Chapter 19 #2
“It’s not important. What time is it? We need to go to the matching ball. Has Zero started his set yet?”
Piper carefully disentangles himself from me, and I whine.
“It’s eleven o’clock. Zero is getting ready for his performance, which starts just before midnight.
When you didn’t come back, I asked around.
The receptionist Beta wouldn’t tell me anything to start with and no amount of bribery or threats helped. ”
“Michah is used to both. He’s the biggest gossip but also the best keeper of secrets.”
“But he listened to me.” Piper gently rubs at the blood on my cheek to clean it off.
“I told him that you were both mine and that I was going to save you and then claim you. He pretty much melted because he thought that it was romantic. Also, he told me that an Omega has been trying to tie you down for years, Wings. Apparently, I have a lot of competition. In fact, most of this hotel are in love with you but think that you’re made of ice.
So, just to be clear. I’m a possessive Omega. Gracie and you are mine, yeah?”
Icarus quirks his brow. “Do you get the feeling that he thinks we’re his, Grace?”
My lips twitch. “Maybe he should say you’re mine again, just to be sure we understand.”
Piper laughs, sunny in a way that shouldn’t be possible in the cruel dark and shadows of this wine cellar.
“The Wolf Siblings hunt their pack. Deal with it. Anyway, you don’t know what it was like having to do nothing but pace our suite, unable to support you.
Waiting for you to return after what we witnessed was agony.
Then you didn’t come back. I am allowed to be on high protective and possessive mode, after my pack have been hurt and locked away from me.
But know that no matter what happens, I will always come after you to save you. Every. Single. Time.”
I rescue myself. I always have. Icarus is the only other person who I have been able to rely on apart from my dad. Except, Dad has barely been able to protect himself. Bird tried to stand up for me and ended up marked as a HO and has now been sent to the Institute.
Having Piper swear to always save me, no matter what, fills me with a sense of safety that I have never known.
Can I trust him?
What does he know about what it is like in this hotel? He is from a sweet and loving wealthy pack. I shouldn’t be drawing him into my troubles.
I must protect my Wolfie from the heist at least. I couldn’t bear for his free spirit to be broken in the Institute.
“And that is why you are mine,” Icarus says with a warmth of pride, which has Piper’s gaze snapping to him.
“See? I’m not the only possessive one.” Piper arches his brow, strolling to Icarus.
“Who said that you were?”
Piper’s smile slips from his face. “You look like shit.”
“Such a silver tongued flatterer. I was about to say how gorgeous you look but now…”
Piper gently touches Icarus’ swollen cheek. “Who did this? Names.”
The steel in his tone makes me jump.
Icarus narrows his eyes. “The security team. But they were only Betas following orders. Staff don’t have much choice. Mrs. Frost is the one who gave the order. She is the one who—”
“Should have her ass kicked,” Piper says, as if a tiny Omega like him could actually do it. Except, didn’t he claim to know MMA? “Then be permanently locked in the Alpha Center.”
Icarus snatches Piper by the scruff of the neck and holds him still. “Don’t even think of doing anything.”
“Well,” Icarus licks his lips, “too late with some of the security. Roar is outside…dealing with…some of them. It’s how we managed to get down here to break you out.”
Go Lionzio.
Icarus frowns at me when I grin.
“What went wrong?” Piper asks.
Icarus looks sheepish. “Ehm, I may have gone just a little feral.”
I snort. “He overturned a desk. It was epic.”
“I have imagined doing that a hundred times,” Icarus admits. “All the times that Mrs. Frost called me into the office to scold and discipline me. Of course, the beating by security wasn’t fun. But overall…”
“Worth it,” Icarus and I chorus at the same time.
“Still,” I say more quietly, “Maya pretended that she would give my brother back but she has already sent him to the Institute.”
Piper turns back to me, looking more determined than I have seen him before.
“I promise, today we will face down that bitch and claim Icarus and you. We will find a way to take your entire family away from this place. My sister’s pack have connections.
We’ll do everything to find your brother in the Institute’s Omega auctions. ”
“Thank you,” I whisper.
“What do you need?” When Piper glances at Icarus, it startles me how much he sounds like a general on a mission.
Icarus raises an impressed eyebrow. “The loyal staff will cover for me. No one would betray me. So, I can go to my rooms and clean myself up. I have a medical kit there because this is far from the first time that I have needed to deal with my own injuries. But what about our outfits for the ball?”
“I’m your fairy godfather, remember?” Piper lifts up the black bags that are covered in ribbons. “I may be an Omega, rather than an Alpha, but as leader of my pack, I have courting gifts for you. I have adapted a dress and suit. So, are you both ready to go to the Christmas Matching Ball?”