Chapter 3
Three
Riot
My throat feels like sandpaper and I can't open my eyes. The fire in the right side of my chest and shoulder is close to unbearable, but I swallow the groan. Just the simple bob of my throat feels like I'm ripping the skin off my face.
"What the fuck?" I croak, needing an outlet for all of my confusion.
"My thoughts exactly," a male voice replies.
Startled by the deep timber, I twist my head and force my eyelids to work, except my left eye stays dark. "What's wrong with my fucking eye?" The arm that doesn't feel like it got thrown into a meat grinder rises to feel my face. Instead of skin, I touch fabric.
"Right," the stranger mutters and clears his throat. "You have a gnarly cut through your left eye."
"What?" I bark as I whip my head around, trying to find him. When I see him for the first time, I'm taken aback. His long, dirty blond hair is pulled back in a low ponytail. His eyes have dark bags under them, and he's watching me with confusion and something else. Warmth?
With a sigh, he comes closer. His dominance shifts through the space between us, making his alpha nature obvious.
"You were shot. The bullet went clean through your right shoulder.
You got lucky, but lost a lot of blood. Of course there's damage to some nerves, so you'll need to do some physical therapy. It could have been a lot worse."
"And my eye?" I grit out, clenching my hands. My brain is working overtime trying to remember what the hell happened to land me in a hospital with a stranger looming over me. He's not a doctor. His jeans are dirty and torn; the black T-shirt he's wearing looks disgusting. Is that blood on his neck?
"Nicked by a knife through your eyelid and?—"
Alarm batters into me. Suddenly the pain numbs, and all that matters is where my omega is. Shoving myself into a seated position, I look around wildly. "Where's Vivian?! Is she here?!"
The man, whose name I still don't know, frowns at me. "You don't want to hear about the injury on your face?"
Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I ignore him.
All I care about is finding Vivian. "She's like five-foot-four, orangish-red hair down her back.
Her nose is pointy and her cheekbones are high and always pink.
There's a dark blue rim around the light blue of her eyes.
She has these little pointy canines that I swear are always warning me to stop bothering her.
You might not know her name because she's mostly mute, but it's Vivian. "
"And how do you know her name?" the man asks, eyeing me as I struggle with the cords shoved in my arm.
"Damn it, how do these come out?!" I growl, trying like hell not to tear open a vein. "She drew it on my hand. Only spoke to me a few times. One was to tell me to shut the fuck up, which now that I'm thinking about it was awesome as fuck."
The man hums. "Were you talking her ear off? She hates when I do that while she's thinking."
"Yeah, she was scaring the shit out of me. I panicked even more when she wouldn't talk to me. I was—Wait. You know her? Where is she?" Leaping from the bed, I'm stopped only by his big hand on my good shoulder, nudging me back onto my ass.
"Vivian is sleeping in the room beside yours. She's going to be okay," he murmurs.
My heart beats wildly in my chest, and my feet wish to run to her side, but the wooziness in my head keeps me planted. That and the alpha holding me in place.
"The knife?—"
"Sliced through her side. She also got lucky, which I'm assuming had something to do with you using your face to block it. There are other ways to deflect a blow like that you know..."
"I took the shot meant for her milliseconds before I fell into the fucking blade also aimed at her, asshole," I growl, shaking his hold off. Last thing I need is someone questioning how I protected my omega.
"Jarek. My name is Jarek. And you're Riot, yes?"
Narrowing my half gaze at Jarek, I nod. "How'd you know that?"
"Well, aside from the fact that it's on your chart at the foot of your bed, and that I was the one keeping you from bleeding out and who gave the nurses your name, Vivie was screaming it until she passed out."
"Passed out..." I whisper, slowly digesting everything he's been telling me. "What's her recovery like then? You said she'll be okay."
Jarek studies me for a moment, then nods slowly.
"She needed stitches and is now hooked up to some fluids, like you are.
Thankfully it wasn't deep enough to be damaging long term, but she'll be uncomfortable for a while.
You'll both be here for at least forty-eight hours and will need to talk to some officers.
Time to heal, eat, and get you both hydrated. "
Am I finally going to get my answer about how her mates treat her?
"How do you know Vivian?" I inch back, not sure how much I trust this stranger.
I might trust him even less if he is, in fact, her mate.
Vivian has some questionable traits that make me wonder about the people who should be ensuring her safety and health.
"Vivian is my bonded omega." The steel in his eyes and fierce protectiveness in the way he says that makes my hindbrain rise to the challenge.
