17. Unexpected
Unexpected
Cassius
The rain keeps pelting down, and the dark, quiet roads soothe my anger. I know leaving was the best thing I could have done, though my instincts wanted me to stay behind. They have somewhat settled now.
I wonder if Harry has figured out who their security company is. One thing a team of mine has been working on is finding backdoors into other companies. It’s not good enough to have access to most of the security in the country. I want it all.
A buzzing echoes inside my helmet. I push the answer button and Harry’s voice fills the silence. Panic envelopes me. I swerve the bike, turning back on myself. If that bastard has hurt the child or the Omega, I’ll kill him, fuck being prepared.
“So, do you want the good news or the weird news?” She sounds oddly amused.
“Tell me what’s going on, Harry.”
She sighs. “You never let me have any fun. Well, we got into the security system. It’s Hummingbird Networks—”
I’m not surprised. A Beta owned company that many of the older, more stubborn Betas are extremely loyal to. Despite their glaring holes in security.
“—we got in easily after that. And that’s when things get interesting. I’ll send you the link. You might want to pull over.”
I skid to a stop, pulling over to the side of the road as I grab my phone. Whatever this is, I’m going to want to see it.
The camera connects, and I cycle through until I see them.
It’s her.
My Omega.
My mate.
She jumps on him, wrapping her limbs around the front of his body. Her hair is a mess, and her clothes look soaked through, ripped in several places. Anger fuels me. Thoughts whip around my mind, but before a single one can settle, she stabs him. Right. In. The. Eye.
Harry’s laugh booms through the speaker.
I should be terrified for her, angry, scared, but all I can focus on is that’s the penknife she held against my throat. Clearly, she knows how to use it.
Fuck.
My cock grows, straining behind my leather trousers.
She stands above him, an avenging angel. Dark hair tossed, chest heaving, and a light, satisfied smile playing on her lips.
“Can you believe this!” Harry cheers.
But I can’t reply. My mouth is dry and my eyes refuse to move from her as she pours the whiskey onto his face.
He writhes in pain, his fingers bent at an odd angle as he clutches his face. She moves lithely. She’s done this before. That is clear to me. And I don’t know if I should be worried for her safety or my own, but I’m not. I’m just fucking horny.
The bottle shatters, littering him with tiny shards of glass. She leans over him, glass shard in hand, and stabs it into his stomach. Blood is everywhere, covering her in a red mist, blotting her pale skin.
She’s beautiful.
“I might be in love.” Harry sighs.
I definitely am.
She twists, and his whole body reacts, shuddering in pain. I’ve taken lives before, but I’ve never got joy out of the way I killed them, and I’ve never taken my time like this.
Her eyes trail over his broken form, calculating, deciding. She flicks her knife back and forth, a warning if I’ve ever seen one. She picks up his hand and slices through his finger. The skin peels back, revealing the bone. Her brow furrows with frustration.
She’s experimenting. Finding out what she likes. An artist testing out mediums.
She moves quickly, twisting her knife and swaying with the motion. Something lands on his chest.
“She cut his ear off and threw it at him!”
She cut his ear off and threw it at him.
I have no words, but my cock does. It twitches, aching to get close to her.
To wash the blood from her skin and replace the scent with my own.
I want to caress every part of her body, lingering on her fingers, stomach, and ears as I stare into her eyes so she knows I saw everything.
“She has company.”
Reluctantly, I flick through the cameras until I see the gate. Armed Alphas, adorned with the Council crest, crash into the metal, forcing it open.
My heart hammers inside my chest. I want to rush back to her, but before I can make the decision, I watch her slip from the office window and run. Seconds later, the Council crash through the door. Only when she is far enough away, safe, do I speak.
“Is he dead?” My voice doesn’t sound like my own, rougher, deeper, and full of unidentified emotions.
“Oh yeah! She slit his throat. That was brutal and epic. We need her on our team. I think she’s an Omega. Can you believe it? I wonder who she is? The way she—”
I tune her out because, well…
Holy fuck, that was hot.
And unexpected.
I need to find her and make her my mate as soon as possible because the thought of her out there, unclaimed, is making me crazy.
* * *
All night I replayed her blood splattered smirk on repeat. Over and over until I had burned the memory, every tiny detail of her face into my mind. The shape her lips made, the way her body moved, how her hair fell in front of her face. My mate is perfect, and clearly I don’t know enough about her.
With the feral Alpha taken care of, my week is now wide open, and with nothing better to do, I find my way to the Council building to see Browen. Hopefully, he has some distracting enough family drama to keep my mind from obsessing over my runaway Omega.
“Checking in for Alpha Councillor Browen Nobel.”
“Name.”
“Alpha Cassius Atwood.”
The Beta looks up from his computer for the first time. His eyes widen when he sees me and his gaze darts to the stack of magazines on the corner of the desk. With my face on it.
I want to roll my eyes, but that’s not the kind of Alpha people think I am.
