Chapter 48
EMME
The look of astonishment on Kellan’s and Finley’s faces when I opened the door and found them crouched behind the Bugatti would stay with me forever. Their handsome, perfect faces… jaws ajar and eyes wide.
Still, it did very little to ease the relentless throb of our missing bond, which grew more painful with each second.
Especially now they’d told me that they hadn’t heard from Hunter, Slade, and Talon, and the plane had gone down. They’re fine. No simple plane crash could kill my mates. Never.
Oh goddess.
We remained in a silent huddle as more enforcers and healers showed up to the Annandale pack house. “What was the weird thing stuck to the front door?” I asked them, as a way of distracting myself from my howling wolf and dark thoughts.
Kellan offered the answer. “It was designed by Hunter and Slade to disrupt magical shielding. It didn’t work of course, but we were desperate for anything that might get us in to you.”
I loved them for trying to save me, but I was also thankful they couldn’t get in. Jewels wouldn’t have hesitated to wipe them out, as the two least resistant to magic. Though, with our bond intact, they might have had my magic to help them.
“The spies this time were our friends,” I said, shaking my head as I stared over the gathering crowd of shifters.
We remained off to the side, waiting for Hunter’s assistant to give us an update.
A few minutes later, two council members and two enforcers approached us.
I knew them all by face, but their names eluded me in my agitated state.
“Alpha Kellan and Alpha Finley! Can you tell us everything that happened…”
Both the boys released animalistic sounds, reminding the council to tread very carefully. “Our mate, Emmeline Anders, is the one who saved the whole fucking city,” Kellan bit out, not remotely trying to be polite.
Finley nodded. “But since we don’t want you even looking at her, we’ll explain.”
They filled them in on what they knew, in short blunt statements.
“If you need more information from us, it’ll have to be later,” Kellan finally said. “Our pack needs us, and we have to go—”
My wolf jolted and her howls died off to be replaced with an excited whine. A beat later, Kellan’s wolf was rumbling happily, and Finley’s bear was in his eyes. My heart stopped at the sight above us: two dragons charging through the air, moving so fast that they were a blur.
Pushing my way into the gathered crowd, who were losing their shit at this majestic sight, I raced for the end of the street.
Kellan and Finley on either side of me. Any shifters who got in our way were barreled over by my hockey-playing badass mates, and it was nice to know that while I could take care of myself, I didn’t always have to.
We were a team.
We were a pack.
When we cleared the crowds, I sprinted like my life depended on it, tears streaming down my cheeks in thick, hot rivulets.
I’d been trying my best to hold it together until we knew what the verdict was from the rescue team heading for the plane, and all of that suppressed emotion burst out of me in a gush of relief.
The dragons landed smoothly. Hunter was on Slade, while Constantine perched on Talon’s back. A cry echoed up from my chest, and it was a mix of human and beast, a broken, jagged call.
All of my family was safe.
My fucking world didn’t end today.
It. Didn’t. End.
Hunter hit the ground at a run and scooped me into his arms as the dragons circled us, cutting off Kellan and Finley.
My entitled alpha’s chest rumbled so hard it shook my entire body.
He didn’t speak, choosing to bury his face in my neck.
He took long, ragged breaths, and I was bawling like a fucking baby.
Big gulping sobs.
Snot everywhere.
A fucking mess.
“Omega… baby… mate… I love you.” Hunter’s rapid, desperate words spilled into me as he held on so tightly my ribs ached. Any lingering pain from Jewels was gone, and I welcomed his firmness against me.
The heat of the dragons enclosed us, and for the first time in hours, I felt warm and safe.
When Slade’s snout glided down my spine I choked on more tears, and while there was nothing of our bond left, I could feel how badly his beast needed the reassurance I was alive.
Talon’s too. Hunter didn’t release me, but he did rearrange our positions so I could also hug their dragon snouts, coating their scales in tears.
Both beasts released a purring rumble that was one of the saddest, most soothing sounds I’d ever heard.
The dragons eventually allowed Slade and Talon to return to their bipedal form. There was an electric blast of energy in the air, leaving me with two massive, very, very, naked shifters.
Slade didn’t remove Hunter from me; he just wrapped his arms around both of us, and I could feel the desperate relief from him as he clung on, Talon joining in on my other side.
“I love you,” I choked out. “I love you all so fucking much. For a brief second I was facing this world without you, and I would not have survived it.”
Slade and Talon buried their faces against my neck, and all three alphas just held me. Breathed me in. Reassured all of our beasts that we were still here. Alive. Together.
