Chapter Twenty
CHAPTER TWENTY
EVERY INSTINCT IN my body is alert, poised to strike whatever threat tries to make itself known.
The Northeast Dynamic Music Festival, our current stop on Primordial Covenant’s summer tour, takes place in Boston this year. A city not only on the suspected path of breeding trafficking routes, but less than an hour’s drive away from New Hampshire. The Montgomery church is a mere fifty miles away.
We’re too close. With the DAU’s informant alerting us to the Montgomery family discovering Omen’s identity, coming within throwing distance of her birth family is a mistake.
Nothing has happened yet. No protests outside of the venue. No threats or suspicious figures. Yet I can’t shake the feeling of impending complications.
My alpha is driving me to scoop up both Omen and Bea and carry them away. I can’t do that, though. Omen is currently on stage capturing photos of the band. The entranced expression she usually wears when she works with Primordial Covenant is gone. Replaced by a mask I know she is using to hide her fear.
When she emerged from her nest several days ago, I had to inform her I was now assigned to her full time. She was a mess, and I had to use my alpha bark to bully her into taking care of herself. Listening to her admit she shares a Fated connection to Pack Graves wasn’t surprising. She’s spent most of the tour going back and forth between avoiding them to protect them or refusing to leave their sides.
I hadn’t expected the complications that came with their connection. They’ve been dealt a shit hand, but there isn’t anything to be done except lay all their cards on the table. Which my charge plans to do after the guys’ show tonight. She’s going to admit their connection and reveal her birth identity. I hope Pack Graves is smart enough to cherish the gift Fate gave them by matching them to an omega as resilient as Omen.
If they don’t, I’m sure Bea will have something nefarious up her sleeve to smack some sense into them.
Following behind Omen as she leaves the stage area, I scan the crowd. Watching for anyone who seems out of place. She steps a little too close to the barrier where the band’s fans are screaming and cheering, hoping for another look at the masked rock stars behind us. She steps back suddenly and freezes, staring down at her arm.
I close the foot of space between us, positioning myself between her and the crowd and angling my body to continue watching our surroundings. “Omen? You good?” Her eyes are wide with panic when she looks up at me. I don’t stop to think. I grab my phone out and dial Bea’s number to warn her and Ridley of the threat.
“Drugged.” I barely hear the word over the crowd, but ice courses through me at their meaning. Someone drugged her?
Commotion behind us has Omen darting out into the crowded venue. Straight into danger. I barely force my way through behind her. My stomach sinks when I catch up to her. Heat perfume billows around her, drawing everyone’s attention.
Fuck! This isn’t good at all!
I scoop her onto my shoulder and take off, running full pace and not bothering to apologize for knocking into the groups in our way. Brady and Ridley join us, using their barks to clear a path. Bea’s frightened scent lets me know she is at my side, likely trying to calm her best friend down.
We break through an emergency exit and find a car waiting for us at the curb. I throw Omen inside and cross to the driver’s seat. “We’ll call ahead and book her a heat suite at the closest hotel,” Brady tells me as I jump behind the wheel.
Snapping at Bea to close the back door, I peel away from the curb. I’ll apologize for yelling at her later. When her best friend isn’t in danger of inciting a riot with her heat pheromones.
The hotel has staff waiting at the private back entrance. They take the keys to park the car and lead us to an elevator to the heat levels. I carry Omen, fighting the call her body’s desire is sending out to any unbonded alpha in the area. Luckily, the staff in this portion of the hotel is beta-only, so we’re no longer at risk of triggering someone’s rut.
Once she is safe in the nest, I call Donovan.
“Hello Lex.”
“We have a problem.” He listens as I fill him in on what has happened, swearing when I tell him about the induced heat Omen is experiencing.
“I’ll send you the contact information for a trusted local doctor. This isn’t the first time Omen was drugged with a heat inducer. The day she presented, someone spiked her drink with an inducer. There are risks involved. Without knowing the dosage…”
“Understood. I’ll reach out to the doctor if anything unusual occurs, or the heat persists.”
