34. Chase
34
Chase
"Well, that's the funny thing, Rebecca! You already have!"
Despite being a sadist, not a masochist, I forced myself to watch the fucking interview, and when I heard Nora, after coming out looking so sick, so broken, say that I knew what was coming and I barreled out of the kitchen.
I threw myself into the SUV, broke every traffic law on the books, and probably created a few new ones on my way to LunarNews1 studio. I recognized that sound stage. I'd been interviewed there many times before about Bea's.
"Excuse me, sir, you can't-"
"Don't care!" I bark at the woman at the front desk of the news station. I know where I'm going, and I'm not going to let anyone stop me. I take a right and find sound stage two. With no desire for subtlety, I throw the door open and punch the first person who comes after me square in the face. I'm not chiseled like Nolan, and I don't have the bulk like Joey, but I'm scrappy, and I'm pissed, so that's making me a pretty good fighter.
They're calling for security, but I can see my girl, so I don't need that long. I push down the camera, yanking its cords, before rushing to the stage.
Nora stares up at me with wide, sad eyes and shakes her head. I don't know what she's trying to tell me with that, and frankly, I don't care. I'm here for my girl, and I'm not leaving without her.
I pick her up around the waist and throw her over my shoulder.
I want to say I fight off people with her in my arms, but I don't need to. It's a local news station. There aren't a ton of people here. Security is this guy, Darryl, who checks the fire extinguishers every month, and everyone else is generally pretty risk-averse.
The doctor is screaming and yelling, "Heel!" like his programming will affect me the way it does Nora. She freezes in my grip, and fury courses through me again. I don't listen to whatever vile bullshit the doctor is spewing. I run her out the fire exits and load her in the SUV, pulling out of the parking lot as fast as I can.
Too bad now I don't know where I'm going.
"Nora, are you okay?" I ask, looking over at her.
She's staring ahead, completely blank-faced, not looking at me or speaking.
"Fuck, princess, you're scaring me. Just talk to me."
No response.
I pick up my phone and call Nolan.
"Hey buddy, I'm in a little trouble," I say quickly.
"Putting you on speaker phone. What did you do?" Nolan responds.
"I kidnapped Nora." The line is quiet for a moment, and then there is whooping and excitement in the background. "It's not a great thing, guys. I kind of just made us a rich and powerful enemy. But I couldn't let them bond her to him. He…" I inhale, trying to keep my voice steady. "He'd been grooming her since she was a child."
"We gotta find somewhere to lay low," Blaine is saying on the other line.
"My parents have an off-the-grid cabin I can probably get us access to," Nolan informs us.
Nolan does not talk to his parents. They're Betas and refuse to accept that he's in a pack. They think it's unnatural. "Would they really let you go with your pack?"
"I don't know, but I can try. Let me call them, and I'll give you a call back."
We hang up. Nora still hasn't looked at me.
She looks so thin. Her cheekbones are more prominent, her collarbones jutting in a way they weren't before.
It's only been a month. How could she have changed so much?
Tentatively, I reach my hand across to touch hers. She locks her pinkie with mine but still doesn't look at me or speak. But that small amount of tactile feedback swells my soul with hope.
My phone rings, and I pick it up, fumbling and eventually putting it on speakerphone because I refuse to let go of Nora's pinky.
"Tell me good news," I bark.
"No go, more anti-pack bullshit," he responds, and I groan.
"Joey, does your family have a place?" I ask. "Kinda need to not be driving around aimlessly when I'm sure cops are looking for me.
"I made the call. The club has a safehouse for us," he says softly. "I… I'm not too keen on taking Nora there, guys. I just don't want her mixed up with the MC club."
"You're out, though, so it shouldn't be a big deal," I remind him.
"Yeah, and they say I'm still out, and they'll help because of my family's history and Nora's story. I just never wanted her to know about this side of me."
"Let's just get her safe," Nolan says, sounding farther away than Joey. "You know Nora is the most understanding person in the world, Joey."
We hang up, and Joey texts me the address. I throw it in the GPS and pull a u-turn, my foot lead with eagerness to get her safe.
It navigates us about an hour outside the city into a small gated community. The home is the last one in a cul-de-sac, and when we arrive, we find out that all the surrounding homes are members of the MC club. We beat the rest of the guys, but one of the bikers, Slime, knew to expect us.
Nora doesn't get out of the car, so I pick her up and gently carry her into the cookie-cutter box home when Slime unlocks the door.
