14. Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fourteen
Viper
I smell him before we see him.
The scent of amber alcohol and cigar smoke is pungent.
General Stone is coming, and he isn't alone.
The thud of boots approaching keeps us on high alert before he appears at the far end of the passage.
Two Alpha guards flank him in dark gear, both armed. I recognize them as part of his core group of officers, doggedly loyal to him. They don't eat in the mess with the rest of the army; instead, they stay close to Stone and watch everyone else with blank, loyal eyes.
Two Beta soldiers follow behind with rifles held at the ready. Behind them, an administrative clerk clutches a datapad to his chest, and a medic trails last with a pinched expression.
The medic has a hard case gripped tightly in one hand, and the chemical scent leaking from it makes my lip curl.
Suppressants, sedatives, and relaxants. Handy things to have if you plan to subdue someone.
My vision clouds.
"Scorch Squad," General Stone's voice booms, echoing off the stone walls. He stops a few paces away, closer than comfortable, invading our space. His coat is buttoned wrong, and his eyes are sunken from lack of sleep, but there is nothing disorganized about the soldiers with him.
I bristle.
This isn't an accidental meeting, and it won't be a civil conversation. He's here for a purpose.
His eyes dart to where he should see Halley, and the Pack stiffens, angling ourselves so he cannot see her.
Whatever General Stone throws at us, we won’t allow Halley to be part of it.
Beneath the alcohol, gun oil, and antiseptic, Halley’s scent keeps getting stronger.
I’ve noticed it all day. She’s been tucked close since the battle, alive in our arms, and her lavender scent has been changing since we left the Pass. I blamed the resurrection, the stress, and the bonds settling after everything her body survived.
Now the truth catches up. Her scent threads through the corridor with each uneven breath she takes.
Her scent is richer now, sweet lavender warm on my tongue, caramelizing until it's thick and dragging at my thoughts, making them blur around the edges.
Fuck, I know this scent.
I recognize it and it drags my mind back to training camp. Her first heat. Her flushed skin. Her soft sounds calling from the tent. Every Alpha instinct in me had woken for her, desperate in a way I’ve never felt before or since.
Halley has been ripening all day, and we were too wrapped up in war, death, grief, and survival to realize what it was.
Stone’s gaze flicks over Knox, Shade, Blaze, then me. He lingers on me longer than the others, eyes narrowing.
His reports must have told him I was lost to Blood Lust. Yet here I stand, alive and sane.
But that sanity might be fleeting, because Halley’s scent is still blossoming, and my head is getting fuzzier with every second that passes.
I meet Stone’s eyes and give him nothing.
"Scorch Squad," he repeats, voice carrying. "You didn’t report to me after your arrival."
It's an accusation.
"It's Pack Scorch," Knox replies coolly. He doesn't want to get into it with the old fossil, not with Halley in a vulnerable state, especially not after the stress we've endured, but he won't let our Pack be disrespected either. "We're not your Scorch Squad anymore."
Stone’s jaw tightens at the lack of deference. He recovers quickly. "You have my asset."
Knox willfully plays ignorant. "What asset?"
Halley is not an asset. She's our precious Omega.
Stone works his jaw, but he doesn’t take Knox’s bait. "Omega Halley is required at the Pass."
I hear Halley suck in a breath, and I clench my fists. Over my fucking dead body is she going to the front lines now.
"She’s been through enough, and she needs rest," Shade says. He tries to make his tone calm, but anger roughens every word.
Stone ignores him. "The Human threat remains active. We have intelligence that they may regroup within the next few hours. If they return, the Omega Command must be available. Especially after the success she had forcing the last wave to retreat."
Fuck all of this.
We need time to regroup, breathe, and figure out our next move before Stone sinks his claws into her again.
Knox’s voice stays level, though I have no idea how he manages it when I can feel my protective Alpha instincts clawing at my insides. "Halley will not be stationed at the Pass."
Stone lifts one hand, and the medic steps forward.
Our Pack tenses and locks onto him.
"The transport is ready," Stone says. "The Pass is being reinforced as we speak. Omega Specialist Sparks will be escorted there under emergency authority. If she cannot walk, she will be sedated and carried. If her Pack interferes, they will be detained."
Halley’s scent picks up another notch, and my next inhale makes my head swim.
Ripe Omega. Breedable Omega. My Omega.
