Page 37 of Cost of Courting (When it Raines Omegaverse #6)

Chapter thirty-four

Selene

I park a block from his warehouse, knowing that I’ve probably already been clocked, and he knows I’m here. Reluctantly, I pull all my weapons out of my pockets and leave them in the car. I won’t have a chance to use them.

But I’ve got my own weapon.

The trick isn’t coming in undetected, it’s coming in so that they underestimate me and, boy, oh, boy, are they are going to underestimate me tonight.

The simmering heat in my veins turns to scorching lava.

My incredibly see through, black lace, skin tight dress that only just covers my nipples and lower body has turned me into something no one has seen from me before.

It sits tight until just below my ass and then flares out a bit because of a slit on my right leg, but it stretches right up and collars my neckline, leaving my arms free.

My heat is here. I’ve known it all day. I’ve felt it coming.

We have a plan, and, unluckily for me, I am the only person who can pull this off. I’m the dumbass walking into a den of criminal alphas who believe you take what you want and would rape the fuck out of me given half a chance.

But I have no intention of letting any of them touch me.

Not a chance in hell.

The sounds of the club’s music and alphas gets louder and louder. I get to the door and push it open. The massive security guard sees me and lets me through.

I’m already past when he catches my scent. I hear a deep guttural groan, and my heart explodes into a gallop .

Cutting myself and jumping in a pen full of hungry sharks would be safer than this.

I keep my eyes fixed on the other side of the room, watching the stairs and the platform where I can see Hammer glaring down at everyone.

Lasers shoot across the room in time with the music. Beta and omega women dance with hungry alphas. Their hands roving over the women’s bodies possessively.

As my scent hits the first alpha, his scent changes, his attention sharpens, and it causes a cascade through the crowd.

I continue walking through them, completely unconcerned or at least in appearance.

My palms are sweating, and I feel like I might be sick, but that’s not going to stop me.

My head's high, shoulder's back, confident.

Benson’s sitting on his throne looking down at his cult, but he hasn’t seen me yet. He’s got a girl on her knees, sucking his cock, so I guess he’s distracted.

An alpha growls and reaches for me, but I snap out my leg and shove a boot deep into his gut, sending him flying back.

He stumbles back, caught by the crowd that surges towards me.

“Stay back!” I shout.

I keep moving, the heat sweeps through me, and I clench my fingers as a soft moan slips free. It drives them wild. They growl. The leash that Benson put on them is slipping.

Oh, this was a bad idea. I’m going to kill my pack when I have them back.

Slick coats my inner thighs, but I ignore it and keep walking. I get to the stairs and grip the railing, not giving myself a second to think.

Alpha’s growl and follow me up. Each step is agony to take, but I keep pushing. My muscles are so tense, aware of the danger at my back, breathing on my neck.

I want to attack them, fight them, shove them away, but I can’t. To do that would spell my doom, and then Pack Dread would die. There is no backup plan to get them out.

It’s me. That’s the entire plan.

My pheromones sweep through the air-conditioned warehouse and hit every single alpha in here. The growls and groans have the hairs on my body on end, and, somewhere deep in this building, I hear the echo of an enraged growl from one of my alphas.

It’s one of the most dangerous things I’ve done.

I don’t feel any regret.

Luna will be okay if I don’t make it through this, and, no matter what happens to me, I’ll be okay with it just knowing I tried to get them out.

One way or another, we will be together in this life or the next.

I get to the top and see the crowd of his favorites. They part, turning towards me, almost salivating as they realise it’s me that smells so divine.

I ignore them all, focused instead on Benson.

“Selene, what are-” he pauses, his pupils growing dark. The pupils expanding. He inhales deeply, drawing my scent into him. I want to break his nose and watch him drown.

He doesn’t lunge at me like I would have expected but gets up in a fluid movement and stalks towards me. An alpha preening and showing off for an omega. He reaches down and adjusts his cock. His charcoal scent hits me hard, musky, filthy. I have to swallow the bile that chases up my throat.

I want to throw up all over his disgusting face.

Instead, I keep my face blank, rigidly refusing to allow even one tiny crack through my mask. My scent is saying one thing, but, by damn, I am more than just an omega. I’ve proven that over and over.

I am a chosen alpha.

I take care of my own.

I am not a slave to pheromones.

“Selene, Selene, Selene. Have you come here to get some relief? Are you going to get on your knees and crawl for me?”

I don’t let his words even touch me. I can’t. That way lies insanity. I focus on him.

“You have something that belongs to me.”

He moves closer, dragging a finger up my arm. I want to say that I react purely in disgust, but I don’t. I have control of my mind, but my body is another matter, and I’m an omega being touched by an alpha.

Superpower.

Being an omega is a superpower.

“Oh, and what is that?”

“Give them back, and I’ll let you live.”

He hits me. The arousal falters and fades just a fraction, making it easier to breathe. My face goes numb with the pain.

“You’ll keep a civil tongue in your mouth and be grateful for everything I give you, including my knot.”

“Where is the pack?” I ask flatly, knowing he won’t ever tell me.

“What pack?” he says and reaches out, stroking his thumb across my bottom lip.

