9. Pix
Pix
Ishove open the panel that is taking too long to open and take the stairs two at a time. As soon as I get outside, I inhale deeply and let out a frustrated growl. It’s a rainy day, and it’s cold, but I’m outside and in the wind.
How dare they turn me into a nursemaid! I’m Pix Mother Fucking O’Connel!
I’m not sure why I’m letting them keep me locked up like a pet goldfish, but no one has dicked me yet, and Roseland has been hiding. Every day I spend attempting to hunt him down ends in failure. I spend the rest of that time dodging the groping hands of that asshole Rolly.
I pull out the phone I’ve stolen and bypass the security features. In two seconds, I’m dialing a ride.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Meg shrieks.
“Track this number.”
“On it!” Desi says from the background.
“Ooh, did you get kidnapped by gorgeous man meat?” The sound of Meg’s voice is a balm to the rage that’s been trying to explode out.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I grit out. “Where is Bonnie and her pack of assholes?”
There’s a pause.
“I thought we liked Pack Prince,” Meg whines.
I let out a deep, rumbling noise of discontent, but honestly, there is only so much bullshit a serial killer like me can take.
“Put. Her. On. The. Phone.”
“You’re on speaker, Pack Prince is here, and we resent you calling us assholes,” Vale says in a cold tone.
“Come and get me before I murder your cousins, brothers, and whatever else they genetically claim to be. They have kept me in a hidden bunker playing nursemaid.”
There is a long silence that only serves to kick my temper into high gear.
“I’m sorry, what?” Vale says in what can only be shock, it’s just that it sounds strange on this alpha who always knows everything.
I start jogging. “Come get me, Vale. I swear to fuck, if you leave me here one more night, I’m removing testicles one at a time. I am done.”
“Sage took you?” he says in a high voice. “My Sage?”
“I’m not repeating myself!” I snap. “Bonnie?”
“On the way. We have your location. Should be about…thirty minutes, less if Desi is driving.”
“Let Desi drive.”
I keep moving. It is pretty out here. It’s similar to the forest Bonnie goes for her walks in, but denser, and when I catch sight of the mountains, we are in the wrong position. Not too far from home, but far enough.
Fucking Roseland. I knew he was driving in circles.
“Who are you playing nursemaid to?” Meg asks. “Are you a daddy? Do we get to call you Daddy Daega?”
I growl in warning, but Meg, who is unperturbed by everything, just lets out a deep, rolling laugh.
“Who do they have down there, Pix?” Bonnie asks in concern. “Do we need to help them, too?”
It hurts. It hurts to say, but I have to. “Roseland brought his omega; they are all a scent match, the whole lot are a pack in the making.”
The silence gets deadly.
“Are you hurting, Boo? I’ll fuck them up. I don’t care if they are related.” Meg growls and makes a whining sound.
I sniff.
“Don’t cry!” Meg says and starts to sob. “You’ll get me started.”
“I’m not crying, it’s rain.”
“Oh, my god, he can’t even realise his own feelings. It’s tragic.”
“Meg!” I snarl.
“I love you, Pixel, you are my bestest bro. Forever and ever. There will always be a place for you in our bed.”
“Meg,” Desi protests.
“Our baby needs us, Desi. He needs his mummy and daddy.”
“Oh, God,” Rory gags. “Nope, that’s not a picture I needed, ever.”
“We can make him feel good.”
“No, we can’t!” Desi says.
“Babe, wait,” Cyn protests. “I don’t think you need the grenades.”
“Pix is crying,” Bonnie says in a low voice.
“Oh, well, RIP King. It was good to know you. I’ll pay for the funeral.”
“Oh, you are a good alpha,” Bonnie purrs.
“Dinner and a show,” Meg says happily, suddenly without a tear in sight.
Kota hums. “Who is there, Pix?”
“Roseland, Blaze, Sage, Rolly, and King.”
There’s a frigid silence.
“Did you say Blaze is there, with the other three?”
“Yes.”
“Desi step on it. We’re probably too late, but we might be able to talk to him before he tries to kill us.”
“Who?” I snap.
“Shit,” Kota says, drawing the word out. “There really is no way to reason with Blaze.”
I start running faster, suddenly feeling hunted. What don’t I know about them?
“Do a drive-by. I’ll jump in,” I say urgently. I just need to get out of here.
“Gotcha,” Desi says sharply.
Ten minutes later, I see the car. I race for it. The car accelerates, then starts making a sharp U-turn. I run for the back door when Desi slams the car to a stop, completely abandoning the drive-by plan.
My scalp prickles, and I lift my head and see Blaze standing in the middle of the road in a white kimono with a gun leveled at the car.
He looks incredible. Like an avenging angel or a warrior ready to do battle.
His hair is loose, but his eyes are cold and predatory. If he’d have looked at me like this in any of the time I’d been there, I might not have considered leaving.
But he didn’t.
“I’m going!” I say loudly and clearly. “And you can’t stop me.”
Blaze cocks the gun, but he’s not got it aimed at me. He’s fully prepared to kill his family to keep me. My stomach drops out. What the fuck?
“Bonnie-” Kota whispers.
“Don’t say it. I’m not leaving him here.”
Kota climbs out of the van with his hands up. “He called us for help, Blaze.”
Blaze’s expression twists into rage. He fires into the dirt.
Dakota steps back and glances into the car. “Bonnie, this is going to end with everyone in the car dead.”
“Daega. Come home now,” Blaze says calmly.
