Chapter 47
The Driveway
Cliff
I slam the car door hard enough to rock the vehicle on its wheels. I'm already moving toward the house before the sound finishes echoing off the driveway.
Raff is right behind me.
I hit the front door at full speed, throwing it open, and my eyes sweep the entryway, kitchen, then living room.
I see Adam and Elowen first, the pair standing together near the edge of the room, both of them holding each other tight.
Perrin is standing in the middle of the living room, his fists loose at his sides and his jaw set, and his eyes fixed on the far corner of the room with the focused, murderous patience of a man guarding something.
Perrin is standing over someone. The beta’s fists are tight at his sides, his jaw set. He looks ready to kill.
"Is everyone okay?" I step forward, and Perrin shifts, allowing me to see the stranger on the floor.
He's a skinny fucker with dark greasy hair. He’s sitting with his legs bent and his arms wrapped around his middle. He's rocking back and forth slowly as he mumbles, "I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry."
Over and over again, barely audible, like a prayer.
Raff moves toward Perrin and puts a hand on his back, pressing once, checking. Perrin nods and I move to the omegas.
They're holding each other, Adam's arms wrapped around Elowen's back, her face pressed into his chest. Adam looks up when I reach them, and the relief on his face is immediate.
"I'm so glad you're here," he whispers. "This is Milo. He worked with Elle at the Morder. I let him in. I thought—" He stops, and his eyes go glassy. "I thought it was okay to invite him in.”
“It’s okay, baby.” I whisper as I hold his chin with my thumb and forefinger, turning his head slightly, checking him over. He's pale, but his eyes are clear and nothing on him looks hurt.
I release him and turn to Elowen.
My hand cups the back of her head, tilting her face up so I can see her. Her eyes are red and wet. Our bond is so flooded I can barely breathe through it.
“I’m sorry, Cliff,” Adam’s chin quivers. “I didn’t think—”
"He was just being polite," Perrin says from across the room, his eyes still on Milo. "Anyone would have done the same."
I nod once, then turn to Elowen.
"Elle." I angle my head down. "What happened, baby?"
She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out at first.
Our bond is so saturated with grief and rage, my chest tightens, and I brace against it. I have never felt anything like this come through from her before. Not even close.
"He killed my parents," she blurts out, and I go still.
Did I hear her right?
“What did you say, omega?”
But Elowen doesn’t answer, she just stares at Milo.
The thick emotions coursing through our bond changes. The grief doesn't leave. It gets swallowed by something much sharper. And before I have time to process what's happening, Elowen pushes herself away from Adam and launches herself across the room.
She hits the skinny fucker like a freight train.
She knocks him sideways, onto his back, straddling his chest. Then she hits him with everything she has.
Both fists, open hands, nails raking across whatever skin she can reach.
A sound tears out of her that is somewhere between a snarl and a sob.
Milo throws his arms up, his hands flying to cover his face, but he doesn't fight back. Not a single punch thrown, not a single grab at her wrists, nothing. He simply takes it, his body absorbing every hit.
Raff glances over his shoulder at me, silently asking if he should pull her off him.
I shake my head.
If this fucker really did kill her parents, then this is Elowen's revenge to take. And I'll die making sure she gets her pound of flesh.
Elowen pulls back her fist, grabs Milo's arm, and wrenches it out of the way. Then she drives her fist straight into the center of his face.
His head snaps back and hits the hardwood floor with a crack that echoes through the room.
Blood hits the air immediately, sharp and copper-bright, and every alpha instinct I have roars to life at once. Not in defense of the man bleeding on my floor. In pride.
I watch Elowen sit back on her heels above him, her chest heaving, her knuckles split and red.
And I have never seen anything so right in my life.
Three years of grief and silence and hiding and surviving alone, and she is taking every single ounce of it back with her bare hands.
Good.
Elowen sucks in a deep breath, and brings her fist down one more time, then she starts to sob.
It tears out of her, her whole body shaking with it, her shoulders caving inward, and I'm already moving.
I reach down and hook my hands under her arms, pulling her up and back against my chest in one motion. She comes without resistance, her body going loose against mine as I wrap both arms around her and hold on.
Milo doesn't move.
He's flat on his back with his nose bent sideways and blood pouring freely down his face, and he's still crying, still mumbling, still saying the same shit he's been saying since I walked through the door.
"I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry."
"Shut the fuck up." Perrin steps forward and looms over him. His expression is cold and flat and completely without mercy. "Don't say another fucking word."
