Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Linus
“What the heck am I doing?” I muttered to myself as I changed into a pair of Lucas’s black jeans and a dark-grey t-shirt.
From the floor of the closet I’d pulled the clothes out of, Lucas hurled some sort of muffled insult at me as if in answer.
His hands were still cuffed behind him, his feet were tied together, and Fenn had gagged him, since he wouldn’t keep quiet.
I should have had the closet door shut to keep him in the dark.
Saint had repeated that he was probably so tired after his heat and the craziness of the last few days that he would fall asleep as soon as he was isolated in a dark, quiet place.
So far, Lucas was still going strong.
“I’m not going to say I blame you for this,” I said as I reached into the closet to take my brother’s black leather jacket from one of the hangers. I left the sentence hanging, because really, I did blame Lucas for everything. I just didn’t want to say it out loud.
Lucas shouted something at me which, judging by the fury in his eyes, was probably nasty, but the gag muddled the whole thing.
I shrugged into the jacket, hating the feeling of so much clothing against my still heat-hot skin.
There had been just enough time for Saint and I to take a few minutes in my bedroom to get me through another wave.
It had been short and weirdly unsatisfying, but it had taken the edge off the near madness I’d been feeling. I still wasn’t out of heat, though.
I shook my head at my brother. “I’ll get you a pillow so you can stay comfortable. The best thing for everyone is if you go to sleep and let us all handle this.
Lucas definitely swore at me, even if his words didn’t make it through the gag. Heart hurting for all the potential he had but had wasted, I stepped over to grab a pillow from the bed and brought it over to prop by his side.
“I’m going to make this all right,” I said, crouched in front of him. “I’ll try to speak up for you when the time comes, but it’s pretty clear to me that your choices have just caught up with you.”
Lucas scowled and tried to rabbit-kick me with his bound feet.
I sighed and stood, drawing in a deep breath. It made me a little sick to do all this, but what could I do?
“Behave, Lucas,” I said, like he was one of my first-graders, then shut the closet door.
Lucas shouted something once the door clicked shut, but I had to ignore it for now. I loved my brother, despite everything, but the best way to love him at the moment was firmly, not by caving in to everything he wanted. The time for me rolling over and doing whatever Lucas wanted was long past.
I closed my eyes and took another breath.
I didn’t want to do any of this. I was terrified of what might happen with the Dumfries gang.
Even though it had taken a backseat, my heat was still going.
My skin crawled with the need to get out of my clothes and under my alpha.
My womb ached to be filled with more of his seed, even as my belly was still slightly distended with what was already there.
I’d had to find the thickest absorbency pad possible in the bathroom to catch everything leaking out of me, and I still didn’t think it would be enough.
Both the cops and the criminals would be able to smell my heat and—
I forced myself to take a step forward to stop my spiraling thoughts. Saint was just downstairs, waiting for me. I could feel him through his bond, and while his emotions were tense and brittle, I knew he would protect me with his life, come what may.
I nearly changed my mind about everything when I made it downstairs, just as the very first pinks and corals of dawn light limned the ocean horizon out the window, when I saw Saint waiting there for me.
He came forward at once, and whether because he was worried or because he could smell my heat and it was pushing him toward rut once more, he wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tight.
“I’m not sure if I can do this,” I said, pressing my face into his chest. I felt so tiny compared to him, but so sheltered in his large, alpha body.
“You can do this,” Saint encouraged me. “You’re clever and quick. No matter what happens, you’ll out-think the Dumfries gang and make sure they’re brought to justice.”
“No,” I said, breathing in his sandalwood scent for a moment before pushing back.
A rush of slick leaked from me, and I nearly whimpered with need, despite the four other alphas in the room.
“I don’t think I can make it another full hour without this heat wave turning me into a panting, desperate mess. ”
I was half joking, but really not. Saint almost smiled, but knew the moment was too serious.
“I hadn’t taken Mr. Cahill’s heat into account,” Zane said gravely from where he stood by the windows at the other side of the room. “We might need a back-up plan in case it gets the best of him.”
