Pack Bliss, page 21
part #2 of A Blissful Omegaverse Series
“Those things have trackers, right? Or at least check-in points?”
It took me a moment to figure out what she meant, and then I caught sight of the logo on the side of the rental moving company. We looked at each other. “Maybe.”
I leaned forward further, and the ties cut into the skin of my wrists. Tears pricked at the edges of my vision, and I beat it back. I didn’t have time to cry.
Flora’s ties snapped, and she let out a breath that was almost a sob. She turned to me, her dark hair clinging to the wet streaks on her cheeks. “Here. Let me help.”
The door to the emergency exit banged open, and Flora jumped, returning her hands behind her back. I braced myself at the same time as my stupid heart leapt, hoping to see the guys. Dread landed in my stomach as Nero stepped into my line of sight, his gaze trained directly on me.
“What, no gasp of shock? You used to have the most entertaining reactions.”
I gritted my teeth, refusing to react. Anything I did would just give me away. He’d smell my fear, anger, and loathing, and I didn’t want him to have any of it. He didn’t deserve the satisfaction.
He looked less put together than he had the other times I’d seen him, like he was unraveling at the seams. His blond hair was dirty, stringy, and sticking up in odd places. His clothing was unironed, and he had a suit coat thrown on over a T-shirt, like he’d worn half an outfit. Somehow, this felt like it couldn’t all be about me. But then again, who was I to judge the bruised ego of a crazy person?
He stepped up and stood directly in front of me, running one finger down my cheek. He stopped at my chin and tilted my face up so I was forced to meet his cold eyes. “How was your day, honey?” he said, voice full of sarcastic malice.
I reeled back and spit in his face. “Fuck yourself.”
Time slowed as Nero’s face split into a mask of rage. He raised his hand to wipe my saliva off his cheek. “Bitch. When are you going to learn your place?”
Just as I expected, he raised the same hand and brought it down across my face, hard enough that my head whipped to the right. Involuntary tears rose in my eyes, but I didn’t resist, letting all my weight flop to the side. My already weakened zip ties snapped with the force of the motion. I gritted my teeth against the pain and kept my hands behind my back, pretending nothing had happened. Worth it.
“When are you going to learn I’m never going to belong to you?” I said with as much venom as I could muster.
He bent so we were on the same eye level and smiled, genuinely this time—or genuine for him. He wrapped his fingers around my throat. “But that’s where you’re wrong. You do belong to me in every way that counts, and now I need you to help me retract some vicious lies you told that are creating problems for me.”
I stared at him. Was he insane? “Why would I ever help you?”
His smile grew wider. “Because I don’t think you want anyone to find out your friend killed her mate, do you?”
I gasped—one of those entertaining reactions that Nero had been hoping for, I supposed—and he laughed. I didn’t care. Flora and I looked at each other, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. How did he find out?
With Flora miraculously turning up alive, there probably would have been suspicious questions, but her parents had been all over it. Lawyers, publicists, friends in the government, I didn’t even know. Sometimes I forgot that Flora was rich and that her father was the kind of alpha who had an omega mate because he was important and not because he gamed the system. Regardless, Nero shouldn’t have known—unless he didn’t know and he was guessing. Had our reactions just told him?
The sound of Flora’s mate tumbling down the stairs combined in my head with the silencer of the gun, the locking of a door, and the pounding of my heart. Thud. Click. Thwup.
I needed to breathe.
“Hey, man,” Joey greeted Nero loudly, striding over.
Nero stepped back from me and turned his nose up at Joey—literally. “What is that stench of blood?”
“Oh,” he laughed. “No big. We just had an extra on board.”
Nero glanced at the truck, and his face twisted in rage. For a moment, I thought it was about Sarah, but—
“You fucking imbecile. What is this?”
“Um, a truck?”
Nero blinked at him in a way that conveyed so much violence it was oddly poetic. “Is it your truck?”
