Chapter 6
I’d known from the moment Kyan had brought up finding her that this was the stupidest plan Zed had made to date.
Zed and his fucking ego.
And sure enough, here we were, stuck with her. She was in trouble, because of course she was—and worse, she was a thousand times more captivating than any memory would have me believe. A fragment of our past, a dark shard that ached with every step forward—never letting go of the hold she had on us.
Why was she so goddamned beautiful, too?
That just wasn’t fair—especially in a dress that showed off her incredible curves. Her wavy black hair was loose, she wore thigh high boots with heels and the outfit was topped with pretty diamond stud earrings that flashed with extra contrast against her rich skin.
Stubborn, fierce, and an absolute goddess with that dark cream cardamom scent that I’d thought I remembered in my dreams. I realised now they’d never been comparable to the real thing.
If only she wasn’t a snake—one that had left us bleeding out.
I understood Zed’s bone-deep reaction not to leave her for dead—instincts howling because she was more than just an Omega in danger.
She was ours.
Our girl. A dream once upon a time. A dream she had crushed beneath her selfish mafia princess heels. We would get her out then dump her on the side of the road for good.
I’d convince Zed to move to a new city because there was no way in hell Kyan would survive now he knew where she was. We could barely control him as things were.
He’d taken what she’d done harder than any of us. It had split his already unstable mind in two, and I didn’t like how he was looking at her. He was made of pure instincts—rutting more often than any Alpha I knew.
When we found a place to dump her, I’d be checking our rear view for a literal straw man to make sure he hadn’t bundled her into the trunk so he could keep her in the basement or something.
He would, too—I could literally picture him making a Glade scarecrow just for that.
And then she’d gut him to escape, and Zed would have to put a bullet in her skull.
Nope.
No scarecrow Omegas.
And no fucking keeping her—not under any goddamned circumstances.
We were going to make sure our scent match didn’t die because we weren’t fucking monsters. That was all she got from us—and she didn’t even deserve that.
I couldn’t help the part of me that thought it seemed really, really obscene to commit to only this when she was currently slung over my shoulder with her biteable ass about an inch from my canines.
But we’d done it, because like this, she just looked like a sack of Omega and not the single bartender these fuckers were looking for—whoever they were. I didn’t buy her drug dealer story for a second. I’d already eyed a few Alphas I thought looked suspicious. She’d also had to hiss at one of the bouncers to leave us be, since this behaviour might be a little low class for this kind of club.
By how tense she was, I could feel her irritation at our chosen method for extraction.
At least it was pleasant for me.
We reached the second floor back hallway that led to the stairs and heard a commotion. I turned my head before remembering it landed me a pleasant face full of Glade peach.
She was a real piece of work, but I’d loved her once. And that sweet, sweet ass.
I felt a sharp prick of pain up my side, reminding me again of who she truly was.
“Knight!”I heard her hiss as Zed spoke to the bouncer who’d been on his way up the stairs.
Right.
Mafia princesses and the spikes they carried everywhere.
I grinned with unexpected playfulness, clapping her on the ass to a wriggle and snarl of derision. “Go on, Princess, dig those claws in, see what happens.”
We were saving her.
I could give her a nip and she couldn’t complain. Really, really tempting. Especially since I could feel the slightest trickle of blood down my shirt where she’d nicked me.
Damn. I’d forgotten how hot she was.
Zed managed to redirect the bouncer and then took the back stairwell to check ahead. He was back in a second, catching my eye with a look that told me it was bad news.
Shit.
Whoever was after her must be past there and by Zed’s urgency through the bond—they were coming up.
Slinging her over my shoulder was good for a crowded room, but in the quiet stairwell, if they wanted to stop and check who she was, they could. And we would both be in a poor position to fight. Counting Glade out as an asset if this came to blows was a rookie move—even if Zed had her gun right now.
So I dropped her from my shoulder with as little grace as I could manage, then caught her and set her straight before I could stop myself.
She was trying to rip her hair from her face when I caged her against the wall, hearing footsteps echoing up the stairs.
“Gives us a reason to growl if they look too hard,” I told her. Her lips drew back for a second as she glared up at me. Then her eyes darted between me, Kyan—who was blocking her from view of the staircase, and Zed, who had just reached us.
With one haughty look at me, she grabbed Kyan by the cheeks and drew him into a kiss.
Whatever.
Whoever Zed had spotted was scaling the stairs, and we needed to be in one apparent horny tangled mess if we wanted them to pass us without stopping.
Except…
Fuck me.
I did not like Kyan’s response. I felt a rather unnerving thrill down the bond from him. My relationship with him might be unconventional, but I knew what that meant.
This would undo years of work.
Before I knew it, I had Kyan’s hair in my fist and I dragged him back, slamming him against the wall. Glade was panting, eyes darting from Zed, to me, and then to Zed’s chest, behind which we could hear the footsteps approaching. Without another moment’s hesitation, she launched herself at me—the only one in reach—her lips finding mine for the first time in years. Dark cream cardamom rose in the air, subtle through fading scent dampeners, but enough for a million memories to collide with my hindbrain.
Lying on a field at midnight, mapping stars.
Forbidden evenings when she’d climbed our balcony.
Stolen moments among sunlit trees.
The way her scent had tangled with ours, completing us in a way we’d never been.
The kiss was so primal I didn’t have time to prepare. Not for the shocking softness of her lips, or my body’s reaction.
I almost let go of Kyan, though from the indignance down the bond, he was at risk of knocking me flat. Her legs tangled around my waist as I crushed her against the wall, my other fist in her hair. Her tongue drove into my mouth and dark lust shot through my veins like lava.
Kyan threw his weight against mine and I felt his fury like it was mine.
Okay.
Given the laundry list of kinks that Alpha had, this possibly wasn’t the best option for settling him.
But this was just an act, I told myself.
Zed’s growl joined Kyan’s, though his was directed at the passersby.
This was an act. They’d be gone and that would be it. We’d drop her off and drive away.
Forever.
What had we been thinking, coming here? Trying to meet her? For what—closure? To tell her we were over her?
Over her?
Were we mad?
My rock-hard cock (which she could one hundred percent feel) disagreed en-fucking-tirely.
And Zed’s grip was now closed on my shirt, clearly telling me the danger had passed, yet my tongue was still lodged halfway down her throat.
Disengage.
Dis. En. Gage.
Fuck.
Me.
We were such idiots.
When I managed, at last, to shut down my hindbrain and drag myself from the kiss, it was to find a pair of blown pupils through the golden mask.
Glade was catching her breath, eyes fixed on me, plush lips parted in shock.
I couldn’t look away. Well, not until I heard the click of a gun at my side and glanced to see Zed readying it.
Okay.
Life and death first. Giving the sweetest-tasting Omega on the whole planet the most mind-blowing orgasm of her whole life later.
No.
That wasn’t the plan.
We were supposed to drop her off with a scarecrow or something.
I blinked.
What?
“Are you… rutting, dude?” Kyan’s words were the equivalent of a bucket of ice water being dumped on my head. I glanced at him and saw genuine concern on his face.
Was I…?
Oh. Shit.
Shit shit shit.
Kyanrutted.
Not me.
But I could feel the boiling surge of hormones in my bloodstream, a warning that one might not really be far off.
“You”—Zed snarled, shoving the gun against my chest—“go ahead. I’ll deal with the goddamned Omega.”
The goddamned… what? That was our scent match?
I almost pounced at him.
Reel it in.
With difficulty, I shook it off, tearing the gun from his fist and—with more self-control than I knew I possessed—let go of her to take the stairs, violence like white hot lava streaking through my veins.