Chapter 3 Three #2
Neither of us fell asleep again, content to just lay together, grateful beyond telling that we were no longer alone. But we had three alphas depending on us, and this bubble couldn’t last forever.
But it could last tonight.
Three nights since the raid. Two full days since Brea had left, and she still hadn’t returned. Each passing moment shaved Taryn’s thin facade of calm thinner and thinner. For the first time, I was glad we didn’t share a bond, if only because I didn’t want my own fear and panic to add to hers.
And, as I prepared to say what needed saying, I was glad I wouldn’t feel her anger toward me.
“Taryn,” I said gently around midday, “we have to leave.”
She whipped her head toward me in the dark. “We can’t leave.”
“We can’t stay,” I whispered.
“Brea’s still out there. And Caine and Lin—”
“Do you know how much it would hurt them to know you were here, cold and hungry, when you didn’t have to be?” I raised my hand to cup her cheek, taking comfort in the fact that she leaned into my touch instead of away. “Their goal—all of them—was to keep you safe. And we are not safe here.”
She pulled away then with a huff, standing up as fully as she could in our cave and making for the exit.
“Taryn…” I called out as I followed. We were too exposed outside. Her scent, our sounds could travel.
“Where exactly would we be safe?” she snapped, turning around and crossing her arms over her chest. I’d luckily thought to grab a spare shirt from the back of the car so she was at least dry. “Wainwright is a global fucking corporation. Anywhere we go, they can follow.”
“Then we keep moving,” I said quietly, trying to model safe behavior in hopes she’d follow. “You lived below the radar before, you can again.”
She laughed, bending to pick up a dark stick so she could snap it between her hands. Once, then again. “I don’t want to live below the radar. I want to live. With my pack. The full thing.”
A knife slashed through my heart at the thought of our alphas gone.
That was what I wanted too, more than anything.
I wanted Brea and Taryn in our apartment permanently, their scents infused with ours in every room.
I wanted to buy a double king bed, one that would fit all of us when needed.
Outfit the guest room as a nest just for Taryn.
I wanted to walk Taryn to and from work on the days I could, and sneak into her room to wake her up with my tongue between her legs on her birthday, and send her flowers and feed her dessert and share her with Lin.
I wanted Crossword Brea in the mornings and Madam Brea in the evenings.
I wanted to brat for her. I wanted to convince Caine to brat for her. (He would never.)
She stepped closer to me. “If we drive away now, we will never see any of them again. Our alphas. Our mates. You can’t tell me you’re okay with that.”
“Of course I’m not fucking okay with that.
” I turned, swiping my good hand over my face.
“It killed me to leave them behind with half a dozen guns aimed their way. But we all have jobs to do. My job is keeping you safe, and if that means I break my heart open over and over again, then that’s what I’ll do. ”
“And what’s my job, then?” Taryn said. “To just…be safe?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not a job! And if it is, I’ve been doing a shit job of it since this whole thing started, so maybe I need a different job.”
“Like?”
“Like…” She exhaled, pacing around me. “Like doing what Vikki said.”
My entire body jolted at the suggestion.
Back when Detective Vikki had first shown us the full extent of the shitstorm we’d been thrown into, Caine nearly went feral when she suggested using Taryn as bait to gain information and leverage on Wainwright.
I felt every ounce of that fury in this moment that she’d suggest it for herself.
“You are…absolutely…mind melted if you think I am letting you do that.”
“And you’re fucking stupid,” came her seething retort, low enough to be a growl, “if you think I’m going to climb into the car and twiddle my thumbs while we give up the others for lost.”
I wanted to scream, and not just because my brain very unhelpfully supplied a smutty retort about what she could twiddle if she was opposed to thumbs.
“Eight omegas, Brooks.” Her eyes shone like glass, and her brows pinched together.
“Eight of us that they’ve hunted. And that’s just connected to this one…
project, or whatever.” A tear fell down her cheek.
It may as well have been an arrow through my chest. “They won’t ever stop.
We can run and run, but they’ll always be faster.
Then it’s nine of us, and we did nothing to stop it from happening again. ”
I gave a small, weak shake of my head. “Sweetness…”
“We can’t do nothing, Brooks.”
Brea would argue with Taryn, and argue and argue and argue, until the omega gave in and they ran.
Caine would simply pick her up and toss her in the car, handcuff her to the seat if needed, and drive away, even if it made her hate him.
Lin—my heart ached just to think his name—would listen, would consider, would beg her to just be selfish and let us keep her safe, but ultimately wouldn’t choose for her.
No more than I could choose for her.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Because fucking hell, she was right, and I hated it. Loathed it with every cell of my being. I inhaled deeply, filling my lungs to their max before exhaling in a slow stream from between pursed lips. I opened my eyes.
“Funny you should mention Vikki. She sent something for you.”