He ends the call, already making plans to figure out who smuggled a drug as highly regulated as a heat inducer into the venue.
I settle on the couch, my chin against my chest and my breaths low and slow to prevent myself from inhaling too much of Omen’s perfume. Being here is dangerous, but I can’t abandon her now. Not when there is a genuine risk someone will track us to this hotel and try to kidnap her while she isn’t clear-headed.
I’ve only been at the hotel for an hour when my phone chimes with an incoming video call. Answering, I nearly bite through my tongue when a haggard-looking Bea appears on the screen. “What happened?” I thought they had left the venue as soon as we did.
“Hell, that’s what. Brady and I called the bands and label staff after you left, urging them to leave. It was poor timing, because those anti-designation assholes chose that moment to attack.”
My fingers grip the edge of the couch so tight the fabric tears. They were attacked?
“ We were fine,” Ridley chimes in, leaning into the camera’s view. “But the bands and staff inside had to find a way out through the chaos. I guess someone knocked over one of the food tents, starting a fire that spread through the merch area before the fire department arrived to put it out.”
I shake my head, fighting back a demand for Bea to quit her job and stay at home, where she is safe. Being a controlling asshole will not win me any points with her. Not after I’ve turned her away at every available opportunity.
“There are hundreds of injuries,” Bea adds solemnly. “Thankfully, no one was killed. It’s still a mess. The label is stepping in to help with the cleanup and to support the victims.”
“What about the rest of the tour?” I ask, my tone terse.
“Right now, they aren’t pulling the plug. After the next three shows in Canada, they will reevaluate. They don’t see any point in canceling those shows when they don’t pose as great of a threat.”
I suppose that is accurate. Canada as a whole has accepted designations and packs much more easily than the States. Their equal rights movements were widely successful, while ours face strong opposition at every step.
“With Omen in heat, I’ll have to remain in Boston for a bit. I will take this time to touch in with friends at the FCDA and get their input on the threat level for the shows on the West Coast. Your safety is a priority over your career. Do you understand?”
Bea looks livid. Her eyes alight with outrage at my demand. She can fight as much as her heart desires. I will not budge on this. Reaching career goals can wait until the threat Senator Pierson’s campaign poses has been resolved.
Ridley steps in, shaking his head and placing his hand over her mouth. “I agree with Lex, sunshine, and the label will too. I know it isn’t fair to ask you to step back simply because you’re an omega, but the dangers are a thousand times stronger because of it.” He gets a gooey, lovesick expression on his face as he stares down at her. “We just want you to be safe.”
She melts, curling in on herself as she looks at him. What would it feel like to have her look at me that way? I’m too much of an asshole for it ever to happen. Every look we exchange will always be filled with anger.
With grumbling complaints, she relents. “I will only step back if the threat level is on par with what happened today.”
“Fine,” I agree. I knew she wouldn’t back down without a viable threat. She’s too stubborn to give up now. Not when she’s finally proving herself and earning her way in the music industry.
The image of her on the screen, head held high and a determined look in her eyes, clings to my mind long after we end the call. Nothing makes me harder than seeing her so confident in herself.
Five days of torture and I have to leave. It’s unreal how thick Omen’s perfume fills the suite. Scent suppressant materials are used to build omega nests. They help to contain their pheromones in one room, but her scent is overpowering all of those precautions.
I’ve already checked in with the local doctor, who believes it was a black market drug inducer. This type of drug isn’t regulated by the government and can have severe, potentially deadly side effects. Including amplifying an omega’s scent.
My mind stalls when I realize Bea could have gone into heat while we were on tour. How would I have ever been able to resist the delicious scent of my Fate matched mate in heat if I can barely resist Omen’s wilted scent?
It will be better for us both if I never find out.