As our scents mingled, that dull echoing ache that had existed from the second I broke our bond started to heal, just enough so I could breathe without feeling like there was a puncture in my lungs. And my heart.
After what felt like the most therapeutic hours of my life, though it was probably only ten minutes, the alphas finally stepped back. All three of them stared at me as if the world around us had ceased to exist.
I met Hunter’s blazing gold eyes, Slade’s piercing green, and finally the bisected black and green of Talon. Their gazes were heated and feral. If dominance worked on me, I’d be crushed under what they exuded.
“You’re in so much fucking trouble, mate,” Slade rumbled, his voice dropping to that unattainable dragon pitch. “You broke our quintet bond.”
Hunter grunted. “Oh yes, our bratty little omega,” he rasped, the bass in his tone sending shivers down my spine. “You never were great at following orders.”
Talon just rumbled as if he was beyond words, and I reached out to capture his hand.
“I’m so fucking sorry I put you all through that,” I said, and I was relieved when they backed up enough to allow Finley and Kellan into our circle. Well, they were the circle, and I was the wolfy in the middle. Surrounded by five alphas.
I really liked that number. New favorite number
“I wasn’t even sure I could go through with it,” I said, my voice wobbling as I tried not to cry again.
“But Jewels was going to kill me to take you all out, and I couldn’t let that happen.
She had me, our bond, and the house locked down with magic.
My only hope was to destroy the quintet and disrupt her plans.
” My limbs trembled in time with my voice as the pain flooded me.
“When that magic severed our bond, it felt like I’d carved out my own heart.
Then I was forced to keep carving it up into pieces. ”
Hunter’s nostrils flared as he took a few fortifying breaths. “You most likely saved all of our lives, little omega. Jewels would have killed you before we could get back here, even going as fast as we were.”
“We were locked out of the house from her forcefield,” Finley added. “No matter what we tried, or how many enforcers joined us, we couldn’t get inside.”
“We tried to use the disruptor prototype,” Kellan added with a sheepish shrug, “but it didn’t seem to work. I have no idea what we did wrong, but in the end, Emme saved herself… and all of us.”
Even without our bond, I felt the pride beaming from Hunter. His right hand slid up to my throat, cupping his claim there as he leaned down and softly pressed his lips to mine. I almost blacked out from how fucking good he felt and tasted.
“I never doubted your strength for a second,” he purred, after what was a chaste kiss for him, but still leveled me with its intensity.
Before I could reply, Talon stole me from our entitled alpha, and his kiss was fierce. His hands cupped the back of my head as he demanded entrance, his tongue dancing with mine. The ashy sweetness of his touch had my head spinning, and I was gasping for air by the time he pulled away.
Slade, my scariest and hardest-to-crack alpha stepped into me, blocking out the rest of the world.
His eyes shone, and I could have sworn a tear lingered on the edge as he stared into my face.
“I thought we lost you,” he whispered, and when his voice broke, my heart fucking broke.
Again. It felt like the moment I severed our bond was happening all over again.
“When you broke the bond, our dragons went ballistic, and we burst through the walls of the plane.”
I jerked my head toward Finley and Kellan, wondering if they’d known I was the reason for the plane crash. Their shuttered expressions gave away their guilt.
Sorry, Kellan mouthed, and I decided that we had more important shit to worry about than their need to protect my feelings.
“Your father cushioned us from the explosion with magic,” Slade continued, bringing my attention back to him. “Even as tapped out as he was from our fight in the underground bunker. We left the pilots and crew near the wreckage and raced back here. All the time fearing we’d be too late.”
Your father cushioned us. I hadn’t had a chance to even see Constantine since he’d slid off Talon’s back, but I owed him a huge thanks.
He’d saved my pack and therefore my life.
“I want to hear about the fight that you guys promised me you wouldn’t get in,” I said, narrowing my eyes as I reminded them I wasn’t the only one who’d broken a promise.
“Then I’ll tell you about Jewels, Warrick, and Cora.
” I sniffled, wiping my eyes on my sleeve.
“I can’t believe that in my quest to save you all, I almost killed you via plane crash.
I promise, the irony is not lost on me.”
Slade cupped my face, his big hands catching the rest of my tears. “You made the logical choice at the time. Don’t punish yourself. The goddess knew what you were doing.”
When he kissed me, my knees buckled, and he grasped my thighs to keep me from falling.
Flexing his strength against my skin, he drew me slowly up his body until our faces were the same height.
When he tilted his head back, a feral smirk lifted his lips.
“I will be getting my mark back on you, Snow. To-fucking-day.”
Yes. YES. All the yeses.