Chapter 34 #2
The roar of the packed grandstands collapsed into white static.
I stared through a narrow, shrinking tunnel, my entire world reducing down to that unmoving cowboy in the sand.
I pushed up from the bleachers, clinging to a surprised Sunny.
I didn’t even remember standing. Sunny slipped down, and I let August catch her.
Stetson was already up and gone, flying down the stairs and vaulting the aluminum railing. He hit the dirt sprinting, clearing the arena fence before the horse had been caught and the medics started moving.
Cold, sick terror flooded my chest. I burned up from the inside out, boiling the blood in my veins. The chemical dam I’d painted over my skin was no match for the force of my scent as my emotions blazed, bleeding sour cherry into the bleachers before my formula stood a chance to tame it.
I ignored the sudden shift in the surrounding air and the unbonded men two rows down turning their heads. I only watched Colt.
Everyone in the arena held their breath at the same time as the medics rushed to the scene, dropping to their knees and moving Stetson aside so they could tend to my downed cowboy.
Thousands of people stared at the clearing dirt, waiting for Colt’s boot to twitch.
Waiting for him to sit up and shake off the grit.
Waiting for him to wave off the medics, raise his hat, and give a weary holler.
But he didn’t move.
Down by the chutes, Ransom slammed his fist into the metal gate.
River gripped the top rail, hauling himself up to vault over it, but Gideon grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him back down, probably because he didn’t want to make the scene more chaotic when the medics needed to focus on Colt instead of his worried packmates.
The Beta shouted something I couldn’t hear to the twins, pointing toward more medical personnel swarming the sand with a stretcher.
I stood frozen on the bleachers, hearing nothing but the blood pounding against my eardrums and the harsh rasping scrape of my own breathing above everything else.
A small weight slammed into my calf. Sunny wrapped her arms tightly around my knee, burying her face in my denim with a scared little whine.
I dropped a hand to her back to shield her, snapping my gaze to Wyatt. The boy who always carried himself like an unshakeable adult looked completely rattled. He gripped the front of August’s t-shirt, staring at the arena with wide, frightened green eyes.
August laid a hand over the back of Wyatt’s head, pressing the boy firmly to his ribs, but the giant’s dark eyes stayed locked on our unmoving cowboy.
He brought his free hand up, pressing two fingers hard against the small earpiece tucked in his ear when Stetson called from down below.
I stared back and forth between the two of them, trying to read August’s profile.
He clamped his jaw shut until the muscle ticked, stripping away his usual steady calm.
He didn’t speak into the mic. He just turned, locking his gaze directly onto mine.
Stetson’s gravelly voice scraped through the tiny speaker, more worried than I’d ever heard him before. I only caught one word.
“...hospital.”
August reached for me, stepping into my line of sight and blocking the arena, effectively snapping me out of my shocked haze. He had Wyatt tucked tight against his side. “We need to leave. Now.”
Tearing my focus away from my mate, I launched into action, grabbing our things and taking Sunny’s hand.
I followed August as he pushed a path through the crowded bleachers, burning hotter with every step as my emotions spiraled.
Already, more of my tart, distressed cherry scent had broken through, trailing in my wake as we moved.
Suddenly, a stranger’s hand clamped down on my ass. Hard.
Before I could move, he crowded in behind me, pinning me against the metal railing while his fingers dug into my denim.
I released Sunny, not wanting her in the crossfire as his breath hit my ear, hot and sour.
“What the fuck is an unbonded Omega doing out here all alone? You need an Alpha, baby?” he slurred, grinding against my ass as if to prove he had a penis. I wasn’t impressed. By any of it.
He released a crude growl I barely processed before my body took over.
I didn’t scream.
Six years at the OMA and a lifetime with four older brothers had trained that instinct right out of me.
I shifted my weight, planted my boots, caught his wrist with both hands, twisted, and hauled him over my shoulder, putting him flat on his back.
One sharp twist bent his arm the wrong way.
When he lurched forward, I drove my knee into the center of his chest.
The air left him in a wet, ugly wheeze.
“Touch me or another woman like that ever again, and your pathetic little dick will end up detached from your body.”
I left him struggling to breathe on the ground and stood, immediately searching for Sunny.
The second I spotted her, I dropped to my knees, putting myself between the groaning Alpha and my sweet girl. Cupping her face, I checked her over for injuries. “You okay, Sunshine?”