Instead, I give him a charming smile and lean down, my arms cross on the desk. I nod my head in the direction of the magazines.
“Want me to sign one for you?”
He blushes and nods.
I quickly scrawl my signature and hope no one else will ask for one.
“Thank you, Alpha Atwood.”
“You’re welcome.” I try to slide past him, but he blocks me.
“Em. Before you go. There was an incident… It might be a little hectic up there.” He darts out of my way, checking our surroundings as if his warning might have crossed some imaginary confidentiality boundary.
He was not wrong.
It’s chaos.
Most of the time when I’ve been here, there have been a handful of Councillors in the office.
Today it seems every single one decided to come into work.
The entire floor stinks of putrid anger, tart and sticky disappointment, and watery concern.
I try to refrain from gagging, but even the assistants are giving off a sour, stressed scent.
Thankfully, my brother’s office is by an open window, and I practically stick my head out of it. You would think that in a building full of Alphas there would be a central air system in place. I know my building does.
I can’t help but wonder if this is about the Alpha my Omega murdered yesterday. Was he someone important? Did he have information they wanted?
“Alpha Cas?”
Beta Jeremy has been Browen’s assistant for nearly a year now. He’s a shy guy, but built like a tank. We’ve had a good chat on more than one occasion when Browen has been running late to our meetups.
“Are you here for the meeting? They didn’t say someone from security was coming.”
He stares, eyes wide and his throat bobs with uncertainty. I quickly put him out of his misery.
“No, just here for a brotherly catch up.”
He sighs with relief and slumps back in his chair, nearly knocking over the piles of paperwork that have been stacked precariously on the edge of the desk.
“He’s going to be awhile. They’ve all been pulled into an emergency meeting.”
“All? The entire Council? What the fuck happened?” Though that explains the smell. 500 Alphas all in one room.
His eyes drop shut, and I notice the bags under them. His shirt is buttoned wrong, and I think he is wearing odd shoes.
“Tell you what, I’ll go get you a coffee.”
“Thanks, man.”
I would bet that by the time I come back, he’ll be fast asleep.
The halls stink, but luckily they’re empty apart from the straggling assistants dragging their feet, half asleep.
The cafeteria is more of a dining room with several smaller shops, restaurants, and coffee shops surrounding it.
Usually, the space is clean and quiet, with the occasional assistant or Councillor having an informal meeting over food.
This time, there’s empty plates, coffee cups, and a Beta sprawled over a couch fast asleep.
The barista looks equally as tired, and I feel a little guilty when I place my order. I take the coffee back to Browen’s office, keeping my cup under my nose so I don’t have to breathe those scents in again.
Jeremy’s soft, even breaths tell me he’ll be out for a while.
I place his cup on the far side of his desk and hope he doesn’t knock it over when he wakes up.
As silently as I can, I sit and wait. Harry keeps me company through text, though she’s not very good at keeping my mind off my Omega, when she’s constantly talking about her and asking me questions about my mate that I can’t answer.
Browen storms through the door, slamming it behind him. Jeremy jolts awake, knocking over the stack of files from his desk.
“Has Henri arrived yet?” he asks.
A breeze blows through the window, hitting Browen and carrying his scent to me. My heart races and my head spins.
Spice.
I smell her instantly and practically fly out of my chair to get to him.
“Why do you smell of my mate?” I growl.
He freezes, glancing over his shoulder and staring at the path he came from.
I take off before he can stop me. My instincts guiding me, I ignore everything else.
Nothing matters more than my mate. I run.
I barely get through the double doors at the end of the corridor before the guards shove themselves in front of me, saying all kinds of shit I am not listening to.
Her hair bounces as she skips around the corner and spots me.
My vision narrows, and I knock myself out of the guard’s hold and barrel into her.
She’s here. She’s real.
She jumps into my waiting arms, wrapping her body around me with a giggle and hides her face in the divot of my neck. Her scent wraps around me, and I groan. My arms tighten in their hold. I’m never letting her go again.
I had half convinced myself that I would never see her again. There’s so much I want to do, so much I want to know, but first.
“You have got to tell me your name, Little Killer,” I say.
She opens her mouth to speak when a voice booms over the others.
“Evangeline. What do you think you’re doing? You cannot leave a meeting like that. You’re in serious trouble.”
She rolls her gorgeous moss green eyes and shakes her head with fondness. But no matter how close this Alpha is to her, I won’t let anyone talk to my mate that way. I pull her further into my arms and shield her. My eyes narrow on this unknown Alpha and I growl, low and loud.
She relaxes in my grasp and shutters with the vibrations, bouncing in my arms.
“Do it again.” Her eyes flash with mischief.
“Brother?”
I whip around to see Browen staring at me, bursting with concern alongside the unknown Alpha.
The world clicks back. Sounds and scents other than my mate’s hit me. We’re surrounded and they’re afraid.