He pulls it away, and I see blood a second before he sucks it into his mouth. His eyes roll, and he lets out a groan.

That sound is echoed by the masses.

I’ll be lucky if I don’t get torn apart here. I start to sweat.

“I’ll stay here and do whatever you want if you let them go.”

Benson rocks back on his heels. “I’m shocked. The Ice Queen of the Ghetto is willing to finally trade in flesh all for a couple of reject alphas with no breeding? ”

I swallow hard. “Take it or leave it,” I say, trying to sound confident.

“Or,” his grin is pure evil, “I could just take you and keep them.”

I shake my head. “I’ll fight you.”

He steps close, gripping my nape and dragging me close so our cheeks are touching.

“I like a little fight in my omegas before I break them.”

I jerk back, and he lets me go, laughing.

“Your sacrifice is noted, Selene, but you have no power here.”

I whimper.

There’s a deep growl from one of the alphas in the back. He’s got crazy eyes and dark hair. I don’t know him, but he’s ready to defy Benson.

I run my hand down my ribs and moan. Not blatantly but discreetly.

It works. The alphas press forward, pushing in an effort to get to me.

“Stay back!” Benson snarls at his people.

It does nothing. The shock on his face would be comical if I weren’t in this position. I wonder how long it’s been since people just didn’t listen to him? He completely ignores me as he steps around me, glaring up at Hammer.

“Do something.”

Hammer doesn’t take his eyes off me. He doesn’t even acknowledge that Benson is speaking.

And this is the hole in their plan, the one I’m going to use to my advantage.

When you subscribe to an alpha-only gang, you don’t have an omega, and you live in all this violence day in and day out, it changes you.

As much as my lifestyle has changed me. The difference is that my neighbours, my friends, kept me grounded.

In all the years without my pack and through the fluctuations of my hormones and pre-heats, they gave me a reason to keep fighting.

I don’t even know if Benson has allowed alphas to be with omegas.

Right now, he’s got a very big problem on his hands.

And I think he’s just discovering the hole in his big, huge master plan.

One little spark and this place is going to go up in flames.

“Get back there, and do your damn job!” Benson shouts. He shoves Hammer, who stumbles into another huge wall of muscle.

The alpha scents are a toxic mix, confusing my senses and making me dizzy. It’s hard to breathe, but I keep my focus. I have to. Their lives might depend on it.

An alpha reaches out to me, but Benson is there attacking. He’s not going to want to share. Benson has wanted to break me for longer than I can remember. He is my greatest protection right now .

I spin out of the way, making sure I get clear of any grasping hands. I stand there and let out a very deep and pathetic, needy whine. It takes three seconds for the place to explode.

They attack each other with a violence that they have directed at the local communities.

I hope they kill each other, but I don’t stick around to find out.

I need to find them, that is my only priority. I slip down the hallway, jogging as I start getting frantic.

An alpha appears in front of me, and I snap a kick to his knee. He goes down hard. I open a door and look inside. There’s nothing in here but filthy-looking couches and a massive TV. I keep going and open the second door.

The bedroom is massive and more luxurious than anything I’ve seen, but on the bed is a man tied up. He’s naked and blindfolded, but I recognise Bailey immediately.

I rush over to him and yank the blindfold down. His eyes lock onto me, and I realise he’s as affected by my heat as everyone else.

I pull my knife out of the elaborate braid and cut through the zip ties. He rolls to his feet and stalks to a chair, pulling on his clothes.

Bailey is fairly vibrating with rage. I don’t have time to ask, to check, but I don’t think anyone has touched him. He smells clean.

“Where are they?” I whisper to Bailey.

“Downstairs in a cage, waiting to fight. He wants to break Kingston and Edric before he hands Mael over to the Tiger.”

“Wait? Benson isn’t the Tiger?”

“I don’t know,” Bailey says helplessly.

I let out a groan, anticipating how bad it's going to be if I go down there.

Bailey goes to the wooden chair and kicks it apart, yanking off a leg and turning to face me.

“We’re going to talk when we get out of here.”

I glare at him. “Yeah, we are.”

Bailey grabs my wrist and yanks me into his hard chest. His eyes gleam, and I can see the faint hint of bruises on his skin.

His lips slam down on mine. I go up in flames, my perfume flooding the room.

“Only you would come here in the middle of a heat.”

“I’m not having a damn heat without my alphas,” I retort back, even as my head spins wildly.

He cups my cheek and stares down at me. “You are insane and fucking crazy, but I love you. Thank you for coming to get me.”

I hold my breath, fighting the urge to lean into him and delay our departure .

“We need to get the pack and get out so we can go and have a heat.”

“Okay,” Bailey says and then stomps away from me and opens the door.

On the other side is an alpha who charges him. Bailey pulls his arm back and then delivers a punch that sends the alpha into a crumpled unconscious lump on the ground.

I snort. “Overkill?”

“No, not even close. I’ve got a few bones to pick with these thugs.”

“We can’t go the way I came in. We need to find the other way down. There has to be one. It’s where all his fighters come from.”

Bailey glances at me, and when he turns left, I follow.

I feel better having him back with me.

But I won’t be fully happy until Pack Dread is in my sights.