Chapter 11
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
KEV
“I’ll be in there in a second to help,” I murmur into August’s neck with my arms wrapped around his shoulders in the entryway, not wanting to let go of him now that I have him in the house where I love him to be.
Having him here means he’s not constantly under the stress that he is while dealing with Heat Wave.
“No, I got it. Go sit down, you know I love to cook for us.” August turns in my arms and places a soft kiss on my lips, letting out a hum of contentment.
He slides out from my arms, spinning on his heel, and I give his plump little ass a slap as he heads into the kitchen.
I’m stuck in the doorway, smiling at what we’ve created in this past year with August and how comfortable he’s become with us.
Even with our rough start and lack of answers, we’ve made the most out of what we have.
Does the stress he puts himself under as an omega scare me and push me into debilitating panic attacks?
Yes. Yes, it does.
But I never want to crush his dreams, and we’re so close to being to the finish line.
Heat Wave is everything to him, and that business succeeding is the only thing I care about.
I’m hoping he’s going to want to hire quite a bit of help once he opens the doors, but I haven’t let my mind drift down that rabbit hole about all the training and trust we’ll be giving to those random people.
Happiness is all Abel and I want for him, but if he’s not careful, he’ll never be able to conceive. Stress for an omega can lead to other major health issues, and since he was late-blooming, I don’t think he understands what can happen to him if he’s not careful.
I push those scary thoughts out of my mind and hope that he knows when to ask for help. August isn’t used to living the slow life of an omega that grew up knowing they were such.
I know he wants a baby; he’ll go through spurts of talking about growing our little family, but things with Heat Wave always take over. A tingle rushes down my spine at the mere thought of August carrying our child.
I want him to be able to carry our child.
August, pregnant and glowing, so needy and wanting. Over the past year, it’s been all I can think about, popping up when I least expect it, taking over every thought: August begging us to breed him in his next heat. No birth control standing between us.
Fuck, I have to stop those thoughts or my cock will swell, and then I’ll have to bend him over the kitchen counter and knot him.
As I flop down on the couch, my phone starts to vibrate, pulling me out of my glorious daydream.
August has the cutting board and knife out on the marble counter top, completely oblivious in the kitchen, so I swipe to answer.
“This is Ke—” I’m cut off by Ryan, the head detective dealing with our case.
I hired a team of private investigators to deep dive into the people who kidnapped August over a year ago.
Nothing has come of it except our hopes being built up time and again, only to find yet another dead end.
A part of me is thankful that August was placed on our path when he was. We could’ve never met him.
He rushes out, “Our head hacker has found a trace back to their location.” He pauses, most likely waiting for me to react, but we’ve had leads before, and my hopes are staying right where they are. “It’s the building closest to Heat Wave.”
“Fuck no.” My serious tone catches August’s attention from the kitchen, causing his brows to pull together. He quickly puts the knife down and grabs the hand towel before making his way over to me.
I pull my phone away from my ear, placing Ryan on speaker. “I know a group of mercenaries that specialize in omega safety and take down trafficking rings all over the world…”
August quips back instantly, “Have they not been called yet? They could’ve helped your sorry asses out.” I would apologize on August’s behalf, but they’ve been at this for way too long, and we’re all beyond frustrated.
“Well hello, you must be August.” I can hear the cocky bastard smiling through the phone.
“I am. Can these mercenaries take them down?” August pauses for just a second, seeming to be drifting off in a memory, then adds, “My situation was a best-case scenario, and most of the time I feel extremely guilty over that. I couldn’t have been with them for over a day, but I’m sure they’re putting other omegas through so much worse… ”
I didn’t know he felt so guilty about the trafficking. Survivors’ guilt never even crossed my mind. We were only focused on getting his dreams up and running. Abel and I have always been too focused on him being bought by us, never questioning much because he’s here and safe.
“I don’t know if you heard me, but they’ve been located and are in the building closest to Heat Wave.”
I watch as August’s face morphs with each emotion then immediately feel each one through the bond.
Shock.
Scared.
Finally settling on rage.
A deep simmering anger that I don’t ever want to be in the path of.
No emotion laces his voice as he stares down at my phone sitting on my leg, and says, “I want them dead.”