Chapter 26
Ifound her out back of the warehouse.
There was a little collection of chairs and a table that subbed in like a pseudo patio, even if it was on rough concrete and half the chairs were rusted.
The parameters of the collar reached just a bit beyond, since fresh air wasn’t a bad idea on the tail end of a rut.
Glade was seated on the concrete, back against the wall, eyes red as she hugged her knees to her chest. She got to her feet when she saw me, wringing her hands and wiping tears from her eyes like it might mean I didn’t notice.
“You… all right?” I asked awkwardly.
She stared at me, chewing on her lip like she wasn’t sure what to say.
“You don’t have to stay out here,” I said. “Kyan’s out.” He’d panicked when Knight told us what he’d said, and fucked right off. “Probably won’t be back until early tomorrow morning.”
He’d be… well, doing whatever he did when he needed to destress. For me, that looked like the training fields across town, turning anxiety into corded muscle, but Kyan was all over the map when it came to coping.
I closed the distance between us, cocking my head and folding my arms. “You… care.” It wasn’t a question. I wish it was, but it wasn’t.
She didn’t meet my eyes, tucking a lock of her long dark hair behind her ear. Her scent was so fucking distracting. We really needed to get her on scent blockers while she was around.
“I’m not a total bitch,” she muttered, at last.
I could see that.
Was I surprised?
I wasn’t sure.
“He’s okay. Now, I mean.”
“What happens when I’m gone?” she asked. “I shouldn’t have…” She swallowed, searching for words.
“Have let him fuck you suspended over the whole damn warehouse for us all to see?”
She spluttered a laugh, wiping her eyes aggressively.
“Far as I could tell, he wasn’t really asking.”
Her smile was weak, chin quivering. Damn. She was way more distraught than I’d imagined she’d be.
I’d forgotten how unbelievably cute she was when she was vulnerable. And… well, as much as I didn’t want to admit it, caring. So far we’d seen smoking hot mafia princess, but this was bringing back other memories.
“There needs to be a plan f-for when I…” She trailed off, struggling to find the words. “I can’t stay here forever?—”
She cut off at my low growl, eyes wide as she glanced up at me.
I blinked, realising my hand had jumped to her neck.
“You…” I cleared my throat, trying to ground myself. “You have to stop saying that.”
Why?
It was the truth.
A low, white hot fury boiled in my blood at the thought.
No.
No, it wasn’t the truth. She was ours. Then and now.
Forever.
Reality began to fade: of what she’d done, what we’d paid for that, of who she’d chosen over me. It was all slipping away like water down a drain.
Instead, all I could see was her. My mate, with tears on her cheeks, glittering from the sun above, all because she was afraid for Kyan.
And she was talking about leaving.
Never.
She was ours.
“Zed…” She frowned up at me, eyes darting between mine. “I think…”
Oh.
Shit.
I’d been so focused on Knight, I hadn’t even considered…
Hormones burst like firecrackers in my blood. The warehouse, the patio set, the blue sky above, it all vanished. All I could see were bright brown eyes as my sanity fell away for a rut the likes of which I’d never felt.
Holy shit.
Zed had devolved in a matter of seconds. One moment the bond was normal, then he’d gone completely primal. Kyan, of course, out and mid-tantrum, had locked the bond down completely.
Would he even notice?
I found the two of them outside. Zed had Glade against the wall, fist around her throat and collar.
He was fighting with himself as they stared at each other, the last dregs of sanity holding him still, even as he trapped her.
“Zed!” I grabbed him, ripping him back from her. He let out a snarl, throwing his weight against me for a moment, then catching himself.
Dammit.
There would be no redirecting. His snow santal was icy and primal. He truly was one hair away from a full-blown rut.
And Glade? She was… well, damn she was turned on, pupils blown, dark cardamom leaching into the air around her like an aphrodisiac.
Shit…
“Zed!” I spat. “Get it together. You’re going to regret this.”
His chest heaved as he stared from me to Glade.
Was he present enough to answer?
Could I pull him back?
He was staring at her exactly like a rutting Alpha could be expected to stare at an Omega. A scent matched Omega. Currently perfuming up the fucking space with need.
This was a mess. We still despised her for what she’d done, no matter what breaks in the clouds she occasionally offered.
I seized him, giving him a shake. “You cannot go into a rut and hate-fuck your mate after you put a shock collar around her neck.”
Zed’s answering snarl was a little worrying, and Glade’s lips parted. For a second I swore she was going to argue.
She better fucking not.
“Leave,” I said. “Slowly. Back out.” I nodded at the door to the warehouse. The collar meant that was the only direction she could go.
I had to get Zed out of here. Now. I had to get him to the cages. A boxing ring. Anything.
“But—” Glade began.
“I’m taking him out,” I said.
“Knight, you can’t.”
“Why?” I glared back at her.
“You can’t drive like that,” she hissed.
“Like what?”
But I knew. Her scent, his hormones, the surge of primal energy through the bond. It was… goddammit.
We couldn’t both rut right now.
Not with her here.
“I don’t…” Fuck, it was hard to think. “There’s a place… in walking distance.”
“No!” She sounded stunned. “What if you run into people on the way? An Omega?—”
“Oh, now you’re getting protective?” I snarled. I had felt the reaction from Zed at the mention of another Omega, he tried to rip from my grip, eyes wild. I dragged him back another step.
“What do you usually do with Kyan?”
“Collar, we brawl in there, and I fuck him real good, obviously,” I said. “But I’m not fucking Zed—!” I cut off my own sentence as I saw the look in her eyes.
“No.”
Absolutely not.
Absolutely fucking not.
But she was so turned on I could scent the slick between her thighs. Zed could too. I knew it. He was trying so hard, shaking with the effort of letting me hold him back.
But if Zed took her right now, there was no way I wouldn’t rut. No way in fucking hell. Even the idea of it was making my brain go foggy.
“There’s two of us,” I said. And Kyan was gone. Two rutting Alphas alone with an Omega?
“Uh… huh…?” Her pupils were blown as she looked between me and Zed.
For fuck’s sake.
Zed let out a low, wounded sound, shifting toward her again.
But… she didn’t… I frowned. She didn’t mind?
Wantedus to, even?
I mean.
It made sense. One obvious way to get through a rut…
No, no, no.
Worst idea on the goddamned planet.
She seemed to see the conclusion I was drawing as I kept Zed back, and a little whine of irritation rose in her chest. It sounded like an angry chirp, and it made me rock fucking hard in an instant. Zed’s breathing became heavier. Her gaze snapped to me, seeing the effect the sound had, and her eyes narrowed, the little downturn of a pout appearing on her lips.
She took a step back, then another, one heel through the warehouse door.
Oh… no.
“Glade!” I snarled. “Don’t?—!”
Fuck.
She did possibly the most bratty thing I’d ever witnessed—and the one sure-fire action that would set off a rut that teetered on the edge of detonation.
Our Omega turned and ran.