Chapter 15
The last thing I remember before waking up in this hospital room is watching the assholes working for Marcus putting their hands on my Omega. No one will tell me what happened or where she is, nor will they let me out of my room.
I’m thirty seconds away from breaking the window and scaling the outside of the building to find her when the door opens.
Spinning on my heel, I cross my arms over my chest and stand to my full height.
Whoever is about to walk in is going to let me see my Omega.
I’ll bark them into submission if I have to.
Lex stalks in, stopping when he sees me squaring up for a fight. He rolls his eyes and closes the door behind him. “Should’ve known you would be in here demanding to be released.” I drop my arms and catch the bag he tosses me. “Got you some clothes. Can’t go after Marcus with your ass hanging out.”
“I’m not going after Marcus,” I tell him as I strip off my hospital gown and throw on a black t-shirt and jeans.
There are even socks and a pair of cheap slides at the bottom.
Being fully clothed again feels incredible.
I rarely mind being naked, but after being forced to go without clothes for so long, the comfort the soft material provides is inexpressible.
“You’re not?”
Brushing my hands over my face and the top of my head, I frown when I realize how much my hair has grown out. I need a trip to the barber’s as soon as I get back to New York. Bearded is not the look I want. “Nope. I’m going to find my Omega.”
Lex doesn’t respond until I’m halfway to the door. “She really is yours, too?”
“Too?” I ask, but he brushes my question off.
“Porter won’t let you get anywhere near her until you’ve debriefed, and he’s heard from her whether she wants to see you.”
Swinging the door open, I look at him over my shoulder. “Porter can eat a dick. I was in that hellhole for weeks before he even realized I was missing. He owes me.”
The agents posted outside my door move to block me when they realize I’m trying to leave, but I’m sick of my solitary confinement. “Move, or I’ll make you.”
“Creed, man, we can’t-”
Baring my teeth, I bark a single command for them to get out of my way. They’re forced into compliance, backing against the wall so I can move past them. Grumbling the entire way.
Nurses whisper to each other at their station, eyeing me cautiously as I stalk by. They have nothing to worry about. I might look like a nearly feral asshole, but I am fully in control of myself.
“Barrett!” Porter’s exasperation is clear in his voice when he calls out to me as I round a corner and head toward the elevator bank. They would have moved my Omega to a private wing, so she isn’t on this floor.
“No thanks, boss,” I spit, repeatedly pressing the button to close the doors. Lex slips in beside me, annoyed by my antics. “I’m going to find my Omega. We can debrief later.”
His protests cut off when the doors rattle closed and carry us up to the fourth floor. Two agents stand cross-armed outside of the elevator when it dings and opens. “We’re under orders not to let you pass.”
“You’re really going to get between a pissed off Alpha and his injured Omega?” I raise one brow and spread my feet wider, squaring my shoulders to make my already wide frame more imposing.
“They are,” Porter says, stepping off another elevator to my right. “That poor woman has been traumatized enough without you storming in there.”
“Exactly why you’re going to let me go. She’s traumatized, and she needs me.”
Porter sighs, pinching the skin between his brows. “Ferguson? A little help here?”
“He’s going to fight you, so either knock his ass back out or let him by.”
“Unhelpful asshole,” I mumble, glaring at the side of his head. He could at least put in a good word for me. She’s his Omega, too, isn’t she?
“Look, Creed, I know your instincts are riding you hard, but until we’ve spoken to Miss Powell, I simply cannot allow-”
“Porter! There you are. I’ve been looking for you.” Jericho Acherley rounds a corner and heads our way, carefully stepping between me and the other men and shoving some paper in Porter’s face. His free hand waves behind his back, urging me past.
Taking advantage of his distraction, I slip by all three men and hurry past the nurse’s station. I don’t know what room my mate is in; I just let Fate guide me. The staff watch me curiously, but they say nothing when I flash them the FCDA badge I nicked off of Lex’s side when I was leaving my room.
“Creed! Fates damn it!”
Sliding an empty bed to angle across the hallway, one agent crashes into it with a pained grunt. I’d feel bad if he weren’t actively trying to stop me from getting to my girl.
“There,” Lex grunts, pointing to a closed door ahead of us. “And give me my badge back, asshole.”
Tossing it to him, I push the door open and barge inside.
