Chapter 22 #2
He groaned, turning to face me. “Five more minutes,” he said, wrapping his arms around my waist and tugging me close. Butterflies erupted in my stomach as he rested his head on mine. He smelled so nice, and was so large, and warm and—crusty?
Ew ew ewwwww.
“Uh-uh!” I said, wriggling out of his grasp. “No cuddling when you’re covered in spunk!”
“Oh,” he grunted. “Uh, sorry.”
“Don’t uh, sorry me. Go get clean!” I said, pointing at the bathroom.
He gave a long-suffering sigh before slowly climbing to the edge of the bed. “Coffee?” he asked hopefully.
“After.” I pointed at the bathroom again.
His shoulders slumped, and he sighed again before slowly standing up.
I called the front desk to let them know we were leaving before continuing to pack up our stuff.
“Hello?” There was a knock on the door, and the pink-haired omega from before poked his head into the room.
He gave me a smile as he stepped inside. “Just wanted to check if you needed anything,” he said, giving me a soft smile.
I was saved from trying to remember his name, courtesy of his name tag. “Thanks, Kit. I think we’re good.”
Just then, Jewel emerged from the bathroom, clad in a silky robe. “Jade, the skin cream they have here is di-vi-ine,” he sang. “Come, feel my face!”
Shit.
We all froze, Jewel and Kit staring at each other.
Jewel slammed the bathroom door closed, right in Casey’s face.
“Jewel?” came a muffled voice. The door handle wiggled, but Jewel jammed a chair underneath it.
“You’re Jewel Tate,” Kit whispered.
“Shit.” My eyes darted to the door, wondering if I could make it before Kit. God, what were we gonna do? Maybe we could tie him up and run out the window?
While I was thinking, strong arms grabbed me and whirled me around. I found myself crushed to Jewel’s chest, my face mushed against his pecs. I struggled, to no avail. What the fuck was he doing? I was not the one he needed to grab right now!
“Don’t worry!” Kit said. I heard a step, but couldn’t see a thing because of the death grip Jewel had me in. “You’re safe here. We would never turn you in.”
Also, where the fuck was this Kit guy’s survival instincts?
“Uh, Scout’s promise. Actually, the Institute was trying to search us, but Juni wouldn’t let them in. Said they needed a signed warrant.”
There was a pause. I tried to kick Jewel but couldn’t get leverage. I did manage to wriggle my head free.
“It’s funny. I kind of believe him,” Jewel mused. “I mean, look at that face. He’s so fucking cute, it hurts.”
Kit's cheeks went almost as pink as his hair.
Jewel cocked his head to the side. Kit’s smile faltered, and I saw his throat bob.
Jewel kept staring as he talked to me. I shot what I hoped was an apologetic look at Kit. “It's the strangest thing, Jade. I can't decide if I want to squeeze him or smother him. My, my, I could just eat you alive.”
Kit gave an uneasy laugh and finally took a step back. “D-don’t you mean eat you up?”
Jewel grinned, showing his sharp omega canines. “That’s what I said, didn’t I?”
There was a pause as Kit’s hand fumbled with the doorknob. “Ah, um, I'm just gonna go get someone, soo….”
He practically ran from the room.
I glared at Jewel. “Can you not be psycho for, like, five minutes?”
Instead of answering, Jewel nuzzled into my hair.
There was a knock from the bathroom. “Hello? Can we come out now?”
Jewel sighed and let me go. I removed the chair jamming the door handle and let Casey and Hugo out.
“Right. Clothes on. You heard the lady, we have to get out of here,” Hugo ordered.
Jewel scowled as I made him put on a baggy shirt and faded pants.
Kit returned a minute later, this time with a willowy dark-haired omega at his side. Juniper Anders, the one who’d looked so composed as she’d given the interview the other day.
She looked far from composed right now. Her golden eyes blazed as she stormed into the room. The explosion of sour cherry fury coming off her almost burned my nose.
