Chapter 33 #2
The stories I’ve heard of people kidnapping people off the street fill my mind, but to go so far as to detour someone like this seems a little much.
“Ahh!” I scream, skidding to a stop as a bullet is shot at me and hits the ground beside my feet. Turning to face the men, I’m breathing hard as I wait to see what they want.
Running will just get me shot and possibly killed.
“What do you want?” I ask. “I have a pack. Taking me is not in your best interests.”
“Having a pack is easily fixed,” a beta with a wicked scar on his lip says. “We have a way to break the bonds.”
My eyes widen, horror radiating through me and into my bonds. I didn’t think they could ever be broken.
“That’s a lie,” I breathe. “Do you really want the Irish mafia looking for you for the rest of your lives? That’s the kind of trouble you’re looking to borrow by stopping me from leaving.”
“You’d freeze before getting anywhere safe,” the other man laughs. His voice reminds me of someone who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day, and I think he may be a beta as well. “Although freezing would be a blessing in comparison to being sold at auction.”
“What auction?” I ask before I can tell myself to shut up. Where this wave of bravery is coming from, I have no idea.
I’m willing to say that the heavy, somewhat reassuring weight of the knife in my pocket may have something to do with it.
“Does it matter?” Ugly Lip sneers. “You’ll still be sold to the highest bidder and fucked until one of these dicks kill you.”
“My pack is coming for me,” I say, my hand hidden in my pocket. “I just came from the home of a pack who has a reputation for killing without thinking. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“We aren’t from here, Little Omega. Name drop all you want, but we have our marching orders,” Pack a Day sneers. “No one will care if you have a bullet or two in your body if you give us trouble. It won’t change how well you can fuck and be bred.”
Stalking toward me, he grabs my arm and yanks me forward. My heart begins to pound as I twist my head toward the road behind me, which is completely empty. The idea of willingly being part of any of the shit Pack a Day just said makes me queasy.
However, I doubt that I’ll have any say in it and that’s the point.
We’re coming, baby. Fight for me, Tyde whispers through the bond.
Swallowing back a panicked sob, I force myself to find any kind of zen. Instead, I find myself grasping at a tidal wave of anger coming from Caleb and Lars through the bond as I am dragged along.
My fingers wrap around the hilt of the blade. The sheath was left behind on the ground of the van. I’ll be lucky if my pack lets me leave the car lot with anything other than something that’s bulletproof.
I don’t think I’d whisper even a peep in outrage. The world is just too dangerous.
“What if I was an alpha? Would you treat me the same then?” I ask, trying to yank my arm away to no avail. “Yes,” Pack a Day says. “They make great fuck toys or soldiers, chickie. Stop with the questions and fucking walk before I have to damage the merchandise.”
“ Oye , what are you doing? Leave her be!” a voice yells out.
The beta dragging me along lifts his gun, and that’s when I pounce. I refuse to let some Good Samaritan get hurt for me, even if I’m wondering why the fuck he’s out here at this hour.
Pack a Day beta is a little shorter than me, though he’s built broad enough that he can easily drag me. Shoving the knife into his underarm, I drop my weight down to help me do the work when he turns the gun on me.
When in doubt, use gravity. His skin bursts open with the seams of his coat, and I have a wildly inappropriate thought about how terribly made it is. The knife gets stuck in his side on its journey down, and my ass hits the ground as I scramble away enough that he can’t grab me.
“You bitch!” he roars.
“No…that’s you,” I rasp. My breaths are coming faster, but I can’t pass out yet. Kicking my foot up, I manage to get his weapon away from him as he falls to his knees in pain.
Hopefully he’ll lose consciousness from the blood loss soon.
The gun somehow falls into my hands, and I watch as the other beta opens fire on whoever is coming down the road and myself.
Point and shoot, Little Warrior. Even if you miss by a mile. It’ll hopefully make him leave, Lars says. If he’s speaking to me through the bond, then that means they’re getting closer. Brushing away tears, I wrap my hands around the gun and lift it in the direction of the beta currently firing.
My finger pulls the trigger, surprising Ugly Lip. Pack a Day tries to grab me, and I scream, accidentally shooting him as my arms swing back in his direction. Ugly Lip makes a run for it, while I finish pumping Pack a Day full of bullets.
“I think he’s dead,” says an accented voice.
