47. Chapter 47
Rosalina
Iswallowed hard as heat raced back into my icy limbs at the suggestion. Oliver’s nest was the worst possible place to be if I was going to reject this bond. What I needed was space away from them and their addictive scent. Especially Nico, but Oliver and Cruz, too.
After a moment of silence, his shoulders lifted in a half-shrug.
“No? Well, a guy can dream.” He unlocked the room next to his.
“Here. You should be safe, but don’t come out until one of us comes to get you.
AND, Rosa, look at me. DO NOT try to escape again.
We will find you, no matter where you go or what you do, we will always find you. ”
I didn’t know if that was supposed to be threatening or reassuring, but it set a herd of butterflies tumbling around in my stomach. Traitorous little bastards.
Boisterous voices carried down the hall, overshadowing the heavy silence, reminding me of the most pressing danger.
The irritating noise vanished along with Oliver’s fading smile as the door closed between us, locking him out and me inside a spacious room with dove gray walls and charcoal and white accents.
It was a mirror of Oliver’s room, but with none of the personality.
Instead of the nest-nook, stuffed full of pillows, throws, and bordered by built-in cabinetry, in its place was a plush-looking queen-sized bed.
Overall, it was a perfectly serviceable guest room.
Not that I expected they had many guests.
I will admit, I eyed the long, skinny window that ran parallel to the ceiling on the other side of the space.
It had no mechanism to open, so if I wanted out, I was going to have to bash through it like I’d done before.
The adrenaline rushing in my veins was fast abandoning me after my first escape attempt, though, and the weight of the day was catching up.
I was in no condition to try anything like that again soon, even if I wanted to.
Did I want to?
I pressed my ear to the door, confirming what I already knew.
I was well and truly trapped. The sound of laughter echoed from the kitchen.
Nico and Cruz were taking their role as hosts seriously, and keeping the uninvited guests busy and away from their omega and me, at least. They were far from perfect.
Significantly flawed, but maybe they weren’t all bad.
Capitalizing on the intruder’s distraction, I shuffled across the hardwood into the bathroom.
White marble with dramatic gray veining and a huge framed mirror greeted me as I walked in.
My hair was a mess after being in a motorcycle helmet, and the zip-up hoodie hung limply off my shoulders.
The angry edge of a bite peeked out of the neck, and I pulled the fabric aside to get a better look.
Physically seeing it there sent tingles racing across my skin, and my face warmed.
I hated that it made me feel good, wanted, even loved, but none of that was true.
It couldn’t be. It was just the scent-match and instincts driving an emotional response.
It wasn’t real.
Was it?
I shed the hoodie, leaving it in a pile on the floor, and got into the marble shower. I had to wash their scent off me. That would help. Not being covered in their sweat and cum would get my muddled brain working again. I rushed through the process, hoping it would solve my current predicament.
Unfortunately, even after I was clean, I couldn’t shake the feeling, and when my fingers landed on the rough abrasion where Nico’s teeth had broken skin, a sweet curl of desire pulsed low in my belly. Things would be better in the morning, I was sure of it.
There were no discarded clothes in this room that I could pillage, only the filthy hoodie on the floor, so I dried myself off before wrapping a soft gray towel around my torso.
Exhaustion pressed against the back of my eyelids, so I ignored my wandering thoughts and tucked myself into the fluffy bed.
I didn’t want to think about what that fast-healing scar meant. I just wanted to rest.
The door was locked. I’d be safe for a while.
My dreams brought images of snakes that slithered across writhing mounds of scaled bodies, hissing and whispering muffled words, coaxing me back to reality.
I shot up in bed, gasping and searching blindly in the darkness for what woke me.
Was there something in the room, or was it just a bad dream?
I held my breath, listening, but when nothing else stirred, I settled back into the pillows, motionless except for my eyes that darted around the pitch-black room, waiting for my racing pulse to calm and sleep to reclaim me.
After a moment of shallow breathing, I heard a scraping near where I thought the door was.
I strained my gritty vision, trying to see past the blackness of night.
A strip of faint light wavered under the door to the hall, broken by bands of shadow.
I shrank down into the comforter. Someone was just walking down the hall to go to the bathroom.
Maybe Nico let his father’s men spend the night.
My heart thundered in my throat as I tried not to panic.
The crunch of wood had me scrambling across the mattress as three hulking figures burst into the room.
I jolted to my feet, leaving the towel and sheets behind me in a tangle, and took off toward the bathroom, guided by the hallway light.
Hot, sweaty palms grabbed me and threw me back onto the bed.
Marcel ripped the tie from around his neck and wrestled my hands together before shoving the silk fabric over my mouth.
Cloying, fetid breath crawled over my naked skin, licorice doused with alcohol and feet.
“Shut your mouth, sweet thing, or I’ll make you regret it. ”
One of his friends crawled on the bed, grabbing my wrists, but I jerked free and kicked out at the other who was trying to catch my flailing ankles. Marcel unfastened his pants, but was forced to grab one of my feet before I kicked his dick off. His grip was punishing.
