Page 56 of Follow Your Instincts (Fairview City Omegaverse)

Lucas

I felt like I was trapped in a nightmare.

As I sped towards Eastwood Glen, my mind raced.

If only we hadn’t let her walk up to her apartment alone, or I’d ended Todd’s miserable life when he threatened her after the hearing, she would have been home with us, safe and settled.

My instinct to protect her was building into an impotent rage.

I had nowhere to direct it, so my mind circled and circled on the what ifs, trying to find a way to change the situation.

Lachlan’s burner phone vibrated right as I pulled the Range Rover into a dingy parking lot, lit sparsely by flickering street lights, where Soren’s boss was supposed to meet us. He answered it on speaker again.

“I’ve got your address,” the man on the phone said. Even as relief rushed through me, restless energy coiled, ready to explode once I had a target.

“Normally I’d make you wire me the money first, but since I already know where you live it’s a moot point,” he said, then rattled off an address.

Lachlan thanked him before hanging up. I was already en route. No one spoke until Soren told me to slow down.

“We need to surprise them,” he said.

I drove into an unlit alley, lined by loading docks for nondescript warehouses. My skin itched in anticipation. This had to be it.

We found the right warehouse and I parked behind the black van and white sedan already there, blocking them in.

“What’s the plan?” Ben asked.

“No plan. We don’t have time,” Soren said.

“We can’t just run in there, you know that,” I said. “Shouldn’t we wait for your backup?”

But then we heard the gunshot.

Everyone leapt from the car and sprinted for the door. I got there first. It was locked. I rammed into it with my shoulder, trying to break it down, but it wouldn’t budge. I could hear scuffling and yelling beyond the door and prayed that it was Maggie, still fighting.

A surge of adrenaline hit me and I roared, slamming into the door again and again until it finally burst free from the hinges.

The room was dark. But there was Maggie to my left, on her knees, as Todd Phillips bore down on her.

The Alpha I had already barked into submission once before.

I ran and grabbed him by the throat before he could reach Maggie. She dove out of the way. I slammed the Alpha into the wall, my hand still closed around his throat. He sputtered and turned red. I roared wordlessly, slamming him into the wall until he went limp as a ragdoll.

Another body crashed into me and I fell to the ground, but I was already rolling.

I landed on top of the new attacker and brought my fist down on his face, once, twice, over and over until I lost count.

Everything was red, and all I wanted to do was punish these Alphas for trying to hurt my Omega.

Had they touched her? I reared back again and someone caught my fist. I shook it off, but they grabbed me again.

I whirled, expecting another threat. But I saw her instead. My Omega. Mine .

“Lucas, stop,” Maggie said, holding my wrist. “Please stop.”

I took a deep breath, searching her face. She was bruised and battered. They had hurt her. I growled. Another wave of anger threatened to pull me under.

Maggie pulled my arm gently, but I didn’t want to move. “Lucas, please, I’m fine. I’m fine. You’re going to kill him,” she said.

“He deserves it,” I growled.

“Maybe, but I’d like for you not to go to jail for murder,” she said and pulled at me again.

A kernel of rational thought bloomed in my mind. I took a deep, shuddering breath, then let her pull me off the huge, blonde Alpha that was unconscious on the ground.

I scooped Maggie into my arms and took her outside, away from the threats, and into the cool darkness. She held tightly to me. I pressed my face to her hair and took a deep inhale of her scent. She was safe. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

Maggie pressed her face into my neck. She was whining softly and tears pricked my eyes. “I’m sorry, too. This is all my fault, I shouldn’t have gone upstairs without you.”

I shushed her. “This is not your fault, sugar.”

“You found me,” she said quietly and I nodded, rubbing her back.

I knew I needed to put her down so we could deal with the situation inside, but I held on. I couldn’t go another moment without telling her how I felt.