He shoves the door open with his shoulders and flicks his bright green hair out of his eyes. "It ain't much, but it'll be a good place to lay low until you find out what to do about your Omega," Slime says, gesturing us inside. "Joey's family has always been real good to us, so we're happy to give y'all this freebie. But the freebies stop at the house. I'm sure you get it, Sloane. You're a businessman."
I grimace but nod. It's hard to keep my mouth shut, nearly vibrating with the need to bark at him to back up, but these guys are helping me protect Nora, so I can't say much. He leaves, and I gingerly sit on the couch, holding her tightly to me. I don't speak, I just run my hand down her hair, over her spine, across her cheeks. I won't say it's a comfortable silence because her body is tense, and mine is on edge, but at least we're together.
After some time, the other guys come running in the front door. They circle around us, clamoring for a look at her. "Nora, honey," Blaine says, tears in his eyes. "Hi, baby."
"She hasn't spoken once," I say sadly, stroking my finger up her arm. "Hasn't really moved."
"Have you purred?" Nolan asks.
"Purred?"
It never occurred to me to purr. Are my Alpha instincts so busted I didn't even think to try to soothe her?
Now I do purr, and so do the other Alphas, reaching out a hand to touch her as they do. Joey strokes the top of her head gently. Nora's body slowly begins to relax and sink into me. She blinks slowly, like she's waking up from a trance. When she looks up and sees me, she bursts into tears.
"Put me down, please," she sobs. "Please, please, please, Alpha, please put me down."
I immediately set her on the couch and all of us take a step back to not crowd her.
"Nora, sweetie, can you tell us what happened?" Nolan asks softly.
"You left me."
The words are ice dripping down my spine.
Does she think we didn't want her back?
"You never tried to see me. You brought all my stuff back. You dropped off all those nasty notes about how I was ruined, and you needed me to know it was over." She looks up at me, furious tears threatening to spill. "Why come get me at all? So you can tell me to my face how much you didn't want me? How much you didn't care what he'd do to me?"
A chorus of growls fills the room. "What did he do to you, doll?" Levi says in a voice much more gentle than the growl rumbling his chest.
"Why do you even care? You gave up on me. I can't believe you could be so cruel to come back and get me to just reject me again." She pulls her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her calves and burying her beautiful, tear-stained face.
"Nora!" Blaine barks. I've never seen the man cry like this. He's close to full-fledged sobbing, wanting so badly to touch her that his hands are repeatedly flexing. "None of that is true. We were there every day. They had the cops throwing us off the property."
She shakes her head, "Nope, that's not true. I would've felt it." She bangs her hand on her chest right over her heart. "I would've known! Just like I was always told, I didn't follow the rules with your pack, and you decided I wasn't good enough."
"Omega!" I bark, and her body shakes. "That is not the case at all. Nolan slipped you a letter with directions to a meeting spot, and you never showed up!"
"I never got that letter! Mother just showed me the nasty letter you tried to have that cop slip me. She told me what it said." She buries her face in her hands. "That since you'd sampled me, you decided you didn't want the full package."
They've been lying to her for a month.
What else have they been doing to her?
"How did you end up with Dr. Greene?" Joey asks.
"Well, after the medical exam confirmed that I have taken a knot…"
Levi cuts her off. "How would they do that?" I'm holding my breath, praying she won't say what I know is coming. Hoping against all odds that what I think happened is not going to be the words that next tumble out of her mouth.
"The doctor was able to tell by feel." She shudders, squeezing her legs together tightly. "He said it was clear I'd taken a knot."
Blaine leaps to his feet and begins pacing, pulling his hair and barely smothering a feral growl. "He touched you? He fucking touched you?"
She ignores his question, but I really need to know the answer. Otherwise, my mind will continue spinning with the worst-case scenario—but maybe this is the worst-case scenario.
The dead-eyed look she gives Blaine tells me all I need to know.
What have they done to our girl? How could we have let this happen? How did I let this happen? I should've fought harder to keep her with me. If I was stronger, a better Alpha, I could've kept her with me.
"Once it was confirmed I was damaged, most of the Clinic-approved packs decided that they did not want me. The only suitable match the Clinic found for me that didn't mind my imperfection was Dr. Greene."
"What a fucking shock," I mutter.
"When was that?" Nolan asks, kneeling in front of her.
"A little over a week ago, I think. They moved me in with him that evening."