Chapter 17 #2
“It’s me,” Cassidy hisses. “Why are you singing?”
“The alpha bitch tried to alpha bark me,” I explain, gasping in a breath. Fuck, she scared me.
“We have people in the building hunting,” she reassures me.
Opening my mouth to say Madam Clara is right here, I realize she no longer is.
Fuck.
“I’m not leaving you,” Cassidy says. “Come with me. What happened to Winter?”
“I think it’s a sedation dart,” I grumble, moving toward the back of the building.
“Okay, let me grab a blanket from the backpack. She may feel cold,” she explains.
A second later Winter is wrapped in my arms. She doesn’t have any allergies that I know of, but she’s definitely shivering in my arms.
“Fucking assholes,” I mutter.
“Tell me what happened?” Cassidy asks.
I begin to explain what happened, but I’m interrupted by one of Madam Clara’s men as he grabs Cassidy and fucking launches her away from me.
“You’ve been a pain in the ass for long enough,” he growls. “Madam Clara needs you.”
“She has others. Ow!” I yell as he pinches the back of my neck to push me forward.
My arms are full, I can’t drop Winter, and this bastard is taking advantage of that, even as I dig my heels in. My sneakers squeak and squeal in a way that makes her writhe even in her sleep, but I won’t stop fighting for us. Even if my movements are limited.
“No she doesn’t,” the man growls. “They somehow escaped, and you’re her cash cow. Now be a good little pet and move!”
“Fuck you!” I roar. The fucker is a beta and can’t bark me to do anything. He has to use brute force instead.
“Abbott!” Cassidy yells. “I can’t get the shot.”
“Fuck, shit, I need a new job,” the man complains, pulling me in front of his chest and turning me in a slow circle.
I doubt that’s going to deter my alphas. I just have a feeling I may be wearing his brains soon. It’s better than being a sex slave, so I’ll suck it up.
“You’re making me dizzy,” I complain, choosing to troll the dick head. He needs me alive, and if he was going to tranq me, he’d already have done that. “Do you need a new job because you’re shit at this one?”
“Shut up!” he hisses at me.
“Respectfully, you’re gonna die,” I say cheerfully, wincing at the pain in my neck. I’m sure he isn’t pinching a nerve on purpose, but he is making me feel really fucking dizzy. “Any time now would be great!”
Something grazes past my neck and I flinch to the right before hearing the man behind me gurgle and fall. Unfortunately, he’s a caveman who also pulls Winter and I down with him, and I collapse on top of the idiot.
“Stupid, stupid, ugh I’m going to fucking kill him,” Ansel grumbles, running toward me.
“I’m fine.”
I don’t mention the part where I’m bleeding all over myself and Winter. Should I?
“I saw the bullet. Don’t fucking tell me you’re fine,” he says, worry taking the bite out of his words as he pulls me off the man and toward him.
“If I can talk, then I’m fine, no?” I ask, leaning into being a trolling little shit.
“No,” he growls, his hand coming away with blood as he touches my neck. “Don’t tell me this isn’t your blood. It is.”
“Ugh, that’s not what I want to hear,” I groan, the sound of gunshots around us completely ignored.
Ansel rips his shirt off his body because of his shoulder rig for his firearms, and presses it against my neck. I vaguely think about how hot that is, just before I pass out.
ANSEL
“Dammit,” I sigh, hunching over my omegas as I press my ruined shirt over Bellamy’s neck.
It’s a flesh wound, I know it is. The stupid, dead scumbag beside me kept turning and hiding behind Bellamy. Shiloh had to take the shot when he saw it because they were almost to the exit, and it’s a mess outside.
We called in some of our guys, the place is surrounded, but shit can still go sideways. I know this, we all do, but Shi is going to rip himself apart over this.
Cassidy drops to her knees beside me, covering me as she shoots another one of Clara’s henchmen in the head.
“It’s almost clear,” she says under her breath, more for my benefit than herself.
Still, I appreciate it because my hands are bloody as I apply pressure to Bellamy’s throat, and I still have a gun by my thigh. If necessary, I could shoot to kill. It’s nice to know I’m covered so I’m not in that situation.
“We’re good inside!” Henri yells to my right. “I’m headed out to help.”
“I don’t have eyes on Clara. Will you see if anyone has her out there?” Abbott asks, striding over to Cassidy and I. “Easton has Matilda. What happened?”
“My bullet caught him,” Shi says, cursing under his breath as he hurries over to see.
“The shot was rough,” Abbott murmurs, not wanting to make him feel worse.
“Just a flesh wound,” I add, glancing at the beta who already bled out beside me. “You took a chance, and it paid off. Bellamy kept telling me he was fine, right up until he passed out.”
“Of course he did,” Abbott grumbles, picking up an unconscious Winter. “Keep pressure and let’s get him patched up. Cass?”
