Chapter 45
45
Hazel
Fitting eight people into an eight passenger SUV didn’t work when five of them were alphas and two more were betas who were the size of alphas. If all of us loading into the Tahoe wasn’t so dire, it would’ve been comical.
As it was, I was in the back row with Kellan and Crew. In front of us, Bowen, Jude, and Rhett were squished together while Silas drove and Oakley sat in the passenger seat. Everyone was tense as we drove through the dark streets of D.C.
The silence was suffocating.
“I think her alphas are hurting her,” I blurted out.
Several heads turned to look at me with varying shades from quizzical to concerned.
“Ophelia,” I added. “The beta born omega I met in the bathroom. She had bruises and was so scared of her alpha when he came to get her.”
“Guy was a fucking prick,” Kellan grumbled. “Asshole even yelled at Hazel. Almost put him through a wall.”
“You should’ve,” Rhett remarked.
I took a deep breath. “She also said there’s a center for beta born omegas. In Virginia, I think. She mentioned all of them being there together.”
“Are you serious?” Bowen twisted to look back at me.
The arm Crew wrapped around me when we’d first gotten into the vehicle now squeezed around my shoulders.
“She didn’t believe I was like her because I wasn’t there with them,” I explained. “She mentioned the center and check-ups, but then her alpha came in after her…”
“I’m sorry, love,” Rhett murmured, his gray eyes full of kindness.
I shook my head. “I feel like I should’ve done something more. Something to help her and the others. I mean, what if they’re all being treated like her?”
Bowen’s lips thinned. “Honestly? They probably are.”
My breath caught, and Kellan growled at Bowen.
“Sorry,” Bowen apologized, wincing a little.
Jude exhaled hard. “We’ll see what we can do when we get home.”
“But wouldn’t it make more sense for us to find somewhere here to lay low? That way we can?—”
“Not happening, baby girl,” Crew cut me off.
The backs of my eyes burned with impending tears. “Crew, come on. They need help.”
“You’re our priority,” he retorted.
I stared at him. “My life isn’t more important than someone else’s, let alone dozens of other women.”
Crew caught my jaw in his hand, forcing me to look him in the eye. “I need you to hear this, and hear it good, baby girl. I would set off a nuclear bomb in a church if it meant saving you.”
My eyes widened.
“He’s right, sugar,” Kellan chimed in. “There’s no world for us without you in it. You will always be the one we take care of.”
Rhett and Jude nodded in agreement.
Their devotion was humbling and a little terrifying. I mean, how could they put me above other innocent people?
But looking at each of their faces, I had my answer.
I would scorch the world to ashes if it meant saving any one of them.
It was scary to realize how completely these men owned me. Not just owned me, but I owned them .
I knew they would die for me. Do anything for me.
Swallowing a whine, I tried not to let my brain go there. But I was an omega, and knowing my alphas loved me was a powerful aphrodisiac.
But now was not the time for my slick to saturate the confines of the truck.
Judging by the soft chuckles from Kellan and Crew, they knew exactly where my mind—and my hormones—went.
I ducked my head into Crew’s chest, my cheeks stinging with embarrassment as we left the city limits.
After a few minutes, I peeked up. “Thank you guys for coming with us.”
Oak nodded. “Of course.”
“Anytime,” Silas added, catching my gaze for a beat in the rearview mirror.
“He means anytime your pack is paying us,” Oakley clarified.
Bowen scoffed. “Don’t be a dick.”
“I’m always a dick,” Oakley replied with a laugh. “It’s part of my charming personality.”
I rolled my eyes. “And no doubt the reason you have women flocking to your pack.”
“Never had any complaints before.” Oakley twisted to wink at me.
I made a gagging sound as Kellan laughed.
“Dude, stop. We all know—” Kellan abruptly cut himself off, looking chagrined. “I mean, we know… what we know?”
Bowen shook his head. “Are you asking or telling, dude?”
I glanced around, feeling like I was missing something.
“Idiot,” Jude muttered, and Kellan flicked his head. “The fuck, bro?”
