Chapter 37 Ozzy
thirty-seven
Ozzy
I’m glad Roland is staying in the van, otherwise his scent would get me killed.
I’ve been around omegas before, but nothing’s ever felt like this.
Even under the de-scenting cream I know Helaena gave him—which has to be expiring soon, because I shouldn’t be able to scent him at all—something about it calls to me.
My throat bobs as I show him how to communicate with us through our earpieces. “Hold down this button, and you can let us know if anyone is approaching. We’ll take out the one lone guy standing guard, but if there are others Leslie didn’t know about, it’s very important you let us know.”
Roland nods, his jaw tight as he stares at the screen. His light brown eyes shine with determination as his gaze roams over the screens in front of us. Right now, it shows a video feed of the exterior of the van.
Fuzzy brakes hard, causing him to fall into me. Somehow, I keep my balance as I brace his arms. “Whoa. You okay?”
Eyes wide, he nods again before clearing his throat and sitting upright. “Yeah, thanks.”
I pat his arm in a way that even I recognize is awkward. “Good.”
When he has a handle on the surveillance equipment, we sit in a tense silence.
It’s not that I want to fuck him. I don’t. Even if he’s an omega, and I’m alpha, and his lemon scent draws something out of my chest I haven’t felt in twenty years.
The instinct I have…it’s more like I want to draw him close and keep him safe.
Sam shared a little bit of his story with me, but it’s hard to believe that he passed as a beta for so many years. I’m surprised nobody spotted him—he’s too pretty for his own good.
He’s also young. Early forties at the oldest. A far cry from my fifty-two years.
“So,” Roland breaks the silence, “what’s it like having the world's toughest omega as a daughter-in-law?”
I bark a laugh. The question catches me off guard, but it’s strange, I don’t have any qualms about opening up to him.
“The first time she shook my hand,” I chuckle, shaking my head, “she was covered in the blood of the men who had been sent to kill me.” Roland’s eyes widen nearly to saucers as he takes in my words.
“Then she wiped the blood off her hands, fixed her hair and shook my hand. Introduced herself as my daughter in law.”
“That’s…wow.” Roland shakes his head.
“The first time I met her,” Fuzzy calls from the front seat, “a beta patient at the facility had just reached around and copped a feel. Before I could do a single thing, she had his hand on the table and had stabbed a kitchen knife through it.”
I’m not surprised.
“What did you do?” Roland asks, releasing a laugh of disbelief.
“Told the asshole to quit dicking around and get back to work.”
I snort. That one really doesn’t surprise me.
We fall into an easy conversation, Roland telling us how he fell in love with a female alpha, Naomi, and how hard it was when she left.
I tell them about my late wife, and how it nearly broke me when she died.
Fuzzy shares how he met Helaena, and how she came to work at the compound with him.
Helaena.
It’s too bad she’s already with Fuzzy. She’s the first woman I’ve been attracted to since Jean died. I don’t know what I was thinking, kissing her hand like that before we left. I’m lucky Fuzzy didn’t deck me.
Really though, she’s probably around the same age as Roland, so too young for me anyway.
It seems that my time for love has passed, and I’ll just be content being a grandpa to whatever little ones Jo pops out. If they even want kids.
Before we know it, we’re ten minutes out from Leslie’s house. Fuzzy pulls off to the side of the road, handing a bulletproof vest to each of us.
I pull mine on with practiced efficiency, years of military and private sector work ingrained into my muscle memory. Fuzzy goes up front to call Declan, to make sure we’re clear to proceed.
Zipping up the jacket that covers my vest, I glance at Roland. He fumbles with the straps, clearly never having worn a bullet proof vest before. And really, he wouldn’t have ever needed to.
But at the sight of him growing more and more frustrated, something pulls in my chest.
“Here.” My voice comes out gruffer than I had intended, and I try not to stare at the slight blush that tinges his cheeks as I fix the vest for him, strapping the Velcro tight.
Something unlocks inside my alpha. Something that’s been long dormant, that went to sleep when I married my Jean, who had been a female alpha.
She was the love of my life, to be sure.
But she didn’t need me the same way an omega would.
Part of me wonders if we should have found an omega together.
I never could have loved another woman, but even this small act of caring for Roland…
it soothes something that I never realized had been hurting.
Feeling needed.
Turns out, that desire doesn’t just disappear when your mate dies and your only child grows up and leaves you. It’s why it was so easy for Jo and Sam to convince me to come with them. I thrive when someone needs me.
“Thank you.” Roland’s voice is quiet, and I can’t bring myself to meet his eyes.