Luckily, the hotel has single rooms built between the heat suites for beta heat helpers who aren’t taking part in the sexual aspect. From here, I can monitor anyone who approaches her room without drowning in her scent.
My phone rings with a video call. I pick it up to see Ridley’s face staring at me through the screen. My heart rate settles when I see Bea sitting beside him. They are currently in Quebec, having continued with Primordial Covenant’s tour. After the show tonight, they are off for another five days before the West Coast portion begins. Despite my attempts to convince her otherwise.
I called Creed the day after we booked the heat suite here to ask him to look into threats at all the label’s West Coast stops, but he hadn’t found a viable reason for me to demand the label drop the tour.
“How is she?” Bea asks immediately. The DAU urged us not to tell her Omen’s sudden heat wasn’t natural. We don’t want to amplify her concern and cause her to spiral.
“Still in heat and miserable.”
Bea’s lips purse, her eyes sad. “That sounds like an unassisted heat. How are you managing?”
My chest puffs up hearing the concern in her voice, but I just shrug. There isn’t much I can say about this situation without making her worry.
She rolls her eyes at my non-response but doesn’t press. We stay on the call for another fifteen minutes, all of which are spent with her giving me play-by-plays of all the ways Pack Graves is losing their minds without Omen. The lightness of the conversation steals some of the stress from my body, which I’m sure was her intention from the start.
“We have to head to the venue. Call us if anything changes! I’ll be back in Boston to check on Omen tomorrow!”
I collapse back against the couch, my phone dropping to the cushions when silence fills the room once more. One minute to soak in this feeling, then I need to go check the hall.
Loud rapping on my door lets me know Ridley and Bea have arrived. They drove straight here after dropping their tour bus in Starburgh this afternoon. It’s close to midnight now. Too late for them to be driving after a long trip back from the show. I want to demand Bea come in and take a nap, but the sassy little omega just holds out her hand expectantly.
She disappears a moment later, using the keycard to get into Omen’s room. I wait outside, watching and listening. We can’t hear what they are saying inside, but if she were to scream for help, it would be loud enough to reach us.
Bea is gone for a while. Hopefully, Omen’s heat finally broke.
The thunderous look on her face when she returns has me jumping to my feet. “First of, fuck you both for not telling me she was fucking drugged at the festival! Second, I’m pissed as hell! Did you know she shares a Fated connection with Pack Graves?!”
My silence gives me away. Bea whirls on me, her finger digging into my chest as she berates me. “A heat after meeting your Fate matched mates, induced or not, won’t end without them helping. She’s been suffering for a damn week because you two are too busy keeping secrets to think about the consequences they could have!”
“Whoa, sunshine!” Ridley swoops in, pulling her away from me. “Now, I know you’re upset and worried as hell, but this isn’t Lex’s fault. You know it wouldn’t be right for him to share Omen’s secret without her permission.”
“Of course I know that!” she shouts. “Now I have to be the one to share her secrets! She wants me to go to Pack Graves and lay everything out so they know who she is before they come help her through her heat. This is an unfair responsibility to place on someone else’s shoulders.”
She collapses in on herself, only held up by Ridley’s grip around her waist. Tears stream down her cheeks in heavy rivers. I throw caution to the wind and step close, drawn by her need for comfort. Pressing her between us, both our purrs rattle to life.
“You need to rest,” I rumble softly, urging us onto the nearby bed. After she gets some sleep, she’ll feel better about facing what Omen has asked of her. Right now, it all feels too big.
“Sleep, sunshine. We’ve got you.”
Moments later, she passes out between us. I shift to watch her face, memorizing every micro expression.
“You need to stop holding back,” Ridley whispers. “She’s ours, Lex. All you’re doing is hurting you both.”
“I can’t.”
He sighs and curls tighter around Bea’s back, looking as tired as she does. “You’ll regret it one day, you know. Pushing her away when she’s the one person in this world built to help you.”
There is always the possibility he is right, but I can’t stomach the thought of what Bea’s life will look like if he’s wrong.