CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - HOG
Rage simmers in my gut, hungry for an outlet. I’d like to drag that sack of shit out of the truck bed and stomp him into the asphalt, but that would literally be overkill.
The omega makes a soft, choking sound next to me. “Can you stop somewhere? I need... I need to wash up.”
And probably throw up, since shock has clearly set in.
Her breathing is shallow, a sour scent rising off her clammy skin.
The urge to gather her in my lap and soothe her is almost overwhelming, but I’ve got a truck to drive and a dead body to dispose of.
Not that she’d want me to comfort her, based on how my previous attempts have gone.
“There’s a restroom at the gas station,” I tell her and she swallows hard enough for me to hear the click in her throat. “Just hold on a minute longer, Omega.”
She doesn’t reply and I grind my jaw as I glare out the windshield.
What the fuck did I just witness? When I saw movement in the alleyway, my instincts screamed that it was her, but I never expected to see the fucking asshole with his tongue on her neck.
He’d licked her like he was trying to peel the skin off her throat, and I nearly drove the truck into the wall.
It was only the sight of her kicking out his kneecap moments later that gave me the clarity to reverse the truck in, blocking the alley from any observers.
Because that prick was dead even if she hadn’t smashed his head into the wall.
Clever, vicious omega.
Approval hums low in my chest and I have to bite back a purr. She doesn’t need any of that shit when she’s got another alpha’s blood drying on her boots.
I pull into the gas station, driving past the pumps to stop next to the restrooms. I look around but can’t see anyone who needs to be moved on. “We’re here,” I tell her quietly. “You can freshen up while I grab some supplies.”
She barely seems to hear me, scrambling out from under my jacket and lurching towards the amenity block. I shoot off a text to Axel and then circle around to the tray, tightening the ties on the tarp. Last thing I need is that fucker leaving a blood trail behind us.
Satisfied that I won’t draw any more attention than usual, I stalk into the gas station.
The attendant jerks upright from his slouched position, but he avoids my eye as I head over to the candy display.
I grab a couple of chocolate bars and then stop at the refrigerator for bottles of water and Gatorade.
I add a bag of pretzels, a box of ibuprofen, and a pack of wet wipes to my haul.
At the last moment I grab a copy of Omega Allure off the magazine rack and carry my purchases up to the counter.
The attendant rings them up just as I turn and see Axel and Colt hurrying across the parking lot.
I grab my purchases and head out to greet them, a frown on my face. “I said I had this handled.”
Axel glares back at me. “You said shit had gone sideways and you and Birdie were going to be lying low for a few days. How is that reassuring?”
“I wasn’t worried about you,” I mutter, but he’s already striding over to the truck.
“Why does it smell like blood?” He unpicks the nearest tie and peels the tarp back a few inches, his face going slack with shock. “Fuck... is that...?”
Colt squirms up next to him, hauling the tarp back further. “Jesus! What the fuck is Peak doing here?”
Clearly, it’s an answer I want as well, but I scowl at them both as I pull the tarp back into place. “He jumped her behind the diner and knocked her around. She fought back and he hit his head. End of story.”
Axel has gone the color of old cement. “She killed him? That’s a pretty big part of the story, Hog.”
“Yeah, but it’s not the most important part.” I narrow my eyes, my hackles rising. “She defended herself. I took care of the rest.”
Colt blinks at me, but it’s Axel who says in a tight voice, “Hog... you’re talking murder.”
“I know exactly what I’m saying. And it’s Haven,” I correct him. “You’re not my commanding officer right now.”
I need to make the distinction because if he’s thinking with his Captain’s bars instead of with our pack bond, I’m fucked. The only way this doesn’t end up with me doing life in a federal penitentiary is if he goes into pack alpha mode and helps me fix this fucking mess.
“Haven,” he says slowly, his dark eyes boring into mine. He’s tense as hell, but there’s a soothing edge to his scent. Pack alpha mode activated. “Explain this like it makes sense.”
“He hurt my mate,” I growl, because pack alpha or not, he doesn’t get to dismiss what happened to Birdie. “I saw him push her up against a wall, lick her neck, rub his groin on her ass, and slap her face. The fucker got less than he deserved.”
