Chapter 3
Layla
The stark white transport bay door with an alien symbol, I can only guess, stands for the number three, splits down the middle, and whooshes open. Zayd presses a button on the console that’s lit up like a Christmas tree, and the transport floats inside.
Before us stand two hulking alphas, a woman at each of their sides.
The woman on the comm had made it clear that the alphas that would greet us would be mated and have their omegas with them, but that doesn’t stop my heart from racing or my stomach from churning with fear.
Will the scent of an unmated omega send them into a frenzy?
Will I be the cause of more death and heartache today?
That’s why, when Zayd reaches for the door release, I grab his forearm. His skin is smooth, covered in a short peach fuzz-like fur, but the muscle underneath is solid. Cords of steel, snake beneath the velvety lavender surface.
“What is it, Layla?” Zayd’s jaw flexes, and his nose flares. Being near me must be torture. Keeping him inside this transport any longer would be cruel.
“Nothing. Just… Thank you, again,” I say, swallowing my fear.
“You are welcome.”
The door beside me opens.
A woman with a sad smile introduces herself. “I’m Willow. Strykr,”—Willow gestures to the larger of the two males— “is my mate and Alpha leader of this pack. We are so sorry for your loss.” She offers me a hand, helping me out of the transport.
I don’t know her or any of these people, yet I feel an instant connection with them. Especially Willow. It’s a connection I’ve never felt with anyone except Sutton. That connection lets me take Willow’s hand and fall into her open arms, crying and thanking her.
“It’s alright,” Willow whispers as she strokes my hair. “You’re safe here.”
Behind me, the transport shifts. I let go of Willow to watch Zayd move Sutton’s body gently from inside onto the gurney hovering between him and the other two males.
“I’d like to go with him. For the blood test,” I tell Willow.
“Blood test? On your husband?” Willow tilts her head, confused.
I tell Willow what Zayd and I discussed on the ride here.
“Would you also be willing to let us test your blood?” Willow asks.
“Anything that will help get us answers as to why that alpha attacked us.” I know he came to claim me. But he shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t have scented. Never had the opportunity.
Did Sutton trigger my scent? Was it something else? Was that alpha targeting women regardless of their designation, and I scented in his presence? It was all just bad luck. Bad timing. Whatever it was, I needed to know.
“This is Angie,” Willow says, introducing me to the other woman. “She’s our nutrition specialist. Anything you want to eat, she can get it for you. She’s our lead medic’s omega.” Willow nods to the alpha leaning over the gurney, inspecting the bite on Sutton’s neck. “Razyr.”
With a few taps on the little screen on the gurney carrying Sutton, Razyr guides it toward the exit on the opposite end of the transport bay.
Willow and Angie each take one of my arms and guide me to follow.
I’m grateful for their support when my knees threaten to give out again, and my chest shudders with the sob threatening to burst out.
A deep, sharp growl breaks the silence, echoing through the sterile room. I whip my head around to see Strykr block Zayd dead in his tracks, his sight set on me.
Willow and Angie pinch me between them.
“Let her go, Zayd,” Strykr barks, but it doesn’t have much effect on Zayd’s stance. He challenges Strykr with another guttural growl, fighting against his grip when Strykr catches him as he lunges toward me.
“What’s going on?” I ask, fear churning in my stomach, along with something else. Something begging me not to leave this room. Begging me not to leave Zayd.
“Alpha things,” Angie says, smiling as she and Willow urge me to follow Razyr and my husband through the door that swooshes open in front of them.
“Why is he doing this? He was fine on the way here. He promised not to come after me. Not to claim me.” Rage licks up my spine, chasing the little part of me that feels regret for forcing Zayd to make that promise.
I hate that I have to remind myself that I love my husband. And I hate my body for disrespecting my husband, lusting after another, so soon after losing him.
“You weren’t being taken away from him then,” Willow says. “Now, he sees all of us as a threat.”
“Will he be okay? I don’t want him hurt. He can’t help it.” Why am I so quick to defend him? Why do I care so much about a male I just met?
“He’ll be fine,” Willow assures me. “This isn’t Strykr’s first rodeo.”
Exiting the transport bay into a long, abandoned corridor, I lock eyes with Zayd one last time. His all-black eyes pierce my heart. I have the overwhelming desire to break free from Willow and Angie’s hold and run to him.
Guilt sours my stomach. My husband lay dead not five feet away, his body still warm, and all I want is to wrap myself around a creature that looks too much like the one that killed him.
“My omega needs me. Let me go,” Zayd barks. His teeth bared and dripping with the same kind of venom that poisoned Sutton’s blood.