He groaned. “I like it when they fight back.”
A high-pitched whine of panic drowned out his words.
My eyes locked on the shriveled little worm hanging out of his fly.
This was nothing like the games Nico and I played.
This made my stomach flip over in protest. Just the thought of him touching me with that thing made me want to throw up.
Everything in my body railed against it.
A cold sweat swept across my skin, and nausea crawled up my throat.
The urge to claw, kick, and bite roared over me, but the other two alphas managed to get control of my free leg and wrists.
There was nothing I could do but thrash against their grip.
Marcel pressed the wadded silk tie harder over my mouth, blocking my nose, and I struggled to breathe.
Black spots floated across my vision, and my strength to fight waned.
I didn’t want to see this anyway, but I couldn’t stop the sensation of sticky precum slithering up my thigh like snail slime.
The only thing that kept me from puking right there was the thought of drowning in my own vomit.
Regret was choking me just as much as this asshole’s hand.
I should’ve stayed with Oliver. He never would have let this happen.
Like the thought conjured him, his silhouette filled the open doorway. As quickly as he appeared, the grip of the thug holding my ankle convulsed and hot, sticky liquid erupted in a shower across my naked skin. The smell of copper and death landed on me like a blanket.
I gagged.
Everything happened at once. The hands on me vanished.
Marcel turned, and smashed his fist into Oliver’s face, sending him flying across the room, where he slumped to the floor.
The walls shuddered, and a cacophony of rumbling footsteps shook the house just before Nico burst through the door, naked except for the gun in his hand.
Cruz arrived right behind him in a similar state.
One alpha scrawled on the ground, gurgling and gushing blood from a gash in his throat. The other two stood frozen, stunned into immobility.
“What in the fuck is going on in here?” Nico’s voice was as low and menacing as I’d ever heard it, carefully modulated with not a hint of a tremor.
The lack of emotion made it all the more terrifying as Cruz bent down to check on Oliver, who was wiping blood from his lip and dragging himself to his feet.
Marcel’s hands were up for the second time tonight. “We were just availing ourselves of the hostage when your little pet burst in here and…” His eyes dropped to the twitching corpse on the floor. “Slit Antonio’s throat.”
“And why the fuck do you have your dick out, and your men holding down MY prisoner?” Nico stepped closer, not lowering his gun. “Think very carefully before you answer this.”
“It’s just like I said. She’s a hostage, so fair game, right?” Marcel let out a half-chuckle and a nervous smile, lowering his hands to zip up the front of his pants.
Before Marcel had a chance to reach his zipper, Nico switched targets, shooting the other alpha in the head. “No, not right.”
I jumped at the explosion. A piercing screech ignited in my ears, and an uncontrollable tremble coursed through my body in a frigid wave.
Marcel’s hands snapped back up. “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on here, Nico, but your dad sent us to bring her back to him. He didn’t say untouched or unharmed. He might as well have spelled it out. She’s not under his protection.”
“No, she’s under mine.” Nico’s gun shifted, and another gunshot pierced the night.
The bullet embedded into Marcel’s shoulder, and he let out a shriek. “What the fuck, Nico? What in the fuck?”
“Keep talking. I have more bullets.”
Marcel shut his mouth.
“That’s better. It’s time for you to go,” Nico said, standing in all his naked, tattooed glory, skin glowing and haloed from the light in the hall, fury radiating off him like some sort of avenging god.
After the carnage I’d witnessed tonight, he shouldn’t affect me like he did. Even after everything, I found myself squeezing my thighs together for relief. Fucking horny omega brain. Not right now!
Nico motioned his gun toward the door, and Marcel skirted around the corpses on the floor, barely containing his retching as his foot slipped in a puddle of blood.
Cruz grabbed him by the back of the shirt and escorted him out, steering him down the hall.
Before Nico left, his eyes trailed over my naked body, assessing me.
Physically, I was fine, and that was obvious. “You look good in red, bella.”
He stepped away from the bodies without a second glance and beckoned Oliver to him from where he was standing, leaning against the wall.
“No one touches what’s ours and lives.” Then Nico grabbed the omega by the back of his head, his fingers threading through Ollie’s shaggy brown hair and tipped his head up to bring their lips together.
Nico kissed him with a depth of passion that had Oliver moaning, writhing, and a mound swelling under his gray sweats.
Nico’s words were a breath across the omega’s lips, so low I shouldn’t have been able to hear.
“I love you, Oliver. Take care of our girl.”
Their display had me squirming. I wanted that kind of connection, too.
It wasn’t a bitter or envious feeling, though.
It was a sweet, warm longing and glowing sort of happiness for them, and a whisper of a dream for myself.
I wanted someone who would look at me like that and kiss me that hard. If I made it out of this alive, anyway.
Nico pulled away, both of them breathing a little heavier. “I have to deal with our guest. I’ll check on you when I’m done.”