Chapter Twelve
Rhea
T he SUV crests the final bend in the road - a long, winding curve that feels more like a descent than a climb.
Tall, ancient trees line the road, their trunks thick as egos at a billionaire convention. Branches twist overhead like they’re planning a coup, blocking out the moon entirely and creating a tunnel of you’re probably going to get murdered here vibes.
The headlights barely cut through the dark, swallowed by shadows that move too much for my liking.
It’s not peaceful. It’s not serene.
It’s eerie.
“Is it just me,” Kai says, peering out the window, “or does this look like where rich cults go to retire?”
“Shut up,” Lucian says, not looking away from the road.
The gates appear out of nowhere, rising from the mist like they’re powered by generational trauma. They don’t creak. They just… part. Obedient. Submissive.
Gross.
“Do the gates open on facial recognition or raw disdain?” Kai asks, voice full of wonder.
“No key?” Theo murmurs.
“No need,” Ash says. “They’re controlled.”
“ Controlled ? What, like guard dogs?” I croak.
“No,” Kai says. “ Worse . Like the OMB.”
That shuts me up.
Right. The OMB.
I left a gala with four alphas, and now I’m probably on their Most Wanted list.
“Don’t worry, Bambi,” Kai grins as he leans around Theo. “I’m sure Lexi’s already blackmailing someone and negotiating your freedom over cocktails.”
“I can't believe I left her. Or my camera,” I groan. “ And all my SD cards. They’re gonna see my raw files.”
“Priorities,” Kai says, cheerfully unhelpful. “Dying of heatstroke, but worried someone might see her unreleased portfolio.”
“I had candid shots of a minister double-fisting shrimp cocktails!” I hiss. “They were Pulitzer-level.”
“Your friend’s got taste,” Kai says, amused. “Bet she’s already threatened three government officials and is halfway through seducing the caterer.”
“She might be,” I mutter. “And if she is, I hope she steals dessert.”
The SUV crunches up the long, shadowed drive as Lucian says nothing, just broods behind the wheel until finally, the forest spits us out.
And there it is.
It comes into view like something summoned, not built. All angles and menace.
No neighbors. No exit signs. Just a whole lot of ' abandon hope all ye who enter here ' energy.
It's not a house. It's a fortress.
All stone and shadow, while the doors alone could double as guillotines.
“Wow,” Kai says. “Very humble. Very subtle.”
Ash stares out the window, face unreadable.
“This place doesn’t welcome,” he murmurs. “It contains .”
“Right,” Kai mutters in agreement. “I thought you said safehouse, not ‘ welcome to the alpha Illuminati. ’”
“Love that for me,” I mutter. “Really hitting all my childhood trauma checkboxes tonight.”
“You’ll be safe here,” Theo says, still holding me close.
“ Safe ,” I echo, gazing at the estate with the enthusiasm of a cat being carried toward a bathtub. “In a house with a steel-reinforced panic wing and four alphas - one of whom threatens sedation like it’s a love language.”
“If it makes you feel better,” Kai says brightly, “I don’t believe in sedatives. I believe in snacks, massages, and consensual violence.”
Lucian actually growls.
Ash finally says, deadpan: “You know the OMB is probably tracking heat spikes across the city right now.”
“Oh good,” I say, head thumping back against Theo’s shoulder. “Add federal manhunt to the bingo card.”
“Bingo?” Kai asks. “Oh, we’re definitely getting Bingo. Public scene, heat spike, unregistered omega, unauthorized transport, reckless scenting…”
“Kidnapping,” Ash adds dryly.
“ Alleged kidnapping,” Theo corrects.
“Extremely documented,” Lucian mutters, gesturing to the dash. “There are cameras.”
Kai grins. “Oh good. I’ve always wanted to be on reality TV.”
Lucian kills the engine with the drama of someone who’s absolutely done.
“Get her inside. Before she tries to mount someone in the driveway.”
I lift my head slowly, eyes narrowing. “You’re lucky I’m exhausted and unmedicated, or I’d fight you right now.”
Theo just sighs and unbuckles us both.
“Let’s go before we get a drone dropped on us.”
But I can feel it building again already.
That first release? Yeah, that was a drop in the ocean.
