14. Chapter Fourteen #2
Halley is safely wrapped in Everlyn's arms, hidden behind our bodies, but her scent is threading through the gap between us.
She shuffles closer to me and presses a palm to my back, seeking comfort without thinking. My eyes lower to half-mast as I feel the feverish evidence of her heat rolling off her in unsteady waves.
Stone tries once again to get a glimpse of Halley, and Knox growls low in warning. We won't let unworthy eyes see our girl when she's going into such a vulnerable state. It's private, and a privilege meant for us, and us alone.
But Halley's scent has reached an intensity that can no longer be concealed. The General's nostrils flare, and his mouth tightens.
"The silly girl is in heat," he hisses, spitting the word like a curse. "We don’t have time for that nonsense. A suppressant will cut it out of her. It worked last time."
I blink and try to piece together his hypocrisy. Is this the same asshole who has been insisting, almost obsessively, about Halley going into heat so we can claim and mate her since we got here?
And now that we're finally close to claiming our Omega on our terms, he's taking offense?
My warning growl joins Knox's and Blaze's, a threatening rumble with a clear meaning.
He can back the fuck off, or else.
The medic’s case clicks open.
Halley makes a thin, whimpering sound behind us, and every thought I have narrows to that noise.
Needy, frightened Omega.
Both Alpha guards stiffen, reacting to the primal sound. The hairs on their arms stand at attention, and their lips are wet as they lick Halley's scent off their lips with growing desire. Their pupils widen, and one guard’s yellow eyes start to glow as he slips closer to rut.
I'm on edge and restless, similar to the tension of waiting in a trench before a battle.
I'm hyperaware of her hand on me. It's possessive, and I want to preen because I've been chosen as worthy, but a single hand on my back is not enough.
I need skin touching, rubbing, and if I could just get her in her nest, all wet and pleading, then… then…
My cock thickens with each pulse of blood heading south.
Stone’s voice rises. "I built this resistance, and I'm the one who keeps the fight alive. This is my fortress and you do not get to come back here and act like you’re above my authority."
"It's not an act," Knox replies.
Stone's face contorts. His voice lowers, turning from order to threat. "This is your last warning. You will make her take the heat suppressant and escort her to the Pass. Now. Or I'll have the lot of you detained."
The medic pulls a syringe from the case.
The sight of it wipes every last trace of restraint from the bond.
Blaze stops pacing.
The sudden stillness is worse than his growl.
"Take her."
One of the Alpha guards moves.
He reaches for the gap between Knox and the wall, trying to get around him to reach Halley.
Blaze hits him first.
The guard slams into the stone wall with Blaze on top of him, knife flashing toward the hand reaching for Halley. The second Alpha guard grabs Blaze from behind, and Blaze twists with a snarl, driving his elbow into the guard’s throat before they crash to the floor together.
The medic stumbles back, syringe raised in a shaking hand.
"Drop it," Knox shouts, the words carrying a thundering Alpha Command.
The medic drops the syringe with wide eyes, stumbles backward, turns, and runs.
Stone’s face goes red. "Restrain them."
The Betas lift their rifles.
Everlyn jerks Halley back, and Shade moves with them, putting himself between Halley and the nearest gun.
Knox steps forward slowly, in complete control despite his Alpha going wild down the bond.
"If you point your gun at my Omega," Knox says, "I will make you regret it for the rest of your short life."
The soldiers hesitate.
"Shoot the Alphas," Stone snaps as one Beta soldier drags a set of restraints from his belt and passes them to Stone. "I'll put the Omega in restraints and drag her to do her duty, conscious or unconscious."
The words cut through me.
Halley in restraints.
Halley drugged.
Halley dragged back to the Pass while her body burns through heat without her Pack to save her. Again.
My hands flex.
"You bastard!" Blaze shouts as he throws himself at Stone, somehow breaking free from the two Alphas on the ground.
His knife glints as he swipes at the old Alpha's throat, but one of the Alpha guards tackles him mid-swing.
The other joins the fight back on the ground, but Blaze isn't going down without a fight.
He kicks and bites ferociously, snarling like a wild beast, and they have to use every ounce of their strength to keep Blaze from attacking Stone again.
"As long as I live, Omega Specialist Sparks belongs to me and Blackgate."
There it is.
The whole ugly truth, handed to me in his own words.
As long as I live.
Cold certainty settles in me.
My Omega is not anyone's property.
As I enter his personal space, Stone's throat bobs. "Stand down, Lieutenant Viper."
I say nothing, just look down at him and let him see my truth in my eyes.
I'm not his soldier, and rank means nothing to me anymore.
Death has already had its turn with me, and I do not fear it.
And there is only one thing I fight to protect now. Her name is Halley Sparks, and he just threatened her life.
"Viper, stop," Knox says, moving to stop me because he knows what I've already decided.
I understand why he wants me to back down.
Knox is thinking about the fortress, the witnesses, the soldiers I can hear coming down the corridor as Stone's backup, and the war waiting beyond these walls. He has to think about all of it. He’s our Prime Alpha, and holding the whole damn world together is what he does.
But I'm thinking about our future.
If Stone lives, Halley will never be free of him. She will always be his to manipulate.
I walked into death's waiting arms because I failed to protect what mattered most. I won’t waste the life I got back by letting this Alpha breathe another threat against our Omega.
Knox reaches for me.
I move faster.
My hands close around Stone’s head, and his eyes widen with the first honest fear I’ve ever seen in him.
Good, let him be afraid.
I twist.
Bone cracks beneath my grip, but I don’t stop there. I wrench harder, past the point any Alpha can heal from, until his spine tears loose with a wet, final sound.
General Stone drops dead at my feet.
The corridor goes silent.
Every person in this fortress will know now: Pack Scorch will burn the world down before we let anyone take our Omega.