get that out of here,” he orders Tic. “Haven doesn’t need to see that again.”
I’m not even sure he knows what it is, but he recognizes whatever is on that phone is what’s upset me.
“What the fuck happened?” Hale shouts, slamming into the doorjamb. His frantic eyes search the small space until they land on me. “What happened? Are you hurt?”
Jude stumbles into his back, also seeking me out, scanning over me to make sure I’m not injured.
“Not our omega,” Tic says, thrusting the phone toward them. “Florence. The asshole got his hands on Florence.”
I whine, but it’s more like a keen, a wail of grief and pain.
“Not the fuck in here,” Creed growls, arms tightening around me as steam fills the room.
Hale’s fingers curl around my phone, brows drawn low. “We’ll handle this, mouse, I promise.” He disappears down the hall with Tic and Jude on his heels. I can feel their urgency, the need to make this right to save my best friend. I believe them when they say they’ll help her. Of course they will.
They’re my pack, and Florence is my best friend. My soulmate. They know I need her.
Creed sets me on the counter and carefully removes my clothes, not wincing the slightest at the vomit splattered on them or clinging to the strands of my hair. His motions are gentle, caring. Once I’m fully naked, he picks me up again and sets me under the hot stream of water, making sure I’m steady before he strips out of his clothing and then joins me.
He spends the next few minutes cleaning me, efficiently. No lingering touches, no caressing. It’s almost clinical, and I appreciate that. I don’t have the time or the wherewithal to give him more than this, standing mutely while he cleans me of my sick, a low purr humming from his chest the entire time.
I stare straight ahead until he’s finished. He wraps me in a warm fluffy towel and carries me back to my nest, setting me gently on the edge of the bed. I sway slightly when he pushes to his feet, leaving me only briefly to grab clothes from the closet. I’m numb, limp as he dresses me in a pair of leggings and a t-shirt, fuzzy socks on my feet. He braids my hair back and then slips my arms into a sweater that smells like Jude.
The entire time that he’s doing this, taking care of me, I’m shouting at myself to get it together. Florence needs me. The one person I’ve always been able to count on fucking needs me, and I’m just sitting here like a doll, letting Creed dress me.
Anger bubbles in my stomach. At myself, at my father. She should never have been a part of this. He should have just left her alone.
Why didn’t he leave her alone?
“He shattered her knee,” I say quietly, and Creed pauses in the middle of pulling on a pair of jeans. “He shattered it. She’ll never dance again.”
He frowns and kneels in front of me. “You don’t know that.”
My eyes drift closed, the image of her leg twisted at the wrong angle flashing through my mind. Creed hasn’t seen it. He was more worried about me, about taking care of me, than about figuring out what made me so upset. “She won’t,” I say with certainty.
“We’ll make sure she has the best doctors looking after her, baby girl. The best physical therapists. We’ll take care of her.”
I don’t doubt they will, but doctors can only do so much. “This is my fault,” I whisper, and his face goes hard, but the hands he uses to cup my face are soft.
“No. No. This is not your fault, Haven. This is Frederick Bell’s fault and no one else’s. You hear me?”
“I hear you,” I repeat, but it doesn’t mean I believe it. This is undoubtedly my fault. I need to be the one to fix it. I at least need to be a part of fixing it. Which I can’t do if I’m sitting here on the edge of my bed, letting Creed coddle me.
I push to my feet. My alpha stays kneeling. His hands grip my hips and he nuzzles his head into my stomach for a moment before standing as well. When I try to go around him, he doesn’t let me, big hands sliding onto my shoulders to keep me in front of him. “I need you to do something for me, okay, baby girl?”
My chin tips back so I can take in his features. “What?”
“I need you to let us handle this.” I frown, denial already on my tongue, but he keeps talking. “He wants you to react, to go after him, to give yourself up to save her. But baby girl, you have to know he won’t just let her go. Right?”
After a moment, I nod. Because he’s right. My father assaulted Ren. Kidnapped her, tied her up and shattered her knee. He can’t just let her go after that. Ren will go to the police. He can bark at her not to, but if she doesn’t, then Moira will, or I will.
