45 Kashmir
It had been a few hours since we left Kit, and it nearly killed me.
My thoughts were clouded because of what we found when we finally got her out.
This whole time, she had been the strongest woman I’d ever seen, but it was just a shell to protect the broken girl inside.
Saul maximized that feeling against her and made her feel like she would never be good enough again for anything or anyone else.
There weren’t words for how I wanted to revive that sonofabitch and strangle him all over again.
Sitting in the dining hall with all the other packs at their tables, I kept seeing them stirring in a fit, unable to remain calm.
They knew something was up because Kit hadn’t been doing her information drops with them.
The video Saul released to the public damned enough of her image, and I could see the brazen judgment in this room.
I didn’t care what any of them thought. At this point, their initial threat was dead, so they could leave this place and be done with it.
Anika strolled into the room with her brother at her side. She looked over to our group with a slight tilt in their chin to let us know Damien agreed. They must have been planning this whole time of what needed said, but I was still on edge, wondering if this would work.
“May I have your attention,” Anika said, polite about it.
With everyone being so on edge, they quickly snapped their gazes her way because they wanted information.
“I come here today to quiet the rumors. Yes, Omega had been kidnapped by the man we were hunting, and it took us a while to return her home. Due to this attack, we worked swiftly and quietly to handle the situation. Omega has been returned safely and has been under the care of her Alpha.”
“So he’s here?” Darius couldn’t hide his eagerness to learn more.
Anika nodded his way to address his question. “He is, and he will be here in just a moment to greet you all. I’m just here as a formality to let you all know that Saul has been killed, and his men as well.”
“So we can go home?” Another Alpha in the back asked. I didn’t pay attention to which one it was because I didn’t care.
“Your homes will still need to be rebuilt,” she was quick to remind him. “Our hospitality does not end just because the threat has been neutralized. If your packs need it, your sanctuary can extend until you have restored your homes or move.”
“We appreciate that,” Darius informed her. There was a small wave of peace as they all learned they were safer in the streets. I could already see some beginning to itch to move out today. That was fine by me because most were cowards we sat across from when it came to the inner families.
Without saying anything else, the door opened for Damien to make his entrance.
Everyone noticed the hard look of the Alpha as though he played a gangster on the streets.
He definitely fit the leadership role of this compound when it came to the homeless population thriving.
He also looked rather deadly with how he strode forward like he stalked his prey.
The animalistic movement told everyone to remain still in his presence.
Though, that wasn’t what caught my attention.
A strong whiff of lemon pie made it to my nose, startling me into a stupor.
I didn’t hear anything else he had to say because I knew exactly what that smell came from.
It wasn’t only my hackles that raised from it as Ryatt looked utterly pissed.
Kit had orgasmed with him, and it had just happened for us to smell it the way we were.
Damien and Anika worked the room, spinning the stories that made them all believe he was the Alpha, but I didn’t listen.
There was a light ringing in my ears as I understood he had just fucked Kit while she recovered from being used like a whore.
Ryatt saw my expression and how I gripped the butter knife on the table.
He nodded his head for me to follow him after whispering something to Turner.
We stood from our table and snuck out as the two kept pitching their story to the rest of the crime lords.
Turner would inform us later of what happened, but we knew we needed to check on our girl.
We weren’t sure if we were going to walk in and see her hurt from his brutality or not. If so, that man was as good as dead.
Both of us sprinted to the room. There wasn’t a care about anything else as we made our way through the maze to the quiet hall where no one walked.
We didn’t even knock because we barged in and found her leaving the bathroom to get back to her bed.
Her chest raised with a flush, and her cheeks were still rosy.
“What are you guys doing? Aren’t you supposed to be in the dining hall?” Her steps were still weak as she made her way over to her bed and sat down to crawl up into her nest.
“We could smell you on him,” I growled. She immediately sensed where our minds had gone, so she quickly raised her hands to calm us down.
“I asked him to be with me like that, and he was very gentle the whole time. Before you jump to conclusions, just know that was on me, and he tried telling me no because of my condition.”
“But you’re hurt,” Ryatt started. She bit her lip and looked to the floor. When she raised her sullen eyes, I knew I wouldn’t like what she was about to say.
“Do you know what hurts more than being physically broken?” She met our stares.
“Being so emotionally damaged you forget what love is. Being so used to the numb that it almost hurt to be reminded that I still loved. Damien understands that because he’s lived in a similar isolation too, and we both know this is where our paths separate.
Love isn’t kind to me like it has been to your pack, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel what I can’t have. ”
Neither of us were prepared for her to say that to our faces.
Kit had suffered the greatest out of us, and I wasn’t sure we could undo our wrong to her.
We came in here bitter and angry about what she’d been doing with someone else, but I was just seeing for the first time what Damien really meant to her.
Most of us were able to deduct he meant something for him to find Castiel in order to save her life, but I didn’t realize she loved him.
Damien Rios, another love she couldn’t have.
Right when Ryatt went to say something, I placed my hand over his mouth and gave her a gentle nod in understanding.
Unlike the others, I was the one who saw her rigidly healed wounds on her back up close.
