29. Candy
“Don’t let me go,” I whispered to Odin as he held me close, one arm under my back, the other under my knees. The raw ache of my wounds were killing me, though it was nothing compared to the blood dripping from Apollo’s knuckles and the desperate wheezing in his chest.
Gordon’s blood was still on my skin, and I managed to catch Apollo’s eyes before they closed slowly. Pain travelled over his face before Zeus wrapped his arms around him, kissing his head.
Apollo clung to his mate, and Zeus kept his hand firmly braced around him as they walked towards me.
Apollo was trembling, pure shock splashed on his face, all the light I loved gone as he grit his teeth.
None of us said a word. It was too much.
They kept telling me. Over and over again, they kept saying what the contracts meant, and I still chose to push them.
Odin kept his hands solidly around me, and I reached out to spread mine over his. I wanted to comfort him, at least.
I looked up at him, his face creased with the same concern which pulsed through all of us, his gaze fixed straight ahead.
Zeus was suddenly in front of me, quickly tearing his shirt off over his head, his tanned chest on display. He laid it over my body, covering me, hiding me from everyone else, but it was too late. Everyone in the room had already seen me naked, but his thoughtfulness was what I needed.
I opened my mouth to say thank you, but Zeus’s attention had already swung back to Apollo. I bit back my hurt, reminding myself it wasn’t only about me.
“Don’t worry,” Odin murmured as he pressed his lips to the top of my head. “That’s just how they are.”
I could feel the three of them faintly in my body, as if I was under water, watching them above me. The energy of an omega bite faded with time if it wasn’t returned by an alpha, so I wouldn’t let it go. I said I wouldn’t bite them without their permission, but that was an emergency.
After all that—no, because of that—I was more determined than ever to receive their bites.
Apollo was willing to kill for me. He destroyed that alpha, and he would have disappeared before our eyes as he sunk into madness if it wasn’t for my bite.
He was deathly pale as he walked beside us. His silence was so intense that he was the only thing I could hear until a low voice spoke from in front of us. “This way.”
My head shot up, shaking as I saw Bones at the end of the corridor, dressed exactly like the beta guards who had kidnapped me, his gun pointed downwards.
It didn’t matter that he was blank-faced, completely professional. Even if it was his job to follow orders, he knew. Arrow knew, and he hadn’t said a word. Those betas who chloroformed me knew, and so did Gordon Roberts. They all were part of Michael’s play.
Betrayal wasn’t the right word for what sunk through me as Bones turned and led us through the maze of corridors.
Zeus stayed close to Apollo, stroking him, murmuring to him, trying to keep him stable, though it looked like he might collapse at any moment.
I was exhausted; my face, wrists, and ankles throbbed with pain. I couldn’t relax when the men who had kidnapped me were walking around like it was just a job.
They threw us glances as we passed, and my fingers dug into Odin’s hand as I tried to keep myself together. I wasn’t going to cry, I’d already been shamed enough.
The state of the mansion was pathetic but, considering how Gordon was, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Everything was rundown and falling apart, and I suspected Gordon had moved everything that still had some value to that room. Or maybe Michael only paid to have one room decorated.
I didn’t know what the security team was doing, but there were bodies everywhere, and other guards with first-aid kits leaning over them. I couldn’t tell who were the kidnappers and who were the men who had come to save me. There was no difference when they were all drenched in black. I used to think all those guards were there to protect me during my shows, but it was more proof that I was na?ve enough to believe that Michael had somehow saved me from my harsh life, that he’d been keeping me safe all this time.
Odin held me tight as he turned to a flight of stairs and started downwards. I could see sunlight ahead of us, and prayed we were really leaving the shambles of the mansion.
I looked up at Odin again, relief making a home inside me as I lifted my other hand to his steady heart. His chin dipped, meeting my eyes, his face like stone. He softened for the briefest second before his head shot up, focusing on the front doors.
