34. Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Four
Ronan
M y chest detonates with adrenaline as I see another Alpha’s hands on my Omega. I’m stripped down to nothing but need and vengeance, blood roaring so loud it drowns out everything except the frantic stutter of Leah’s pulse.
Jax’s growl thunders behind me, Gabriel’s sharp yell splitting the air as all three of us move. My legs piston over grass, the world tunneling to the Alpha’s fists on Leah, her body rigid, bouquet spilled. My Omega . He’s bigger than expected, but it doesn’t matter. He’s between me and what’s mine.
He starts dragging her through the bushes, but she lashes out. The Alpha roars and I see the hilt of a knife sticking from his bicep. The cheese knife I gave her to cut flowers. His face contorts before he backhands her hard enough to snap her head to the side. She sags and rage ignites my blood.
I slam into him so hard his ribs cave. Jax barrels in as Gabriel rips Leah from the Alpha’s grip, twisting her behind his body, his arms forming a protective barricade.
She clings to him, fingers digging into the fabric at his waist. "He’s Lars."
The name triggers molten fury.
Lars, the guard who tormented and abused Mira, Emma and Leah. The architect of her nightmares. Her trauma.
In no reality does this bastard get to live.
I launch at him. His stink is everywhere.
Acrid, chemical, medical tang smeared with sweat and fear.
He reeks the same as the Facility guards, and it ignites something deep and animal in my chest. Jax drives his fist into the Alpha’s face, shattering cartilage.
Blood sprays in a hot arc across the grass as I follow, teeth bared, fingers clawing at his throat.
He tries to fight, but we’re the bigger monsters. Jax grabs his wrist and wrenches, bone splintering with a wet snap. I drive my knee into his ribs repeatedly, bones giving and collapsing beneath the force. When he tries to scream, I slam my fist into his mouth, crushing teeth beneath my knuckles.
Jax clamps his hand around Lars’ skull and grinds his face into the ground until blood sprays. The world runs red. My vision, my hands, the grass.
All of it sticky with the stench of chemical and wrongness .
I come back to myself on my knees, chest heaving, hands slick over the Alpha’s unmoving body. Jax hunches beside me, breath rasping, his arms shaking, red to the elbows.
And then I hear a soft, broken whimper. Leah . The sound cuts through my rage like a blade, dragging me back, atom by atom. I stagger upright, blood still hot on my skin, and turn toward where Gabriel shelters our Omega.
She’s huddled against his chest, shaking so hard the tremors pass through all of us. Nothing matters but Leah. I need to touch her, hold her. Make sure she’s still whole. We form a protective cage around her as I fit my nose to her gland. I detect sour fear, but underneath, fresh roses.
She goes stiff between us, and screams. The sound shoots through my chest as more males tear through the bushes, tainting the air with chemical wrongness.
These aren't real Alphas. They’re heavily muscled Betas like those from the gala, muscles layered wrong on their frames. Hardwick's fake guards.
Jax and I meet them head-on. I land a punch that cracks bone, but the Alpha barely slows. Jax slams his fist into another’s throat, but the bastard just laughs, blood bubbling at his lips.
Gabriel rips a male away from Leah, but too many come at us.
Arms like iron bars wrench my shoulders back, another pins my legs. Three of them, too strong, too heavy. I can’t move. Can’t get to our Omega. Jax fights like a devil, but there’s a fist in his hair, yanking him down.
Leah screams again as one grabs her, thick arm around her waist, jerking her clean off her feet. Her legs kick, arms flailing. She’s so small compared to their bulk, their hands swallowing her wrists, pinning her as she thrashes.
"Let me go!" Her voice breaks.
I bellow, straining against the bodies crushing me, every nerve burning. " Leah !" But I can’t break free.
Gabriel throws off his attacker, spins, and crashes into the Alpha trying to take Leah away from us, blood streaming down his face. His fingers lock around Leah’s ankle as the Alpha tries to drag her away.
I roar, desperate to reach her. I try to tear free from the fists pounding me, dropping onto one knee.
Fire shoots along my arm where a boot connects, but it doesn’t matter.
Using the earth as leverage, I vault over a sprawled body, vision zeroed in on the brute with his arms around Leah.
Before I get to him, Jax crashes into the Alpha’s back, an avalanche of muscle and rage.
The bastard staggers sideways and Leah twists free, eyes ferocious as she rolls across the ground.
I drive my fist into the Alpha’s throat, but another tackles Gabriel. He hunches over Leah protectively as more swarm from the hedges. Two overwhelm Gabriel while another grabs Leah, throwing her over his shoulder and bolting away as reinforcements converge on us.
I twist one male’s neck, relishing the pop of bone, then slam my fist into another’s temple. His skull gives with a crunch, body sagging at my feet. I stagger upright, breathing blood and fury. Jax and Gabriel stand bloodied but alive, their attackers in broken heaps.
But Leah.
Leah is gone.
The world drops out from under me. My ears ring, heart hammering with unrestrained panic. Every instinct shrieks with loss.
I lock onto her terrified scent straining in the air. "This way!"
We burst through the bushes just in time to see the Alpha hurl Leah into the back of a black van. The side door slams, engine gunning.
"Leah!" Gabriel’s scream is pure heartbreak.
We run after her, all three of us wild and reaching, but we’re too slow. The van screeches down the street and all that’s left is her scent, vanishing in exhaust and blood.
My chest caves in around the empty space she leaves behind.
Twigs crack behind me as one of our attackers sprinting toward another black van. Lightning jolts through me.
There’s no thought, only instinct. "Jax! Gabriel! Get him!" My voice is an absolute command, torn between hope and the savagery clawing in my chest.
We converge on the Alpha as he lunges for the open door, fumbling for the keys.
I use my momentum and slam his body into the hard metal door.
His head cracks the window. I grab his neck and break the glass with his head.
I don’t stop slamming his head until his struggles ease, every ounce of adrenaline in my body funneled into this single, brutal moment. The keys spill from his fist.
I seize them, shove him to the ground and throw myself into the driver’s seat. Jax vaults in beside me. Gabriel dives into the back. Each muscle in my body vibrates as I twist the key on a prayer .
The engine roars to life. Ahead, the van Leah is in disappears around a corner. Copper coats my throat, my pulse roars in my ears, and I fucking floor it. The whole world narrows to that vanishing tail end and the desperate, howling need to get our Omega back.