We all knew about them now that we had been in her bed, but I’ll never forget how they made me feel that first day my fingers grazed over the raised skin of her scars.
“We’re sorry for intruding, and I can’t really explain why we felt the need to. ”
“Just like you barged into my room last time?” It really wasn’t a question but more of a statement because she understood why we couldn’t help ourselves.
Before I could respond to her, Kit sprung to her feet and began running for the bathroom.
Her run had a wobble in every step because she wasn’t strong enough to carry herself completely.
She dove against her toilet as every digit on her hand began to tremble.
The quake didn’t ease as her hands took hold of the toilet bowl right before her face dropped to begin puking.
Everything within me hummed with worry because I didn’t know what was going on with her.
Her stomach wretched everything inside as though a parasite embedded inside.
Her body had to get rid of by expelling everything.
She heaved and the little she ate came back out.
It took her a few minutes to finish, but then she fell on the floor like she couldn’t hold herself up any longer.
Her hands were shuddering even after letting go in her fall on the tiled floor.
A warning for us because the rest of her began shaking, but we didn’t know.
Ryatt and I were quick to act, sprinting to pick her back up and hold her as she began to seize.
We looked at each other in worry because we didn’t understand what was going on.
Keeping her on her side, we knew she might vomit more while having her seizure.
Watching her convulse did something to me, and I hated our decision even more.
The seizure didn’t last long, but we had no idea if another would be following.
Ryatt held her limp form as her head tipped backward over his bicep.
She looked too vulnerable, too fragile. It was shredding me apart, and all my anger left when it came to hating Damien.
He was the only reason Kit survived his father twice.
This would’ve been her on the side of the road like the rest of Saul’s whores if he hadn’t, or she would’ve been tossed into the river.
Closing my eyes, I felt the tears freely fall, knowing there was no stopping them.
“Kit,” Ryatt cried her name in a whisper. His face buried into her neck, feeling for her pulse because she didn’t look like she breathed.
“What’s wrong with her?” I panicked, studying every greying feature of her beautiful face.
“I don’t know.” His hand cupped her cheek to rouse her a little more. “That seizure didn’t seem like it was deadly.”
“It wasn’t the seizure,” a voice broke from the doorway. We glanced to see Damien there with his eyes forlorn in misery.
“What are you talking about?” I asked as Ryatt kept fighting Kit for her conscious to stir.
“She’s been pumped full of drugs, and she hasn’t had any since her return two days ago. Most can’t cut them cold turkey without it killing them.” Damien revealed a syringe from his back pocket, prepared for this part.
Ryatt and I shared a mortified face. We were the leading power when it came to streaming drugs into the city, but we hadn’t seen this side of them firsthand.
Even when it was a dead whore on the side of the road, the consequence of our money never bothered me.
But Kit had never been a whore. She was the only woman I had ever loved.
Letting my mourning gaze go back to him, we knew he had more experience with this part than us.
We had to trust him to save the woman we failed once again.
He didn’t hesitate to move closer, hovering over us without fear.
Injecting the drugs, Kit hummed with a sigh as she slept.
Damien felt guilty about this, but he didn’t want her dead either.
“I was watching her earlier because I hoped she wouldn’t need more, but I expected the worst through that na?ve hope. ”
“How often will she need drugs?” Ryatt asked.
“For the first few days, once every other day. Then taper from there based on her tolerance being off them. Anika knows what to do. She was the one who handled this part last time, so I gave her the supply I have for Kit.” Damien got up, knowing Kit already showed signs of improvement with her breathing, hating it completely.
“I have to go back to my father’s men, so I’ll be silent until Castiel reaches out to me. ”
“You’re leaving?” I was shocked. Letting my eyes swing between him and Kit. “Don’t you love her?”
Damien’s unhinged edge sharpened when he flipped back my way. “I love her enough to leave her. I love her enough to never make her chose which pack to pick. I love her enough to go back into the nest of vipers my father lied with to ensure no one ever comes for her again.”
After he said it, I understood how much he had given up in his lifetime, but I didn’t get one thing. “Why didn’t you run with her all those years ago? Why did you stay with your father?”
“My mother.” We understood it. Our own fathers hadn’t been kind to our mothers.
“Give your number to one of my men, so I can update you on Kit,” Ryatt ordered. Damien had done too much to sit on pins and needles.
“I’d appreciate that.” Nodding his head, an agreement rested between them, the two Alphas. “Just love her right this time. Love like you won’t have a tomorrow because we’ve all woken up without her already.”
Leaving us, I could tell he got choked up.
Damien Rios really did openly bleed for our girl.
Ryatt and I knew that meant we’d have to find a way around this complex mess.
Damien would take over as Alpha of his father’s men to work things from the inside, so he couldn’t join our ranks.
He was giving us the thing he loved most because he still planned on protecting her as much as he could.
I needed to be more like him, but I I’d be too selfish to ever let Kit out of my sight again. She could refuse me for the rest of her days, but I’d still stand in her shadow just to see her light creating it. I’d have to die to ever leave her again.