31. Liam
CHAPTER 31
Liam
I clenched my jaw and shifted gears, taking the turn way too fast, but if I stayed in this car with her for much longer I was going to lose control. Between the intoxicating scent of my omega in heat and her blood-soaked clothes, more of it dripping down her chin…
Fuck me, my hands were actually shaking.
That I’d gotten her into the car without fucking her right there in that restaurant was a goddamn miracle. The only thing keeping me from doing just that was the tiny sliver of reason that remained. She’d never forgive me if I did that.
I nearly snapped the steering wheel off when I took the next turn, the back end of my sports car drifting before I shifted again, breaking about ten traffic laws in the last mile if not more. Lucy was so out of it she didn’t even react.
This was bad. So very bad.
Taking out my phone, I selected the contact at the top and glanced over at her – instantly regretting it. Lucy was shivering and covered in blood. Her hands were balled into fists, clutching onto the fabric of her skirt. She stared down at them without really seeing anything and her entire body was rigid .
Despite the pheromones of an omega in heat, she didn’t look like one at all. No, I was pretty fucking sure she was in shock.
I’d never seen anything quite like this before, not with the insanely strong pheromones she was producing.
Legacy alpha genes gave me the ability to resist my baser instincts better than most, and I’d never been tempted by an omega in heat the same way other alphas were, but Lucy? She was mine , and her scent was making my head buzz like I was drunk or high.
The only reason I was able to hold back was because that was what she needed – she needed me to fix this somehow.
Arturo Lopez was going to die a slow death, but not before he watched every single Lopez die before him. Maybe then he’d lose his mind the same way I was losing mine.
Thank fuck she seemed to have some control over her heat symptoms despite how hard she was breathing and the obvious pain on her face. Otherwise, I’d pull over and fuck her right here and now.
Cassius answered the phone on the fourth ring and I cut him off before he could say anything to make this any harder than it already was. “Drop whatever you’re doing and get over to Nathan as fast as you can. He has suppressants and sedatives waiting. Then call the pack to deal with what happened at Bite. Someone else can handle it because I need you back at the house now . Lucy’s in heat.”
“Liam, you can’t sedate her through a heat.”
“It’s for me, not her.” I hung up before Cas could argue some more and tossed the phone into the cupholder.
Without a sedative…
My canines were already aching. If things kept escalating, I might just bite her and form a bond without her consent. Then we’d really be fucked.
I was holding onto my sanity by a shred. The urge to kill everything to keep her safe was riding me just as hard as the urge to fuck her into oblivion until every single one of her pores oozed my scent, but thankfully, the rage was winning or I’d have ruined everything.
The second we were in range, I tapped the button for the garage door, swerving around the last corner and right into the underground garage. The car screeched to a halt when I slammed on the brakes.
Entering the code for the door to unlock the alarm system almost sent me right over the edge. Never in my fucking life had I regretted all my security measures, but now I wanted to rip it all out just to speed things along.
The second the car was off I tossed the keys into the cupholder with my phone and got out, taking a deep breath of clean air.
Jesus, her pheromones were fucking intense.
My dick was so hard it was going to snap right off if I didn’t do something about it soon. Normally, I could ignore it, but when it came to Lucy…
Cas better hurry the fuck up.
Walking around the car, I braced myself for the potent scent of omega and her insanely intense pheromones.
Half the people in that restaurant had already started to feel the effects of a dominant omega’s pheromones – desire and fear warring with each other before I’d even released my own. She was just as dangerous as a legacy alpha and didn’t have any training.
Yanking her door open, I ignored the sound of metal screeching as the hinges tore and reached over to unbuckle her seatbelt as quickly and efficiently as possible without touching her.
I really fucking hoped she didn’t notice I was holding my breath, or how my dick was straining against my pants. If she even hinted that she wanted more from me, this was all over. I wasn’t going to be able to hold myself back. Not after nearly two decades of wanting her.
Black currants and vanilla swirled around me lazily as I carefully removed the seatbelt. Her pheromones gave me the impression I had all the time in the world to satisfy Lucy the way she needed – to take care of her in the way only an alpha could.
Thankfully, the rage was still riding me hard and all I could think about was getting her somewhere safe so I could take care of her. Anything else didn’t matter. Not when I’d nearly killed every single person in that restaurant to ensure no one tried to touch her.