“But why?” Axel demands. “Why was he here? What did he want?”
I grunt, my patience hanging by a thread. “Maybe he had a death wish. Who gives a shit?”
“You should,” Colt fires back, his hands on his hips. “Think, Haven, because she’s not safe until we know what’s really going on.”
I look at him in surprise. He’s such a little shit, I sometimes forget that Colt started out in military intelligence.
“They knew each other,” I say reluctantly. “She was afraid of him, and when I got close enough, her scent tasted bitter. Like acid.” I run what I witnessed through my head and bare my teeth in a savage grin. “He tried to take her down, but she kicked his fucking ass.”
“Okay.” Axel blows out a slow breath. “What about witnesses?”
“None. He picked a good place for an ambush.”
I’m grinding the back of my teeth as I say it, but one upside is that the scene is grimy enough that the blood will blend right in.
“Then we move,” Axel says, slapping the side of the truck. “We can’t go back to the cabin. I’ll send Maggie a message from the road.”
Colt nods, but I have to ask the obvious. “And the mission?”
Axel sighs and rubs a hand across his face. “Fuck knows. We have a week to work it out, I guess.”
It’s the best I can ask for, and we all turn as Birdie walks out of the restroom and heads our way. Her face is pale, and the scratch on her cheek is scraped raw, but she’s walking more steadily, and I feel relief flood through my limbs.
She’s okay. He tried to hurt her, but she’s no fragile, little bird. She’s a goddamn wolf.
“Hey, Birdie,” Colt says, breaking the tension with one of his dimpled smiles. “You okay, sweetheart?”
I wait for her to glare at me, to demand to know why I brought the rest of my pack into her business, but she just gives a shaky shrug and walks straight into my arms. Fuck.
I feel her slight weight hit me with more force than a punch, and I’m relieved the truck is behind me, so I don’t fall on my ass.
Instead, I close my arms around her, the deep, pinching pain of rejection dissolving like a summer mist.
Colt stares at me with wide eyes, a smile breaking over his face as he turns to Axel. “Looks like we’re sharing the driving, boss.”
She falls asleep less than five miles down the road.
Her shoulders relax first, the tense muscles of her back giving way next.
Her head presses more heavily into my chest, and then her scent finally clears, the bitter edge softening to the consistency of warm caramel.
I draw my first complete breath since I tracked her to the diner and found her fighting for her life in an alleyway.
Rage washes through me, and she makes a soft sound of complaint, like it’s trickled over her skin.
I try to rein it back in, but I don’t think I’m very successful, because Axel’s gaze slants my way in the rearview mirror.
“We get it,” he says softly. “Colt and I can feel it through the bond, you know? As pissed off as we are at what happened to her, your anger is three times as strong.”
Three times? Try a thousand.
It’s been my responsibility to watch over her ever since her scent drew me into the basement and I realized she was my mate.
I just made it in time on the mountain, but I was too slow to intercept Peak, and the fact that he was one of us – a member of my own brotherhood – makes me want to drag him out of the back of the truck and tear his corpse to pieces with my bare hands.
So, yeah, I might need an anger management adjustment.
“We need to switch trucks,” Colt says into the heavy silence, “and unload the excess baggage.” He twists in his seat and gives me a wink. “Obviously, Birdie we keep.”
“At least until she’s in a state to tell us what she wants to do,” Axel says cautiously, but I ignore his stare in the mirror.
He can wait all he wants, but she walked into my arms. She could’ve kicked me in the nuts, but she chose comfort over anger.
Until she says otherwise, that means she wants our protection.
I run my fingers lightly through her hair, and as I tuck a loose strand behind her ear, it exposes her scent gland.
The sight of the stitches on the vulnerable skin makes my stomach clench and I wonder if the gauze patch fell off in the fight, or if Peak touched her there, as well.
“Colt,” I snap, “get the med kit out of the glovebox. She needs a new bandage.”
He quickly obeys and when he passes it to me, I peel it open one-handed, applying it to her scent gland with a featherlight touch.
She doesn’t stir, and I feel a flush of contentment at this small act.
I want to protect her in every way possible, but right now she’s fighting her instincts.
I need to respect that and be happy that she’s here with me and not in some trucker’s rig on the way to fuck knows where.