Chapter 64
sixty-four
CILLIAN
Dane drops the knife just in time to catch Briar.
She launches herself into his arms, a choked sob sticking in her throat. He hums, purring, and she dives for the sound. Her motions are jerky and desperate—so unlike her normal poise, I know she must be entering the thick of her heat. Fast.
She practically cries when she tries to scent-mark Dane’s chest and feels the cotton T-shirt there. He rips it over his head, then tears his mask off, tossing it aside carelessly.
Briar moans, climbing his body to nuzzle his scarred jaw and short beard, his mottled cheek. His long hair falls forward as he ducks his face against her shoulder, whispering, “I’m here, little girl. Your alphas are here.”
Our omega shivers, her green eyes glossed with a dazed sort of awe. As if she’s remembering she has three of us. It might be adorable if we were somewhere safe.
She lurches to Rhys next. He catches her with a broken sob of his own, rubbing his face all over her cheeks. “Fuck, pretty baby. I was going out of my mind. Look at me. Let me check your eyes.”
Briar blinks at him until he nods, his scent soaring. I see why when our omega’s gaze finds mine. Hazy.
My chest swells on deep breaths, my nostrils flaring as I do everything I can not to rip her away from my packmates. “Did he touch you?” I husk instead. “Are you hurt?”
Thankfully, she shakes her head. Intense relief bursts behind my heart, but it’s short-lived. There are so many questions and no time to ask them. Not to mention her mind-bending perfume, which tastes sweeter and sharper on every inhale.
Fuck. I have to get us out of here.
Gideon is lurking in the basement outside the yellow nest. I start to stand, determined to clear a path for us, but Briar shrieks.
She thrashes loose, practically tackling me. Her desperate grip is hard enough to draw blood, her pointed nails leaving stripes over my shoulders.
Jesus. My heart.
“Shhh,” I whisper, squeezing my arms around her. I turn my face into her sweat-dried hair. “I’m not leaving, rosebud. Never leaving. You’re my wife, remember? I’m yours forever. Whether you like it or not.”
Briar’s body relaxes the smallest bit, but it isn’t enough. None of this is.
I sense movement. An instinctive snarl rips up my throat, but Gideon approaches anyway, pointedly keeping his eyes down and both palms facing out.
“You guys need to get her home, right?” he rushes, speaking quickly to avoid being torn in half. “I can clear the house. Get all the guys somewhere they won’t scent her so you can get her to the Armada.”
I fucking loathe the idea of her heat perfume being in my cousin’s car. Let alone him being in the house while we carry her out. My lip lifts, baring my teeth. Dane mirrors my expression, only he pairs his with a growl sinister enough to send Gideon back a step.
“Why the fuck would we allow that?” Rhys snaps. “I’m about to stab you for scenting her right now.”
An expected smirk crosses Gideon’s face, wry and full of self-deprecation. It pauses my rage just long enough for me to notice how unaffected he is.
No jaw clenching. No growls or groans.
Our eyes meet. Something bitter weaves itself into his smile. “I suppose we all have our secrets,” he says slowly. “In this family, you have to. Right, Cillian?”
We both automatically look at our grandfather’s body. So pitifully lifeless. So…
Small.
Such a pathetic man, trying desperately to cling to power. Manipulating and machinating, but never making progress. Pitting us against each other the way he set our fathers against one another twenty years ago. The way he fought his own brother. Like his father and uncle before him.
He was clearly going to keep Briar here for her heat. To use her. Make his heir and his fucked-up new world order and all the other shit the lot of us refused to sacrifice our lives for.
God knows how many things he lied to us about.
My cousin and his pack never even wanted to keep the company. They wanted to destroy it.
And now I see—Gideon? The alpha I thought I knew? The one I made my enemy?
Never existed.
I don’t know him. Not really. I only have the information I was fed, all to create this competition that only benefited the whims of a psychopath.
The same slow understanding burns low in Gideon’s gray eyes. “I never wanted her, Cillian,” he vows quietly. “I only wanted to help her.”
Because he thought she needed to be rescued—and I did everything I could to force his pack to believe that lie. So much so, I almost made it true.
I hold Briar closer, my breath shattering on every exhale. Her perfume is thick and tart. She needs her nest.
Gideon backs up, leaving the exit clear. “I’ll get everyone out of your way,” he adds, then holds up his keys.
“Here.” He tosses them to Rhys, flashing me a smile. “Drive it like you stole it. Because that’s what I’m telling Atlas.”