The only thing that could keep me from going back there right now to finish the job was her.
“Lucy?”
Her knuckles were white from how hard she was clutching onto her skirt, and she was staring at nothing – so much blood covering her mouth and chin…
How the fuck was I supposed to help her? I’d never seen anyone in this kind of catatonic state while also being in rut or heat. Whatever was going on, it hadn’t canceled out her heat cycle and that worried me more than anything.
“Lucy.”
Still nothing.
Fine. I’d give her the asshole she needed right now even if it might backfire. “ Lucy . Look at me .”
Finally, she responded, sliding her gaze to mine, but there wasn’t anything there to tell me she knew what the hell was going on.
“We’re back home, just like you wanted.” Damn it, I was going to have to touch her. There was no way she could walk up those stairs like this, not fast enough to keep me from losing my shit. “I’m taking you upstairs now , Lucy. I’m going to have to carry you.”
She stiffened, but nodded and the second I slid my arms under her, she wrapped her arms around my neck again and pressed her face against my bare skin, breathing me in like she couldn’t get enough of my scent .
Fuck me , even this small thing was fraying what was left of my control.
It would be fine. All I had to do was ignore my stupid dick and get her into the house. Then we could figure out what the fuck to do from there.
God, I wished Cas were here. He was so much better at this stuff than me. Every time we had some crisis to deal with, he was the level-headed one. Maybe I relied on him too much to direct my awful temper, but we had the same instincts. All I had to do was trust them instead of ignoring them like I had my whole fucking life.
Running up the stairs with her in my arms was easier than it should have been. Lucy felt way too damn light, and the way she clung to me was making my heart race. Jesus fuck, my body needed to calm down because this internal war was going to give me a heart attack.
She should have let me kill that asshole, then maybe some of this insane need to destroy everything that had made her this way wouldn’t be quite so bad.
Someone had put their hands on her, forced her to defend herself, made her feel fear .
My gun-toting omega was a lot more delicate than she let on.
Hadn’t I promised myself I’d never let anything like that happen to her again?
Once we reached the main floor, I hesitated, not sure what to do with her. She didn’t have her own room here or a nest. None of her stuff was here either. There was nowhere inside my home that I could take her that would help her feel safe and comforted.
I should have built her a nest the second I found her, but…sometimes omegas like to build their own nests…
Shit, I was losing my mind, wasn’t I? Just standing here like an idiot while my omega trembled in my arms.
If this was any other omega, I’d just drop her off in one of the guest rooms and call one of the alphas I trusted to take care of her, but this was my omega and I didn’t think I could just hold her through her heat, not when I still tasted the bittersweet tang of rage on the back of my tongue.
There was just the barest hint of my humanity left, and these potent omega pheromones were slowly but surely eating away at it.
Lucy pulled away from my neck, and the tacky sensation of it suddenly made me extremely aware that there was another scent that didn’t belong – the scent of blood.
Right, I should get her cleaned up first.
With that settled, I took the stairs two at a time with her in my arms and walked through my room without stopping once. As soon as I set her on the sink in the bathroom that connected my room to Cas’s, Lucy clung to me when I tried to let go and I gritted my teeth as I fought the urge to rip all her fucking clothes off right now and be done with it.
“Liam…” Her voice was raspy and yet somehow still so seductive that I clenched my teeth together and braced myself for whatever it was she was going to say next. “Don’t go.”
It fucking wrecked me to hear she thought I might leave her like this to fend for herself. “Lucy, baby…I’m not going to leave you. I just need to turn the water on so you can get washed up.”
Her nails dug into the back of my neck and I almost kissed her right then and there.
None of this seemed to be helping her or me. If anything, her pheromones were only getting more intense, but she wasn’t outwardly reacting at all other than to hold on to me. I couldn’t tell what she needed and it was really starting to fuck with my head.
My hands were shaking and it took everything I had left not to rip those tights off and fuck her right here until we were both covered in blood.
The scent blockers were useless with how potent both our pheromones were – feeding off each other, off what had happened.
Licking my lips, I did my best to remember she wasn’t used to this. She’d only gone through a handful of heat cycles so it would be up to me to manage everything.
Jesus fucking Christ, I didn’t know if I could do this alone, not without destroying everything.
I really, really hoped Cas got here soon.