Hell, we should do that right now.
We have the video, that’s proof enough, even if his face isn’t on the screen. Ren called him by his name. Senator Bell. It’s enough to convict him of assault of an omega. But the time it would take for the police to mobilize might be time we don’t have, time Ren doesn’t have.
“If I have to go to save her-”
“No.”
“To stall for time,” I continue, like he hadn’t protested. “Then I should do that, Creed. He won’t hurt her anymore if I’m there.”
“You don’t know that, Haven. He might hurt her more once he has you. Once he doesn’t need her.”
I hesitate. “Maybe I can talk him into letting her go.”
“That won’t work.”
Hadn’t I just agreed that it won’t? Hadn’t I just agreed that he won’t just let her go because she could bring him down?
“I can’t just sit here and do nothing, not while she’s being tortured.”
“She wouldn’t want you to put yourself in danger for her, Haven. You know that.” He’s getting frustrated with me, I can feel it, but he’s still so fucking careful, keeping his tone low and his hands gentle where they’re resting on my shoulders. “We can’t let you do that. You’re our omega. Our fated mate, baby girl. We’ll do what we need to in order to keep you safe.”
Creed gives me a pleading look. “Don’t make me bark at you to stay put, baby girl, please. Don’t make a liar out of me. Don’t make me break my promise to you.”
“But Florence,” I start and he cups my cheeks, thumbs wiping away my tears.
“I know, Haven. I know. We’ll get her. I promise we’ll get her, but you can’t do what he says. You can’t go in there alone. Okay? You can’t put yourself at risk like that.”
I want to argue. I do. But I know if I do, Creed will follow through on his threat. I don’t want to do that to him, or to me. Neither of us will come out intact on the other side.
I nod into his palms. “I won’t make you break your promise to me.”
He presses a kiss to my forehead with a sigh. “Thank you.”
I nod again, not meeting his eyes. “I’m going to check with the others, see what they’ve planned.”
He drops another kiss on the crown of my head. “I’ll finish getting dressed and be down in a minute.”
Stomach twisting, I leave him, making my way downstairs and to Hale’s office. The three other alphas in my pack huddle around his desk, talking in low voices, but they all look up when I enter. Jude’s on me in a second, his arms wrapped tight around me, my head tucked under his chin as he rocks us back and forth. “You’re okay.” It’s not a question, but I answer like it is one anyway, nodding against his chest.
“I’m okay.”
He blows out a breath and walks me over to the desk, keeping his arms banded around me. “Good, bellybutton. I’m glad.”
When we reach Tic and Hale, Jude releases me, allowing me to turn to regard them. “What have you figured out?”
Hale shakes his head, reaching over to link his fingers with mine. “Not a lot. We’re trying to figure out where he would have taken her but haven’t had any luck.”
“We called her guard,” Tic adds. “No answer.”
“Not surprising,” I murmur. It’s likely she’s at least severely injured, passed out, if not dead. That thought makes me sway a little and if not for Jude, propping me against his sturdy body, I’m sure I would fall to the ground again. “Ginny and Moira?”
“Safe,” Jude reassures me. “We spoke to both of their guards and them directly. They’re being moved to a safe house.”
My brows arch. “You think he might go after them, too?”
Hale shakes his head. “No, it’s not likely. I’m honestly surprised he went after Florence like this. That he’s there, that he recorded it and sent it to you. All of that is proof we can use against him.”
I shake my head. “He knows I won’t do that, not while he has Ren.” Which means he’s planning on keeping her forever, using her against me over and over and over, just like he said he would months ago at the hospital.
I’ll be back in captivity again, only this time my best friend will be trapped with me.
Fuck that.
And fuck him.
“He’s getting sloppy,” Tic says. “Frantic. This is a hail Mary, if I’ve ever seen one.”
“Feral,” I mutter, my conversation with Ren coming back to me. “He’s going feral without an omega or a pack to keep him grounded.” Without me to keep him grounded.
This is our fault. My fault. If we’d acted sooner, gone for his jugular instead of slowly chipping away at him, he’d be in jail and Ren would be safe. This would be over.