Apollo was on Odin’s right by my feet, Zeus on his other side, joined together by my bite. And as Odin’s shoes touched the scuffed marble floor, I felt it settle between us.
That was the real moment we became a pack. Even if my mates kept pushing me away, there was no way they could deny the ripple that ran through the four of us. Odin sucked in a harsh breath as Apollo jolted, coming to a standstill. I could sense them, sense how Zeus wrapped his arms around Apollo, how they sunk into each other, and a wisp of pain fluttered in Odin’s chest as he sighed.
The sunlight was a strange contrast to the dimness of the mansion, and I drew in the deepest breath of fresh air I could. I was finally free, even though we hadn’t properly escaped.
“Put me down,” I said quietly.
“But we’ve nearly reached the car.” Odin’s chest rumbled as he spoke. It was so tempting to let him carry me, but I needed to leave the mansion by myself.
“I want to feel it,” I said as he lowered me, his brow tight with concern. I wanted the sharp stabs of gravel to be a reminder. Like when I ran from an alpha in an alleyway all those years ago, my feet aching as I escaped. It might seem like it was over, though now I couldn’t be sure.
There was no way I could work at the club anymore. Whatever we had to do, whatever Michael demanded of us, I’d do it, as long as I never had to be with another stranger again.
I quickly threw on Zeus’s t-shirt, the familiar size and smell setting off my wild omega instincts which were telling me to throw myself at my alphas and ride them right here. I could show Gordon and all these other bastards we belonged together, and that I wasn’t going to be beaten by this.
Their scents blanketed me again as we stepped into the sunlight. Lemon vodka, mango, passion fruit, and everything I had been searching for since our gazes first locked all those years ago.
I flinched as I walked towards the car, gravel biting into the soles of my feet, but I kept my head held high. They could fuck off if they thought they had won.
“Almost there,” Odin said as Bones jumped ahead and opened the back door of the car, standing aside, making room for us to enter. Maybe it was an apology, yet Bones said nothing. Any trust I might have had for them had vanished the moment Michael revealed the truth.
Odin made space for me to climb into the back of the car. I wanted one last look. I turned back to the rundown mansion, bunching the shirt in my palms, pure anger filling me at how simple the building was, and how it was a complete ruin. Broken windows, a collapsed roof, flaked paint on the outside walls, hidden by ivy. Why Gordon thought I’d be happy with all that was a mystery I didn’t want to solve.
As I swept my gaze around, all I could see were trees and land for miles around. I had no clue where we were, or how long it would take us to get back. If it hadn’t been part of Michael’s plan, I could have died out there and no one would have found me.
Odin climbed in first, filling the large seats that faced each other in the car, with enough room for all of us. There was a divider blocking the driver from us and blacked-out windows, as well as the smell of fresh leather that I knew would fade as soon as we closed the car door.
He looked back at me as I stepped inside, and I couldn’t help it. Even though my body ached, I loosened one knee and tripped, flying forward, letting gravity win as I fell towards him with a grin on my face.
His arms shot out, his palms on my stomach, saving me before I could hit the floor. I laughed as he swung me up and planted my ass between his stretched thighs.
“You’ve got to stop doing that,” Odin murmured against the back of my neck. “You’re going to hurt yourself one day,” he groaned, pressing his lips to my hair again.
“Not if you’re always here to catch me,” I replied, relaxing my back to his chest.
Despite everything we’d gone through and how tense I was, I still melted at the sheer size of my mate, and, just like that, my heat reignited.
“Thank fuck,” he whispered, sinking his nose into my neck and inhaling deeply.
I wiggled my ass, making sure I was on his cock as I notched my head back, flush against his chest. Everything about him was big and hard, and all I wanted now was to feel him against me and know he was mine.
I needed to be buried in his scent, so all I could smell was his sharp lemon vodka blended with my sweet bubblegum.
“I thought we’d lost you.” His voice was so gentle and vulnerable as he pressed his lips to my neck, scent-marking me as his own.
