Chapter 29
Skye
Normally, I loved to sleep. I’d always have, even before getting pregnant. Back when I didn’t have a pack, my schedule was as follows.
Wake up, eat breakfast, go for a run, nap. Wake up, go to work, nap, go to the gym, have dinner, go to sleep. And now that I didn’t have to work? I slept even more, and it was fantastic.
Part of me thought Violet was an idiot for wanting to go back to school and get a job when she could just stay home and let our pack care for her. But, that was the problem.
For the past two weeks, all I’d thought about was Violet. I’d never realized how much she’d burned incense until she was taken. I didn’t realize how much I didn’t mind her waking me up for sex, or even staring at me in the middle of the night like the creepy little victorian ghost she was.
Everything just felt sterile and boring. Which, again, were perfect sleeping conditions.
But, I felt so guilty about her getting kidnapped that sleeping, even at night, felt impossible.
So instead, I kept my hands busy.
The yarn was soft between my fingers, pale pink. I only had fourteen-ish weeks until our daughter was here, and while her crib was built, and I’d crocheted her a few stuffed animals, it felt like there was still so much to do.
I looped the yarn over my thumb, then my palm, then pulled it through again. Over and under. Over and under.
“Am I a bad person?” I asked my unborn child.
If I’d have just told Vinny about the marriage, and about the alpha mark that apparently belonged to Logan Stellar, none of this would have happened.
At least, that’s what my brain told me anytime I stopped to think.
If I hadn’t assumed Violet would tell everyone when she was ready, she’d be home and pestering the house in a way only she could get away with.
Over and under. The yarn tightened and I forced my fingers to relax.
I wondered how her babies were doing. For the first few days, I’d felt her hunger and exhaustion through our bond, but after that? Radio silence.
As an omega, it wasn’t my job to protect her, she had Serena, Benji, and Vinny for that. But, at some point, Violet had shifted into more than just a pack-mate, she’d ventured into the lover territory, just as everyone else had. I just didn’t realize it until it was too late.
Over and under.
The house was quiet, too quiet.
The loop slipped too tight again and I swore softly, loosening it with shaking fingers.
“I should’ve said something,” I whispered.
I reached for the next loop, and the world tilted.
It wasn’t gradual. It was like I got hit by a wave and dragged under the surface.
It was warm, and alive, and familiar, and–
I gasped, the yarn dropping from my hands as my missing bond slammed back into place so hard it stole the air from my lungs.
“Violet.”
I shoved the half-knit blanket off my lap and pushed to my feet too fast. The room swayed and I caught myself on the edge of the couch, laughing breathlessly.
“She’s back,” I whispered to my stomach. “She’s back.”
Another pulse.
This one sharper.
From her I felt fear, and confusion, it mixed with a sense of relief, probably from Vinny or Benji.
Serena. I had to get Serena.
I didn’t even make it to the door.
Heavy footsteps pounded down the hall, and as I rounded the corner, I nearly ran face first into Serena.
She towered in front of me, hair mussed with sleep, butt naked from being in the nest, and eyes not just alive, but fully oriented.
She looked down at me, practically vibrating.
“Did you feel that?” She whispered.
I nodded, breathless. “Vinny marked Violet.”
That meant Vinny had Violet, and we’d see them any minute. But, the relief in my bond quickly changed to something stronger.
Rage flooded through the pack bond like fire catching dry timber. Possessive. Territorial. Protective in a way that made my stomach drop.
It wasn’t Serena’s, and it definitely wasn’t mine.
“Something’s happening,” Serena murmured.
Another pulse hit.
Fear.
This time, it was Serena’s.
Something was wrong.
Serena grabbed my arm. “Phone.”
I fumbled it out of my pocket, hands shaking as I immediately called Benji.
It rang.
And rang.
And rang.
Nothing.
My chest tightened. “He’s not answering.”
Serena’s jaw flexed. “Try Vinny.”
I switched contacts and called him.
Straight to voicemail.
The rage in the bond intensified.
Serena let go of my arm and took off towards Vinny’s office, ordering me to follow, and I did. But, I also called Reed.
He picked up just as we entered the office and Serena threw herself in Vinny’s chair.
Gunfire erupted through the speaker so loud I nearly dropped the phone.
Reed was laughing. Not hysterical or scared, but exhilarated, like he was having the most fun in his life.
“What’s up buttercup?” he asked all too casually.
My lips pulled into a thin line. I wasn’t sure if I liked Reed anymore, but that was a problem for later.
Another shot cracked in the background. Someone shouted. Reed laughed again, breathless and bright.
“Why the fuck are you on the phone right now?” Vinny snarled in the background.
“Your omega called! Do you want me to hang up?”
There was a strained sound, like Vinny was two seconds from either crying or killing someone.
