9. Vera
9
Vera
I’m glad I decided to wear flat shoes with my cute dress tonight. I was going for a slightly ‘alternative’ look, but it came in handy, or I would have slipped and fallen multiple times as I was fighting the Hearts bastards.
When I barged inside, everything came over me at the same time.
The bitter caramel pheromones of my mate, pheromones altered by years of pain and distress. What the Hearts had done to Mathew. What they’re still doing to lots and lots of young people and kids. What they’re probably going to do to the kids I saw them transport.
And then… I met the eyes of the guy who was wearing ‘normal’ clothes, my protective instincts kicking in instantly. Because of the pheromone masking substances in the air, I couldn’t smell them, but I didn’t need those to know that he was the one I’d been following earlier, the one with bitter caramel pheromones.
He was mine .
But I had enough awareness to realise the opportunity I’d been given. If I kept some of them alive, we could get information out of them that we’ve not been able to get to before.
Killing the first one couldn’t be helped, I didn’t have time for anything else, but I had to make sure to keep the others alive.
That didn’t mean that I couldn’t let some of that anger and frustration out on them. Watching them confused that a little Omega like me could better them was almost comical, until they realised I was simply toying with them.
That was the most satisfying. The moment they realised I was only out to hurt them, not kill them, and that I was getting my way.
That they were playing right into my hand.
Those extra lessons with Derrick, him insisting I learn more ways to slip away from attackers, use my small size to my advantage, they really came in handy. And these guys weren’t even trained half as well as the guys Derrick had me up against during training.
All that is now behind me. Now I need to focus on the present and what we’re going to be doing next. Because none of this was in the plans for tonight…
My new mate is shaking, his bitter caramel pheromones filled with terror. He’s not just worried about himself, the kids or us, he’s having a full-on panic attack.
Fucking hell.
What has he been through?
What else is going on my list of reasons why we have to wipe the Hearts from the face of the planet?
What else are they going to have to pay for?
A whimper pulls my attention, my mate’s eyes on me are wide in fear and I realise that my anger is slipping into my pheromones..
He just saw me torture these two guys… Of course, he’s going to interpret my pheromones the wrong way.
I want to explain to him that I only want to protect him. That I’m not going to hurt him. But I don’t think he’s going to believe me right now.
He seemed to respond well to Jorge. If I can’t take care of him right now, at least Jorge can. “Jorge?” I motion to him as he finishes up his call.
“Yeah?” He shrugs out of his shirt, dropping it over my shoulders and I realise that I’m still only in my underwear and shoes, since I didn’t want to wear the dress any longer.
“Can you look after…” I realise I don’t even know his name yet.
“Luca.” The man’s voice is quiet and tense.
Luca. I like that name. It suits him.
“Can you look after Luca and make sure the kids are okay? Make sure they don’t see any of… Ehhh… This.” I nod to the rest of the room.
“Of course, my love.” He helps me to my feet and gives me a quick kiss. He meets my eyes for a long moment, sending encouraging pheromones.
I want to wrap my arms around Luca. I want to wrap him up in my pheromones. I want to let him know that he’s safe. That I’ll protect him for the rest of my life. But it’s clear that I can’t be that person for him right now.
Something about me has scared him from the start. I don’t know what it is, but watching me fight those guys didn’t make it any better, probably made it worse…
I pull Jorge’s shirt on, it’s big enough to work as a dress for me. Now I’m at least somewhat covered, in case we’re getting company, of any type.
I kneel down next to the guy who hit his head on the sink and feel for his pulse. He’s breathing and has a pulse, he’s just out. He’s going to wake up with a really bad headache, if he doesn’t lose too much blood before then.
“The one outside is dead. The others are only out.” Caleb kneels next to me, his hand on my back. “You should have taken them out immediately. You shouldn’t have put yourself in danger like this.” His pheromones are tinged with frustration, but from the sadness in them, he also understands why I did what I did.
“I know.” I lean against his shoulder. “Let’s see if we can make them talk once we get them back home. They’re probably the best leads we’ve had so far.”
I’ve got plenty of questions for them and I’m sure Mathew will have too. My pheromones flare in satisfaction. Progress. We’ll finally have some real progress in our mission to take out as much of the Hearts as possible.
And I even found another mate.
Luca.
“They’ve reached the edge of the city. It will take another ten to twenty minutes until they’re here.” Miles leans in the doorway, keeping his eyes on the alley. We have no idea when the Hearts will show up to transport their ‘cargo’, they could arrive at any moment and it’s only the four of us in here.
“The people I called should be here in a minute or two.” Jorge pushes himself up to sit next to me on the table.
Luca is in the room with the kids, that seems to calm him down the most and it will hopefully keep the kids calm too.
I don’t like that he’s out of my line of sight, especially since the tension is still so high in the room. My protective instincts keep trying to get me to stand up and join him. But I can’t. For both our sakes.
We only have to wait another few minutes. We only have to make it through the next minutes and we should be safer after that.
I want to get out of here.
Get the kids somewhere safe.
Get Luca somewhere safe.
Take a shower so I’m no longer covered in blood and hopefully won’t scare my new mate any longer.
And then get as much information out of the Hearts bastards as possible.
Caleb tied them up, just to be sure, but I have no idea when they’ll wake up, or even if they’ll wake up. Though I do hope so. It would be a waste if they died before I could ask them questions.
“Headlights.” Miles steps inside so he’s out of the doorway, harder to spot from the outside.
“Fuck.” Jorge checks his phone. “Not anyone I asked.”
“That means they’re Hearts. Get into place.” Caleb grabs his knife and gun, standing next to the door, out of sight but in a place where he can quickly kill anyone who enters.
Jorge rushes to the door where Luca and the kids are behind, giving three short knocks. The sign that the Hearts are here and that they have to be as quiet as possible.
At least we could convince Luca that we’re a much better option than going back to the Hearts. But with how scared he is, I don’t know how much he really believes it or if he just agreed because we’re here now and we clearly don’t have a problem killing people.
I crouch behind the table in the middle of the room, my gun at the ready. These guys I can take out without a problem. I don’t have to keep any of them alive, and the quicker this is done the better. The sooner this is done, the sooner the danger is over and the sooner we can go home.
And right now, that’s all I really want to do.
I hear two cars drive into the alley, their lights coming in through the window and the door. They cut their engines and the lights disappear, the darkness making me blink a few times so I don’t lose too much of my sight.
People step out of the cars, greeting each other and starting up a conversation. They don’t seem to notice that anything is wrong yet. They’re joking about something, though I can’t make out the words.
Having the element of surprise is good. It means we don’t have to worry about them immediately shooting any of us.
The voices come closer and closer, and I nearly hold my breath, trying to hear what they’re saying.
I finally hear their words at the same time as the first of them comes into view. “Well, they said that today’s batch has some real potential. I can’t wait to see what they brought us this time. Let’s hope that?—”
Fury shoots through me and in one motion, I stand up, raise my gun and shoot the bastard right between the eyes.
He’ll never ever talk about the ‘potential’ of a group of kids ever again.
It takes a moment for the second guy to realise what just happened and the moment he turns to me, Caleb stands between us and shoots him.
And then all hell breaks loose.