“No. Our truck is at the shop, see, ’cause my cousin had this thing, and then—” He broke off, seeming to realize he was in very real danger. Good job, Joey.
Nero looked in the truck, then back to us and to the two betas, now evidently thinking. A growl bubbled up in his throat. Bad Chris seemed to shrink, no longer so cocky with a bigger dog in the room.
“You have created quite a problem for me, boys,” Nero said in a tone that promised murder.
Joey glanced at me, and I wondered if he was thinking about what I said. Nero would kill him. I gave him a tiny nod as if to say, You should run, or better yet, shoot this asshole. It was a lot of words for a nod, but I hoped he was listening.
The doors opened again, and I looked up, my heart pounding double time, hope filling me.
But no one stood there.
I blinked in confusion at the empty space beyond the door. We all turned to stare.
Another crash echoed through the parking garage, rattling off the walls and through the cavernous space. A car careened inside, stopping just behind the truck, and all the doors flew open, revealing my alphas.
A bullet flew through the air, hitting the large Chris Pratt beta, the one who had killed Sarah, right in the neck. Blood sprayed everywhere, again splattering my arms, but this time, I didn’t vomit. I watched him topple to the pavement in a pool of his own blood. Good riddance.
Nero and Joey turned in unison to see the pack and Wes all getting out of the car, seemingly before it had come to a complete halt. Flora and I took the opportunity of their turned backs to jump to our feet.
The sound of me standing behind him had Nero spinning to look at me. His face twisted again, rage and mania flashing across his features.
My eyes darted to the beta’s dead body, zeroing in on the gun in his belt. My adrenaline spiked, and I was sprinting around the bench and toward the gun before I knew what I was doing.
“Stop!” Nero reached for me, his fingers grazing my hair.
“Bliss!” Flora tried to get between us, shoving him back with all her strength.
Nero growled and swatted her like a fly, her entire body flying backward. She bounced off the bench with a sickening crunch that could only be her skull and slumped to the pavement as my lungs seized, panic overtaking me. Wes’ incoherent scream reverberated through the garage, the echo as sickening as the sound of the crunch. Thud. Click. Thwup. Crunch.
The beta’s arms came around me where I’d frozen to watch Flora.
“I’ve got her,” Joey yelled in nervous triumph as he held me in front of him a foot or so off the ground. “If you shoot me, I’ll shoot her.”
“Don’t fucking touch her,” someone yelled. Ares or maybe Rafe—their voice was distorted by the echoes of the garage and the ringing in my ears.
I stared out at the scene in front of me, my head a mess of sound. The guys carried guns but seemed reluctant to keep shooting at this range in case they hit us by mistake. Wes held Flora, and she blinked up at him, a little dazed.
I breathed again, trying to find focus in all the chaos. I imagined for a moment I could hear the breathing of my pack beside me, though they were too far away. No echoes. Just their breathing and my own heart.
“He’s not going to let you leave, especially after that truck,” I said so only Joey could hear. “Stay alive.”
And then, I let my body go limp, just like I’d practiced a thousand times.
Joey dropped me. I crashed to the ground, my knees slamming into the pavement, and I yelped but kept moving, crawling toward the puddle of blood and the body with the gun. My breath came in fast, erratic pants.
Out of the corner of my eye, Joey backed up, making a break for the door.
“Fucking cunt, get back here,” Nero screamed, tearing after me.
I reached the body and fumbled for the gun just as he came up behind me. His fingertips grazed the back of my head, but I turned around, pointing the gun at his face. Our eyes connected at the last second, and I breathed a sigh of relief before pulling the trigger.
Thwup.
CHAPTER 24
Wes
Ishifted my weight in the uncomfortable hospital chair, knocking over two mostly empty coffee cups with my elbow. Shit.
I looked over to the cot three feet away, where Flora was still deep asleep. She didn’t move as the cups clattered to the floor. I sighed in relief.
Flora had pulled the thin blanket over her shoulders and curled onto her side, facing me. A small bandage wrapped around her head was the only thing indicating she was injured. Well, other than being laid out in a hospital.