I’m incredibly jumpy, but I drop the gun rather than brandish it at him, scooting away from the man speaking to me on my ass.
I recognize the voice finally as I gaze up at him, and he hisses at me in worry.
“What happened, Nova?” Christian asks me. “Why are you out so late?”
“Adira went into labor,” I explain, allowing him to help me up. “When I drove down Winston, there was a road block that wouldn’t allow me past. I think these assholes put it up so they could pick up unsuspecting people.”
“They’re getting bolder every day,” he says distastefully, spitting on the man I killed.
I’m not allowing myself to think about that right now. It’s going into a little box for later.
A vehicle comes roaring down the road along with some more people on foot. I suppose that Christian really did run here when he heard the gunshots.
“Nova!” Jed yells, jumping out of the car to jog over here. “Are you hurt?”
“N…no,” I stutter, beginning to shiver with shock. My eyes look down to my hands, and I see that they’re covered in blood from the man on the ground.
“Hey, hey. Absolutely not. Look at me,” he says, snapping in my face to force me to look up at him. “You did what you had to, and your job is to stay alive when you drive home. Speaking of, we shouldn’t have let you drive home. Is that a nail rack in the goddamn road?”
I’m getting whiplash from the changes in conversation, but I nod at the last question.
“They ambushed me,” I explain. “They didn’t seem to care what my designation was and they were definitely not from Minneapolis.”
“Dammit,” Jed sighs, turning as my pack comes roaring around the corner. “The auctions have long been involved in selling alphas for a variety of reasons. Military experiments are one of them.”
The other people patrolling with Christian join him, and he waves at me before continuing on to patrol other areas.
I’m safe now, I don’t have any issues with him making sure other people get home safely too. Besides, Ugly Lip probably has some kind of fucked up quota to hit.
Gagging at the thought, I shudder as Jed awkwardly rubs my back.
“It’s okay to puke if you need to,” he says.
“No offense, I need you to back up from my omega before I start feeling some kind of way about it,” Tyde says, jogging over to me.
“I’m okay,” I tell him as if I need to reassure him, but notice the way Jed steps back respectfully. Pack Dresmond has adopted me at this point and I know that they see me more as a little sibling than anything else.
Besides, Adira would stab them if they saw me any other way.
Tyde glances at the dead body at my feet and nods. “Of course you are, Little Queen. Come here.”
“I have blood on my hands,” I warn him, shaking my head as I raise them so he can see. “I helped bring in a new life tonight and took one too. What does that mean about me?”
“It means that it cancels it out,” Jed says gruffly, striding over to his vehicle to grab some wet wipes. Handing it to Tyde, he watches as Caleb and Lars join us. “Hey guys. I’ll call for a clean up. Her van won’t be moving without a tow unfortunately.”
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to handle you driving that thing again, Nova,” Lars grumbles. “How do you feel about bulletproof glass?”
“Love it,” I mutter, watching as Tyde meticulously cleans my hands. He even scrubs my knuckles, where the blood seems to be sticking to the worst as it dries.
“Good. You’ll be the only omega in the world to drive a van with bulletproof glass,” Caleb says, smirking.
“They were waiting for you,” Lars says, gazing at the strand of nails by my van.
“Don’t freak out, baby. I need to clean your cheek real quick,” Tyde murmurs, pulling out another wipe.
“Ugh, I touched my face didn’t I?” I groan.
“Just a little. It’s fine,” he says.
“Hey, Cian?” Jed asks, the phone already to his ear. “Adira is great and so is our daughter…Yeah, thanks. I actually need a clean up crew not far from our house. I’d do it myself, but I want to get back to Adira.”
I listen to Jed’s side of the conversation as Tyde finishes cleaning my face and hugs me closely.
For the record, I would have held you before this if I thought you’d let me, Tyde says through the bond. A little blood doesn’t bother me.
Sniffling, I nod as I hug him tightly. I’m coming down hard from my adrenaline dump, and my entire body hurts.
“Are you up to talk to Cian?” Jed asks. Dropping his voice and putting the phone on mute for good measure, he adds, “I can tell the old man to fuck himself and to call you himself tomorrow. You’ve already had a long fucking day.”
“No it’s okay,” I say, my voice wobbling. Caleb steals me away from Tyde and picks me up so I can wrap my arms and legs around him before taking the phone from Jed.