“Did I hear that you were threatening my mate?” she snarled.
Oh. Found Kit’s survival instincts.
Jewel visibly paled. “Ah—mate?” He grabbed my arm, pulling me closer. “Me? Nope. No. I would never. And if I did, that would be a big mistake.”
Juniper narrowed her eyes.
“And I would, of course, offer my complete apologies.”
Well. That was as close to a sorry as she was going to get.
“It’s fine, Juni,” Kit squeaked, grabbing on to Juniper’s arm. “Really.”
Juniper held her glare for another second. Kit stepped forward and slipped his hand into hers. The sour cherry scent was eclipsed by a wave of candied almonds. Juniper leaned over and whispered something in his ear. He shook his head, and she sighed, crossing her arms.
“Look, we were just leaving,” I said, anxiety causing me to bounce on my toes. “Thank you so much for having us. I don’t know what we would have done without you.”
“You don’t have to go.” Juniper shared a glance with Kit. “This is the Safe House. We protect our own. Over my dead body will the GPRE get through those doors.”
I swallowed, my skin prickling as I processed what she was offering.
“That’s very kind, but we don’t want to cause you any trouble,” Jewel said. He’d recovered himself and was back to his usual smooth talking. “We have a place to go, we just got a bit sidetracked.”
“Are you sure?” Kit asked. “You don’t need help?”
“Actually, we wouldn’t mind a ride,” I told him.
“Done,” Juniper said. “And don’t worry. You were never here.”
In a very short amount of time, we were packed and ready to climb into one of the vans. Juniper and one of her alphas, a tall, skinny dude named Jhin had come to ensure everything went smoothly.
“Right. Thanks,” I said.
Juniper folded her arms. “Good luck. If you ever need somewhere to ride out a heat again, we’ll be here.”
“That depends,” Jewel wound his arm through Hugo’s and gave her a wink. “Do you come with the room?”
In half a second, the previously genial Jhin had pulled Juniper behind him, a snarl on his face.
Hugo, meanwhile, had also snarled, hoisting Jewel up like a baby koala.
Jewel preened, looking like the cat that got the cream as Hugo marched him off to the car.
I was left to apologise and hurry after him.
Juniper didn’t look super annoyed; her cheeks had pinked a bit.
A grumpy-looking alpha with white-blond hair, and a smaller alpha who never seemed to stop talking, gave us the ride. Jewel had been staring at them intensely for the last five minutes.
“I swear I know you guys from somewhere,” he said.
“Maybe. You ever ride in an ambulance, dude? We used to be paramedics,” the cheerful alpha replied.
Jewel snapped his fingers. “That’s it! The paramedics did that shirtless photo shoot, right? With the puppies? Your pack was July.”
“Nope,” the grumpy alpha said, fingers tightening on the wheel. “Must be thinking of a different pack.”
The smaller one smacked him in the chest. “What? Yeah, we did. How did you forget that, dude? A puppy peed all over your shirt!”
I burst into laughter, and the grumpy alpha clutched the steering wheel so tight his hands went white.
They dropped us off at the outskirts of the city, and I led my pack to a beaten-down van. Mord had come through, despite our initial plan falling apart. I opened the door and found the keys on the dashboard. The others climbed inside.
“So, what’s the plan?” Jewel asked, leaning forward so his head hovered between me and Hugo in the front. Casey’s jacket was underneath him, so he didn’t have to touch the seat.
“Boston.” I started the engine, which sounded like it had seen better days.
Jewel wrinkled his nose, though that might have been due to the exhaust fumes filling the space. I rolled down the window.
“Boston? Why?”
“Because I have a place there. We can lie low while all this shit gets sorted out.”
“Wait.” Jewel perked up. “This could be good. Kind of like a honeymoon!”
“Yeah, nothing says honeymoon vacation like being on the run,” Hugo said.
“Come on, you’ll never have fun with that attitude,” Jewel said. “Let’s think positive.”