"Yet she doesn't fucking eat, doesn't talk, got kidnapped, has some serious lack of self-preservation skills, and puts herself in danger every fucking chance she gets!"
Jarek doesn't move an inch. Hell, he doesn't even fucking blink. But I'm spitting mad, and need someone to take it out on. I let Vivian get attacked and hurt so many times, but this fucking asshole? He let his precious, beautiful omega out of his sight and almost lost her for good.
"Why are you in here with me when your omega is in the next room?! Are you seriously such a piss poor alpha that you don't know how to be there for her in the most obvious scenario?!"
A soft growl from across the room draws my attention. I didn't know our rooms were fucking connected. A lump forms in my throat as I recognize the sound coming through the door.
"Vivian?" I breathe, eyes wide, but the hope is soon snatched from me when another hulking alpha fills the doorway.
This guy has short, messy black hair, muscles for days, and scruff that looks like it's gone a week without a trim. "You're pissing off my omega even in her fucking sleep."
"I need to see her," I plead, once again trying to get off this damn bed. Jarek doesn't budge. "Move."
"No." Jarek keeps me blocked in with his arms crossed and a blank look on his face. "You need to rest."
Completely taken aback by his response, I snap. "You should be focusing on your omega!"
Without warning, the other alpha stomps toward us and boxes me in. "Now listen here, you fucking prick. We're only keeping an eye on you because our omega begged us to before she fell asleep a few hours ago."
She asked them to watch over me?
"That doesn't explain everything else! She's skin and bones. What kind of mates are you to?—"
"Enough!" another man whisper-shouts, stomping into the room.
"You," he points at me, "are asking for a fucking fight. I know you’re missing a fucking eye right now, but how do you not notice the two practically feral alphas standing above you?
! Alphas who watched their omega bleeding out on a fucking table early this morning.
You know absolutely nothing, so keep your judgments to yourself. "
All the words I spoke slam around in my brain, making me inwardly cringe and question my motivation.
It's true I don't trust these guys, especially considering the time I spent with Vivian, but that shouldn't cloud the fact that I can't hold my own right now.
Their clothes are covered in blood, and their eyes look murderous.
"Jay, Kade, go snuggle Vivian. She's sleeping restlessly. I'll sit with Riot," the beta murmurs, pulling on their arms. They don't move for a moment, showing me just how tense and ready to attack they really are.
The dark-haired alpha, Kade I'm assuming, turns on the newcomer and slams his mouth on his. It's a sexy, possessive kiss that warms me from the inside out. Judging by the dark smirk on Jarek's face, it seems he notices my reaction.
"Be good, Silas," Kade rumbles, then stomps out of the room. His steps immediately soften when he gets to Vivian's side.
"Mmm," Silas groans, drawing my attention back to him. Jarek tongue fucks Silas' mouth and leaves abruptly with a slap on his beta's ass.
It takes Silas a moment to cut the blissed out expression from his face, so while he gets his boner under control, I shift myself back against my pillows. Pain steals my breath for a moment, and everything begins to throb.
"Dumbass," Silas huffs at me and pulls the blanket over my legs. "You could have fucked your shoulder up even more."
"I needed to know if she was okay," I respond, closing my eyes with a grunt.
Silas is silent for a moment, but I hear a chair being dragged closer to me. "Is that all you needed?"
With my eyes closed and my body getting heavier, it feels easier to answer him. "I need to see her. I also have a lot of questions. Jarek kept me alive?"
"He did. He's the one who carried you to the van from the ditch. Kade and I ran off with Vivian without a second glance, honestly. Jay even sat behind you on the gurney to elevate your shoulder over your heart."
I would frown if it didn't hurt so damn bad. "But why? He doesn't know me."
"Not sure if I should tell you this, but Vivian claimed you, man."
My heart constricts and a lump forms in my throat. Still I keep my good eye shut because I'm exhausted, and there's too much for me to comprehend. "She did?"
Silas' chuckle makes me shiver, and to my surprise, I feel another blanket slide over me. "Very vocally. All she wanted was to make sure we kept you alive. She was very adamant that you survive. Then said you were hers right before she went unconscious."
I'm silent for so long I feel like I shouldn't even say anything at this point.
She claimed me, and I know I've said similar versions of what she did.
But what does that really mean? She has a pack, and I have work to do.
People need to die for what they did to Vivian.
I can't be tied down while avenging her. And other omegas too of course.
"Get some rest. We'll be here when you wake up."
No one is ever there when I wake up. Except for Vivian.