“Focus!” Vinny barked.
“I am focused,” Reed replied smoothly.
Another gunshot.
My eyes widened, and I wondered if I should hang up.
“Tell Skye to have Serena call Marco,” Vinny snapped. “We need backup.”
Serena was already moving, ripping open Vinny’s desk drawer to retrieve the burner phone he had stowed away.
“I’m on it!” Serena shouted, hopefully loud enough for Vinny to hear. “Skye, get their location, I’m trying to get into the Stellar’s security camera feed.”
She’d been trying–and failing–to do that for two weeks. I wasn’t sure why she thought she’d work better under pressure, but apparently gang wars were motivating.
I forced myself to breathe and focused on the phone.
“Reed,” I said sharply, cutting through his breathing and distant footsteps. “Where are you exactly in the house?”
“Second floor,” he replied immediately. “East wing. Master suite. Hey sis, I see your bunny on that shelf, do you want it?”
Another shot.
“Reed! Fucking focus!” Vinny grunted.
“I am focused,” Reed said, mildly offended.
“Don’t touch the bunny!” Serena shouted as she finished her call with Marco and returned to Vinny’s desk.
“That rabbit has a camera in its eye,” she snapped. “If you move it, I lose my angle.”
On the other end, Reed paused. “…Oh yeah, forgot about that.”
Serena unlocked the laptop and clicked around for just a moment before opening up the camera.
The master bedroom came into view from the bunny’s tilted perspective.
Benji and Violet were cowered in the far corner near the balcony doors.
Benji had one arm wrapped around her shoulders, the other bracing against the wall, shielding her body with his own, and Vinny stood in front of them, pistol in hand.
Reed was closer to the door smiling ear to ear as he let off another shot.
Did it run in the family? Was Violet this fucking crazy? Did she just hide it well?
“Three left in the hall! Do you think they’re gonna call for backup soon?” Reed sounded hopeful.
“This isn’t a fucking game!” Vinny barked.
“Yeah, I know, but we’re winning.” Reed purred. “Plus, I’ve wanted to do this for years!”
Another shot and my stomach dropped somewhere between my ankles.
Reed leaned slightly into the doorway again.
“Okay, that one’s crawling,” he muttered. “I respect the effort.”
A single shot.
I looked over at Serena. “Can I please hang up on him?”
Being around this had to be bad for my baby, or at least my sanity. Serena shook her head.
“We need to be able to talk to Vinny.”
I expected a snarky comment from Reed, but as he tried to shoot again, his body stiffened. He was still smiling, but he took a few slow steps backward into the room.
“Reed, what’s happening?”
For half a second, there was only the faint sound of breathing on the line.
“Oh,” Reed said softly.
The tone sent ice down my spine.
On the bunny cam, a shadow stretched across the bedroom floor from the hallway.
“Hey, babe, I’ll call you back in a few, kay?” Reed assured me.
Vinny’s face turned red.
“Don’t call my omega–”
The line cut out as Reed shoved the phone in his pocket, but we heard the rest of Vinny’s protest through the bunny cam.
“—babe!”
A tall man in a black suit skulked into view, gun in hand but pointed at the ground.
“Give me back my fucking wife,” the man snarled.
Oh shit. That was Logan.
On-screen, Vinny shifted slightly in front of Benji and Violet, lifted his pistol, and pulled the trigger, and—
Click.
He pulled again.
Click.
“Nonononono,” Serena hissed.
Vinny smacked the side of his pistol, yanked the slide back again.
It didn’t move.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Vinny grumbled.
Logan stood a little taller.
“Look,” he said coolly, extending one hand as if offering a deal, “I don’t take kindly to a Rossi poking around in my home.” He gestured lazily behind Benji. “Give me the bitch, go on your way, and I’ll forget any of this ever happened. Capisce?”
If looks could kill, Reed’s glare would have dropped Logan dead.
“You’re not touching my omega,” Vinny snarled.
Logan’s broad shoulders shuttered with a laugh.
“Your?” he echoed softly. “She’s my wife. Legally. Publicly. In the eyes of every contract that matters. She even has my last name.”
Vinny took a step forward and Benji shifted Violet further behind him.
Logan lifted his free hand into a placating gesture.
“I don’t want this to end messy,” he said. “Not in front of her.”
He gestured toward Violet.
“I’m trying to be reasonable,” Logan went on. “She made a mistake by running, you made a mistake by getting her pregnant.”
Vinny shook his head. “Neither of us made a mistake.”
“Look grandpa, I need an heir,” Logan scoffed. “Been trying for years, but Violet back there is such a shitty omega that she can barely hold a pregnancy. You don’t need her. If what they say is true, you have a pregnant omega of your own at home.”
My breath caught.