Fury
Atlas is breaking so many fucking laws on the way home.
The truck flies down the tarmac, the pair of us clinging to handles and wheel as he jumps in and out of traffic, and I dread the sound of sirens ringing in our ears.
Though the Goddess must smile down on us, we aren’t stopped, and only one driver gives us the finger when we cut them off on the exit.
The city vanishes behind us, disappearing into the horizon like a phantom, and I swear I feel my fucking heart seizing from how fast it’s thundering.
I don’t even check my phone as we fly down the highway, pulling it straight to my ear.
“What?” I demand, slamming my hand on the dashboard as Atlas swerves to avoid some old banger of a car, waving apologetically on the way past, “keep your fucking hands on the wheel.”
“Talk, asshole, you better tell us where our Omega is right fucking now or —“
“I can help.” Butcher replies, his raspy voice quiet, “I’m here with Brynn, I think you know him… he’s got your girl. I don’t know exactly where we are, but if you can get that hawk woman up in the sky, I’ll leave her some sort of clue.”
“Eagle,” I snap, patience tested as we weave again, and I’m slammed against the door, arm throbbing at the new pains shooting through me. “Prue’s a fucking eagle.”
There’s a snort on the other end of the line, “Does it really fucking matter? You need to get here fast, your girls going into heat, and Brynn’s planning on bonding her when it hits.
I can try to hold him off, but there’s gotta be maybe fifteen, twenty wolves here.
I’m big, but I don’t stand a chance against that much.
Some backup would be pretty good right about now.
” His voice leaves the phone for a second, and I hear him chatting to someone near him, lying to them that he is talking to his boss about the payments going through before his breathing comes through the speaker again.
“We ain’t got much time at all, Wolfman, she’s not going to hold on much longer.
She’s coming around now, and I think Brynn's gonna be talking to her. Call your guys and get them on it. And don’t fucking shoot me, okay?
I could do without more damn holes in me. ”
The sound of the vacant tone in my ear lets me know he’s just hung up on me, and before Atlas can ask what’s up, I’ve got Theo on the line.
“I’ve just had a call from Butcher, he knows where she is.
Says he’s on our side, but I don’t trust him.
Get Prue flying, tell her to be careful, we don’t know what we’re looking at.
Let Obi and Bex know to assume it's hot.” That’s all I need to say to have both packs on guard.
Theo has his hand over the speaker, barking out orders better than most Alphas on the other side of the phone, and I can hear the revving of the ATV in the background, then Prue’s loud screeching call.
A weight lifts off my shoulders as I delegate, and Theo picks up the slack on the other end.
I have no idea where Lucas is. He won’t pick up his phone, which means he’s probably already in the woods hunting, and might have even caught her scent, but there's almost nothing he can do against that many wolves. There’s only Teddy’s confident voice on the other end, “Ready, Cardinal. We’ll see you soon, Fury, okay?
We’ll get her back.” Then another damn tone.
A growl rumbles up my throat, and Atlas almost turns before catching my deathly glare and locking his eyes on the road ahead of us, his shoulders rising like a kid who’s been told off.
For once, I’m glad to be in the car with him, and not one of the others who would be questioning me until I bark.
Fuck. Shaking my head, I cling to the handle above the door, watching everything pass until home comes into view and makes the forty-minute drive into twenty-five.
Something that should rock me, knowing how Lucas comes home after high-speed crash incidents, but it’s crazy how an Omega can totally change your entire worldview until it centers right around them.
I wonder if this is how Clay felt before with Teddy.
Skye is getting pinned to the damn nest and bonded as soon as we have her safe back in the house.
Before Atlas has even pulled into the drive, I’ve leaped from the car and started yanking my clothes off, tossing them to the ground without a single fuck given. I need to get out there and look for her, before anyone—Oh fuck.
On the steps of the ranch house sits a petite woman, and usually I’d be over asking if she needs help.
But I know this one, I’ve met her at almost every pack convention that I’ve been to, when she checks up on the leaders in her area.
Maria perches like a princess in her kingdom, her eyes a peculiar shade of pale yellow flecked with silver set against her brown skin.
