21. Sixteen
Sixteen
Caine
My alpha didn’t like that there was a sick omega nearby and he wasn’t tending to her. And he would. not. let me sit still.
It was lucky I hadn’t yet left the parking lot from today’s therapy session before Brea could jog over and knock on the window, forehead marred with worry.
The second she mentioned Taryn being unwell, I’d given a curt nod and peeled out of the parking lot, making the half-hour drive in twenty minutes.
I’d almost told Taryn about the appointment, about Brea being my therapist for going on a month now. I’d wanted to tell her. Talking it through with the both of them was the only chance I could accept the invitation still sitting on the kitchen counter in our apartment.
Because no, I did not bring that up in therapy. I’d gone to every appointment and fought through my instincts to sit in silence the whole time and spilled close-held secrets in front of two shrinks. But no fucking way was I discussing a possible heat break with my therapist in front of her boss.
Nope. Never gonna happen.
In the end, I said nothing. Like a big scared prick.
Taryn’s door had closed around one o’clock.
By four, I’d worked my way through every work order in the building.
Fixed a cracked outlet cover, unclogged a sink drain, shown the elderly alpha on the second floor how to use the dimmer for the thousandth time probably.
When those were done, I cleaned the air vents with a toothbrush.
And vacuumed the rug in the lobby. And watered the fake potted plants.
Between each chore, I’d passed slowly by the Maddox apartment.
I had no fucking clue why. The building’s scent neutralizers did their job well.
I couldn’t get a whiff of anyone in the building unless I was fully inside their unit.
Still, the regular walk-bys soothed my alpha by centimeters, so I kept them up through the afternoon.
Around five o’clock, I was polishing the banister between the second and third floors when every hair on my body stood to attention.
A chill like millions of iced needles prickled my skin from scalp to toes.
There was no sound. There was no scent. Only the undeniable knowledge that something was wrong.
I sprinted down the stairs, dread growing in my gut.
Omega sick. Omega hurt?
Standing outside the omega’s door, I closed my eyes and leaned in, breathing deep. The faintest ghost of toffee lingered, so thin I wasn’t sure if it was real.
Help the omega?
I stood frozen, keys in hand. What if she’d stubbed her toe? What if her head just hurt still?
What if her heat was starting early? And I knew Brea wasn’t home yet…
No, couldn’t be that. Our standard neutralizers wouldn’t hide a heat spike, even an early one, this well.
My heart thudded in my chest. I didn’t know what to do. My alpha didn’t know what to do.
Then an explosion of black-burnt toffee scent nearly bowled me over, and the decision was made. I unlocked the door and swung it open.
For a moment, the world stopped. Like my mind was encased in stone. Ice. Two of the barstools at the breakfast bar were knocked over, as was an armchair in the sitting area. The corner of the rug had been kicked up, and there was a faint crack in the drywall to my left.
And to my right was Taryn. Hands bound in front of her, tears streaming down her face and around the pudgy hand covering her mouth and pinning her to the wall.
Before her stood a mountain of a man, easily a foot taller than Taryn, his free hand fumbling with the waistband of his jeans as Taryn thrashed against his grip.
The room went red. The omega went red. The beta holding her went red. My alpha roared and reared back, ready to lunge, strike, kill. I gave him the wheel.
Faster than I could command my body to move, it did.
It pulled the brute off Taryn and threw him to the ground.
I vaguely registered Taryn’s wheezing gasps as her mouth was finally uncovered, the hiss of her body sliding down against the wall until she was sitting, crumpled, on the floor, the sobs that choked her as she stayed back.
But more front of mind was causing this asshole as much pain, agony, punishment as I could before I ended his pathetic life.
I’d taken him off guard. Even with my alpha strength, tussling with a beta of this size would normally be at least marginally more difficult.
Not today. I straddled his broad chest, my left hand pressing down on his throat as my right rained down punch after punch.
My breath tore out of me in ragged, crazed pants.
He’d put hands on the omega.
He’d hurt the omega.
He’d made the omega cry.
He needed to die.
After a few blows to the face, the intruder managed to get his wits about himself, landing a blow to my ribs that made Taryn whine and rolling me off of him. He was up in a flash, pulling a knife from his pocket and backing toward Taryn again.
