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Chapter Nineteen

Emma

A s abruptly as it had started, the cramping stopped. The relief was profound, leaving me a shaky, trembling mess.

“You okay?” Jude asked.

“Yeah?” I said. “I think so. Sloane was okay for a while though, before it came back worse.”

His hand reached across and closed over mine. “We’re nearly there.”

There?

I blinked crusted tears away as I stared out the window.

“Where…where are we?” Beyond the windows were derelict-looking buildings, which clearly weren’t derelict because I could see people standing on doorsteps and grubby curtains blowing out of open windows.

My skin prickled as awareness bloomed. “Jude, where are you taking me?”

“Exactly where I was told to.”

There was a grim set to his jaw. Jude was a happy, playful sort of guy. I didn’t recognize the stranger sitting next to me, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles.

Beyond the car window, the people turned to watch our passage. “How much farther do we need to go?”

“We’re about five minutes away.”

My laugh was nervous. “I really wish I’d stayed out of it.”

How was it possible for this place to exist?

We hadn’t crossed the barrier yet. Litter billowed in the wind, plastic bags, bits of paper, old rags.

Cars in every flavor were parked haphazardly, some missing wheels, some missing doors, and some being openly stripped.

I felt like I’d stepped into a darker, more sinister, alternate reality.

As if to emphasize the stark, desolate environment, the clear blue skies cast the area into glorious, detailed relief.

Jude was driving way too fast, and there was a slight reckless edge to it that made me grip the door handle a little tighter. I also wanted to tell him to put his foot down and go faster.

“Is that…sirens?” They sounded faint but getting closer.

“Yeah. We lost them for a bit, but I’m guessing they’ve got eyes on us somehow, because they’ve picked us up again several times.”

My mind blanked out and then rushed back with a painful jolt. How were we going to get out of this? We were being followed. We were in the worst neighborhood in the city. How could this possibly end well? “I’m so sorry, Jude.”

“Hey.” He reached across the gap to place his hand over mine, giving it a squeeze.

“It’s not your fault, Emma. I wasn’t going to let them take you.

I don’t know how, but Sloane, you know what she’s like.

No way will she let Jace abandon you here.

I just need to get to the destination they gave me.

” He took a right at the intersection and then ground to a screeching halt. “Fuck!”

“Back up!”

Blocking our path was a black SUV. The doors swung open, and alphas surged out, only not the kind of alphas I was familiar with. These alphas were in royal blue tactical uniforms. They were official. This should have comforted me in a neighborhood that was so evidently criminal.

It did not.

Jude threw the car into reverse and then came to another juddering halt.

“FUCK!”

Behind us was another SUV with more alphas piling out. They looked equally official, with gas masks over their faces, and were holding… “Is that a fucking baseball bat?” Jude muttered.

The door beside me was ripped open, and a squeal tore from my lips.

On the other side, Jude cried out as he was plucked from the vehicle.

I kicked and wrestled as my assailant fumbled for the seatbelt catch.

It popped off, and then he was on me, only he wasn’t tearing me out like Jude.

The man above me wasn’t wearing a mask, and his face twisted before my eyes from one of blank neutrality into a feral beast.

I screamed as he pinned me down and reached for his belt.

My omega heat scent was sending him straight into a rut!

I kicked and punched as his thick scent saturated the air.

There was something off about it, something that made me want to vomit.

Around us was a cacophony of violence—roars, snarls, and the meaty thud of blows.

The alpha was ripped off me, the momentum tearing me from the car and sending me sprawling to my hands and knees.

I looked up in time to see a bat swing. The alpha who’d tried to take me buckled under the savage blow and crashed to the floor. The masked alpha came down over him, bloody bat in hand. More brutal blows followed, and blood splattered across the tarmac, me, and the alpha wielding the bat.

He stopped, turned, and focused on me.

My breath trapped in my lungs.

I recognized those shoulders, that hard body I’d become intimately acquainted with over three hot days and nights of pleasure.

The alpha in the mask was Ryder.

* * *

Ryder

She was in shock.

I’d just fucked up an agency alpha with a baseball bat in front of her.

Mine .

I heaved a breath, trying to rein in my beast. Seeing that asshole over her, trying to fucking touch my sweet omega, ripped what little rationality I’d retained from me. I checked around. Jace, Dane, and the crew had taken out the rest.

“We need to get off the fucking street,” Dane said through the comms. His hand was on the back of Jude’s neck. The little beta was nursing a bloody nose and his face was as white as a sheet.

I crouched down before Emma. “Baby, it’s me.