“Don’t call me an idiot,” Kellan snapped.
Jude turned. “Then don’t act like one.”
“Hey,” I jumped in. “No fighting.”
“No upsetting our omega,” Crew added with a touch of a growl.
Kellan and Jude both muttered half-hearted apologies at each other.
“It’s not a big deal,” Silas finally said. “We don’t have to keep it a secret. Especially not since leaving the Bureau.”
“Yeah, we lived our lives under the umbrella of the government long enough,” Bowen chimed in.
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m missing something.”
“Their pack is together,” Crew told me.
I made a no-shit face. “Yeah, they’re a pack.”
“No.” Crew fought a smile. “They’re together .”
I frowned.
“We fuck each other,” Oakley finally said. “It’s one big sex triangle. There’s a swing and everything.”
I swallowed hard.
“Yes, we routinely partake in the orgy,” Silas drawled. “Couldn’t you come up with a more eloquent way to phrase that?”
“What’s wrong with the truth?” Oak demanded. “I fuck you, you fuck Bowen, Bowen fucks?—”
“Dude, stop,” Bowen exclaimed around his laughter. “Can we not scar the omega?”
Oakley made a disgruntled sound and hunkered down.
“For the record, I’m not scarred,” I piped up. “I think it’s fine. You do you.”
“If only the FBI had your same view,” Silas said, his tone barely audible to me.
My look must’ve been questioning because Jude spoke softly to me.
“Remember how the FBI wasn’t a fan of betas in the field?” he reminded me.
I nodded, glancing from him to Bowen.
Bowen smiled sadly. “Yeah, they weren’t a fan of me, either.”
“They’re also pretty homophobic,” Jude told me.
Rhett snorted. “Pretty? Understatement of the year.”
“Our pack came to the FBI after yours did, and we saw how guys like Jude and Rhett were treated,” Bowen said. “We made the conscious decision not to let anyone know. I mean, there were rumors, sure, but we made sure nothing stuck.”
“At least not until the day I walked in on Silas giving Bowen a blow job,” Kellan remarked with an unabashed grin.
Bowen winced. “Yeah, that.”
“But no way in hell were we selling them out,” Crew stated firmly. “It was their business and no one else’s.”
“To be fair, Silas and Oak were more of a recent development,” Bowen added. “It takes a lot for alphas to cede control to another alpha. Or at least, share it.”
“But we make it work, don’t we, baby?” Silas teased, smirking at Oakley.
“I will literally punch you in the junk if you call me that again,” Oak deadpanned.
Bowen winked at me. “Oak gets testy when he hasn’t had an orgasm every four or so hours.”
I clapped a hand over my mouth, but the giggles spilled free.
“I’m putting in for a new pack,” Oak snarled, sinking down in his seat.
Bowen laughed. “You couldn’t find anyone else to put up with your surly ass.”
“Truth,” Silas agreed as he took an off ramp from the highway that led to the private airstrip we’d used.
A phone started trilling, and Rhett shifted to pull out his phone. He grimaced. “My mother.”
“Ignore it,” Jude suggested.
“Answer it,” Crew ordered, his expression stony.
Rhett hit the answer button and put the call on speaker. “Mother.”
“Where are you?” Mirabelle hissed. “How dare you leave in the midst of the President’s address!”
“Hazel was feeling ill,” Rhett lied. “We thought it best to attend her.”
“Attend her where ?” Mirabelle demanded. “It wasn’t your room. I know because we checked.”
Rhett stilled. “We?”
Mirabelle huffed, sounding downright indignant. “Yes. If you must know, President Anders and his pack wanted to meet your omega. After all, they are partially responsible for her safe return.”
I felt almost every muscle in Crew and Kellan lock up as they tensed. A muscle in Jude’s jaw pulsed as he bit back his anger.
“Please give the President our apologies,” Rhett said smoothly, never missing a beat. “We took Hazel to an omega center for treatment.”