Lex’s DAU partner, Ridley, and two other Alphas stand shoulder to shoulder, blocking my view of the bed behind them. Who the fuck are they?
“Creed?” Ridley asks, glancing behind me at Lex, who just shrugs and leans against the wall.
The softest whisper of my name has my feet moving, carrying me around their group.
“Wait, you can’t just-”
“It’s okay, Shiloh.” Her voice is like a lullaby, soothing the frantic energy that has been churning through my body since I awoke several hours ago. Gorgeous midnight blue eyes flit from them to me, and scan over my body like she’s searching for a wound.
Without thinking, I drop to my knees beside her bed and bury my face against her throat. Protests sound behind us, but they fade into the background when her arms wrap around my back, hugging me tight. “Omega.”
“Alpha.” Her voice is hesitant, so I pull back to look at her. Searching for the root behind the uncertainty I see reflected in her eyes. “You said- I know they drugged you… So if you don’t…”
My lips tilt up into a wicked smirk, and she swallows thickly.
“If I could sink my teeth into you right now, I would, Omega. But I think my boss would shoot me if I tried.” Her eyes flicker to the back of the room, away from me, and I don’t like that one bit.
I gently palm her cheek and recapture her attention.
“You’re mine, bound by pain, and destined to share an eternity. ”
I kiss her, watching as her eyes go wide before fluttering shut. The feel of her lips pressed to mine, the soft sigh of her breath brushing against my mouth when I pull away. It’s heaven. We may have met under the absolute worst circumstances, but I’m glad to have her in my life. My Omega mate.
A throat clears behind us, interrupting our moment. I watch as the sweetest heat flushes up her chest and cheeks, tinging her golden bronze skin with a pink hue. I slip my hand in hers and lean back on my heels, refusing to lose the touch of her skin on mine.
“Miss Powell, my name is Maximilliam Porter. I’m the head of the FCDA.
I apologize for Agent Barrett’s rude intrusion .
He was supposed to wait until we’d spoken with you about what happened at the breeding ring campground.
” Porter levels a withering glare at me, but I’m unfazed.
I needed to see my girl, so that’s what I did.
“He’s her Fate-matched mate. Keeping him from her would be cruel,” comments one of the other Alphas, a man with bright blue hair and a shit ton of tattoos.
The Alpha beside him, with the graying hair and rumpled business suit, gives him a skeptical look.
“It makes sense, doesn’t it? She was feeling a mysterious fifth mate’s pain for weeks.
If those assholes held him captive, then it lines up. ”
“Orion is right,” my mate says. “It was Creed’s pain I was feeling through the Fated connection.”
Guilt and anger war within me, knowing she had to endure even a fraction of the torment Marcus and his men put me through. I also know there is nothing I could have done to avoid it. Our type of connection is rare and disliked for a reason- sharing your pain is unavoidable.
“What are the chances!” Ridley slaps me on the shoulder as he walks around me, leaning down to whisper in my girl’s ear. Whatever he says makes her giggle. A beaming smile slips onto her face, and I can already see what his role in our pack will be.
“Bea.”
The full-body tension that enters her when Lex speaks has me glancing between the two of them curiously. Why does she seem so ready to go on the defensive? What has this broody asshole done?
“Lex.”
“Doctor Harrison is in custody.”
She deflates with his admission, looking exhausted.
Given the shared looks among her other mates, I don’t think any of them realized she was still waiting to hear the outcome of the raid.
It can’t be easy to wonder if the man who performed a black market operation on you against your will might have gotten away with it.
“Thank you. For telling me. And for coming to rescue me.”
“I’ll always come for you,” he admits with a grunt, then he walks out, leaving her staring wide-eyed at the space he had been occupying.
I stay by Bea’s side until she gives in and allows herself to fall asleep. During that time, I greedily soak up any tidbit of information about her I can.
She loves teen dramas, something I learned when she made us all watch a popular, cheesy, teen vampire movie. How she can find anything romantic about a hundred-plus-year-old guy dating a high school girl and constantly warring with himself about their relationship, I don’t know.
Though I suppose it somewhat reflects reality, given two of her mates share the same hot-and-cold tendencies.
No one has outright admitted to being difficult, but studying my Omega, it is easy to see who has made her wary and who hasn’t.
It will be interesting to see how things progress when she gets released in a few days.