Page 38 of Cost of Courting (When it Raines Omegaverse #6)

Chapter thirty-five

Bailey

This is insane. She is insane.

She came here, of all places, in the middle of her heat to rescue us! This is crazy. I’m going to kill everyone who even looks at her.

Her scent hits me, sizzling hot and so strong, I’m not sure how she’s not rubbing against the nearest hard object.

When I went through my heat, I was lost. I just jumped the alphas.

She’s acting like it’s not even affecting her at all.

I run along the corridor and find a door with a small window. When I look through, I can see a set of stairs going down. But as soon as I turn the door handle, I realise the door is locked. She ducks in front of me, crouches down, and starts shoving lock picking pins into the lock.

What even?

“Where did those come from?”

“My bra.”

My eyebrows shoot up. Well, then.

But before I can really think, she’s got it unlocked and has stepped back from the door. I glance at her, and she simply shrugs and brushes a loose lock of that blue hair away from her face.

“Come on,” I growl, but, in my mind, there is only one thought: get them out, get her out. Get the pack safe.

Oh, my god, she’s so hot in that dress, and there’s so much skin exposed.

Focus.

She laughs lightly, and I flick her another incredulous glare over my shoulder.

“I’m just happy that I found you. And I hope you realise how dead you are when we get home.”

Well, how can I be mad at that? “Let’s get the guys and get out before I have to fight everyone in here.”

She flutters her lashes at me, and, for a second, I think she might truly be enjoying herself. But, in the next second, I know she is. Selene was born an omega, but she was put into the life of a fighter and took on the role of protector. She’s a born omega but a made alpha.

Why would she be scared? Why the hell would she think she couldn’t handle a situation like this?

We’re the same, I realise in that moment. I’m alpha and omega, but so is she. I found my soulmate in my pack’s other omega.

“I really do love you,” I say, meaning it more than ever.

She slips her hand in mine and leads me down the stairs. Her perfume is strong, but it’s not affecting me the same way, and I realise my omega is coming out to play, making it easier to deal with.

Before, I would have been worried, but I’m going to do what Selene suggests and trust myself.

She opens the door, and we just pause to take in the chaos. The alphas are fighting. Not just fighting but killing each other.

“Omega, you are a force,” I whisper in awe.

She smiles smugly and slips out of the doorway. I follow her but pause when I see cages stacked on top of each other. There are animals in a lot of them, but in a cage right up against the wall are our alphas.

I can’t walk past them. I try, but I can’t. Lia would kill me.

“Go get them out. I need to do something.”

I set to unlocking the cages, one by one, releasing dogs, cats. There were pigs and even a couple of birds, but it’s the massive cat in a hidden cage down the back that takes my breath away. It would probably stand as tall as a man on its hind legs. It’s grey with black rosettes and looks deadly.

I hesitate because releasing it might be dangerous, not just to us but to someone else, but I can’t stand to see it locked up.

Trust.

I reach out and unlock the cage .

The cat tenses, its glowing green eyes watching every move I make. I pull the door open and step back, watching as it slowly slips out of the cage, creeping low on the floor, until it suddenly sprints away.

“Fuck this bullshit.”

I turn and find Selene beating the shit out of an alpha. I jog towards them but leave her to take care of it while I yank open the cage door.

Mael explodes out of it and launches at the nearest alpha, using his fists alone to cave his head in. The beauty of the violence of his movements staggers me for a second.

I am so in love with my pack.

Edric glides out, looking roughed up but cold as a glacier. While Kingston’s eyes blaze in a similar way to the cats. He grabs the alpha who Selene was fighting with and cuts his throat with the alpha’s own blade.

Selene grabs their clothes and tosses them to each alpha. The three of them watch her intently, and I can see they’ve entered a savage protective phase.

Without a word, we make our way towards the exit. Pausing only when Selene glances back, she goes to the front of the warehouse and slams a hand on the button to open the automatic doors.

“We’ve got to get back to our territory. Right now,” she says, looking over her shoulder.

Alpha’s who were messed up are starting to get their heads clear. And somewhere, Benson and his Hammer will realise what’s happened and come for us.

The huge, wide sides of the building slide open, and the animals we rescued run. Some of the alphas do, too, but we ignore them, slipping into the dark and following Selene to a car she indicates is our ride.

“Where is our car?”

“They would have taken it for parts,” Selene snaps. “Of all the stupid, idiotic things.”

Kingston pulls Selene into his lap in the backseat and kisses her hard. “Have I mentioned lately that you are the most amazing omega I have ever met?”

Selene wraps her arms around him and trembles. The stench of her heat is almost impossible to ignore.

“Don’t you let go of that yet, Selene. We’re not safe!” Edric warns in a deep alpha growl.

The car starts, and I reach forward, putting a hand on Mael’s shoulder. He’s driving, but he’s not obeying any road rules. He’s simply getting us home as fast as humanly possible.

“What happened?” Selene asks.

I’d hoped she wouldn’t ask that.

“Benson is the one,” Mael says tightly. “I think.”

“What? ”

“Benson is the one who did this to me,” Mael says in a pained voice. “I think. He knew of me being tortured. It has to be him.”

I want to soothe that pain by murdering the asshole who did it to him, but I need Selene safe.

Selene’s surprise is in the air. “Benson, as in my sister’s ex? He’s your Crimson Tiger?”

“It was the story you said. I recognised some of your description, and so we went to kill him, and we underestimated him. He just grabbed us before we even got close.”

Selene’s temper fills the air, turning the blueberry cobbler spicy.

“You didn’t think to talk to me about this?”

“You were about to be building a nest, Selene. No one wanted to take that away from you,” Kingston murmurs. “Besides, we were a bit heat drunk.”

That is the truth. We wanted her to have that, and we thought we could take care of it.

“It’s all right. I’ll take care of it now,” Selene says sweetly. “You just sit back and let me show you how it's done.”

I want to ask her more about it, but we turn into the neighbourhood, and Selene sits forward, looking for something.

“What are you looking for?” Kingston asks.

Selene just chuckles darkly. “You’ll see.”

I hear a car screeching its tires behind us and turn to look out the window.

“We’re being chased!” Edric hisses.

Selene leans forward even lower. “Floor it, lose him and get us to the park.”

Mael looks at her for a split second, then puts his foot down and sends this piece of shit car barrelling towards the park. In moments, we lose them, but Mael doesn’t stop driving. He keeps going around the neighbourhood a couple of times before he heads to the park.

“Straight out onto the oval.”

Mael doesn’t hesitate.

He drives out into the middle of the grass and parks the car. We climb out and walk into the headlights, standing there waiting.

It feels like the world holds its breath.