Page 54 of Omega Forged (Hartlock Omegas #2)

Lloyd

Some places you recognize by sight, others by sound. But The Barracks was all smell.

An undertone of stagnant storm water trapped in makeshift walls and tunnels. Except in the high heat of summer, where everything stank like overripe fruit.

Some parts of The Barracks had a fresh lick of paint.

People who didn’t live here came to get their thrills, and they wanted somewhere prettier to party.

We stood in a repainted alleyway while the pack waited for me to gather myself.

It had a cloudscape mural painted over it.

But someone had already turned the walls into signposts.

My fingers dug over the notches. A flood of bittersweet nostalgia crashed over me.

I promised myself I would never return to this place.

But when I left, a part of me became carved into the walls here and it pulsed in my breath.

“What are these?” Walden said, frowning at the scratches.

Surreptitiously, he used the opportunity to rub the back of my neck. The entire pack was watching me like I was going to fall apart. Some of the dizzy nausea in my stomach eased.

“They’re directions. Notes.”

My fingers drifted down the marks. Most of them were directional. This was a popular thoroughfare to the clubs. A young kid could make good money ferrying people safely in and out of The Barracks.

“Are you feeling better now?” Ajax muttered from my other side, and I gave him a thin-lipped smile.

“Yeah, I just needed a minute.”

I couldn’t breathe well in this place. My home. It was as familiar as my own skin. It seemed smaller, less intimidating than my memory. The air reeked of claustrophobia. Underneath our feet was a warren of tunnels full of Designated who could easily be trapped.

A cold tingle, like the slide of an ice block, coasted down the back of my neck. I brushed off the unease.

“I have an idea about where she’ll be.”

“No growling. No alpha high-handedness,” Pan said, like it was a reminder to himself.

I clutched my bag of noodles closer and tried to breathe through my nose. My cheeks heated. It was silly, but it helped and I had to be here. Whatever I could do to help deal with the panic of being back here.

I wasn’t leaving this place without Tully knowing how much I needed her.

A small boy tapped Pan’s arm, and he started, letting out a noise of surprise.

“I know you.” The kid narrowed his eyes. Behind him stood another alpha with a scar across his neck.

“I don’t think so, kid.”

“You were drunk as a skunk and called Tully an angel. My name is Puck.”

“Ah, you sure that was me?” Pan’s cheeks flushed before he noticed the music sheets tucked under the kid’s arms. “I play piano too, you know.”

Puck’s eyes sparked with interest, but only for a moment. He clutched the music closer. I recognized the look. Children who grew up in The Barracks learned the value of cynicism and suspicion early.

“I’m taking lessons, but the piano is broken.”

“Come away, Puck, we don’t know them.” The man grabbed Puck’s shoulder. I frowned at the laughter in his voice. It sounded familiar.

“Do I know you?” I asked the man, and he shrugged, just as noncommittal as the boy. His gaze drifted to my hand, which traced the notches on the wall.

“Maybe,” Puck answered for the man and looked us up and down, with the sharp judgment of a child and a flare of recognition.

“Do you know where Tully is?” I asked.

“Maybe.”

“Don’t answer that,” the man snapped. “Puck. I mean it.”

The shake in his voice, the tension in his body all told me one thing. He knew Tully.

Pan crouched down at eye level. “Here’s the thing. We really need to find Tully, and if you take us there, I’ll give you lessons and make sure your piano gets fixed.”

Puck responded with a shiver of excitement and shot into the corridor. He waved an impatient hand over his head.

“I-I guess you didn’t need me after all,” I joked.

I rolled my shoulders to shake off the nerves. The walls were closer than I remembered.

“Kid’s fast,” Pan muttered, flicking Puck a look as he darted into the shadows again.

Guilt whittled all of us into a shell, but it was most evident in Pan.

He was silk and guilt was a moth, taking bites of him, until he was threadbare enough to snap.

But he wasn’t my priority. Finding Tully was.

I breathed in another lungful of The Barracks.

Ajax looked green as he fiddled with his collar.

The man trotted next to us, and a look of recognition widened his eyes.

“You’re her rich pack, aren’t you? I’m Clay.”

I was so mollified by his use of her that I didn’t even hear his name. Ajax and Walden surrounded the man and stared down at him.

“Yes, and we’re here to make sure she’s safe. We got a strange phone call earlier. How is the security where she’s living?”

“Oh, that was nothing—” Clay cut off with a white-toothed grin. “Actually, you know what? She’s living just up here.”

Puck waved at us impatiently at the base of a metal staircase. One of the few apartment buildings towered behind him.

“Is she living in the west section?” That was my old neighborhood.

“Yeah.” Puck tossed his head, eyeing me closely. “You one of them?”

Or one of us. He added the unspoken question with his eyes. I fell into step with him and my thighs burned immediately.

“I got a scholarship, but I grew up here.”

I climbed another flight in the heavily graffitied stairwell.

“I want to try for a music one. So I can—” He gritted his teeth and covered the rush of passion with a laconic shrug. He shot a quick look behind at Clay, who was being grilled by Walden, Ajax, and Pan with a gigantic smile on his face.

"We can help you."

A sharp scream made all of us look up, and the sound sliced my heartbeat in two.

Tully.

“Let go of me.” There was a cry of pain and the sound of a scuffle as I rounded the corner with a skid.

Puck shot ahead of me and threw open one of the apartment doors. We rushed in, almost tripping over a frayed rug and knocking the lone lamp to the ground.

