Page 53

Della

We bury the bodies in the woods.

It’s three in the morning, and we’re sharing a sticky booth—the only customers in a diner where the owner softly snores behind the counter after bringing us our drinks.

I keep thinking about three men who sat in a school parking lot, waiting for an omega they could stuff in the trunk of their car. Those men were predators.

Maybe if we’d given them a warning or locked them up, they’d have learned better.

I doubt it. The wealthy alphas who belonged to a secret club called Asylum spent decades abducting, selling, and raping omegas.

Even after they started getting arrested, alphas didn’t stop.

They moved their hunting ground from free heat clinics to a school.

They needed to die.

I sip my hot chocolate and sit back in my seat, cupping the mug between my half-frozen fingers. My hands are surprisingly steady for having killed three men hours ago.

Then I remember what they did to me, and it’s not that surprising at all.

Levi, sitting next to me, leans his shoulder against mine. He’s barely touched his hot chocolate. “You okay?” he asks softly.

“I’m okay,” I assure him with a faint smile.

And I genuinely mean it.

Vincent, Levi, and Xavier are silent, their gazes laced with concern, as if they suspect a breakdown is imminent.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

A deep furrow forms between Vincent’s dark brows.

He doesn’t believe me.

Time to ease their concern.

I set my mug down, watching the chocolate slide down the rim of the cup as I tell them all about the things those predatory alphas did to me.

The pain. The terror. The utter helplessness. All the reasons those alphas needed to die, and why it needed to be me who killed them.

My voice is quiet as I release all the pain in my heart, the gentle snores of the diner owner serving as my background music.

It hurts .

I want to stop, stuff all the pain back into my heart, lock the door behind me, and pretend it isn’t there.

But I can’t.

Because it exists, and if I don’t look at it, doesn’t mean it’ll go away.

My sister taught me that. So did Pack Madden losing Aly, their omega. Even Ms. Huffman, who carried the pain of her cheating husband for so long that she destroyed him for it. And herself.

My cheeks are wet and the front of my hoodie is damp when I’m through.

Levi wraps his arm around my shoulder and tucks me against his side as I sniff, using the sleeve of my hoodie to wipe the last of my tears and my leaking nose.

“Sorry, I’m being gross.” I apologize.

He kisses the top of my hair. “You’re not being gross.”

Xavier grabs a napkin from the metal holder next to the window and hands it to me. “Here.”

“Thanks.” I take it with a grateful smile, and I blow my nose.

We sit in silence for the next several seconds, our hot chocolates forgotten.

“Kylian killed Ms. Huffman,” Vincent says quietly.

“I thought so,” I say. “None of you seemed concerned about going after her, and when he disappeared from the school and no one asked where he was, I figured it was him.”

Vincent continues, “We were trying to protect you from trouble at the school. It’s why I was so relieved when you said you’d stay with your sister.

He got things out of her that she wouldn’t have willingly admitted.

I didn’t ask how, and he didn’t volunteer the information either.

But I thought you would ask, and I was trying to protect you from that. ”

Surprisingly, I don’t want to throw my hot chocolate at his head for admitting to ditching me. “I’m not used to someone protecting me.”

“I’m not used to asking for help," he says quietly. “But I've finally learned, so tonight you got justice instead of spending ten years chasing answers like we did.”

Xavier looks at Vincent. “When we were kids, he wasn’t so closemouthed, Della. I have stories to tell. Stories he made me swear I would take to my grave.”

I smile, hugging Levi. “And you’ll tell me?”

“You’re a Madden,” Vincent says, his eyes intense.

A lump forms in my throat. “An omega takes the name of the pack. Not the beta.”

Because only an omega is the heart of the pack.

Levi squeezes me. “We’re not just a pack. We’re family. So are you.”

“If you want to be,” Xavier adds.

I look at them all, and I smile. “Can we go home now? This booth is even more uncomfortable than those stools at the kitchen island.”

Xavier snorts as he pushes himself to his feet. “Says the girl who gravitates toward them.”

“ Me ?”

Xavier snags my hand and helps me up. “Yes, you . Why do you think we all keep sitting there?”

I slow my steps out of the diner. “Because of me?”

He kisses me. “It isn’t because those chairs are comfortable. We hate the things.”

“But we love you,” Levi says with a smile as Vincent pays for our drinks. “So, we put up with the rock hard stools and we don’t complain.”

Vincent drives.

Levi is in the passenger seat, talking with Vincent about hiring a U-Haul for my move tomorrow. I’m in the back with Xavier, resting my head on his shoulder as he plays with the end of my hair.

Xavier’s breathing is unsteady, probably because I’ve been drawing small circles on the inside of his right thigh since we left the diner a few minutes ago. The bulge in his pants is getting larger. I know because I’ve been watching it.

“Baby,” Xavier murmurs, tilting his head back, “I’m going to need you to stop that now.”