Can I touch you?” I didn’t know what the fuck I’d do if she said no.

I had to get her to safety, but I’d seen enough shit on the other side of the chain-link fence to know the fear center of her brain was in overdrive mode.

Likely, I represented an equal threat to her overstimulated mind.

I wanted to take my mask off, but she’d gone through her first heat calling, and I wouldn’t be thinking any straighter than the asshole who’d been on her if I took the damn thing off.

“Ryder, we don’t have fucking time,” Dane said through our comms.

Impatient bastard.

I was about to tell him to fuck off when Emma launched herself at me. Arms and legs wrapped around me. I swear a piece of my earthly soul shattered with her first sob. “I’ve got you, Emma. I’ve got you.”

“You got insurance on this car?” Jace asked Jude.

“It… It’s my boyfriend’s. Please don’t damage it…any worse than it already is.”

The car was a mess. The back window had gotten shattered somewhere during the fray, and there were numerous dents to the hood and sides.

A distant siren stirred us into action.

“It’s a write-off. Better we report it stolen than you be recorded in this area,” Jace said coolly.

“Fuck! Fine!” Jude muttered. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m going to be blowing Derick nonstop for a month!”

“I’ll get the BMW,” Dane said. “Let’s get the fuck off the street.”

* * *

We loaded up and peeled out of the area as the sirens closed in. Emma and Jude had only been two blocks from their destination when the alpahole agency blocked their path.

As we rounded the corner, the underground garage roller door was open, and Dane’s contacts were waiting.

We drove straight down the ramp into a workshop used predominantly for stripping cars, although they would strip anything they got their hands on for parts.

The BMW would offer decent compensation.

They could wipe the serials, have new ones imprinted, and knock it back into shape for sale in no time, taking a cut before handing it over to dealers in the nicer parts of town.

Fancy buyers there wouldn’t have a fucking clue that they were buying a stolen car.

As the roller doors rattled shut, the sirens blazed past.

No one would venture in here. They would clean their shit off the streets and get the hell out again.

Emma was trembling in my arms, and her breathing was erratic as I stepped out of the vehicle.

An omega in heat without either heavy sedation or an alpha could fall into a kind of toxic shock.

Her body was flooding with chemicals that wouldn’t dissipate on their own.

We were way past the stage where drugs would work, even if we had some.

I needed to tend to her now before she sank any deeper.

“Nice compo,” a beta man said, stepping forward to bump fists with Dane.

“Thanks, Reever.” Dane jerked his head toward me. “We need a secure room for the omega and her alpha. We’ll need to hold up here for a few days until her heat is done.”

Omega and her alpha. The words settled like a balm over my aggression.

Mine .

My beast prowled, lording over his prize. Her scent was muted by the gas mask, but I knew the moment I removed it, all bets were off.

“No problem, man,” Reever said. “Anything for you, Dane. Got a bunker below. Hey, Mike, clear out the bunker and get a mattress in there. See if Jimmie next door will offer up some of his container loot. Pete, get some of that neutralizer spray for the shop.”

“No problem, boss.” The beta men moved to do his bidding.

As if on cue, Emma let out a high, needy moan.

“I’ve got you, baby.” As I tightened my arms around her, she burrowed her face into the crook of my neck, nipping at my skin.

I cupped the back of her head, barely suppressing a growl.

I didn’t fucking like the other alphas being here.

They were closer than blood to me, but my beast was having none of it.

They all wore masks, and the neutralizer spray would sort out the scent once we were out of the way, but I needed to get her somewhere safe.

“I’ll take you down,” Reever said. “The guys will bring down all the shit you need promptly.”

I look toward Jace and Dane. An ashen-faced Jude was standing to their right, along with the rest of my crew. “We got you covered, Ryder,” Jace said. “Nothing is going to happen on my watch.”

I nodded, so fucking grateful that they’d picked me up and brought me under their protection all those years ago.

I was taken along a warren of corridors that must span much farther than the above building.

Down some metal steps, we came out beside a thick metal door, and inside was a bunker.

A mattress had been dumped in the corner, and an open door on the opposite wall revealed a small, functional shower room.

Behind us came an army of betas, carrying a carton of bottled water, snack bars, and big sealed clear plastic cubes with the logo of a fancy hotel chain in gold on the wrapper—new blankets and bedding.

“Container was full of fucking bedding,” Reever said. “Jimmie’s struggling to shift the damn stuff.” He jerked his head toward the door. “Bolt is secure. No one is coming in here until you open it up.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I owe you.”

“Nah, man. I owe Dane more. Take care of your omega. See you on the other side.”