“We should have dealt with him ages ago, without Belinda,” I say, accusation heavy in my tone against them and against me. I don’t miss the look exchanged between the three of them. “You should have just gone after him with what you had when you realized you weren’t going to use me against him.”
I shouldn’t blame them. After all, they’re the reason we’re going to take him down at all, the reason I’m free, but they’re also the reason Ren is where she is right now.
“We didn’t want to risk-”
“Jude!” Hale barks at him, making the other alpha cut off. “Enough.”
I frown, not liking the guilt that’s swamping their sides of the bond. “You didn’t want to risk what?”
Tic runs a hand down his face. “You said you’d stay with us until your father was taken care of. We held off to have more time with you. We didn’t think… He never struck us as the time to do something like this.”
I stare at the three of them, warmth at their declaration that they wanted more time with me and anger at how incredibly careless they were with everyone’s safety warring in my guts. “What about after we found out he straight up murdered my mother? Did it occur to you he might be this type of dangerous, then?”
Another exchanged look. “So yes,” I answer for them. “And yet we’ve spent the last few days fucking in the nest while Ren was just out there-”
“Mouse,” Hale cuts off my tirade, stepping into me and cupping my cheek. “We did everything we could to keep Florence safe. She was under twenty-four/seven security detail.”
“It obviously wasn’t enough,” I whisper the memory of the snap of her bone, the odd angle of her knee, the scream that ripped from her chest, making my voice rough. “It wasn’t enough, Hale.”
He nods and presses his forehead to mine. “I know. And I know you’re angry and we’ll deal with that later, after Florence is safe. Okay? Right now, we need to focus on her.”
I swallow and nod, guilt swelling in my gut. I’m wasting time being angry at them, wasting time standing here blaming them, when what I need to be doing is figuring out where my father’s keeping Ren, so I can get her out.
I need to get her the fuck out before he hurts her anymore.
I jerk my chin at my cell phone resting on the top of his desk as Creed comes in looking like some kind of futuristic soldier in all black with cargo pants, a long-sleeved shirt and two holsters strapped on his chest. “Did he send anything else?”
Another look exchanged between Jude, Tic and Hale, before the prime sighs and nods. “He sent a text that demands that Haven go to him alone.”
“Where?”
“He didn’t say.”
“And it doesn’t matter, because you aren’t going anywhere near him,” Creed growls. I don’t agree with him. He notices. “ Haven. ” My name is a growl on his lips. “You aren’t going anywhere near him. Especially not alone.”
I take a deep breath through my nose. “I’m not leaving her with him.”
“Of course not, button. We’ll get her out.”
“I could be a distraction,” I tell them. “Go in first and keep him occupied while you come in after.”
“We have no idea what his mental state is, angel. He could drug you again, bark at you again, injure you. He could kidnap you before we can get in.”
I take a deep breath. “He would have to break through Hale’s bark first. My bonded alpha’s bark. He’d have to get close to me to drug me, and I won’t let him. He doesn’t want me dead. He wants me to help him pretend to be a family man. He wants me under his control. It’ll be ten minutes tops of me being alone with him.”
Creed’s shaking his head frantically while Jude looks sick and Tic has no emotion whatsoever on his face. I can feel their reactions to my suggestion. The visceral need to protect me, to keep me from every dangerous situation, any instance where I might get so much as a paper cut.
I send soothing vibes through the bond and a fair dose of reassurance. “I know your alphas are telling you to protect your omega. My omega is telling me to let you. Believe me, I would like nothing more than to wait on the sidelines while you go in and handle this-”
“Then let us, mouse. Please.”
I shake my head slowly. “I’m not weak. I never have been.”
“That’s not what we’re saying, button. You know we think you’re strong as hell after everything you’ve survived.”
“I can handle my father, can handle being in the same room with him for a few minutes. I’m strong enough to protect myself.”
“You shouldn’t have to, angel. It’s what we’re for.”
“It’s our whole fucking purpose now, baby girl.”
It would be so easy to just let them handle this for me. But I need to be there, need to help Ren. Need to have closure. I’m not sure I’ll be able to fully move on from everything he’s done to me if I don’t witness his downfall firsthand.