I pretend ignorance. “Why?”

He cracks an eyelid open. “We buried three men today. This isn’t what you need.”

“And what do I need?”

His thumb traces my jaw. “Rest. Care. Time to recover.”

I walk my fingers closer to the bulge between his thighs, holding his gaze. “And if I need something else?”

His eyes are half-lidded, and his breath punches out of his throat as my fingers graze the front of his pants. “What do you need?”

I whisper the word against his lips. “You.”

One large hand cradles the nape of my neck, holding me close as a wicked smile curves his lips. “Woman, quit tempting me.”

“To?” I return his smile.

He gives me a ghost of a kiss that leaves me wanting, pulling away before I can deepen it. “Nothing we should be doing in public.”

“Does that something involve you coming inside me?”

He stares at me, breathing hard.

Holding his gaze, I pull down his zipper and walk my fingers over his flat belly until I’ve reached my destination.

Xavier’s lazy-eyed smile melts away, and he sits up in his seat. “ Della …” It’s as much of a frustrated groan as a plea for more.

“You want me to stop?” I wrap my hand around him.

“We’re in the back of a moving car.” His eyes burn. “And we are not alone.”

“No, we’re not.” Vincent is driving the car, and Levi is watching us. His attention sparks a prickle of awareness that I feel heat the left side of my face. Xavier’s husky tone suggests he’s as turned on by this as I am.

Xavier mutters, “Fuck it.” He cups the back of my head and yanks me toward him, mouth slanting over mine in a kiss that isn’t just hungry, it’s ferocious.

I pump him again. Hard . From base to tip, I revel in the weight of him in my hand.

He growls and drags me into his arms, deepening the kiss. I’m swimming in the scent of sweet caramel and pumpkin as our tongues duel.

“Xavier…”

Xavier and I ignore Vincent’s low warning.

Xavier lifts me higher against his chest, yanking at my pants as I pull at his. He lays me on the back seat, a space far too small for us to be doing this.

But Xavier’s eyes are burning as he shoves his pants down even farther, his cock springing out and making me breathless. “Any cops spot us, brother. You had better put your foot on the accelerator. They won’t want to see what I’m doing to our girl back here.”

His lips reclaim mine as his finger tests my wetness. He hooks his arm under my right leg, lifts, and thrusts inside me, releasing a choked groan as I do the same. It’s a homecoming. Everything I needed and wanted.

My head falls back, and a moan spills from my throat as his cock plunges deep. He’s on his knees, holding my leg at an angle as he fucks me.

I cling to his back, nails in his skin. Xavier buries himself into me, withdraws, and slams deep again. My eyes flutter open, and I can’t say why, but they do.

Levi has twisted around in the passenger seat, his eyes glued to my face. I hold his gaze as Xavier shoves my hoodie up and tastes my nipples.

And suddenly, I know exactly why the thought of a mirrored ceiling appealed to me.

I like to watch, and Levi stares back at me, as if he likes it too.

Xavier’s teeth graze my left nipple.

I make a choked sound in the back of my throat that twists Levi’s lips in a smile. “Move back a bit,” Levi says, tapping Xavier on the shoulder.

Xavier leans back, both hands on my hips. Whimpering, my eyes roll back each time he pulls my body to meet his heavy thrusts.

Levi reaches between the front seats of the car.

His hand skims my breasts, his fingers hot. Studying my face closely, he says, “Can we make you come before we get you home?”

Pressure is building between my thighs, an urgent, gnawing ache that makes my thighs tremble and my muscles tense.

I can’t move under Xavier. He’s pinned me to the backseat as he fucks me. The harsh sound of his groans meld with my frantic moans. My back bows.

Xavier makes a soft sound in the back of his throat, picking up the pace. “Shit. She’s coming. Fuck .”

Levi tweaks my nipple, massages, then moves on to the other. They’re swelling in his hands, and I’m losing my mind to this desperate need to come.

I grab his wrist. Not to stop him. To hold him there. “I can’t…”

“That’s it.” Xavier is grunting, almost violent in his need to fuck me. “Come for me, beautiful.”

My gaze clashes with Vincent watching me over Levi’s head, his fingers white around the steering wheel.

A strangled moan tears from my throat, and I grind against Xavier.

My climax blooms. It shatters me completely.

Xavier’s fingers tighten on my hips, and he thrusts. Once. Twice. And slams into me one last time, holding himself there as he chokes out my name. “Fuck.”

A wicked smile slashes across Levi’s handsome face. “We’re home. You ready for more play?”

Xavier’s cock is still twitching inside me, delivering more delicious bursts of pleasure.

“Shit.” I struggle to control my breathing. “You nearly killed me back here. Give a girl a second to recover.”

Xavier laughingly kisses me, sitting up and pulling me into his arms in a deep hug. “A second it is. Then we are carrying you inside, and you are going to repeat that moan you just made when you came.”