My body is still a battlefield - lit up with hunger, heat, and the overwhelming realization that I have, in fact, abandoned my best friend at a gala full of bureaucrats and assholes - but the scent of
all of them is so thick and full in the air that it distracts from everything else.
Pine. Smoke. Spice. Leather.
Clean heat and static and alpha .
I never understood how something could burn and comfort at the same time. How something could feel wrong, but so right, too.
I always swore I didn’t want this. Didn’t want them. Didn’t want anyone . And now look at me -
I want all
of them .
I want to be touched again, held again, scented until I stop thinking. I want their hands, their mouths, their teeth , and I don’t even know which one I want more.
I can’t choose. Not when everything inside me is pulling in all directions - toward calm and chaos, toward danger and devotion.
But I can do
this . I can keep it together.
If I can just get inside - just get through the doors, into a room - lock myself away before it hits again…
“Inside,” Lucian commands. “ Now .”
Theo’s arms slide under me, lifting me like I weigh nothing at all as his door swings open with a thunk . But I can feel the tightness in him: the coiled restraint, the tension just beneath the surface - as though it’s killing him not to move, not to claim.
I bury my face in his throat, gasping through the heat clinging to my skin.
Kai is next to exit the vehicle, stretching like a cat.
“Well, well,” he mutters, arching his back like he expects applause. “Home sweet hell. Smells like money and unresolved trauma.”
Ash exits last, slow and quiet, gaze locked on me in Theo’s arms like I’m some tactical problem he’s been sent specifically to solve.
He doesn’t say anything, but the air around him crackles with alpha math. I can practically see the equation in his mind:
Omega + Instability + Kai = Security Nightmare.
Lucian doesn’t wait for them. He strides toward the massive black doors like they’re already bowing, all clean lines and unshakeable arrogance.
Kai squints after him. “Does he rehearse that walk, or was he born with a runway complex?”
“Born with it,” Ash says flatly.
“He walks like he’s about to fire someone for breathing wrong.”
“Probably already has,” Ash mutters.
Lucian presses his thumb to a hidden panel.
A soft beep. Then an eye scan.
“Retinal scan?” Kai raises both brows. “What, fingerprint wasn’t fascist enough?”
“I bet it also requires a blood sacrifice,” I whisper against Theo’s shoulder.
“Don’t tempt him,” Theo murmurs back.
The lock disengages with a quiet click, and the doors swing open like a secret letting itself be seen.
No creak. No resistance.
Because power like that doesn’t announce itself - it just is.
Kai whistles. “Jesus. The doors don’t even squeak . What’s next - a moat full of tax lawyers?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lucian says without looking back. “The moat is geothermal.”
“Oh good ,” Kai mutters. “Environmentally conscious evil. My favorite kind.”
Ash leans in slightly as we pass the threshold. “Behave.”
Kai just grins. “Define behave .”
Inside, the energy around the house somehow gets worse.
It's like a modern museum of repression - everything smells like money and secrets.
“I’m activating perimeter lockdown,” Lucian announces as he closes the front door firmly. “No one in or out.”
“That include us?” Kai asks, one brow lifting.
Lucian’s eyes flick up. “Yes.”
“ Kinky ,” Kai says, stepping in and giving the room a once-over. “Didn’t realize we were starting the kidnapping so early.”
“Will you fuck off with the kidnapping shit already?” Ash grumbles. “She came willingly.”
Theo steps past them all, heading toward another room - a sitting room. He lowers me to a couch with more reverence than I’ve shown any piece of furniture in my life.
The moment I hit the leather, it’s like flipping a switch. The ache roars back, slick and hot and immediate.
And it’s not just my body betraying me - it’s the tension in the room, thick and rising, curling beneath my skin like smoke looking for a match.
Theo drops to his knees in front of me. His hands are warm on my face, thumbs brushing my cheeks.
“Rhea,” he says, soft but sure. “You’re okay. You’re safe.”
“Don’t lie to me,” I snap. My voice is hoarse, shaking. “I’m unraveling like a Victorian widow with no corset and three secret lovers.”
“She’s not wrong,” Kai says, nudging Ash as they enter the room. “This has real gothic drama energy. We just need a storm and someone to fall off a balcony.”
Ash doesn’t blink. “If anyone’s falling, it’s you.”