“I’ll cover with Shi,” she agrees.
While the danger seems to be over inside the warehouse, I’m not sure what’s happening outside. Pack Mayor also gave us the warehouse to enjoy a little torture. Funny enough, there’s an incinerator in the basement we fully plan to take advantage of.
Our guys are already dragging dead bodies inside to break them down and toss them into the fire. This way, we may be able to keep our promise of not starting any pyrotechnics.
There’s a hallway on the right side of the building, and it leads to a room with a table and chairs. It’s some kind of office setting, simply without any carpet. This is as good as any place for patching up our omega.
Laying Bellamy out on the table, I pull away my shirt to see that he’s going to need a couple of stitches.
Shiloh takes off the go bag on his back with medical supplies and begins to clean the area for me.
“We should do it before he wakes up,” he warns. “I feel fucking terrible about this.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” I murmur, grabbing gloves to pull on and then preparing the needle and thread.
You never know when a job will go badly, which means a medical bag is always on hand. We can all do basic shit, and anything beyond that we call Riley now.
It’s better than the older mafia doctor who was judgey as fuck. I hate bigots who believe there’s only one way to live, and we cut him loose as soon as we could.
He’s lucky we didn’t do it with a bullet to the head first.
“Here we go,” I murmur.
Cassidy holds Bellamy’s head to keep him still as I stitch him up, and he doesn’t wake up until I’m done.
“What—?!” His confused moan makes me feel like shit, but there’s no reason to put him through unnecessary pain.
“You got nicked by the bullet when Shi killed the guard,” I remind him. “I had to give you a couple of stitches. I’m hoping it doesn’t scar.”
“Hmm. I rarely do,” he mumbles as Cassidy releases him.
“I’m so sorry,” Shi groans. “The prick wouldn’t stop spinning like a top.”
“He did it on purpose,” Bellamy says, pushing himself up until he’s sitting. He accepts a bottle of water from Shiloh, drinking deeply from it. “One of the guards shot Winter with a tranquilizer gun. I think she might be out for a while. I’ll sit with her if you need me to.”
“Boss?” Henri stands at the door with no expression.
“Tell me,” Abbott commands, still holding Winter.
“The blonde auction madam is gone,” he explains. “She slipped out during the melee and no one saw her.”
“Fuck,” I sigh.
“Thanks, Henri,” Abbott says. “Think you can string Matilda up for me? Feel free to loosen her up. Bats, knives, let the whole goddamn crew at her. She tried to sell her niece and nephew again.”
Henri’s eyes move to Winter and Bellamy, his features showing a trace of rage before he nods.
“I’ll make certain she’s still alive enough,” he promises, leaving us.
“Your men will be upset she sold us?” Bellamy asks. “In my experience, this happens more often than people realize.”
“Yes,” Shi answers for us. “You’re supposed to protect the people you’re responsible for. Winter’s mother trusted that Matilda would care for you, right?”
“Yeah. I don’t think her sister could do any wrong in Helen’s eyes. It’s one of the few blind spots that she had,” Bellamy says sadly.
“We believe the same,” Shiloh says. “Abbott won’t employ people who beat on their children or packs.
We’re not perfect. Even we make mistakes.
We’ve rectified those mistakes by killing the abusers we’ve employed, and made sure their family received a large severance check.I killed my own father for beating my mother and I for years just as soon as I was able to. It’s unacceptable behavior.”
“Our crew will enjoy this,” I reassure him. “We’ll be able to stay with you, and make sure you don’t have any complications.”
“It was a graze,” Bellamy says with a chuckle. “I’m fine, just a little covered in blood.”
“I can fix that,” Shi says, pulling out a t-shirt from the bag.
“Did Mary Poppins pack that thing?” Bellamy snorts, pulling off his shirt.
My lips twitch in amusement and Cassidy shakes her head.
“Did you know he chirped and heckled at Clara’s men? He was fucking singing at one point!”
“I can’t be alpha barked if I can't hear it,” Bellamy reminds her, and it sounds like something they’ve discussed before.
“You can spank Bellamy later,” I tease Cassidy.
Bellamy fixes his new shirt as he glances at me with a smirk, unrepentant. I think if he wasn’t starting to trust us that my statement wouldn’t have landed well. I’m calling this a small win.
“I just may,” Cassidy says with a wink. “I’m going to go watch them beat the shit out of Matilda. I think I’ll need to take a few shots at her myself. I’m too wired to sit still.”
Cass is scared. Her alphas can see it, and Bellamy’s eyes follow her as she walks toward the door. If we hadn’t been waiting, if Winter and Bellamy hadn’t pushed the button on Winter’s bracelet to alert us that things were getting too hot for them, this could have all ended very differently.
So we let her flee the room to soothe the growing rage inside of her.