“I can go in first, suss out the situation, figure out how much danger Ren is in. I’ll be in contact with you the whole time.” My hand drifts up to touch the space between my breasts where our bonds throb and glow. “If I feel even for one second that I’m in any genuine danger, you’ll know.”
All four of them stare at me and I can tell they want to say no. It’s on the tip of their tongues. “I’ll go whether or not I have your support. You’ll have to bark at me to keep me away.”
Creed gives me a pained look. “You promised, baby girl.”
“So did you. You swore to never bark at me. Are you going to break it now?”
“Hale didn’t promise that shit,” Jude says, sounding pissed off that they didn’t foresee this coming.
“That’s right,” Creed exclaims, latching on to the thought like a drowning man. “He promised he’d only use it to keep you safe.”
The three other alphas stare at their prime like they expect him to just bark at me right this moment to keep me here, in the safety of the house. But Hale’s watching me, weighing his words carefully. And I know he will not bark at me over this.
Steadily, I meet his gaze. “I’m being rational, Hale. I have the best chance of getting in. If the four of you go in with your guns blazing, Ren could be dead like that.” I snap my fingers in front of his face. “I could never live with myself if that happened.”
“We’d never live with ourselves if something happened to you, little mouse.” He scrubs at his face. Blows out a breath through his nostrils. “If you’re doing this-”
“Motherfucker, no!”
“I will fucking end you, Hale.”
“Just bark at her, please .”
Hale ignores Jude and Tic in order to glare at Creed. “Bark at my omega and have her hate me for the rest of our fucking lives? Force her into something against her will, like her father has done repeatedly? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Creed’s mouth snaps shut and I feel his guilt hit hard and fast. Hale keeps talking, including Jude and Tic, in his stern look. “Haven isn’t our prisoner. She’s not our property. She’s our partner . Our equal. If she wants to do this, she’s going to fucking do it. I’d rather she have our support than have her sneak out, like we all know she’s capable of doing and taking on her father alone.”
Creed’s eyes slip closed and his head tips back as he fists his hands so hard his knuckles turn white. “Fuck,” he growls, while Jude and Tic move closer to me, brushing their hands over my body in apology. “Fuck!” Creed shouts.
His chin drops and his sharp gray gaze lands on me. “I’m sorry, baby girl. I never should have suggested it.”
I give him a soft smile and move into his space, wrapping my arms around his waist and burying my face in his chest. “I know, alpha. It’s hard, but you can do it. I believe in you.”
His arms close around me, holding me so tight my ribs ache. “I’m honestly not sure I can, Haven. I’m not so strong that the thought of losing you doesn’t cut me off at my fucking knees. I’ll fucking die if anything happens to you.”
His lips brush over the top of my head repeatedly. “It’ll be okay,” I whisper into his black tactical shirt.
He hums but doesn’t argue.
“If you’re going to do this,” Hale says, continuing his thought from before. “You’re going in with a bullet-proof vest and a weapon. We’ll be only two blocks away. And I’m going to bark at you again to ignore your father’s commands. You’ll be as safe as you can be. Deal?”
I nod. “Deal.”
Jude blows out a loud breath. “Now that we’ve got that settled, we need to figure out where the hell he is.”
Right. My father demanded my presence, but didn’t say where to meet him. “Did we ask him?”
“Yep. No response.”
I pull away from Creed and move toward my phone, approaching like it’s a wounded animal ready to bite. “Play the video again. Maybe we’ll see something in the background.”
Tic runs a hand down my spine. “You sure, angel?”
I nod. “Yeah. Maybe just… turn the sound down.” I don’t think I can handle hearing the crack of her bone, the scream ripping from her chest again.
Jude does as I ask, and soon we’re all bent over the screen. I make my eyes focus not on my friend, but on the space around her, the white walls and the metal shelving. It’s weirdly familiar, but I’m not sure why. Still, an uncomfortable feeling twists in my stomach.
When the video stops, I demand, “play it again.”
This time, I note the heavy door with a metal handle, and it clicks into place. I gasp and look up into the icy blue eyes of my prime alpha. “I know where she is.”