“I hope it’s onto her,” Kai says, grinning. “And gently.”
“Can you shut the fuck up?” Theo growls, one eye twitching.
“I could,” Kai replies. “But then how would you all know what we’re thinking but too repressed to say?”
Theo doesn’t even look back. “Get out.”
“ Please ,” Kai says, ignoring him completely. “Can you believe how whipped you've got him already, Bambi?”
“Kai -”
“I'm serious!” he insists. “You're kneeling like you’re about to propose.”
“She’s burning up,” Theo snaps, jaw clenched. “Maybe try being useful instead of mouthy.”
Kai snorts. “Trust me, my mouth is nothing but useful. Besides, I’m keeping the mood light. It’s called morale support.”
Ash appears in the doorway like a storm cloud in a black t-shirt. “Shove your morale support up your ass,” he mutters.
“Everyone’s a critic,” Kai throws up his hands. “But she smells like lightning about to strike,” he adds after a beat, eyeing me with something sharp and unreadable. “And if she combusts, then I call dibs on the first scorch mark.”
“Jesus Christ ,” Theo mutters under his breath.
“I’m just saying,” Kai grins, dropping onto the arm of a nearby chair. “There’s enough pheromone in here to knock out a small country.”
Lucian stays by the door, eyes tracking every movement like he’s doing threat analysis on a woman who is literally vibrating with heat on a couch.
“This is a containment issue, not a comedy show,” he says.
Kai shrugs. “You say containment, I say divine intervention.”
Ash crosses his arms. “Why do I get the feeling that you say divine intervention about everything ?”
“Well, sometimes I’m right,” Kai shrugs.
I groan, burying my face in my hands.
I’m unraveling. Splintering.
The orgasm in Theo’s lap was nothing . A taste. A tease.
It opened the floodgates.
“She’s peaking again,” Lucian says.
Theo doesn’t blink. “I know.”
“Smells like horny despair and cinnamon,” Kai adds. “Not the worst combo.”
“We move her to the isolation wing,” Lucian commands, ignoring Kai. “ Now. ”
“Nothing like a good old-fashioned Omega extraction,” Kai nods. “Shall we chant or carry her in a velvet chaise?”
“Keep talking and you’ll be the chaise,” Ash snaps.
“I'll carry her,” Theo says, already bracing to lift me.
We step out into the hallway again, and I just about manage to register Lucian as he moves to a sleek panel on the wall and flips a fancy-looking switch.
I swear that the entire house hisses, then clicks like it’s sealing for launch.
Doors lock. Lights shift. Air cycles.
“You’re locking me in,” I whisper.
“No,” he says without looking back. “I’m locking everyone else out.”
“Oh great,” Kai mutters. “She’s in heat. He’s in dictator mode. I’m not wearing deodorant. We’re all gonna die.”
“You’re not helping,” Ash tells him
“Just saying: if the OMB tracks us here, I call dibs on pretending to be the butler.”
Ash snorts. “ You ? You’d tell them we were running a private alpha-on-omega wrestling retreat for tax purposes.”
Kai grins. “Not a bad pitch, actually.”
Behind us, Lucian locks down the control panel with one final tap. The house groans again.
“Containment secure,” he mutters, mostly to himself.
“ Great ,” I whisper, pressing my face into Theo’s neck. “Now all we need is a fire drill, an OMB raid, and Lexi to show up.”
“You forgot alien invasion,” Kai adds helpfully. “But don’t worry, Bambi - we’ve got you.”
I tremble in Theo’s arms, surrounded by four alphas with more tension than a family dinner during mating season, and I can’t decide if I’m safer than ever… or completely, irrevocably screwed.
Theo’s head dips lower as he follows Lucian through the hall. It's more of an instinctual reflex than anything else, I think, and his lips brush my temple, then lower, followed by a slow, instinctive drag of his nose over my skin.
“You gonna huff the rest of her heat out like a candle?” Kai snarks.
But it's not enough.
Theo’s scent is helping, but the ache is building again, deeper now.
I try to breathe. Try to be still.
It’s not working.
I need relief. I need space.
I need -
“Take me to the fucking room,” I whisper. “ Please .”
The storm is back.
And this house is about to hold it.