Chapter 9 #2
Even when I’m a weak, tired, delusional alpha who can’t steer properly. It’s never made me wreck.
Carefully climbing onto my bike, I fix my helmet and take the time to fix my neck gaiter so I completely cover my face. All you can see in the night air are my eyes.
Turning on the motorcycle, I gently rev the engine, my cock twitching at how fucking sexy it is.
Unfortunately, it may be the closest I get to sex due to my Phoenix-like rise from the dead.
Getting comfortable in my seat, I turn the bike toward my house, which is, funny enough, a few short blocks from here.
I’m barely a couple weeks into recovery, a pill that’s difficult to swallow. Some days, I wonder if the only reason I’m able to stand on my own two feet is due to being too stubborn to stay down.
The roads are silent as I drive, and before I know it, my brownstone sits in judgment before me.
“I know,” I whisper, shaking my head as I climb off the bike and put my helmet away.
My steps are heavy as I walk around the building searching for an easy way in. I finally pull out a screwdriver from one of the many pockets of my jeans and use it to force open a window.
The alarm goes off as I duck inside and shove the window closed again, turning to face the music as a naked Storm holds a shotgun in my direction.
“Hey honey, I’m home,” I murmur, my brow raised at his undressed appearance.
“Tell me something only I’d know,” he growls, ignoring the alarm as he cocks the gun sharply.
“Do you remember when I was bitten by that Rottweiler after breaking into the Rogers’ estate?
” I ask. “The fucker raped and killed Martyr’s sister.
He was out of his mind with grief, so even with the damn dog bite, you and I did what we needed to because we protect our own.
It was a year before we split the club after my dad died. ”
Only Storm and I know that happened, since we were the only ones there that night. He helped me take care of the stupid bite and the dog before we brutally murdered Luis Rogers and his brother. They were two punks who thought the way to pick up a girl from a bar was to drug her.
This was their version of wrong place, wrong time, but club justice doesn’t stop with its own.
Storm’s gun lowers slowly as his jaw works, and I know I’m still not in the clear. He might still shoot me.
“I’m not a ghost,” I tease him.
“You might wish you were, because Marie is fighting for her life during the worst goddamned heat she’s ever had. All she wants is you, and you’re supposed to be dead,” he grunts, watching as I sway on my feet at the news of Marie’s heat. “Are you gonna keel over?”
“I just might,” I breathe. “I really was dead for a few minutes on the operating table.”
Apparently happy enough that I’m not a ghost here to hurt our pack, he turns and stalks away to deal with the alarm. I had no idea he had even installed one. We’d discussed that he would, I just didn’t “live” long enough to see it happen.
My footsteps are tentative as I follow him. I want to rush upstairs to Marie, but will that make things worse? Storm accepted I’m alive pretty easily. Almost too easily.
“What gave me away?” I ask.
“Wilder said there was a hammer near Lyker’s body, and it was used to break his bones after nails were hammered into his hands and feet,” Storm grunts. “We’re going to have to get that fucking window fixed, huh?”
“Probably,” I admit with a wince.
“I watched you circle the house several times before you made your move on the cameras,” Storm says. “My phone alerted me you were here. I didn’t want to be completely blind during Marie’s heat, I wanted to keep us safe.”
“I don’t need you to guard the house against me,” I purr, again following him once he begins to climb the stairs.
“Sure, who needs to guard against a Ghost?” he growls in response. “That’s what he fucking called you according to Wilder.”
“I fed into the theatrical need for blood,” I admit, wincing. “It wasn’t my best work.”
“From what I heard, it was a thing of blood and beauty,” Storm grunts, glancing behind his shoulder as I begin to wheeze from exertion.
Stairs and I aren’t currently on amicable terms. I fucking hate them with a passion.
“I needed to know Lyker wasn’t going to come after you all. I needed to take care of that before I could come back to you,” I say softly.
“We can’t function without you,” Storm sighs. “As dramatic as it sounds, Marie’s soul screams for yours. I’m really worried about her.”
I continue to climb the stairs behind him, because it’s clear that Marie is in her nest. I can smell her all through the house, and hear her moans and screams. They’re not the same as ones you’d expect to hear of pleasure, but instead of pain and sadness.
“How long has she been in heat?” I ask softly. “She’s fucking killing me right now.”
“Don’t joke about something like that, not after I fucking watched what I thought was your body be buried.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” I say immediately.
I have no need for dominance here. I don’t want to be right or fight, or even joke with Storm. My nostrils flare as we get closer because there’s a scent I can’t quite place that shouldn’t be in the house.
“Storm,” I murmur. “What am I missing?”
“Marie is heat sick. She also met her soul match at your funeral and he’s in the nest with Marie and Wilder.”
Well I’ll be goddamned. This was not something I could have imagined while going through all the different scenarios that could happen while driving over here.
My jaw opens and closes like a fish as I struggle to make a response, and Storm props the gun outside of the loft before he helps me get undressed. His movements are jerky and hurried, and his finger glides up my cock once I’m naked to collect a drop of precum before he sucks it off.
“I’m glad to see your cock still works, because we have use for it. See for yourself how Marie is.”
Storm steps into the nest while I watch Marie desperately ride Ransom’s cock. I recognize him as Devon’s medic, and his eyes are on my omega as tears slide down her face, dripping down her body.
There’s a sour scent in her nest that doesn’t belong here, and it’s coming from her. She’s full of fear, sadness, and grief, all things that don’t belong in this space. Now fully naked, I take the last step into the nest and walk toward her and Ransom.
His eyes flick behind Marie before he pales, and I hold my finger up to my lips. Dropping to my knees, I wrap my arms around Marie’s waist and bury my face in her throat.
“I heard you missed me, Princess,” I rasp. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. My bite and my cock are yours, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you all for leaving.”
Her fingers slide into my hair, yanking me so she can kiss me over her shoulder. Marie bites down hard on my lip in punishment for leaving her, but she breaks the skin when she does, binding us together.
I don’t care if it’s accidental, I’ll take a half bond over nothing at all.