The fucker goes quiet.
I look at Perrin over the top of Elowen's head and feel immense pride. He is so damn good at keeping our omegas safe. The perfect beta.
"What are we going to do with him?" Adam's voice comes from across the room, small and tight.
He’s still standing near the doorway with both arms wrapped around himself, his shoulders pulled in and his face pale. He looks so scared.
Raff crosses to him without a word. He pulls Adam into a big hug, one big hand cupping the back of his head, pressing Adam's face into his chest. Adam's arms uncurl from around himself and find Raff's shirt instead, gripping it.
I’ll make sure to love on Adam thoroughly once this is over.
Both omegas will need it.
“Elowen?”
She slowly lifts her head, looking up at me.
Her eyes are bloodshot, her face swollen and damp with a thin sheen of sweat along her brow. Her knuckles are bleeding. And underneath all of it, in her eyes, is the kind of devastation that doesn't have a bottom to it.
I reach up and tuck a strand of dark hair back from her face.
"What do you want, baby?" I ask her quietly.
She frowns. "What do you mean?"
"This is your revenge to take," I say. "Whatever you want to happen to him, that's what happens."
She looks at Milo on the floor. Then back at me.
"I don't want it.” Her voice is completely flat. The fire that had her throwing punches thirty seconds ago is gone, burned through, leaving nothing behind. "I just want him gone." She sniffles. "I never want to see him again."
I hold her gaze for a moment.
Then I nod.
“Perrin.” Raff gives a jerk of his head, telling the beta to come to him.
Perrin moves, but his eyes stay locked on the bleeding fucker.
Raff releases Adam, passing him to his brother. Perrin immediately pulls Adam into a hug, turning him gently so his back is to the room, tucking Adam's head against his chest and keeping his own eyes forward.
“Come on, asshole.” Raff reaches down and grabs Milo by the back of his jacket. He hauls him straight up off the floor in one motion.
Milo’s legs wobble underneath him as he tries to stand to full height. Blood is still pouring freely from his nose, covering his mouth and chin.
"Elle," he whispers, his voice cracking. "I'm so sorry. Please. I need you to—"
"I said shut up!" Perrin growls.
And the fucker goes quiet again.
"Stop pissing off my beta," Raff growls quietly, making Milo tremble and nod.
I look down at Elowen, taking her face in both hands. "I'll take care of it," I say quietly. “You’ll never have to see him again.”
She searches my face. "Cliff?" Her voice is still flat. Tired. "I don't want you to do anything you'll regret."
I open my mouth, but she doesn’t let me get a word out.
"I mean it," she says and her chin quivers. "I can't have you doing something awful for me." She glances at Raff, then back at me. "You are both too good to carry that kind of guilt for the rest of your lives. If you did something because of me—” She shakes her head. "Promise me."
"It's okay." I kiss her nose, pouring all my love and strength through our bond. "We're only going to take him for a drive."
Raff's head snaps up. The look on his face says everything he's decided not to say out loud, his jaw tight and his gray eyes cutting to me with an expression that is equal parts disbelief and protest. But he stays quiet, his hand still fisted in the back of Milo's jacket.
"Promise me," she says again.
"I promise, I won't lay a finger on him," I say.
She searches my face one more time. Then something in her shoulders drops, just slightly, and she nods. “Thank you.”
I press another kiss to her forehead, then I straighten up and look at Perrin.
"Get them both upstairs," I say. "Clean her knuckles, and get them into their nest.”
"On it." Perrin reaches for Elowen, drawing her away from me and pulling her to his side. Then he reaches his other arm out, and Adam steps into it without being asked, tucking himself against his brother's chest. Perrin holds them both, one on each side, and steers them toward the stairs.
I watch them go.
All three of them. Perrin's arms around both omegas, Adam's head dropping to his brother's shoulder, Elowen's hand finding Adam's as they climb the stairs. I watch until they disappear around the landing and I can't see them anymore.
Then I turn to the fucker.
He stands between me and Raff, blood dripping steadily from his chin onto the hardwood floor, his lips still moving, mouthing the words “I’m sorry” but no sound comes out.
"Walk," I say.
Raff shoves Milo into the back seat.
He doesn't fight it. He simply folds himself in, then sits with his hands in his lap and his head tipped back against the headrest. The blood on his face looks sticky and wet, the edges starting to dry. He doesn't seem to notice or care.