Unmuting the call, he puts it on speaker, saying, “Nova is crashing hard, Cian. Make it quick please so we can get her home.”
“Of course,” he says smoothly. “I wanted to congratulate you on raising four million dollars for your new venture. Hopefully this helps brighten your night. I ran into Hollis as she was leaving the event and she gave me the good news. Secondly, I want to remind you that self defense doesn’t count in my mind as taking a life.
Please don’t let that piece of shit keep you up at night, okay? ”
“Okay,” I breathe. “That’s a lot for a girl to process, sir.”
“I know,” he admits. “Get some rest. I’ll send someone out to clean this up. No one will know anything happened by morning.”
“Thanks, Cian,” I tell him, exhaustion already tearing at me. I’m cold despite my special coat, and it’s as if it’s coming from the inside.
“Goodbye, Nova,” he says, hanging up.
“I’ll wait for the clean up crew. I don’t expect to get much sleep either way, not when Quinn and her pack will come over soon to see Adira and the baby,” Jed says, taking back his phone. “Go ahead home.”
I’m already falling asleep as Caleb walks to the SUV, and I vaguely notice as he gives me over to Tyde.
“Shh, you can sleep, baby. We’ll all be with you when you wake up.”
Darkness surrounds me as I allow myself to get pulled down into sleep.
I’m standing naked on an auction stage, and the sound of alphas yelling is physically painful.
“Make her turn around and show us her cunt!” one of them roars.
My arms are wrapped around myself as I also use my hair to hide my body from those bidding on me. Tears rain down my face, my only thoughts are that I failed to get back to my alphas.
I don’t want to be here, I want to be home. My memories are hazy, but maybe I didn’t kill the beta who tried to kidnap me.
Maybe I didn’t act and I let him drag me away.
Maybe…
“Nova,” a deep voice says. “Little Warrior, wake up. You’re okay, baby. They can’t hurt you because you saved yourself.”
Gasping, I find myself cradled in Lars’ arms. Caleb and Tyde are sitting up in front of us, purring to soothe me, while my heartbeat roars in my ears.
“It was a dream,” I whisper, my chest heaving.
“It was,” Lars murmurs. “We’re going to buy that car tomorrow, baby. I think we’ll all feel better once you’re driving a tank.”
“I still have clients and a van that’s completely trashed,” I sigh.
“We’ll figure it out,” he says. “Even if we have to get you a driver like Hollis has for a while.”
While I wrinkle my nose, I know he’s right. Too much has happened for me to believe that stomping my foot while insisting I’m an independent omega will make much difference. I also don’t blame my alphas for being worried.
“Will you teach me how to defend myself?” I ask, already beginning to fall back asleep. “I don’t like how it feels to kill, but I want to come home to you. That’s what the nightmare was about. I felt like I failed you all.”
“Us?” Tyde asks, pushing my hair out of my face. At some point, someone pulled the pins out of my updo and took out my braids. I am going to have some serious detangling to do when I get up later. “Nova, you could never fail or disappoint us.”
“We’re the fuck ups,” Lars grumbles. “We should have offered to meet you at Pack Dresmond’s house when you were done. It didn’t even cross my mind and I should have.”
My jaw pops as I yawn, shrugging. “There’s no reason you’d think to. I’m used to coming and going as necessary. No one offers to meet Tyde when he has an early morning or night shift.”
“That’s not the same and you know it,” Tyde says.
“Why not? Those men didn’t care who came down the road. Alpha, beta, or omega. They were taking that person regardless of designation for their fucked up auction,” I sigh.
“You’re right,” he agrees. “However?—”
“No howevers,” Caleb says gruffly. “If one of us is up or out at an ungodly hour, we’ll drive out with them. I think ‘barnacle life’ needs to become a bumper sticker.”
“Maybe it’ll help the aesthetic of a hippy van with bulletproof windows,” I chuckle.
Lars lays down with me next to him, and Tyde kisses my forehead before getting up.
“I have to get up for work, baby,” he says. “I’ll see you later.”
Caleb checks the clock and decides it’s an acceptable time for Tyde to go to work alone before snuggling against me. God, they’re insane.
“You bet your ass we are. Go back to bed, baby,” Lars says against the shell of my ear.
I don’t think I’d change it for all the world.