Chapter 30 – LISA
LISA
Pressing my face to the thin, smoke-stained curtain, I grip the windowsill as Beau crosses the parking lot toward four men, his stride steady despite the slight limp.
Taking in his battered body, the largest of the four inhales deeply, his nostrils flaring. He turns his head away at an angle looking slightly repulsed.
“It’s been a shitty few hours, gentlemen, can’t this wait?” Beau grumbles, his breath fogging in the chilly night air.
Behind me, Amber makes a small sound that breaks my heart. She's pressed against the headboard in the next room, visible through the connecting door, her already gaunt face pale.
Tripp moves to position himself between her and the door, one hand raised. "Nobody's coming in here."
She doesn't look convinced, and I don’t blame her. The motel door is flimsy, and they don’t look like they’re here to offer a helping hand.
Outside, Beau stops a few feet from the group and sighs wearily, arms folded across his chest.
The one at the front is tall and lean rather than muscular like Beau, with a thick scar from his hairline to his jaw. The three behind him are younger, jumpier and potentially, far more dangerous.
"Beau Lennox, my name is Aaron, beta of the…"
Beau shakes his head and takes another step forward. "I know who you are."
The scarred man nods, expression grim. "Then you know why we're here. She's coming with us.”
“Not happening.” With a shake of his head, Beau pushes forward again, just one step, but slowly closing the gap.
The man gives Beau an exasperated look. “Our Alpha is dying without his mate."
Alpha. Mate. These are all words I know and understand, but my brain is spinning with all the possible implications here.
"She's not going anywhere with you." Beau's already deep voice drops dangerously, and the men behind the scarred one straighten up at the sound of it.
"Your Alpha is sick, and I’m sorry. I get that you are desperate to help him.
But this woman doesn't know you, doesn't know what you are, and has just been through hell. We can’t add this to her plate. "
Aaron presses his lips together in a hard line. “It’s not ideal, but we have no choice. We’re running out of time.”
Beau stares down at him, and a low rumble vibrates through the thin wall. "Were you going to buy her? Is that why you were there?"
Silence. The scarred man's jaw tightens. “We’ve been following Mr. Black. Hoping Dimitri would surface.”
Beau’s growl grows louder. “That’s not what I asked.”
One scuffs the dirt with his boot, unable to look Beau in the eye. Another shifts his weight, his focus drifting toward our window. When his gaze finds mine through the glass, my hand moves to the weapon I still don't have until he looks away, appearing genuinely ashamed.
“We were prepared to do whatever it took to free her from that monster,” Aaron says.
“So, she gets passed from one monster to another?” I scoff under my breath, and Beau’s posture stiffens.
How the hell did he hear that?
"Is that what Rowan would want? His mate bought from a trafficker? Dragged to his territory against her will?"
The scarred man turns his head, briefly closing his eyes, then squares back up to Beau.
"Rowan can punish me all he wants if he lives, which is looking less and less likely. Every day without her, he loses more of himself. We have to do something." He steps forward, closing the gap between them, but Beau doesn’t flinch. “No matter how… unpalatable. Don’t try to stand in our way.”
Beau doesn't give an inch, looking every bit the stoic protector, but he’s been shot. He’s not going to be able to keep four men at bay alone.
I'm through the door before I've finished deciding what my plan of action is. The cold hits my skin, and Beau's head turns ever so slightly, but he doesn't send me back.
Then Van appears from the other side, his jaw set.
Aaron scowls, regarding us as nuisances rather than any real threat, but it’s enough to make me think there’s some hope of talking them down.
"Her family needs to see her. She needs a shower and medical attention.
" Beau directs his words at the scarred man and holds his ground when the man starts to growl.
"She doesn't know about any of this, and it’s a lot on top of what she's just been through.
If you force it on her now, you'll lose her before you've started. " He pauses. “She’ll hate him for it.”
The younger man on the left takes a half step forward but stops instantly when the scarred man raises a hand without looking. He’s conflicted. It’s written all over his face. He doesn’t want to fight, or drag her out of here kicking and screaming, but he doesn’t know what else to do.
"Let us take her home," Beau says quietly. "Let her see her sister. Learn a little about what we are from Zara. She can decide for herself whether she's willing to meet him."
"That could take weeks," Aaron spits out, throwing up his hands.
"A few more days. That's all I'm asking. But if you take her tonight and make her do this, she'll never accept him. You know that. You can already scent her fear."
I have no idea what’s going on, but I trust Beau to look out for her best interests.
Aaron’s fists open and close at his sides as he looks past us toward the motel room door, nostrils flaring once more. When he exhales, long and slow, and meets Beau's eyes again, the fight has gone out of him.
"Tomorrow, we will meet and discuss this again."
Beau simply nods, knowing they’ll be able to find us wherever we go.
They turn and walk toward the treeline, four figures disappearing between the pines and melting into the shadows.
Beau watches them go, his weight shifted onto his good leg, somehow tracking them long after my eyes lose them in the dark.
“Thank fuck.” Van claps his shoulder once, hard, and limps back inside. “Let’s get out of here, okay?”
Beau nods but makes no move to follow him back indoors.
Instead, he leans over and pulls the door closed, leaving us alone in the quiet parking lot.
Despite knowing nothing happened to physically harm him, I can’t help checking him over once more.
This man should be laid up in bed, resting, not out here mediating potential kidnappings.
But here he is, once again, putting himself between someone else and danger.
"Beau."
He stands straight, those dark chocolate eyes finding mine and staying there, waiting.
I have a million questions, each more absurd sounding than the next.
And yet somehow, as I replay the last few months in my mind, and all the things my grandmother told me as a young girl, I’m probably not as shocked as I should be.
"Just for a second, suppose this is true.” I wave a hand over my general stomach area, still unable to process the idea that there could be life in there.
“And that Van’s right, that my body somehow held onto it…
my egg and your… stuff… all this time." My hand rests against my belly, and Beau’s eyes lock onto the gesture, jaw tight, expression unreadable.
"Why now? We've been at each other's throats for months. You hated me. I had strong feelings of… frustration toward you. I handcuffed you to a radiator this morning, for god’s sake, and we were in a shoot-out two hours ago. Why would my body pick now?"
Tears prick my eyes. This is a lot.
Am I really pregnant? Is this a cruel joke? Am I ridiculous for even entertaining the notion just because a man sniffed me, when instead, I should be peeing on a stick?
What if I’m no good at it? I did just nearly get myself, and Beau, killed.
Beau closes the distance between us, his hand coming up to my jaw, tilting my face gently. When he leans down, his stubble grazes my cheek, and his lips brush my ear, close enough that his breath warms my neck, and I respond to him the way I always do.
My whole body aches for him, and my nipples harden, craving him immediately, anticipation building despite our hazardous situation. I feel safe with him, adored and protected.
"Because at some point, Red," he murmurs against my skin, "maybe even while you were yelling at me, you decided that you wanted to be mine.”