Chapter 9
Nine
Llewellyn
L ieutenant Rio Barrie, United States Marine Corp. Lieutenant Rio Barrie, United States Marine Corp. Lieutenant Rio Barrie, United States Marine Corp.
Screaming. Always so much screaming. I could do it. I could do it. They promised me someone would be getting him soon. I only have to hold on a little longer.
A knock startled me out of my waking nightmare. Or my reality. Waking reality?
“Llew?”
Max. My Max.
I turned, giving him a smile that felt a little loose on my face, like it could slip right off. He smelled nice. He told me they’d brought home an Omega, like they were telling me they’d brought home a case of fireworks. Waiting for me to lose it. Always waiting for me to lose it.
“Max,” I said softly, and watched his shoulders relax. Poor Maxie, always the strong one. I wanted to hold him, but it made him sad. I could smell it, and it made the wild surge up.
“I’ve brought a visitor, Llew.” Still so hesitant.
I lifted my nose. Omega. But not the one whose scent had been permeating the air for the last two days, whose bruised scent made my Alpha feel rage. And protectiveness. Feral.
Her pain made me feel raw. But luckily, that sour scent had disappeared as my Pack took care of her. I knew they would. My Maxie would lay down his life for them. And Rio…
Rio.
Shaking my head, I scented the air. No, this wasn’t that Omega. This one smelled of decadent chocolate and sweetness. Deep and potent. Not the same Omega, but still delicious. My Alpha shook himself from the confines I kept him in, and I held on tight to my control.
I wouldn’t hurt an Omega. I’d die first.
“Max…” I almost whined, but he knew.
“It’ll be okay, Llew. I trust you, so trust yourself.” Stepping aside, he ushered someone inside my room. The master suite had always been the biggest room, with a walk-in robe, its own bathroom, and large sliding doors onto a balcony. It made an excellent cell. I guess it was time for visitation. “This is August. He’s a therapist down at the VA.” Max cleared his throat. “He wanted to come and say hello.”
There was something they weren’t telling me, but I didn’t blame them. I didn’t have a firm grip on reality most days. Today, though, I felt good. I turned, hoping I didn’t look like a serial killer, but wouldn’t bet on it. Not a lot of need to groom if you never left your room.
Heh. That rhymed.
A tall, slight man entered my room, his scent pouring in after him. It flooded all the nooks and crannies, and I knew it would linger for days after he left. My mouth watered. He had a shock of dark brown curls, and full lips. His skin was a soft gold, his jaw so sharp I might cut myself on the edges. His energy was like a Xanny straight to the veins, and I wondered if that was why he’d become a therapist.
He was completely confident as he walked toward me, his hand out in front. “Llewellyn, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. The guys speak highly of you.”
I snorted. Maybe they spoke highly of the man I used to be. Now, I was a shadow.
Chains and rope. Burn. Burn. Burn.
Pushing the madness down, I reached out and gripped the Omega’s hand, shaking it gently. I was so big. Big hands. Big body. Big madness.
“Call me Llew. Only my mother and the DMV call me Llewellyn.”
August chuckled softly, a sound that was like a balm over my exposed wounds. “Llew it is.” He looked around the room, and I wondered what he saw? The expensive furnishings? The light divots in the wall that were the remnants of gouges and holes made by fists?
Swallowing hard, I indicated the small table and chairs over by the windows. “Have a seat. We’ll sit and visit like proper Southerners.”
“You’re a South Carolina native?”
I held out the remaining seat to Max. He was my Maxie. My Pack. He got everything he deserved, and he deserved the whole world. He was a stubborn brat, though, and when he shook his head, I insisted with my eyes. Not through the bond. Our bond was broken. Irreparable.
Sighing heavily and rolling his eyes, Max sat down opposite August. I saw the way my Beta’s eyes took in the other man, like he was eating him up with his gaze before he ate him for dessert.
Interesting.
Finally, I looked back at the Omega to see he was watching our interaction with intensity. “We moved here from Wales when I was a kid and settled in Charleston. We moved up here, because Max was based out of Charlotte.”
“I moved here for work too,” August said, settling easily in his chair. So comfortable in a strange place in front of a feral Alpha. I knew what my aura was like. I knew that my Alpha pheromones were wild and felt like sandpaper on the skin of outsiders. But this man, this Omega, sat opposite me without a care in the world.