Averting my eyes from hers, I approach cautiously, wondering how on earth we’ve managed to lose our Omega and attract the attention of the Shifter council in such a short time.
Goddess, I need a vacation after this. Maybe I’ll book us a several-week-long cruise, which can’t be too much of an issue, right?
The image of a damn jaguar diving into a pool on a lido deck bounces through my mind, and wolves tearing around deck corridors.
Maybe not. Maybe camping, somewhere far away from literally anything, where we can come and go as we please?
The Arctic Circle or something, hell, we can even BYOPB—Bring Your Own Polar Bear.
“Anthony Amberwood,” Maria purrs, standing from her throne and walking towards me.
Maybe once the sway to her curvy hips would have pulled my eyes downwards, but there’s another woman on my mind now, and she’s got the leash on my Prince Albert.
Maria seems to sense my unease with her, and the smirk on her face stretches out like the baring of teeth on her honey-furred wolf before she takes someone out at the throat.
“Never thought I’d see you again. Seems your pups been causing some problems.” She nods towards Atlas, his big form wandering towards us.
Sometimes I wish he’d do things on our time, not his own.
I could use the backup now with the Council Queen here.
“Miss Maria!” He grins, bowing deeply, despite telling him countless times that it’s really unnecessary. “You’re not here for Skye, right? She’s not going anywhere.” Oh, sweet goddess above.
“I’m here to speak to you, actually,” I watch the panic fold Atlas over.
For such a giant of a man, he’s so submissive, and I step up to him to rest a hand on his shoulder and feel my hackles rise as we stand together.
“Relax, Cardinal, I’m only here to speak about what happened.
I’m aware that Atlas shifted and killed a guard at the Citrine City Omega facility.
I know you’re both desperate to find your Omega, but I already have an agent on it. ”
I breathe out a sigh of relief, “Butcher’s one of yours.” My shoulders drop, and I finally relax, “No wonder he’s been so desperate and shifty with us, but yeah, if we can speed this along, with all due respect, I don’t think your bear stands a chance against the size of Brynn’s pack.”
Maria frowns at me, “His last check-in was five Alphas, two Betas. Vincent is well-trained and could handle that in his sleep. Are you telling me differently?”
“He counts at twenty or more now, half of that or more are Alphas, and he’s involved the non-shifters too; there are humans who know what we are.
Your bear doesn’t stand a chance if he’s overwhelmed.
Clay and Theo are already on the way, and Lucas will be around here somewhere…
Pack Hawksridge are here too, they’re helping us. ”
“Fuck!” I don’t think I’ve ever heard Maria curse before.
Even when a massive fight broke out at one of the events, she just tilted her head back, howled, and ten Alphas of various species sat their asses down like they were about to get the belt in school.
“This isn’t done, Anthony, I still need to speak to you about this, and I need to know how you made bodies disappear too…
And why King is involved.” She’s tugging her clothes off, folding them neatly at the side, and I’m already shifting.
I wish I could have cared that I’d been naked the entire conversation, but…
Shifter things. Maria takes no time in shifting, and Atlas tears through his clothes, the big black and white wolf leading the charge into the woods.
Maria’s pale sandy colored fur streaks past us and towards where we can sense our pack mates.
Even with a weak, unlinked bond, I can feel their fear, their anger pulsing in the back of my skull like a migraine coming on, and I can only hope that we’re not too late.
If Skye’s heat has come on after all the fighting and medications to push it back, then Brynn…
No, I won’t think of that. If we can’t bond her, then I think it would be over for us.
Lucas won’t handle another loss if what Prue and Beckett told us is anything to go by.
Fuckity fuck fuck. Driving my legs harder, I overtake Maria as we plunge through the forest. Other nights, I’d live for a run through the trees, but I just can’t get my pack mates' fear out of my head and my Omega in need out of my head until I hear it, I hear the scream of her name ahead of us, then her howling through the trees. Fuck. There’s another wolf there, too.
I can smell them now, one of Brynn's pack coming for my Omega. With a return howl, I put my entire fucking heart into crying out for my girl. She only needs to hang on a little longer, keep her head for another minute, and I’ll be there.
We’re not letting her go, over my dead fucking body will they take her now, when we’re so close to being a pack.