“I covered for you for now, but the President has invited your pack for brunch tomorrow, and I expect you all to be there.” She paused with a sniff. “Unless you can leave that beta, that is. I know you think he’s important?—”
“He is important, Mother,” Rhett snapped. “And my pack won’t be going anywhere until you get that through your daft little head.”
Mirabelle gasped. “I am your mother. How dare you speak to me in such an ugly manner!”
”You being my mother is the only reason I haven’t told you off, but test me again, woman, and I’ll let you know exactly where my loyalties lie. And I assure you, it isn’t with you.” Rhett’s low rumble was like slick-extractor.
I loved when my mild-mannered, smooth talking alpha came undone. I was instantly turned on and flushed.
“Rhett Harrison Coulson?—”
“Dutton,” he gritted out. “My last name is Dutton.”
Mirabelle went quiet for a beat. Then we all heard a sniffle. “Why must you vex me so? All I’ve ever tried to do is give you the world.”
Rhett rolled his eyes as Jude leaned in and kissed his throat before shooting me a look full of heat.
I readjusted in my seat, wondering how much this tampon could take before the slick soaked through the cotton and leaked into my leggings.
“All you’ve ever tried to do is control my life,” Rhett amended, sounding bored. “I’m sorry I can’t be the perfect son like Sterling or Thane. I know I am your greatest disappointment.”
“Sometimes you are.”
I was lunging for the phone so fast Kellan and Crew barely had time to restrain me. Red clouded my vision, and I wanted to beat the priss out of Mirabelle Coulson.
“Easy, sweetheart,” Crew murmured in my ear. “He’s got this.”
Rhett shook his head, clearly disgusted. “Goodbye, Mother.”
“But tomorrow?—”
He cut her off mid-sentence and then turned off the phone. “Problem solved.”
I glanced around and realized we were surrounded by trees and darkness. A car passed us on the opposite lane, but other than that, it was isolated, save for our headlights and a green light in the distance.
“She’ll keep calling,” Jude pointed out.
Rhett waved a hand. “And? I owe her nothing. Besides, technically this seems like a no-service part of the country.”
We all went quiet, digesting Mirabelle’s hateful words.
“Your mother’s a cunt,” Oak said, cracking through the tension with a factual statement that had us all grinning.
“She really is,” Rhett agreed. He turned to Jude. “Sorry about her.”
Jude pressed a finger over Rhett’s lips. “How many times have I told you not to apologize for her?”
Rhett nodded, but I was still pissed.
“I really don’t like your mom,” I announced, slouching down in my seat.
“None of us do, sugar,” Kellan muttered, but he flashed me one of his warm smiles that made my insides gooey like a chocolate chip cookie fresh from the oven.
“Furious little omega, aren’t you?” Crew teased.
I mock-glared at him. “And don’t you forget it.”
He lifted a brow.
One.
Eyebrow.
And that was all it took for my omega to roll on her back and submit.
I licked my lips, and his gaze tracked the movement. His blue eyes heated, and I could already feel the kiss he was about to give me.
Anticipation flooded my veins like a wildfire. My skin prickled and it was all I could do not to climb into his lap. My hand fumbled for the buckle across my lap. I needed to be in his arms now.
Kellan trapped my wrist. “Safety first, honey.”
I whined, the sound filling the cabin. Every alpha spun to look at me, instinctively searching for the omega making the sound.
Even Silas.
But we had a green light as we blazed through the darkness, and as fast as he’d glanced at me, his head was already turning back to the road.
Which was why it made zero sense when headlights appeared out of nowhere.
“Si—” Oak started to say, but he was cut off as the truck slammed right into our driver’s side.
Crew turned at the last second, wrapping himself around me as the sound of shattering glass and twisting metal filled the air.
I gasped as the SUV tipped and then spun, flipping over once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then it slid to a stop on the roof at the bottom of an embankment.
Everything went still and quiet. My brain slid in and out of focus for several long beats. Maybe minutes. Time ceased to exist.
My ears rang as I tried to figure out which way was up and what that popping sound was.
I swallowed hard, my ears clearing.
Gunshots.
I heard gunshots.
Someone was firing at us.