“Me, too,” I replied. I shuddered at the thought of how close I’d been to dying. If I’d held my tongue back for longer, maybe I would have escaped without a bruised jaw. Though it was nothing compared to a caved skull.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” I said quietly, my fingers dancing over his broad forearm. I sighed heavily as the full weight of what had happened sank into me.
“We’re here now. You’re ours, forever. Understood?” He gripped me hard, and I knew he was serious, but I needed proof. I wasn’t going to ask for a bite now—it was too raw, and I couldn’t handle it if they denied me again.
Since I started fucking alphas, I’d never met anyone as strong as Odin and Zeus, yet he held me so delicately, like I was the most precious thing in the world, and I needed that. I needed alphas who were going to treasure me, not treat me as if I was some prize to be bought and won, or who pushed me away because of some noble idea of protecting me.
“Why did Michael have to go so far to prove his point?” I asked, resting back against Odin’s chest.
“I honestly don’t know. None of us could have predicted that. I mean, we know he’s fucked-up. I just didn’t think it would be that elaborate.”
I looked up at him, frowning. “It’s better it was some kind of messed up play than outright killing us.”
Odin sucked in a harsh breath as he cupped my neck, his thumb brushing the dried blood from the cut Gordon gave me. “That, I mean, what Michael just did to us, it will never happen again. I don’t know how, but we’ll find a way to get out of this.”
“We’ve been saying that for years.”
My skin fired under his touch, calling to the alpha in him, and he responded with a low rumble, the cold ice of his scent growing thicker, along with his hardening cock on my back.
“Well, I’ve already got an idea,” he said, his thighs caging my hips.
“Really? What kind of idea?” A grin split my face as I curved my back against his chest.
Desire flashed in his eyes. “Like fucking you until you know we’ll never leave you.”
“Hmm, it sounds perfect.” I rolled my hips. “So, do you want me to dance on your cock? Or shall we skip to the part where you fuck me raw with your knot inside me?”
He growled as he tugged at my waist, grinding his hard cock on my back as he bent to skim his teeth over my shoulder.
“How about both?” He chuckled, his fingers pushing away his brother’s shirt as he found my clit, and we began to play.
Odin’s storm was there, flushed with heat as he leaned down, and I twisted my head so he could kiss me. He held me close, his hand rubbing small circles over my clit as he loved me.
I trembled, his harsh scent wrapping around me, calming me. Everything that had happened faded away as I became lost in him. I groaned, trying to lift my hips up for easy access.
“That’s more like it,” he said as his free hand ran down my arm.
He touched my wrist and I hissed, pulling back quickly. They stung from the ties and my tender skin was already starting to bruise.
Odin’s eye shuttered closed and he pressed his nose to my hair, inhaling deeply. “I’m so sorry.” The pain in his voice was so real that my heart broke for him.
He gently raised my arm, pressing the softest of kisses to the harshest marks. “This never should have happened.”
“But it was my fault for luring you to my room in the first place.”
He shook his head. “That’s not true. The only person to blame here is Michael.”
I grit my jaw, pushing back another wave of tears threatening to escape, my cheeks burning from the slaps.
“I don’t want to think about it,” I said quietly. “Just touch me.” I pressed my ass on his cock, grinding on him as I turned back to kiss him.
He was exactly what I needed after everything—the kidnapping, the fear they were dead, the sickly smell of an alpha who could kill me. It didn’t matter how confident I had been, how I lost control of myself. My cheek was throbbing, my jaw pulsing, my mouth cut up inside, and his kiss soothed the ache.
We became lost in each other, his arms around my stomach and chest, embracing me, clinging to me, the sheer weight of his muscles burying me in safety.
He was more important than my last breath, and from the way his aura surged as we kissed, he felt the same.
“I’m so hot,” I purred, my hips moving against him. “I need you, Odin.”
“You asked for it,” he growled as he pressed two fingers against my entrance, then rumbled as he started to push inside me.
Just as I spread my legs wider, Apollo and Zeus entered the car.