“It won’t get the best of me,” I said, though the words came out more like a breathy moan than something I was sure about. “As long as this whole thing happens quickly and I can stay outside in the cool air, I think I can make it through.”
For about an hour. Maybe. If I was lucky. Saint and I had enjoyed a few good waves through the night that had gone a long way to satisfy my inner omega, and the danger of the moment was still holding things at bay, but it wouldn’t last forever.
“You’re in luck, if that’s what you want to call it,” Fenn said, staring out the window from the cover of one of the curtains, then looking at us. “The Dumfries gang is pulling their boat up to the dock right now.”
A jolt of fear and anxiety hit me like I’d been struck by lightning, especially when one of the alpha cops came over to help me put on a bulletproof vest and to conceal it under my clothes.
But strangely, it wasn’t entirely my fear or anxiety.
I pivoted to glance up at Saint. He definitely had a game face on, but I could sense how close to the edge he was behind it.
“Are you okay?” I asked quietly as Zane, Fenn, and the other two cops moved together for a little last-minute strategizing.
“Yeah,” Saint said. I felt mixed signals about whether he believed that. “This isn’t comparable to the crash at all. I’m not going to have another spin-out like I did during the storm.”
“But having your omega in danger triggers some of those same instincts in you,” I said, reaching out to rest a hand against his racing heart.
“Yep,” Saint said, covering my hand with his own.
We held each other’s gaze for a moment before he smiled and said, “I won’t let anything happen to you out there.
We’ve got a whole life ahead of us after this.
We have to finish your heat, for one, and then we need to talk about making things official and getting a place together. One with enough rooms for a family.”
My heart and my womb both leapt and shivered over all of that. And my hole leaked slick like it was going out of style. Which was absolutely not what I needed right then.
“Okay,” I said, first to Saint, then glancing to the others. “Let’s do this.”
Things started to move fast from there.
“Remember what you need to say,” Zane said, taking charge as he walked me to the door, careful not to come too near me or to touch me.
“We need you to act exactly like your brother and get Wally Dumfries and as many of his men to get off their boat as possible. The recording equipment has already been set up in the boathouse. We just need you to get Dumfries to acknowledge that he is there to pick up the guns and that he has the drugs present to exchange for them.”
“Got it,” I said, taking a deep breath and reaching for the porch door handle.
“The rest of us are going to swing around the front of the house and approach the scene from the drive,” Zane went on.
“I’ll pretend to be Jacob Westfield and that we got impatient and came to collect the drugs ourselves, just like you said.
I’ve got half a dozen more men planted in the shadows out there, and the rest of the team half a mile down the road, ready to come in and clean up. We’ve got your back.”
“Okay,” I said, turning the door handle. I glanced past Zane to Saint, wishing he could come with me right from the start instead of pretending to be one of the Westfields who would show up with Zane. I needed my alpha’s protection.
Well, what I really needed was his cock, but that would definitely have to wait.
“You’ve got this, baby,” Saint said, pushing past Zane to reach me and bending to give me a kiss.
My eyes went wide, and I almost let go of the door and forgot the whole mission so I could drop my trousers and let Saint pound me into next Tuesday, no matter who was watching. We hadn’t actually done a lot of kissing yet, but I loved it and I wanted more.
Fenn clearing his throat was the distraction both Saint and I needed to break things up. “Better save that for later,” he said.
He was right, but I sighed anyhow, then pulled open the door. I needed to get on with things while I still could.
It was a genuine relief to step out into the cool, dawn air.
My suspended heat wave was starting to rage in me, and I needed the coolness to hold it off.
I grabbed a handful of leather jacket and t-shirt and shook it to waft even more cool air against my skin as I headed down the porch steps and along the path to the boathouse, but the vest under it clung tightly, giving me no relief.
As soon as I spotted the large speedboat pulling up to the end of the dock, my heat took a step back and my heart started to race for other reasons. The Dumfries gang was here, and judging by their boat, they were a lot more sophisticated than I’d anticipated.