Maybe he was really an Alpha masquerading as an Omega, because he had some serious brass balls.
The silence stretched between us, and August steepled his fingers. “I’m going to be straight with you, Llew. I’m kind of a test dummy to see how you react to Omegas, but you seem in control.”
I snorted out a mirthless sound. “You got me on a good day, Omega. But I swear, no matter how… out of touch I get, the urge to protect is still overwhelming. I would never hurt you, or anyone who wasn’t a direct threat to my Pack.”
If someone threatened Max or Rio, I would put them in the ground and enjoy it. I didn’t say that to the Omega in front of me, though.
“Might be a good time to introduce you to the Omega who will be living in your house then?” August asked lightly, and I had no doubt that it was entirely up to me. My Alpha surged to the surface, desperate to see with his own eyes that the Omega with the bruised scent was really okay. However, getting crazy Alpha eyes wasn’t going to convince anyone I was safe.
I looked at Max, then at the door where I knew Rio was standing. My Rio. “I feel good,” I told him. Them. “It’ll be fine.”
Rio spent a few more seconds probing at my Alpha with his own, and I missed the bond. Missed the time when he would’ve known in an instant how I was feeling, and I’d have known how he was too. It was in the past, but I couldn’t help but mourn the connection.
Finally, Rio turned and looked over his shoulder. Saying something softly, he stepped to the side, and the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen appeared in the doorway. She felt too big to be in such a tiny body, her features small and cute and elfin, and every protective instinct I had surged to the surface.
Looking at me with big eyes, she lifted her face to the air, like she was scenting me. She sucked in a deep breath, her nose screwed up, and her eyes went wild. I watched the pupils blow out, and honestly, I couldn’t have stopped what happened next even if I knew it was coming.
No one could have.
The Omega raced around Rio, hurdling the low couch and slamming into my body with the force of a train. Well, maybe the force of a toy train.
“ Mine! ” she hissed, and then she struck. Her teeth were in my throat, bonding me. Claiming me. The intention flowed down the connection that was created between us immediately, and I was frozen in fear.
“Fuck!” someone swore, but when hands tried to pry her off me, I growled. The Alpha surged to the surface, any chance of holding him back gone the minute her teeth broke the skin of my throat. I gripped the back of her skull, the stubble of her hair both rough and soft against my palm. Beautiful perfection.
My chainsaw purr echoed around the room, and she finally dislodged her teeth from my neck. She lapped at it, and I could almost feel the moment her Omega ceded control back to the more human side.
She wiggled, and I knew I should let her go, but my arms were locked. I wanted to bite her back. It took everything in me to not, and perhaps it was Rio’s hands on my head that prevented me from lunging.
Max’s eyes were wild. “Uh…” He looked between me and Rio, like he was waiting for one of his Alphas to take control of this shitshow. But I could only feel this soft little Omega in my arms, her body bowing toward me.
I realized she was crying. Fuck. Was I hurting her?
I let her go, but she wrapped her arms around my neck, her nose buried in my throat just above her mark. I looked over at Rio, at the new Omega, August. What was happening?
August came over. “Paloma? Sweet girl, are you okay? You have to let go of Llew.”
She shook her head against my throat. “So much pain.”
Was she hurt? Oh shit. Had I squeezed too hard? Was my blood toxic?
“Are you injured?” August asked softly.
She lifted her face, and I could feel the tears dropping from her cheeks onto my skin. “Not me. Him. Llew. So much pain.” Then she sobbed into my neck, like her heart was breaking. Breaking for me.
Her tears healed me and then broke me again, right along with her. Rio got into my face, and I growled softly. I didn’t like the way he was looking at me right now. He sucked in a deep, calming breath. “You have to shut off the bond.” He sounded as panicked as I felt at the sound of her tears.
It was Max who pushed between us. “He can’t. Unless he bonds her back, the bond is pouring one way, and there’s no shut-off valve.”
Rio stumbled back. “Fuck.”
Yeah. Either I bonded the Omega back—the obviously traumatized, helpless Omega—and be the biggest piece of shit ever, or I kept the bond open for her to absorb all my demons.
“Fuck,” I echoed.