What was redder than red? Because my primal rage somehow expanded, and I lunged at him again, knocking him into the edge of the breakfast bar with a grunt. His hand wrapped around my throat as he tried to bang my head against the counter.
But my inner alpha was stronger than the human me, faster than me.
I reached around him for the hand holding the knife. I grasped the wrist with as much strength as I possessed. I stuck it into his side. The beta’s breath hitched and his hand slackened around the blade. Behind me, Taryn whined as I pulled the blade out and did it again.
The beta faltered, stumbled back. His hand went to his bleeding side, coming back with beautiful red.
I liked it.
As I stepped in to strike again, and again, and again, the omega behind me whimpered, mewled. I looked at her, breathing hard. Her face shone with tears, her bound hands shaking as she looked at me.
I wanted to end this man. I wanted to cause him immeasurable pain. But I didn’t want Taryn to watch. My alpha didn’t want her to watch. He wanted to secure her, comfort her. The fucker wanted to purr for her.
The moment of distraction was all the intruder needed to stumble around the bar, hand clutching his shredded side, and lumber out the door.
Fucker was still breathing. Shouldn’t still be breathing. Needed to make him stop breathing.
Another whine, loud and shrill, halted me. I was already to the doorframe, almost through it. I didn’t remember taking a step.
My alpha was taking over, and fast.
I turned to Taryn, visibly shaking on the floor, eyes wet and pleading where her voice could not.
Don’t leave me.
Human Caine was losing his grip on my actions. I clung to him as I turned around back to Taryn. I reached for her, pausing as I noticed the blood tarnishing my hands. I couldn’t touch her like this. But I couldn’t not touch her. Hold her. Cage her against any outside foe that would do her harm.
“Omega…”
She sobbed, reaching her bound hands toward me.
I sighed in relief, practically collapsing to the floor as I reached to pull her into my arms. She came willingly, eagerly even, her hands gripping at my t-shirt and her face nuzzling into the crook where my neck met my shoulders, where our scents were strongest. I felt her shaky breaths there, her tremors and sobs.
The violence slowly left my brain, my limbs.
But my alpha was still quickly hijacking my being, my primal drives taking over.
Except now, it wasn’t to eviscerate. It was to protect, to comfort.
With one arm wrapped around the back of her shoulders, I held her head against my neck with the other, willing my heart and breath to slow. For her.
I turned my face, burying my nose in her disheveled hair, taking a deep breath. Her scent was still acrid, panicked. Hands still zip-tied together. I raised my hand to use the knife to cut the shackle.
Hand was empty.
I’d dropped the knife. It lay eight feet away. When I stretched my arm out to reach for it, she whined, curling up impossibly tighter.
“Okay, it’s okay,” I whispered against her hair, putting my hand back to cradle her face against my chest and shoulder. “You’re okay.”
Her fingers, wrists still bound together, twisted into my shirt and tightened, her fists pressed into my chest. Fresh tears continued down her face, wetting the skin of my neck.
Comfort.
Protect.
Provide.
My alpha’s influence grew by the breath, the ferocity of it shocking me.
It felt as though he were emerging and I was shrinking back.
The strangest part of it was I didn’t mind.
I wanted my alpha at the forefront. He’d know how to make this right, how to stop her trembling, how to make her feel safe and content.
With the last vestiges of my logical brain, I pulled my phone from my back pocket, quickly navigating to Lin’s number and pressing the call button.
It rang five times before his voicemail cued up.
A discontented growl rumbled from the back of my throat as I hung up and pressed call again. Another five rings, then a voicemail.
I cursed under my breath and called again.
He picked up on the fourth ring. “Not a good ti—”
“Shut up and listen,” I muttered, my breath still heavy and chopped. The arm bracing Taryn around the shoulders tightened. “Get Brooks and come to the Maddox apartment. Do it now.”
“What happened?”
“Bring his med kit.”
“Caine—”
I hung up, dropping my phone with a clatter to the ground and returning my hand to its right place at Taryn’s head, anchoring her to my body.
My alpha took full control then, the edges of the room fading to nothing. The only two things in existence were me and the omega I held in my arms, still shaking and letting out an occasional whine.
Then I was purring.
