Chapter 13 Cain
When Ayden and Calliope fell asleep in each other’s arms, I pulled Dax from the room. We needed to talk, and I could use some help stocking the fridge in both nests. He followed me down into the kitchen where I started to fill my arms with sports drinks and waters. I managed to direct him to grab the food I had gotten, and we headed up to the nest.
I had just put the last thing into the fridge when he spoke. “How is it that you three can afford this house? It must have cost millions.”
“Ten-point-five-million, to be exact,” I said, taking a seat in a large recliner. It smelled like Ayden and Calliope. “But to answer your question, this is Calliope’s family’s house. When her parents’ pack died, they left it to her.”
I let the silence build for a moment, most people didn’t like sitting in silence. It tended to make them want to fill that space. Dax did not. He knew better, this was what he was practiced at if I had to hazard a guess. I wouldn’t have said anything myself, so I prompted him. “I’m sure you have questions.”
“Are heats always like that?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “You’ve never been with an omega before have you?”
“Is it that obvious?”
He seemed embarrassed by that, but who knew when it came to a serial killer?
“A little.” I smiled at him. “You stared like you were shocked and turned on at the same time. It was kind of adorable.”
“I know that everyone’s heats are different. Each omega has a unique experience with it.”
He sounded almost insulted. “I should have known.”
“I was asking specifically about Calliope’s.”
“That was just the beginning.” I shrugged. “Her heats tend to last five days. The first three are pretty much like that, the last two days are a different kind of need.”
“Tell me what I can expect.”
I didn’t like the way it came out as an order, but I answered him anyway. “I’m sure you’ve figured a bit of it out yourself. Blood and knives are almost constantly played with between the three of us.” I stopped what I was saying, waiting for him to tap out. He didn’t take the opportunity, so I continued. “She likes being used, but not degraded. That’s a hard line for her. If she even thinks your comments are belittling she shuts down.”
“What happened to her?”
“That’s not my story to tell.” I sighed. “But I’ll tell you how Ayden and I met her. Maybe that will explain some things.”
“I’d give anything to know all about her.”
I shook my head. Obsession could make for a loving relationship, or more likely, it would lead to destruction. I was hesitant to reveal too much to him. But I finally gave in. “Ayden told you he works with the FBI as a hacker. Well, five years ago he was on a task force that was supposed to take down some of the largest trafficking rings. Most of them specialized in omegas. He came across a picture attached to an ad on one of the sites he was monitoring.”
“It was Calliope.”
That hadn’t been a question, it had been a declaration of what he knew. His anger vibrated through him, that was what made me realize something. He wasn’t a normal serial killer. Most of them either didn’t feel emotions or felt hate so intensely that they wanted to eradicate the cause from existence. I was starting to believe that Dax belonged to the latter category. Love and hate were simply two sides of the same coin. “It was. The thread she had been posted under catered to a particular type of fucked-up person. Ayden had been doing a deep dive on the site when he found it. The ad was on a sub-thread teaching alphas how to train their omegas.” His growl cut me off for a moment. “Yes, it means what you think it does. They had her tied to a bed, were taking turns raping her.”
His growl made me flinch a little. “Are they dead?”
“Most of them. Me and Ayden watched the video until he managed to spot a piece of mail with an address on it.”
“You two went to get her.”
That wasn’t a question, but I answered it anyway. “We did.”
Leaving our house, the drive to where the alpha was keeping her took thirty long minutes. Minutes that I planned out exactly what I was going to do to anyone there that wasn’t Calliope. We didn’t know how many were there, so I was prepared for anything. It had been a hard decision to make, trying to get Ayden to stay with the car while I went in. He argued with me the entire drive, hating that he was being left out. It made no sense that we were both so taken with Calliope just from a picture and an ad on a fucked-up website. But she was a victim, and as far as I was concerned, she needed rescuing. He hadn’t stayed at the car. We approached the door together, preparing for what we would find. “When we got to the house, she was screaming. Absolutely losing her shit.”
“Jesus.”
“That was a sentiment that I had when I heard it. But what we found when we entered that open door was not what we expected.” I stood and went over to the bar. Pulling out the whiskey, I poured two shots. I handed it to him before taking my seat. I threw mine back, reveling in the burn as it traveled to my stomach. Setting it on the table, I made sure that I kept eye contact with Dax as I said the next part. “We followed the screaming. I was expecting to have to sneak up behind someone. Preparing to end a life. What we found instead was Calliope standing over the body of a man. She was covered in blood, so much that we knew it couldn’t have come from her. We had no idea what was going on. Had no clue how to handle what we were seeing.”
“Not many people would.” I waited for him to expand on the sentiment, and he did just that. “Even the most innocent person will turn into a vicious killer when put under the right stress.”
“I won’t tell you what she did to that man. No need to scare you off until after her heat.” He stared at me for a moment before I started to laugh. “If Ayden working with the feds didn’t scare you off, I doubt a little castration will do it.”
“Somebody call my name?” Ayden’s voice cut through the room as he swept in.
I turned my head so I could watch him. He was coming right to me, everything about him screamed that he was the only alpha in this house that mattered. I was waiting for him, totally enraptured by his scent and the way it mixed with Calliope’s. My cock was hard just thinking about being between them. I needed that to happen sooner rather than later. I was craving the delicious pain of his knot stretching me.
By the time he reached me I was about ready to drop to my knees and worship him. All it would have taken was a simple order. “Is it just me or…”
“Has this gotten more intense since we bonded with Calliope?”
“You read my mind.” He had a smile on his face.
“That would certainly explain why I want to wrap myself around you.”
“Fuck.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation.