Page 40 of Cost of Courting (When it Raines Omegaverse #6)

Chapter thirty-seven

Mael

He gets out of the car, oozing with confidence, and why wouldn’t he? He’s got a huge group of the Cobra’s most aggressive alphas with him, ready to wage war on us.

I thought seeing him would fix something in me and I would be able to kill him and just forget, but I can tell right now that even killing him it’s not going to end it.

I try to recall that time in his custody, but I can’t recall there being a second person.

Why, when I look at him, don’t I feel anything?

“You’ve gotten away from us twice now, Mael,” he shouts as soon as he gets close enough. “So, this is where you want to end this? Here in this shitty park? I look forward to it.”

Except he’s hiding again behind his line of alphas like the coward he is. The person who cut me up wasn’t like that.

Selene brushes up beside me and smiles widely.

“I’m going to miss you so much, Benson.”

His smile flickers and dies.

“Selene, it’s only going to be more painful for you the longer you hold out.”

She shrugs. “I never did anything the easy way, and you haven’t beaten me in all these years. You won’t beat me today.”

His hands clench, and some of the alphas spread out around him, shifting, restless, and frustrated.

Bailey’s omega scent hits me, and instead of feeling like I need to protect these omegas and feeling the weight of that pressure, I sink into a calm, cool place where my vision sharpens, and I start noticing things like the evenness of my breathing, the leaves moving and shifting.

The fact that the tattoo on his throat isn’t the same.

It’s not him. Benson isn’t the Tiger.

Did I get us all into this situation for nothing?

I move my gaze along the line of alphas and land on Hammer. His shirt is ripped, and peeking out between the tears of his t-shirt is the darker outline of a tiger face.

My heart jumps into my throat, and I breathe out through my nose.

My tenuous hold of control starts to slip.

I remember his taunts, the way he laughed when he cut into my skin and used those claws to tear grooves from my flesh.

“It’s him.”

Selene looks at me and follows my gaze to Hammer.

“Hammer. It’s Hammer who is the killer. The Crimson Tiger.”

Benson mutters to a couple of alphas, gesturing wildly. They start moving towards us, pulling out knives and other weapons.

A harley starts and revs loudly. It’s echoed by dozens more. All around the park, headlights turn on, facing us.

“What’s this?” Edric asks, turning in a circle.

Bailey twists until he sees one particular rider. “Dad.”

Selene hasn’t taken her eyes off Benson, and, when he charges, she leaps forward, too.

Hammer, to my extreme horror, is staring at her. Fixated on her. I recognise that obsessive way he watches things. The cant of his head and the stiff pose.

That alone has me jumping forward, aiming to intercept him. There is no way in hell I’m going to let him near her.

“What the fuck is this?” Benson shouts.

“This is the end!” Zaden shouts. “You don’t mess with the clubs. You don’t touch the Raines.”

Selene is almost at him, but Kingston and Edric are just behind her. The bikers appear from nowhere, throwing punches and wading in.

But then I see something that almost stops me dead.

The neighbourhood is here. They’ve got baseball bats and brooms and whatever they can have for weapons. Even old, injured Mr Match is here.

I refocus on Hammer in time to see him lift one of his giant fists at Selene. She’s not watching, she hasn’t seen it. It could kill her.

The rage explodes, and I throw myself into him .

There’s no thought, just this hot, deep, feral rage. I hit into him over and over. He shoves me back and dodges my next few blows. He lands a couple before we break apart, circling.

“You remember now,” he smirks. “You wouldn’t give me anything. No words, no reactions, just your screams.”

“I remember everything,” I growl. My voice is harsh. “I didn’t call for her. How did Benson know about Selene?”

“His whore, of course. She sold you to me, and she sold Selene to him, too.”

Only one person fits that description; Octavia.

“I was looking forward to killing you,” Hammer says in a deep voice. “It was the conclusion, the natural end to our relationship, but you ran and disappeared. I have been looking for you everywhere.”

“I’ve been looking for you, too.”

I lunge towards him again, and the blows we exchange are savage, but while I have speed, his blows are heavier. We’re fairly evenly matched, much to my disgust.

Bailey slams into someone who is about to charge me, and they go down in a tangle. I’m distracted enough that Hammer gets a good hit at me. My right cheek goes numb with the blow.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Selene fighting with Benson. She’s winning. He’s bleeding from a whole lot of cuts on his face, and his shirt is ripped.

“I’m going to kill you and take your omegas and kill them together,” Hammer growls. “It’s been hell putting up with that idiot and this so-called gang. Hiding in plain sight just to find you, wasting all these years.”

I throw my head back and laugh. “Good luck. You can’t handle those omegas.”

A person stumbles in between us, and Hammer looks at me and smiles widely.

“Andy!” I shout.

He can’t hear. I lunge forward and shove him out of the way. Hammers’ fist comes down hard on the side of my head.

I land heavily on the ground, stunned.

I see Edric fighting to get to me. Kingston is running from too far away. Selene whips her head in my direction and screams. Bailey shouts.

Hammer lifts his fist in slow motion.

I won’t survive this.

I struggle to get my legs under me, but my head is spinning, and I can’t get my balance.

I have a moment to regret my choices and everything that happened tonight, and then I’m focused on him. This horrible alpha who needs to die.

He staggers back, clutching his shoulder .

I get up and turn, finding a tiny blond.

“No one touches my family.”

“Lia!” Zaden growls, and she’s snatched up by another growling biker and vanishes. The Mirakill MC prez reaches a hand down and pulls me up.

I shake my head to clear it as he disappears and turn to look at Hammer.

Everyone is on their knees. Each alpha has an alpha or beta in leather behind him with a gun to his head. No one can move now. It’s over.

It was a short, brutal fight, but the Crimson Cobras had no chance. This was the inevitable outcome.

Selene walks along the line like a general. “I want these two. You can do whatever you want with the rest.”

“Okay, little omega,” Andy snorts. “Should I be calling you boss now?”

I pant, pushing that feral need to destroy back into its box.

“KILL HER!” Benson barks. The command rips through our group and his kneeling alphas. Several of them try to stand up but are held down, but there’s one that I don’t recognise that lunges free, ripping a knife from his boot and leaping for Selene.

Edric steps in front, staring down at her. Her eyes widen as she stares up at him.

“FREEZE!” Bailey thunders.

Everyone freezes. The only people that can disobey his thunderous bark are me, Edric, Mael, and, to my surprise, Selene.

Bailey walks up to the alpha and removes his knife from his hand. He’s slow and meticulous as he pulls the blade across his throat.

The alpha drops lifelessly to the grass.

Andy walks over to me and stares at me. “When you’ve finished with your omega’s heat, come home.”

I drop my chin in a nod. “Okay.”

“Good. We’ll clean up. You take who you want and deal with your business.”

I grab Hammer and shove him towards the SUV with blacked-out windows that parks on the grass beside us. Frankston jabs a needle into his neck, and, within minutes, the huge alpha who tormented me for weeks is unconscious.

Benson is similarly tossed into the car and injected.

Peta and Tiff approach warily. I tense, wondering what they’re going to say when they embrace Selene.

“We’ll be waiting for when you come home.”

Selene murmurs to them, exchanging words I can’t hear, and says something that has Tiff bursting into tears. Peta trembles and covers her mouth.

“No!” she protests .

Our omega runs her fingers over her hair and swallows hard, and, somehow, I know that something terrible has happened. I reach for the bonds and feel her unfettered grief.

Who have we lost?

For another couple of minutes, people talk, and then Zaden walks with them back to the group, whistling loudly.

I glance around and see Bailey with Lia. He looks at us but follows his sister away from Benson and Hammer. He’s entitled to not want to be involved, though I won’t deny it hurts.

Selene climbs into the backseat of the SUV and leans out. She glances at us and scowls. “Well, come on, then, starlights wasting.”

I raise my brows.

“What?”

“This is my bonding gift to you. Come on! Let’s get going.”

I climb into the car and shift over for Edric. Kingston climbs in the passenger seat while Franklin gets back in the driver’s seat.

I’m too stunned by everything that’s happened to talk, but I reach out and grab hold of Selene’s thigh.

She strokes my hand. With each stroke of her soft skin, I come back from that edge, the broken pieces of me soothed.

Twenty minutes later, we drive into a familiar location. It’s one of the Despair strongholds, where we go to take care of business.

I turn to Selene.

“Did you organise this?”

“Yes. It’s for you guys, but it’s for me, too.”

A bike rides up and parks beside us, and I see Bailey stand up and swing his leg over the metal beast.

Bailey yanks open the back, and, together, we get the two of them hanging from giant hooks from the ceiling. Benson wakes up first.

Selene watches him, her gaze icy. Her heat and perfume are muted at the moment. But there is something deep and sad in her scent that has me wondering what else happened.

I’m scared to ask and destroy her control.

She lifts her chin and approaches him.

“Ah, Selene, I knew you couldn’t resist.”

She cocks her head to the side.

“You hurt my sister. I warned you not to touch her.”

Benson laughs.

She nods like she’s thinking deeply. “You killed my friend. ”

Benson stops smiling.

She turns and looks at us; her gaze crystal clear. “Make him suffer.”

I crack my knuckles and move towards him. “My pleasure.”

Blood drips from my fingertips, and I turn and look at my omega. My pack is equally covered in blood.

“Is this to your satisfaction, my omega?”

She sighs. “I’m satisfied.”

I turn back. Now, it’s my turn.