I’d never purred for anyone, ever. Not Brooks or Lin, not any of the few partners I’d had up to this point in my life. But this omega in my arms, practically a stranger to me still…she brought it out of me.
My wolf took control.
Quiet. Omega was quiet now too, breathing even but muscles tense. The light was almost gone. Didn’t matter. Could still see just fine. Could smell just fine. Would hear any heartbeats of any predators coming for her.
Red puddle on the floor. A crimson mirror. A lake at midnight.
A crashing sound from outside. My focus sharpened to the entrance, waiting for the threat to walk in. I dared them try to harm her, touch her. I’d tear their throat out with my teeth.
Fast footsteps. Two bodies.
They spoke, but I heard no words. They crossed the threshold. I kept my eyes locked on them. Another beta. An alpha.
I’d kill anyone who came for the omega, but that would involve letting her go, which was a last resort.
The alpha approached the spot where I held the omega. I gave a warning growl. He stopped in his tracks.
Good. Stay back.
He spoke, but the sounds were disjointed. My breaths came hard. I held the omega tighter. A whisper of a scent reached my nose, familiar, and I heard my name.
“Caine.”
I blinked a few times, and the crouched alpha before me turned into Lin, expression careful and concerned. Brooks stood back closer to the door, face pale and terrified.
I took a deep breath and gave a little nod, telling them that I was back in control. Or enough control that they were safe from me.
I looked to Brooks. “I think she’s in shock.”
“What the hell happened?”
Lin moved closer. I swallowed, still feeling somewhat territorial over Taryn. Not my alpha. Me.
I gritted my teeth together and pushed it down. I had no place being territorial of her at all. She wasn’t my omega. Wasn’t mine to comfort or protect or cherish, no matter what my inner wolf believed.
“Someone was here,” I murmured. “Smelled—” My stomach lurched, forcing me to take a steadying breath. “Smelled her fear. Came in and someone…fucking…had her…”
As I spoke, Lin reached over and grabbed the knife that had been just out of reach, finally freeing Taryn’s hands of her bonds.
She barely moved, though, head still turned in to my chest, resting in the crook of my neck, while her hands clutched even harder at my shirt.
Lin swallowed, raising a hand slowly. He grazed his fingertips over her cheek, brushing strands of hair behind her ear. She flinched.
“Oh, sweet omega,” he whispered, pain behind his words. Lin met my gaze. “How’d the fucker get in? Outer doors were locked like normal.”
I shook my head. I didn’t know. That was part of what scared me.
This wasn’t some crime of convenience, someone breaking into an apartment and finding a beautiful omega waiting.
Someone had chosen this apartment. Snuck their way inside, ready to restrain her.
My eyes fluttered closed as images of what could’ve happened had I convinced myself I was overreacting and backed away flooded my mind. It turned my stomach.
Brooks came over then, crouching down like Lin, water-lined eyes turned toward Taryn. “Hey, precious,” he whispered, moving in closer. “Can I look at that bruise, love?”
Only then did I notice darkness blooming at her temple, half hidden by her hair.
Red tinted my vision for a moment, but I tamped it down.
I turned my face back so I could take a deep breath of her scent.
Not as bitter as before, but still nowhere close to her baseline.
I gave the nape of her neck what I hoped was a reassuring rub.
“Let’s make sure you’re all right, Omega,” I said quietly, trying to nudge her face forward toward Brooks.
She only burrowed further into my chest with a whine that tore at my heart.
Lin and Brooks shared a grim look, first with each other, then with me. “Have you called the police?” Lin asked softly.
I shook my head. It’d been all I could do to call him, to get someone else here to help make sure she was safe, to figure out what had happened.
Brooks sighed. He held out a folded stack of crumpled papers roughly the size of my phone. “Well, this will complicate things. Found it on the floor.”
He pulled out one sheet, a folded print-out with four photos of Taryn, all clearly taken without her knowledge, all showing different angles of her face and body, two with hair up and two with hair down, one with sunglasses. Days and times were jotted down in the margins.
“Fuck,” Lin muttered, taking the stack from Brooks.
A sick feeling creeped through my stomach. Confirmation of what I’d already suspected. “This wasn’t random. Someone chose her.”