A man pressed Tully against the wall. Her shirt was askew, and on the floor was a mess of papers. As the man tossed his head back, I recognized him.

“CJ? What the fuck?” Pan and Walden hauled the alpha off Tully.

CJ’s back bent and he sprawled to the floor with a low growl. Tully slid down the wall, quickly pulling her clothing over her shoulder. I saw a sliver of red. I dropped the bag of noodles as Ajax and I flanked her, and I wrapped my arms around her waist. Her scent burned my nostrils.

The apartment was cramped, and all of us pressed into it made it crowded.

“Are you alright, honey girl?” I wiped away a smudge from her cheek.

CJ let out a bark of laughter before Walden’s boot connected with his gut. Clay grabbed Puck by the collar and dragged him out, shouting something about thorns.

My heart bruised my ribs. Tully’s eyes were wild.

Walden snarled and wrenched CJ off the ground by his collar. The man hid his strength in custom suits, but it was there. He made CJ look like a bug and he scrambled in Walden’s tight hold.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Walden showed his teeth.

Pan made a noise and Walden shoved CJ across the room until he sprawled in the patched armchair.

Walden pulled Pan close to him while he vibrated with fury.

CJ let out a whistling breath, rolled his shoulders, and shook his head.

He flicked a look at Tully and I tucked her closer to shield her from his gaze.

“You want to tell them, Chase? Or should I?” Tully let out a razor-sharp laugh.

Chase’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t speak. He crossed his ankle over his knee and shrugged.

“Are you alright, Tully?” Walden asked.

“I will be.” Tully rose on unsteady feet.

“Let me, treasure,” Ajax murmured, and he slid an arm around her waist.

I stayed close, lending her my warmth and support. What had we stumbled onto? We came this way out of jealousy, but what would have happened if we hadn’t?

“It’s not what it looks like.” CJ brushed off his pants.

“No? It looks like you’re attacking my omega,” Walden snapped.

Tully shivered against Ajax and me, and her scent hit the back of my throat. This apartment was drenched in her terror.

“She invited me in. We were just having a conversation. There’s history between us.”

Sickness curled in my stomach, and Tully lifted her head with a defiant glare.

“You’re such a liar and I’m done talking to you, Chase. In fact, I never want to see you again.”

Chase had the nerve to smirk and his fingers drifted to tap his pocket, where the outline of his phone bulged.

“You sure, pretty?”

Pan growled and his fist flew toward CJ’s face. It hit him square in the cheek and he slammed into the back of the chair. The mark bloomed red. CJ leaped to his feet and jammed his finger against Pan’s chest.

“I’ll charge you with assault.”

“Try it,” Walden snapped, pulling Pan back to his side. The lithe alpha’s chest heaved. “I’m going to ruin you either way.”

CJ sneered and snatched the papers off the ground.

“Leave them,” Walden ordered.

My stomach twisted as CJ hesitated. Tully stifled a whimper.

“Adding theft to assault? Why not?” CJ lifted his hands in a mockery of peace. “Look, this was just a misunderstanding.”

“I said, leave them.” Walden’s tone was thick with a dangerous warning.

CJ’s lip curled, and he tossed the paper to the side. What was on them that made him even think of challenging Walden? Tully’s breath hitched, and she leaned on Ajax.

CJ tossed his fingers up in a salute. “I’ll be seeing you soon, Tully. I’ll give you twenty-four hours.”

Pan moved before I even realized. He grabbed CJ by the collar and shoved him against the wall.

“Don’t speak to her unless you want me to gouge your eyes out. There’s history between us too, a bunch of lies, but you know I’ll fight dirty.” Pan shoved CJ away, and the alpha smirked.

Something dark lurked in the lines of his face. Desperation. Sharpened to a weapon. CJ straightened his collar and cleared his throat. The smirk flattened and his eyes turned to ice.

“You won’t hear from me again, Chase. Don’t bother waiting.” Tully’s face was hard, and I covered her shaking fists with my hand.

CJ turned to leave, but Tully called his name once more.

“Oh, Chase? One more thing. You never made me come. Not once.”

My eyes widened at the statement. It rolled over Chase and his shoulders hunched. He turned on his heel after shooting her an unreadable look, before slamming the door. I hope he got lost in the warren of The Barracks.

Tully’s scent was no longer sharp with bitterness. Silence reigned for a moment. Walden snatched the wrinkled papers off the ground and he skimmed the contents with a growing frown.

“Are you alright?” Ajax asked, velvet soft.

Tully exhaled and nodded. “Good timing.”

“Don’t joke, honey girl,” I begged her while fighting the urge to haul her against my chest.

She flinched at the nickname and a sigh rattled out of her lungs.

Pan came closer. “Did he hurt you?” His dark eyes swam with unease.

“A-a little…” Tully rolled her shoulders. She chewed her lip, as if considering saying more.

“What’s this?” Walden held up the crinkled papers.

“It’s my past coming back to bite me in the ass.”

Pan looked over Walden’s shoulder, but I didn’t care what was on those pages. Tully was here, safe, and there she would stay. I’d do anything to make it so.

“We can go to the police station and make a report, just say when,” said Walden.

My stomach dropped as Tully stiffened. I wanted to tell Walden to stop and let her catch her breath, but I also wanted CJ punished. Now. I wanted him crushed.

“I-I don’t think the police will do anything. But you might.” Tully swallowed. “He has my Only Omegas content and is planning on releasing it. I need your help to destroy him.”