“She is not your omega, Zayd. She is a grieving widow. Show respect.” Strykr’s words must have found some recess of Zayd’s mind still capable of logical thought. His expression and stance soften just before the doors slide shut between us.
I stand there, supported by the women on either side of me, feeling more alone than ever.
“The medical comb is just around the corner here.” Angie squeezes my arm reassuringly.
Willow presses her cheek to my shoulder. “Everything will be okay. We’re here for you, Layla.”
I’ve lost my husband, and even though I’ve never had the desire to bond with an alpha, I’m lost without Zayd. As sweet and supportive as Angie and Willow are, it’s not their touch and comfort I crave. My body aches with a need I’ve never felt before. A need I know only an alpha can fill.
Shame buckles my knees when we enter the medical comb.
Willow and Angie brace themselves to catch me.
My body has never betrayed me like this.
I should be sick with grief. While I feel the loss of my husband in the pit of my stomach, I also feel something else.
Something I don’t even want to admit to myself is there.
When I recall the hard muscle and soft skin of Zayd’s arm beneath my hand, I can’t deny the desire that strikes a heavy rhythm in my core or the wetness soaking my thighs.
“What’s wrong with me?” I’m shaking, fighting back a scream as Razyr positions a needle on the crook of Sutton’s arm.
“You’re still in shock, Layla.” Angie and Willow guide me to a chair next to one of the many hospital beds lining the outer walls of the honeycomb-shaped room.
“No. It’s not—Oh, God.” Blood fills the syringe stuck in Sutton’s arm. I double over trying to stop the flow from my traitorous loins.
“You don’t have to be here. We can take you to your room. You can get some rest. Something to eat—Oh, shit,” Angie’s eyes widen when she sees the evidence of my shameful arousal darkening my jeans. “We need to get her out of here. Not even Razyr can resist the scent of this much slick for long.”
“Oh, my god, it hurts. Why does it hurt?” I double over, crippled by the pain.
“Shit! She’s going into heat. Fast! What the hell?” Angie gasps.
Like a distant thunder, the growl of alphas, following the scent of my slick, barrels down the hallway.
Lightning fast, Razyr bolts to the door, slapping his hand on the pad. The door whooshes shut, and he taps a code that I can only guess has locked us in and the others out.
The muscles in my core are on fire.
I scream, desperate for relief. “Help me! Please!”
“She needs an alpha,” Razyr grips the edge of one of the hospital beds. “I need my omega.”
“I’m sorry, Layla,” Angie says, leaving me to go to Razyr.
Razyr shreds Angie’s clothes from her body and bends her over the bed. When he pushes his pants down his hips, letting his massive cock free, I hate myself for wanting it. For wanting to push Angie off the bed and take her place. Let Razyr fill me up and ease the pain in my core.
“This is so wrong. What the fuck is wrong with me?” I cry.
Willow doesn’t answer. Her eyes are closed, her body completely still, like she’s not even here.
Seconds later, a male voice booms beyond the battle the alphas are fighting against the locked door. Soon, the hallway falls silent. Only half the problem solved.
“I need that,” I tell Willow through my tears and the pain wrenching my gut, gesturing at Angie and Razyr still barreling into her from behind. “Can an alpha do it without claiming me?”
“Yes,” Willow says, worry written all over her face. “But it’s not easy for them. And it’s dangerous. If you get caught up in the act and ask him to claim you, he will. And we don’t know your category yet. That alpha could die.”
“Zayd. Get Zayd. Please. He promised not to claim me. I trust him. Please.”
Willow closes her eyes and goes still like before. “He’s on his way.”
Guilt takes hold of me again, spotting my dead husband only a few feet away from me.
I’m sorry, Sutton. But it hurts so bad. And there’s nothing you can do to help me anymore.
Like the words in my head were a prayer that reached the heavens, Sutton gasps.
“He’s alive!” I scream, my pain forgotten as I run to his side. “Sutton, baby. I’m here. It’s gonna be okay.” I tell him again and again that he’s going to be okay as I kiss his sweat and blood-streaked face.
Like a spell is broken, Razyr and Angie pull away from each other. He utters a promise, “We will finish this later.”
Razyr then joins me at Sutton’s bedside. “Layla, please, I need to examine him.”
Inspecting Sutton’s wounds, Razyr mutters, “Impossible.”
“What is it? What’s going on?” I ask, worried he’s going to tell me I’m going to lose him again.
“Not only did he survive the alpha venom. His wounds are healing. Slowly, but definitely healing.”
“How can this be?”