Chapter 36 Need
Need
Oscar
It’s still way before dawn when my plane lands. We wait on the tarmac for far too long.
I can feel her.
She’s in distress. I keep her emotions from the rest of my pack, but I feel them just fine.
I’m guessing she’s in pre-heat.
I get a taxi into the city and take it straight to the hotel she’s been staying at. For some reason I can’t rightly say, I don’t go right in after the taxi drops me off. I get a weird feeling that makes me pause.
I scan the street, and it’s as empty as a tomb. I look into the lit lobby and see a large man sitting on a sofa, his head propped up on a hand stained with something. He’s staring down the corridor where the elevators most likely are.
That’s it.
He has ashy blonde hair and a round baby face. I only see the side of him, but I have a good guess who that is. Locke told me that Padrick had been acting as Aurora’s handler. I remember him from my time at the pack house.
He wasn’t as bad as Mickey, or as overt, but the alpha could be desperate, what with O’Bannon gone. There’s no good reason he should be waiting in the lobby.
Aurora’s hideout has been compromised.
I don my old self. The one I wanted to fold up and put away. The one I brought out to defend Locke against Mickey.
Aurora is pack. No alpha is going to be sniffing around her like he has access.
I’m wearing my maroon slacks and a short-sleeve gray sweater. I push back my hair and enter the lobby. He looks right at me. His eyes bulge out, and he stands. I walk casually over to him and sit directly in front of him.
“Oscar Soto. What the hell are you doing here?”
I wait as his brain runs through all the possibilities.
Finally, I ask.
“I think the real question is, what are you doing here, Padrick?”
He takes a deep breath and sits back down, the surprise leaving him as he accepts my presence.
“Are you here for the little slut? Please don’t tell me. You bid on a spot for her heat, didn’t you? Don’t worry. I’m taking over O’bannon’s books. Your assets are still good.”
That fucking monster was selling his daughter…
I could kill him again. A tiger ripping out his guts and gnawing off an arm wasn’t good enough.
And Padrick. He’s a threat to Aurora and thus to my pack. I don’t have a gun on me, but the chances are high that he has a gun on him. His right hand stays close to his left side. I bet it’s held at his ribs. I don’t need a gun, though, to end this man’s life.
I didn’t plan on murdering a man, but I may not be able to avoid it.
I’ll kill him if he doesn’t submit to me. I’ll kill him if he makes me think he won’t leave Aurora alone.
“I have a claim on the girl. She’s mine.”
“Shut the fuck up, Soto.” He fidgets in his seat.
“Does that mean you’re coming to kill her, right?
She tried to take your alpha pet. She wanted Locke, and we stole him from you.
But he’s back now. Don’t worry about her.
Leave her to me. What I will do to her will be a lot worse than death.
I’m going to find all the men who were promised time with her and arrange for that to happen.
Maybe I will even double the going rate. If you help me, I’ll give you a cut.”
Interesting. He thinks I’m here to do harm to her as revenge. Maybe in another life, if I’d gone down a different path, this is exactly who I’d be. This is the reputation I have.
Despite that, I’m offended he’d think I’d harm an omega.
Alphas who harm omegas are the worst among us. It makes their pheromones turn sour. It ages them. It could lead to psychosis.
Not only have I gone through years of medical school, did my residency at an omega clinic, but I also took a course one summer on omega care.
They taught us how to braid hair, make after-heat food like oatmeal, protein shakes, and steamed eggs, give proper massages, and even had us role-play looking each other in the eyes and saying nice things.
Sure, some alphas were there on court orders, but any alpha who would take the course is an alpha who would protect all omegas.
Padrick would fail a course like that.
If he’s the kind of alpha that would entertain the idea of treating an omega like an object to sell, then he’s gone.
“Padrick, let me tell you how this is going to go. You’re going to leave here and move on with your life. You’re going to get a job and turn into a decent, upstanding citizen. I’m going to take Aurora as mine. You’ll never think of her again.”
“Absolutely not. I spotted her first. She has a debt to pay. When I’m done with her, I’ll send her your way. But I was promised time with her. I was promised my money. I’ll be damned if you come in here and take any of that away from me.”
“What a disappointing response.”
“It’s the best you’ll get out of me.”
Such bravado.
Locke had sent some treats and gifts to Aurora’s room the other day. Little things like a blanket, cookies, and sparkling water. So, I know what room she’s in. I’ll need to get Padrick away from this lobby and somewhere private.
Aurora
I scramble for my phone, but in my panic, the face thing doesn’t work, and my password doesn’t take. I lock myself out of it for 5 minutes.
I sink to the floor with my back to the door and listen to the hallway. Every little sound is possibly a giant Irishman coming to take me away.
When my phone unlocks, I call Carmen.
“Hey sweetie, what’s going on?” she answers, already concerned. Cold calling is very unlike me.
“Padrick,” is all I manage to squeak out.
There’s a beat of silence.
“Listen to me, Aurora. You’re going to be ok. It’s all going to be ok.”
Hot tears track down my cheeks.
“He said he would force me…and then sell me to my father’s friends…he’s in the lobby right now, waiting for me.”
“Hey, hey, it’s ok. Don’t worry. We got it. You’re at the Evelyn Hotel, right? The cute, boutique hotel?”
“Yes.”
“Ro, it’s on us, ok. We will take care of Padrick.”
Will they want me to finally accept them? Be their omega in exchange for their help? A cramp hits my belly, and I cry out. My fucking heat is coming! Guess they could help me through this one. The omega in me gives a full-body reaction to that. She doesn’t want them.
She wants Mads and Locke.
She wants the omega with the cool nose ring…
“Hey, Ro. Don’t cry. Do you know why we are doing this? Why we’re helping you?”
I make a sad whine.
“We care about you, ok? We don’t want or need anything from you. We care about you. And we always will.”
I hear something in the hallway and hold my breath. Whatever it was is gone.
“Listen, sweetie, we are almost to the hotel. Leave him to us. What room are you in? I’ll send Honey to come get you.”
“I don’t want Honey,” I cry. My inner omega takes over speaking. “I want Locke. Mads. I want the Soto Pack.”
It’s the most true thing I’ve ever said aloud.
It sends me into an utter spiral.
It’s so true.
I want them. I need them.
It’s cathartic to admit, but devastating to realize.
I don’t care that it’s selfish of me. I don’t care that it feels like I’m being a childish brat about it. Who fucking cares!? I want them. I want.
Carmen does her best to cajole me over the phone, but eventually I let it drop to the floor and curl up into a ball, letting the fire over my skin eat me alive.