Chapter 17 #2
My free hand grips the male alpha molesting Tav around the throat, effortlessly holding him in place.
“Fucking coward. You were going to leave her here to fend for herself, huh? Sounds about right, unfortunately. Tav, honey. Talk to me. Take a breath,” I say insistently.
Octavian rolls off the counter to get away from his attackers, his knees giving out on him as he looks up. There’s bruises on his face that weren’t there when I left, and there will be hell to pay for this.
Before I can think about it, I adjust my hand to grip the back of the male alpha’s neck, slamming his panicked, stupid face into my jeans clad knee. Once, twice, three times.
I don’t think it’ll ever be enough honestly.
“My scent is all over Tav. He is mine, and has been since before we met. Any hold you have on him is null and void by fucking fate, assholes,” I snarl into the woman’s face.
“No!” she screams. “This isn’t fair!”
“Kassie,” the man groans. “Give it up. We’ll come back. Just keep your mouth fucking shut.”
Blinding fear hits me so hard, I almost weave on my feet.
“Bentley, look at me,” Tav says, his eyes pinching with worry from the ground.
God only knows what he sees when he’s the one in trouble. I can smell their arousal. They fully planned to rape him while the store was opening for the day. How fucked up is that?
“Yeah,” I grunt, still grinding the man’s face into the rough material of my jeans. They’re not as broken in as my others, and the asshole’s blood is leaking into the material.
Tav is going to make me throw them out. I can already tell by the way his eyes wander in disgust to my knee. Fuck me, I think the alpha is drooling on the material, too.
“Let them go. They aren’t worth you going to jail for, especially for me. I need you more than you need your pound of flesh,” he says. “Don’t throw away your life for me.”
I fucking hate that he’s worried about me. How can I tell him I’ve killed and gotten away with it before for the people I love? I know for a fact the only thing staying my hand is my omega.
So I swallow back my words, and adjust my hands so I can lift both the alphas up by their throats and shake them hard to make sure I have their attention.
Kassie’s nose is bleeding as I walk across the store to toss out the trash, and I squeeze my hand so whatever bullshit she wants to say is cut off.
I may need to let her, and what I’m remembering is her brother, live for now, but I don’t have to like it. I certainly don’t have to listen to her, either.
“No, no. I think you’ve said quite enough, Kassie,” I snarl so Tav can’t hear me.
“Count your blessings today, because I will not show mercy again. If I find out you fucking breathed in Tav’s direction, I will make sure no one finds you.
I’ll pull out your teeth, grind down your bones myself, and make sure every second you’re alive is one you regret. I hope I’ve made myself clear.”
There’s a flash of defiance in Kassie’s eyes while her brother refuses to look at me, and I know this isn’t the end.
“Leave my omega alone,” I say, using my alpha bark. There’s no guarantee it’ll work on them, but since Tav won’t let me torture them or snap their goddamned necks, this is the best I can do. “You do not have a fated bond with him, and he is not yours. Get lost.”
With those words, I push the storefront door open with my foot, and launch the alphas out of Tav’s space without breaking a sweat. I suppose all of that time spent in the gym has paid off. The siblings roll once they hit the ground, and I slam the door in their wake.
While I want to follow after them and finish the job, I have an omega I need to check on.
Instead, I click the lock on the door and force the alphas as much out of my mind as possible, which is extremely difficult.
Every nerve ending is screaming in fury as I kneel beside him.
I’m losing slips of time. I don’t even remember crossing the store to get to Tav, but I suppose that’s a problem for another day.
“Let me see,” I whisper, lifting his face so I can assess the damage.
“They didn’t, I mean—” His face burns with embarrassment, but I didn’t miss how the male alpha was tucking his pathetic dick into his pants as I was walking into the store.
Again, my mind is processing at a weird pace. I think if I’d focused on his cock, neither alpha would have made it out alive.
“They tried,” I reply instead, my thumb smearing the blood left behind by their encounter. “This isn’t safe, honey. I thought they’d stopped coming around.”
“They did,” Tav says helplessly. “I really thought they were done with me.”
Tears well up in his eyes, and I pull him into my arms, twisting my body so that I’m the one sitting with my ass against the wall.
“Some people have no sense of consent,” I murmur, holding him as tightly as I dare.
I’ve started keeping wet wipes in my pocket for Tav, and I pull one out so I can clean off his cheek. Opening the packet, I begin to wipe off the saliva that’s still shiny on his skin.
“Oh god,” Tav says, dry retching as he realizes what I’m cleaning off.
“Shh,” I whisper. “Your alpha is working. That’s what I am, Tav. Yours. It doesn’t matter that you don’t have my bite yet. It’s yours whenever you want it though. Consent is important to me and I want you to be completely aware this means I’m yours forever.”
“I want your bite but not when I want to claw my skin off,” Tav says, sniffling. “I hate that they touched me. The twins smell like stinky buttholes and now I feel like that’s what I smell like, too.”
Now that Tav’s skin is free of bodily fluids that don’t belong to him or me, I bury my face in his neck.
“You smell like me,” I growl. “I don’t smell a hint of ass anywhere. Why don’t we head upstairs so I can help you shower and change, and then we can eat. After that, you can decide if you want a do-over on opening the store, okay?”
Tav takes a cleansing breath as he nods, cuddling into me.
“You have to promise me you won’t go find them,” he says urgently. “I can’t lose you.”
His entire body is trembling, so I do the only thing I can.
“I promise.”
However, I won’t hesitate to end the siblings if I get the chance. I can make it so I’m not caught and Tav never knows. They’ll simply…disappear.