Chapter 41
Creed and Lex return mid-afternoon. Both looking forlorn as they approach me. Nervous energy crackles around the room, setting me on edge. I straighten, moving to the edge of the couch.
Something happened, I can feel it.
Kneeling before me, Creed presses his head to my knees. “Marcus left another threat.”
I’m not surprised. That asshole has been trying to terrorize me for weeks. Should I be afraid of him? Probably. Am I? No. Not with my mates at my sides and the security of our home to protect me.
“Okay.”
He lifts his head, thick lips twisted into a tight frown. “The message was left at my foster family’s home.”
Nodding, I drag my nails across his scalp, watching his eyes flutter from the contact. “He wanted to remind you I’m not the only person he can use to hurt you.”
Lex clears his throat, a guarded look on his face. “Except it wasn’t Creed’s loved ones he was threatening.”
Glancing between the two of them, I grow frustrated. They are trying to tell me while also protecting me from the information. Which means we are getting nowhere.
“Just tell me.”
“When was the last time you spoke with your parents?”
The world stops turning. Frozen as my brain tries to comprehend their question. My lungs burn, refusing to work long enough to let me take a breath.
“What?”
“We contacted Donovan. He is on a flight-”
I shove my way between them, diving for my phone where I’d left it sitting on the coffee table. Frantic fingers dial each of my parents’ phone numbers. None of them answers.
“No, no, no!” I toss the device to the ground, hands clawing at my face. This can’t be real, right? It’s just a dream. Soon, I’ll wake up, still wrapped in my mate’s arms.
“Sabine, enough!” Shiloh barks, grabbing my arms and locking me against his chest. “Breathe.”
My body is forced to follow his command, sucking in a deep lungful of oxygen. The burning in my lungs eases, but it does little to quell the panic coursing through my blood. “I-I-”
Hands turn my body, pressing my back against Shiloh’s chest so his purr can rattle through me. Orion’s golden amber eyes bore into me. “We know nothing for certain yet, butterfly.”
“He’s right, sunshine,” Ridley agrees, fingers brushing down my cheek to wipe my tears away.
I hadn’t realized I was crying. Too numb to feel the wetness on my skin.
“We’ve been cooped up for your heat, so they wouldn’t have reached out to us if they were going anywhere.
Why don’t you call Omen? Maybe she’s heard from them? ”
Shaking my head, I want to deny him. If Donovan hasn’t heard from them, then Omen wouldn’t have either. He leaves me no choice when he opens my phone and dials my best friend’s number, pressing it against my ear before it connects.
“Was it everything you dreamed of?”
Hearing her voice cracks the surface of my numbness, flooding me with all the worry and fear I’ve been suppressing. A sob rips from my lips.
“Bea? What’s wrong?”
“H-have you h-heard from Mom or one of the dads?” The words are unsteady, choked around the sounds of my distress.
“Your parents? I spoke with Pops a few days ago. Dad was starting his heat, so they were flying him out to Dromir’s vacation island for a vacation. Why? What’s going on?”
Relief takes my knees from beneath me, only my Alpha’s arms keeping me upright. They’re safe.
I can’t answer Omen, can’t explain, crying too hard to form a coherent response. Ridley takes the phone from my hand and walks to the window, quietly explaining the situation.
“I’m going to call Donovan,” Creed tells me, pressing a kiss to my lips. “I’m sorry for causing you so much distress, kitten.”
Shaking my head, I try to express through our bond that I don’t blame him. He gives me a half-smile and steps out onto the balcony.
Lex scoots closer, palming my cheek and wiping my face. “I can punch Dromir for you. He’s a dick.”
Snorting a watery laugh, I lean forward to press my face into his neck.
I need a drink and a nap. The constant stress of being targeted by Marcus and his lackeys is getting really old, really fast. Why can’t he just fuck off?
Disappear to some other city where he can live his life of crime instead of chasing my pack?
“Come on, butterfly. Let’s settle in your nest. It will help settle your emotions.
” I let Orion lead me out of the room, mind already shutting down from the immense stress.
Omegas aren’t built to handle shit like this.
We feel too deeply. Hurting clear to our soul when one of our loved ones is hurt or in danger.
I would say I hate the biological reactions I’m forced to experience, but I remember those same parts of me taking control during my heat. And there is no way I can think that.
Regretting fire sex with mouthwatering Alphas? Couldn’t be me.