“I love you,” I said. I ran my nose along the side of her face. “It’s okay if you don’t feel the same but-”

Maggie caught my lips in a kiss. “I love you, too,” she said after a moment, her eyes shining. “So much. Too much.”

I kissed her again, then reluctantly set her down. “I’m so sorry for the terrible timing. But after today… I needed you to know.”

Maggie gave me a shaky smile. “I think your timing is perfect.”

We walked back inside. Soren had the two Alphas in a corner, cuffed. Todd was awake and looked furious, but the huge blond one was slumped to the side, not moving. I caught Soren’s eye and he nodded. “Still breathing. ”

A blonde woman was standing with Ben and Lachlan, shaking uncontrollably.

Ben intercepted Maggie as we entered and gave her a fierce hug. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

“Yeah, just concussed, I think,” she said.

Lachlan growled and wrapped himself gently around her back. “We need to get you looked at.”

Maggie peeked her head out and looked around until she found Soren. She broke free of Lachlan and Ben’s embrace and threw herself into his arms.

“You found me,” she said.

“Always, baby girl.”

They looked into each other’s eyes, smiling, then Maggie frowned.

“We need to call Harcourt. There’s a body upstairs,” she said.

“Shit,” Soren said softly. “Good thing she’s already on her way.”

Maggie turned to face the two bleeding Alphas restrained at the bottom of the stairs. She opened her mouth to say something, then seemed to change her mind. “Not worth it,” she said.

Once the cops and ambulances showed up, it was absolute chaos.

It was well past midnight. Lights flashed from dozens of police cars, two of which took Todd and Paul away.

Soren had assured us they would not be released on bail anytime soon.

Maggie stayed with Greta, holding her shaking hands, until paramedics took them both for evaluation.

Maggie sat in my lap in the back of the ambulance while the paramedic checked her over. She kept leaning back into me and taking deep inhales of my scent.

“It’s so not fair that your scent is Omega sedative,” Ben grumbled.

Lachlan wrapped his arms around Ben’s waist. “It’s what Maggie needs right now, love. We will have plenty of time to cuddle her at home. Patience,” he said and kissed his neck. Ben squirmed, but he was smiling.

“About time,” I said under my breath. I’d known Ben was pining after Lachlan forever, even if Lachlan himself was oblivious and Ben refused to talk about it. It seemed Maggie had been the catalyst to finally bring them together.

Maggie’s scent intensified a bit as she watched her two Alphas share a kiss, and I felt her squeeze her legs together. Her heart rate spiked on the monitor.

“Quit with the PDA, you’re working up our girl after a very traumatic event,” I said.

“Lucas,” Maggie whispered and blushed. She looked over at the paramedic, who was reading her blood pressure, meaningfully.

“I’m almost done,” the woman said, chuckling slightly. “You have a concussion, but no other major injuries. I think I can let you go home. You all just need to watch her. If the headache gets worse or she starts vomiting, she’ll need to go to the hospital.”

“Of course,” I said, and Lachlan nodded in agreement.

Soren jogged up to us as the paramedic moved away. “What’s the verdict?”

“She said I can go home,” Maggie replied quickly. “What did the captain say?”

Soren grimaced. “It’s gonna be a pain in the ass, baby girl. You’ll have to go in for a formal interview soon to give all the details. But for now, we can go home.”

Maggie rode in my lap on the way back to the house. Lachlan hadn’t wanted to let her.

“What if we get in an accident? She’s already got a concussion,” he had said.

But Maggie and Ben got him to agree by pouting until he caved.

I traced slow circles on her back while we drove. Her tension slowly melted as we got further from the warehouse and closer to our home .

“You awake?” I asked in her ear.

She nodded sleepily.

“I just wanted to circle back to my terribly-timed declaration of love,” I said, knowing it would make her smile. She huffed a soft laugh into my chest.

“It was such bad timing,” she murmured.

“Let’s try again. I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you, too,” she replied and finally dozed off on my shoulder.