This man, who just wants his daughter back, doesn’t need me getting my alpha in a tizzy over him or the fact that his scent makes me want to wrap him up tight and protect him from the world.
A nod and a grunt are all I can muster as Fuzzy comes into the very back. “We’re clear. They’re waiting in the forest outside the asylum.”
“Let’s do this.” I leave Roland in the backseat to join Fuzzy up front. He gives me a questioning look, but I shake my head.
Shrugging, he starts the van back up, and ten minutes later, we’re parking two houses down from Leslie Perez’s house. Her nephew should be home, and Leslie said they have a special code word for when she has to have someone he doesn’t know pick him up or take him somewhere.
Pineapple Pizza.
Roland’s voice crackles in our ears. “Can you guys hear me?”
We both confirm that he’s coming through, and then we’re leaving the van. Fuzzy immediately crosses the street, and I stay on the sidewalk, making my way to the house.
“The guy parked on the curb across the street…is that the guy?” Roland asks, but then realizes we can’t answer him.
I pretend to not notice when Fuzzy, dressed as an electrical worker, knocks on the guy's window. He shouts through the window when the guy just looks at him. “Look, buddy, you gotta move. I gotta get up that telephone pole and you’re right below where I’ll be. It’s a liability issue—”
The guy rolls down his window. “I ain’t movin’, prick—”
Before he can finish his sentence, Fuzzy draws his dart gun and shoots the guy in the neck. His head slumps forward, and the alpha whistles to himself as he removes the dart and puts it in his pocket.
“Okay, I don’t see anyone else,” Roland says, sounding nervous.
So, as calmly as I can, I walk up the front steps and knock on the door. It takes a second, but then the door cracks open, a small head of curly blond hair poking out. “Who are you?” The kid narrows his eyes as he looks me up and down.
“We…your Aunt Leslie sent us, Hudson.” I try to smile as kindly as I can muster as Fuzzy comes up next to me. “We’ve come to take you to her work.”
He frowns and steps back, starting to close the door.
“Wait, um…what was the code word?” Fuzzy mutters.
“Pineapple Pizza!” I say triumphantly, and Hudson’s face changes from suspicion to disbelief.
“How do you know my aunt?” He looks between us. “You don’t look like the doctors from her work.”
“I’m gonna give it to you straight, Hudson.” I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “We don’t work with your aunt. She actually sent us because there are people trying to keep her in line by threatening to hurt you. We’re going to keep you safe by taking you away from here.”
Hudson pales, shaking his head. “No. Aunt Leslie would tell me if—”
“Incoming!” Roland’s voice comes in panicked through my ear. “Three armed men, coming from the opposite side of the street.”
“Fuck,” Fuzzy mutters. “Kid, if you don’t come now, you’re gonna see some shit you wish you didn’t have to see.”
“Like what?”
Leaves crunch behind me, and I sigh, drawing my gun quickly and shooting at one of the men who came around the side of the house.
The time for dart guns has passed.
My bullet rips through his skull, and he drops to the ground like a sack of lead. “Like that!” I crouch low as the other two start shooting.
“Fuck, fuck!” I make a split-second decision.
Tossing Fuzzy my gun, I lunge for the kid, who yelps in surprise when I throw him over my shoulder. “Cover me!” I shout, and then take off at a sprint. He can’t be more than ninety pounds, but it’s been years since I’ve had to treat a preteen like a sack of potatoes to save their life.
Shots go off behind me as I huff, running for the van as fast as I can. “Roland, start the van!”
“Why are they trying to kill us?!” Hudson shouts over the gunfire, but I can’t answer. My breathing is labored when I finally reach the van and throw the door open. Tossing the kid inside, I grab my favorite weapon from its hiding spot.
My trusty grenade launcher.
All hope of being inconspicuous has gone out the window anyway.
I put the launcher on my shoulder, aiming for the two men who are trying to shoot at Fuzzy.
“Move!” The word tears out of my throat, and in the next second, Fuzzy is leaping out of the way landing in some neighboring bushes. Bullets fly past me as I pull the trigger, and when the grenade hits the ground in front of the men, it explodes, sending them backward.
“Whoa…” I turn to see Hudson staring at me in awe. “You’re really cool for an old guy.”
I snort at the same time Roland laughs. “He’s not old.”
Those words do something to me that they shouldn’t. “You can’t say that,” I chuckle dryly. “My son is only ten years younger than you.”
Roland grins, shooting me a wink. “Yeah, but I’m about to be a grandpa, so…”
Fuzzy claps my shoulder. “They’re dead. Let’s go.”
Taking a deep breath, I nod. Time to let the other teams know it’s safe to proceed.