My thoughts drag, and my body responds to her call without my consent.
Heat moves through my blood, filling my muscles with restless territorial urges.
My skin feels tight and my cock thickens in my trousers.
Every breath drags more of her into me, and every instinct I have turns toward the medic, the guards, and the General behaving like Halley belongs to him. She doesn't.
She belongs with us, with me. Her heat is calling my rut awake.
I register that's what is happening to me at the same time Blaze goes unnaturally still beside me.
'Fight the rut,' Shade says down the bond, his voice strained and frantic. He says something else, but I can't focus on anything other than Halley and the threat to her.
Knox feels it too. I know he does because his scent deepens, his shoulders lock, but he stays controlled. Our Prime Alpha is fighting the same vicious need to get Halley behind a locked door and stand between her and the rest of the world.
Blaze bares his teeth at the medic. He looks ready to bite the syringe being prepared in the man's hand and take the fingers with it.
My own restraint thins with every breath.
I know what losing control feels like. Blood Lust stripped the reason out of me until there was nothing left except rage. This is different. Rut leaves the reason intact and gives it one purpose.
Protect her, claim her, and keep every threat away from our Pack's most precious Omega.
Knox takes one controlled breath. 'Be ready,' is all he says through the bond, and my instincts immediately know the answer.
No one touches her.
"No," Knox says.
He doesn't elaborate or make excuses. He doesn't have to. Halley isn't General Stone's anymore. She's ours, and while we care about the survival of the Demi-human race, we care about our Omega more.
The guards shift, hesitation in their postures, but ready to act on the orders of their General. The aide swallows hard and looks at the floor, his hands shaking around the datapad. They can all feel that we're reaching an impasse. Something is going to have to give… but it won't be us.
Shade speaks, his voice finding the calm he had missed earlier. "If an Omega Command is needed, we will deploy Halley when requested. Upon our review of the situation, of course. She is under our protection and will never be a fixed asset waiting for danger."
If I didn't know he was just as pissed off as I am, I'd feel almost betrayed by the dismissive way he refers to Halley.
I have no such ability. I try to unclench my fists that want to beat the entitlement out of this presumptuous Alpha. Beyond General Stone's threats, I feel incensed by the mere sight of other Alphas this close to her.
"I've given you an order, soldier," Stone snaps.
Knox’s voice stays calm, despite the stakes climbing higher the longer we stand here with an Omega going into heat. "Why are you making me repeat myself? Pack Scorch does not answer to you."
A couple of Betas further down the corridor slow their steps, pretending they’re not listening, but everyone in Blackgate is always listening.
Stone notices the attention and tries to keep his control. He can't let others see his authority being challenged. He lifts his chin and squares his shoulders, playing to the observers as much as he’s playing to us.
"You’re forgetting your purpose," he says. "We are at war. You do not get to take this fortress’s most valuable asset, hide her in a filthy hut, and play house."
Blaze makes a low growl beside me, and violence pushes through his side of the bond so strong it makes my teeth ache.
His rut is coming on fast, but it isn’t scattering his focus like the promise of battle usually does. It’s narrowing it.
He isn’t looking at Stone, and I doubt he's even hearing the words the old Alpha is saying. No, he's studying the two Alpha guards flanking him.
His instincts are screaming at him that rival Alphas are too close to Halley. Their attention keeps drifting past us, pulled by the scent of our Omega ripening, and Blaze catalogs every flick of their eyes, shift of their weight, and hungry breath.
His Alpha has decided those two are a threat and they must be neutralized.
Blaze prowls forward one step, pulls out his knife, and starts spinning it in his hand. Both guards adjust their grip on their rifles.
I wonder if they understand what just happened, that there are few things more horrifying in this world than Blaze when he has a personal vendetta.
The last Alpha to threaten Halley lost a hand. If they try to take her from us now, we won't stop Blaze from cutting them into so many tiny pieces that there won't be anything left for Everlyn to stitch back together.
I'm not in a position to pacify him, not when my own protective instincts are flaring wildly.
I might have tolerated General Stone's possessiveness over Halley before.
But now, after everything that happened, and with her heat breaking through, my patience for her safety being jeopardized is razor-fucking-thin.
We lost her, and I lost myself.
We are here only because fate gave us an impossible mercy. I won't squander this chance to make up for my past mistakes. This time I'll protect her when it matters most.