The room was specifically designed for omegas. There was a special ventilation system, a guard on duty, and no other occupant. Other than that, it looked like a typical sterile patient room. The nurse had turned off the overhead fluorescent lights, saying something about how they would aggravate Flora’s concussion.
She looked peaceful, her even breathing easing some of the tension crawling up my skin. Fucking Christ, it had been close. I swore I felt my fucking heart stop when she collapsed.
Nothing in my life had prepared me to see her limp like that, and the pause between me reaching her and her next breath felt like a lifetime. Her lashes had dropped over her eyes, near black with over dilated pupils. The only thing that stopped me from losing it was her tight grip on my hand, tethering me to her.
The door opened slowly, and Flora turned away when the light cast over her face. A low rumble formed in my chest but quickly cut off as Bliss walked in, a nurse walking close behind her.
Bliss held two coffees from the cafeteria downstairs. She handed one to me and propped her back on the door. “How is she?”
I lifted the cup, and the bitter taste filled my mouth. “Same as she was an hour ago. She hasn’t woken.”
The nurse nodded as though I were talking to her. “That’s to be expected. I’ll check her vitals now.”
She bustled over to Flora’s monitor while reading something on a clipboard. I nodded to Bliss as if to say, Well, there you go.
The middle-aged doctor had already assured us it was a mild concussion. Flora staying the night was an extra precaution because she was an omega, and the hospital was more than happy to accommodate. That didn’t stop me and Bliss from watching over her.
Bliss rubbed her hands over her face. She looked exhausted. It was a sheer miracle the guys had let her stay this long. Although there was a fat chance they’d ever say no to her again. The power of four alphas in the palm of one small omega. I would think that was a bad idea if it wasn’t clear she was just as much in love with them as they were with her.
“I can stay with her. You should get some rest.” Her nose scrunched up, and her voice was light. “Maybe a shower.”
There was no fucking way I was leaving this room without Flora. I held up my cup. “Thanks for the coffee, but I’m good.”
Bliss smiled at me, then glared at the window as if she could see the guys through the closed blinds. She let out an exasperated huff, pressing her palm below her ribs and rolling her eyes. “I’m being summoned.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Can you really do that?”
“No. Not literally, but they’re making their displeasure impossible to ignore. I feel like my skin is trying to walk away without me.”
“Huh,” I said. What the hell did you say to that? It was creepy how they could “feel” each other like that.
“That might not be empathetic bond transference you’re feeling,” the nurse said as she checked something off on Flora’s clipboard and leaned over to press an electric thermometer to her forehead.
Bliss cocked her head to the side. “Excuse me?”
The nurse pushed her hair behind her ears and looked up. “Did you say you feel like you’re being summoned? Is that common?”
Bliss hesitated. “Well, no, but—”
The thermometer beeped, and the nurse pulled it back from Flora’s face. She gave a satisfied nod. “No fever. Your friend is a very normal 101.3 degrees. Care to check yours?”
I blinked and quietly slid my phone out of my jeans pocket to google “average body temperature.”
“Um, I guess,” Bliss said awkwardly.
The nurse finished with Flora’s chart and crossed the room, coming to stand in front of Bliss. She changed the cover on the top of the electric thermometer wand and ran the thing along Bliss’s forehead. It beeped.
“Ah, see? That’s what I thought. You’re already at 104.7.”
“What?” Bliss squeaked, grabbing for the thermometer to look. “What does that mean?”
“It means you’ll be heading into your cycle within the next day or two.”
Bliss flushed, and I looked away, doing my best to blend into the wall.
“Listen, I guess I do need to run.” She looked out the window again. “Call me the second she wakes up, okay?”
“Will do.”
“I’m serious.” She squared her shoulders, all traces of exhaustion or discomfort vanishing. “I don’t want her to wake up here alone.”
The “or else” was heavily implied.