I step in front of the car, not even flinching at the gun that is now trained on me. “This is not my home. You have ignored me and made me babysit your omega. I’m not going to nurse her back to health and-”
He moves so quickly I almost don’t have time to react, but when he brings his arm down, I snap out of it and bring my arm up. The gun goes flying into the brush. I elbow him in the face and then punch him hard.
Blaze just smiles and comes towards me. This time, he anticipates all my moves, flowing like water.
“Holy fucking alpha balls, are you seeing this, Bonnie? Could you beat him?” Meg whispers.
“If Pix can’t, I wouldn’t be able to,” Bonnie admits.
We continue fighting, but he’s faster, more trained, and eerily calm. I grab his throat and squeeze. He stops moving, staring at me intently.
“I don’t want to stay here and do this,” I roar into his face.
“You can’t leave.”
“You can’t stop me.”
A gun cocks and then presses against my head.
“He can’t, but I can,” Roseland whispers. “You’ve seen too much. I can’t let you go. Not yet.”
“Hey, Vale.”
Vale clears his throat. “Hello, Sage. My omega wants her brother back.”
They sound like they are discussing a book they’ve borrowed. It’s bordering on insulting.
Sage sighs heavily. “Yeah, about that. It’s not going to happen right now.”
“Any reason why not?” Vale asks conversationally, but there’s a thread of tension.
Sage grins and tilts his head to the side. “He’s ours.”
“Ours, meaning?”
“Ours.”
My tension ratchets up, and I shove Roseland’s arm up. The gun goes off but into the air. I hit Blaze hard, sending him flying back, but am immediately caught by Rolly, who drops me to the ground and bites the back of my neck.
I go completely and perfectly still. If he bonds me, I will never escape him.
“Babe, where you going?” he whispers and runs his hands up under my shirt, causing my skin to break out into goosebumps.
“I’m going to stab you in the balls with a kitchen fork.”
“Mm, kinky.”
“Get off me and stop drooling on my neck,” I spit out, furious but a little tiny bit scared, too.
“Can’t help it, you are so damn tasty.”
“Leave,” Roseland says in a deep growl. He raises the gun, but I shove Rolly off me and slam into him before he can shoot them.
I stand between the pack and the van that has my family in it. My body trembles with rage. I weigh every single possible move and realise there are no options. I inhale and exhale, then roar at this fucking idiot pack that won’t let me go.
I turn to the car.
“Desi, drive.” It kills me to say those words. Kills me.
“No!” Bonnie shouts.
Vale and Rory hold her.
“Don’t you dare, Desi!” Meg cries out.
“Sorry, baby, but we have to survive to fight another day,” I hear Desi yelp.
I angle myself, making sure I’m between my family and these assholes. It’s only when they are far enough away that I look up and meet the gaze of the alphas who think, who dare to think, for one fucking second that they can keep Daega O’Connell captive.
Blaze walks towards me and touches his fingers to my cheek. “You will come to understand-”
I reach up and snap his finger.
“Keep your fucking hands to yourself.”
His smile doesn’t fade or even dim. He just straightens his finger and makes a humming sound of happiness.
Once I’m satisfied he’s keeping his distance, I turn on Roseland. “If you ever raise a gun to my family again, it will be the last thing you do.”
“You think you can threaten me?” Roseland growls.
I spin, knocking the gun out of his hand and have a wire wrapped around his throat before he can speak.
“I know I can. I can end you. You live at my mercy, Aaron, and I’m running out of fucks to give.”
I let go and kick him in the back, turning to face Rolly and Sage, both of whom are watching me like they hadn’t expected me to be this angry.
“You are mine,” Blaze whispers.
“I don’t belong to anyone,” I say back. “I never have, and I never will.”
I ignore the four of them and walk back to their bunker and the prison that I haven’t been able to escape.
King is waiting when I get back. He takes one look at me and gets out of my way.
The frustration inside needs an outlet. I turn back to him and swing. He gets an arm up and blocks me. We go around fighting until I’m sweaty, and we’ve somehow made it to the gym. I collapse on my knees; the fire inside is banked, but it isn’t gone.
King is barely panting, but his huge chest is glistening with sweat, and his hair is damp and a shade darker than normal. All I can smell is him.
I stand up and walk towards him. He dances back warily, but I grab the back of his neck and press myself against him, kissing him hard.
He kisses like I need to be kissed. With possession, hunger, and teeth. I’ve banked one fire, now I need to put out another, and I use this alpha to do it. When he lifts me up, I wrap my legs around him and grind our cocks together.
“You’re so wet,” he murmurs against my lips.
The words slice through my arousal, pulling me away. “I’m not her!” I snarl, outraged, shoving free of him.
King blinks. “What?”
“I’m not her. I don’t get wet.”
King’s eyes drop down to my jeans. I follow his gaze, staring dumbfounded at the slick I’ve been leaking that has soaked through my jeans.
I look up at him, but the want, that need, is gone. All that’s left is the certainty that this will destroy me.
“Pix?”
His voice is soft, kind, even.
I back away, then turn and storm from the room, refusing to look back and answer the alpha’s question.
When Sage tries to stop me reaching my room, I punch him so hard in the face that he hits the wall and stares after me, stunned, while I escape.
I pace my bedroom, feeling like a caged tiger.
My mind slips into the dark, into memories I thought I had left behind a long time ago.
For hours, I pace, for hours, I wrestle with the hate and viciousness that is what I was birthed from.
The cage I grew up in, the one I escaped from by tithe of blood that I swore I would never let hold me again.
Then my door opens, and instead of an alpha…there’s a harmless omega who smells like iris and tonka beans and screams vulnerability. An omega that has all of us on edge because she can’t control her emotions.
I want to kill her.
Who would stop me?
Who could stop me?