Two days of emotional turmoil follow my heat. Time spent alternating between joy over bonding with all of my mates, worrying about my family, and being pissed at everyone who continues to impede our happiness.
Finally, Donovan calls.
“Hello, Bea.”
“Old man.”
He chuckles lightheartedly, but his voice is serious when he speaks. Apologizing for not knowing my parents had gone to Dromir’s island for Dad’s heat. “I never meant to worry you. There was a miscommunication on my end. A situation that has since been corrected.”
“I’m not upset with you,” I promise him. No, my ire goes solely toward the asshole Alpha responsible for not disclosing my parents’ whereabouts.
“Good. Well, I have other news. Are your mates available?” I mute the phone while I gather them from wherever they have scattered in the penthouse.
“Donovan,” Creed greets, letting him know we are all listening.
“Pack Acherley, thank you for your time.”
It’s weird to hear him call us that. I don’t think I’ve quite wrapped my head around the fact that I am Bea Acherley now.
“Late last night, agents stationed around Silverstone captured Marcus Brown. He is in FCDA custody and being transported to a secondary location for questioning.”
That’s it? It’s over? I expected something more climactic. A fight or a high-speed chase or something.
I’m relieved, of course, but also worried this may not assuage my Alpha’s need to hunt the other man down. They wanted to be the ones to capture him, likely with new injuries as retribution for his role in my abduction.
“That’s excellent news,” Shiloh says. “Thank you for letting us know.”
The guys ask a few more questions, mostly about what to expect moving forward and other threats to watch for, but I’m only half listening. Most of my attention is on the bonds in my chest. Slowly, subtly, I feel them out. Trying to understand how each of my mates feels.
Shiloh is relieved. Joyous even. He doesn’t care that they weren’t the ones to catch Marcus, only that he is taken care of. Orion feels similarly, but a thread of distrust runs beneath his acceptance. Perhaps lingering fear that the threat against us isn’t completely gone.
Ridley is elated. And horny. I peek one eye open to find him licking his lips as he stares at me. Insatiable Alpha. I blow him a kiss, then focus on my other two mates. The ones most likely to be upset.
Lex is pissed. Whether that is because he wasn’t involved or for another reason, I can’t tell. He has a handle on his aggression, though, so I’m not worried about him.
Creed is difficult to read. He feels so much that diving into his bond is like swimming in a hurricane.
Emotions batter me on all sides until I’m forced to pull back.
Wanting to comfort him, I slip my hand in his and squeeze.
Light green eyes turn to me, softening at the edges when I lean my head against his shoulder, chin turned to look up at him.
He raises our twined hands and presses a kiss to the back of mine. A silent promise that he’s okay.
After Donovan hangs up, we sit in silence for a long time. Each of us is processing this news. I’m sure more will come as the agency uncovers the connections Marcus used to evade capture until now. All things the agency will take care of. Meaning that for us, for my pack, it’s over.
We’re safe.
As safe as we ever can be, anyway.
Ridley is the first to break our silence. He whoops and sweeps me off the couch, throwing me over his shoulder. One hand grabs my ass, squeezing it playfully. “Come on, sunshine, let’s celebrate!”
Pressing against his lower back, I push myself up far enough to look at my other mates. The intense desire in their eyes burns through our bonds, igniting a flame of need deep in my core. I grin, sticking my tongue out at all of them. “Better catch up before he locks the door!”
Footsteps pound after me, and I know this is how things were always meant to be. Playful, sexy, and full of love. I may not have gotten my endless buffet of musician knots, but I think these men fit me better. Fate chose them for me after all.
Creed is the first to catch up to us, his hulking frame pressing against my side where Ridley tossed me onto the bed. I catch his face in my hands and kiss him. Nose to nose, I stare into his olive green eyes. “Are you okay? With what happened with Marcus?”
Emotions flicker across his expression too quickly to decipher.
“Part of me thinks it’s bullshit that this is how the hunt ends.
This mission was personal for me in more ways than just Marcus trying to ruin my father’s name.
But catching criminals is what the agency does.
I can’t be upset with the men I helped train when they did what I taught them to do. ”
Leather and sandalwood mix with Creed’s petrichor scent as Lex joins us, wrapping himself around my back. “As long as Marcus is no longer a threat to you, brat, that’s all we care about.”
Turning my head, I glance between the two of them. I can feel in our bond that they really are fine, so I let it go. Allowing myself to drown in their bodies and the pleasure they give me.
I don’t know what tomorrow will bring for my pack. As long as we have each other, that’s what matters most.