Annoyance crawled up my skin. There wasn’t a world where I’d let that happen. Hadn’t I just said I wasn’t leaving? “I swear I’ll be here. And I’ll call you. Or she can if she wants.”
Bliss made her way to the door—I guess she was satisfied—but then she stopped and glanced back at me. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on between you two. You’ve somehow wiggled your way to being important to her.”
I choked on my laugh. “Accurate.”
Bliss’ gaze softened as she looked at her best friend, still asleep. “She’s just been through so much. I…she can’t break.”
I gritted my teeth against the growl threatening to escape. “She’s stronger than you’re giving her credit for.”
Bliss smiled, wiping a tear away from her cheek, and sniffled. “I know she’s strong. I just wish she’d stop having to be.”
My jaw clenched, and I squeezed my hot coffee a little too hard, the scalding drink spilling over onto my hand. I quickly put the cup down. “If I have a say in the matter—which from now on, I fucking do.” Bliss raised an eyebrow at that statement, but I ignored it. “Flora will never be in this kind of situation again.”
“I’m happy she found you,” Bliss said finally, a small smile crossing her face. “Not that I think this is settled or that she’ll make it easy.”
“Good,” I said without a trace of sarcasm. “I like a challenge.”
Bliss laughed and gave me a look that clearly said I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I glared until she shut the door behind her, muffling the sound.
Rubbing fabric and the cot creaking brought my attention back to Flora. She touched her hand to her head. “Bliss?”
Shit.
“Bliss just left. Do you want me to go get her?” Every fiber of my fucking being hated the idea of leaving even for a second, but I waited for her reply.
Her deep brown gaze met mine. “Wes?” Her brows pinched together, and then a flash of panic crossed her face.
“You’re safe.” I cupped the side of her jaw, making sure she could see the seriousness in my eyes. “Bliss and the guys are safe. Nero was…taken care of… For the most part, everything turned out okay.”
I wasn’t sure what to say about the girl who was taken with them and got killed in the van. Things hadn’t turned out one hundred percent okay, and I had no way of knowing how much that death would impact Flora or Bliss. I didn’t know the other girl or how they knew her. I did know that I was selfishly grateful that our whole group had come out miraculously unscathed.
If that made me a bad person, fine. I was willing to lead the parade of sinners into hell on Judgment Day, as long as my girl would be right there beside me, twirling a flaming baton.
All the tension drained from Flora, and she leaned against my hand. “Well, that’s good, then.”
Her response was a little too bubbly. “Still a little woozy from your concussion, aren’t you?”
“Hmm. A little.”
“Alright, get some rest. You’ll be going home in the morning.” I went to lift off the bed, but her hand clenched in mine.
“Don’t go.”
“Never dream of it. I’m just sitting in that chair right there.” I pointed to the chair in the corner. Half of me wanted to crawl onto the cot with her, but the smarter half knew now was not the time.
She glanced at the chair, then back at me. “Okay.” Her eyelids were drooping before she finished the word, and I watched until her breathing grew deep in sleep.
“I’m glad to see that Omega Flora has so many caring friends.” A slender lady who had to be at least as old as written language entered the room. She wore a black sweater, and her hair was piled on top of her head.
“Sorry, who are you?”
She gave me a look that made me feel like she was looking through me. “I’m the headmistress of the Institute.”
I relaxed a bit, remembering that Flora said Bliss liked this woman. Representative something or other. “Does Bliss know you’re here?”
“Of course.” She raised one brow while simultaneously looking down her nose at me. “You do not think they will let just anyone in here, do you?”
I shrugged. “They let me in.”
She gave me another quick assessing look, and her eyes turned soft. “It’s quite clear you are not just anyone. You love her, correct?”
I flinched back. “I don’t—”
“Save your lies for your priest and your mother, dear. I’m an omega. I’m sure you know we can scent lies, and I’m trying to help you.”
I did, and it was annoying as all hell. “I don’t have a priest,” I said acidly. “I’ve got a hell of a bartender.”
