Page 15 of The Night Movers: Season One

Ridley shouldn’t have felt smug. He shouldn’t. He hadn’t won anything.

Yet.

But he couldn’t help but feel a little smug as he watched the two alphas whisper heatedly in the hallway.

Ridley sat in bed, quietly eating his soup, pretending he had no interest in their conversation.

He wanted to know what they were talking about so badly it made him feel like bugs crawled under his skin.

But he had to prioritize, and, right now, his priority was satisfying his gnawing hunger.

His brain screamed at him to gorge himself, whispering that he didn’t know when he’d get another meal.

But every spoonful landed like a boulder in his painfully empty stomach, reminding him to pace himself.

Which was what he did, bringing each spoonful to his lips then waiting a full minute before taking the next.

He was most definitely in pre-heat. While the food helped and Titus’s hands had eased the ache, there was no denying the telltale signs. Newly presented or not, the signs of a heat were pretty standard. Ridley ran through the symptoms in his head.

Fever. Check. Cramps. Check. Horniness. Triple check.

He wasn’t in full heat despite what Titus had said.

Ridley had seen omegas in heat. They were blinded with lust, compulsively nesting while crying and begging for a knot.

While Ridley could admit he’d been a little…

desperate while sandwiched between two very healthy alphas, he wasn’t so far gone he couldn’t consent.

If anything, he felt more in control than ever.

In fact, he couldn’t remember a time where he’d ever felt more at peace with his decisions.

Things were bad. Horrible. The world was a nightmare and Ridley’s twin sister was out there living in it, alone and scared, but for the first time since she’d disappeared, Ridley felt like things were coming together as they should.

That vision hadn’t been for them. It was for Ridley.

It was meant to show him the way. To show him just what he needed to do to save not only himself and his sister but other omegas, too.

He didn’t know how he’d do it. He couldn’t even imagine how someone like him could do it.

But, unlike the well-meaning alphas residing in this sunken hotel, Ridley would find a way to make it happen.

Failure wasn’t an option. He’d figure it out or die trying.

He was determined to make a huge fuss either way.

He needed to shake things up, starting with these boys.

There was a lightness in his chest. Was this what hope felt like?

Or was he just slipping into a state of delusion?

Either way, he was going to ride this high for as long as he could and nobody was going to stand in his way.

Ridley set his tray aside, picking up the bottle of water lying on its side next to him, taking a timid sip, before closing it and returning it to its place.

He watched the two men, this warm feeling rushing through him.

Not like earlier. This wasn’t that low throbbing heat in his core; this was a heavy sense of gratitude, of…

fondness. He looked at the two men just out of reach and he ached with a sentiment that he almost felt.

He wasn’t in love with two strangers he’d met just a few hours ago, but he was at peace knowing someday he would be.

Deep in his soul, he knew that the six men in this building would one day be Ridley’s whole world.

He knew. He knew with the same certainty as he knew the sun would rise in the morning.

He knew that one day these men would kill for him.

That they would die for him. That they would love him more than they loved being alive.

He picked up Titus’s pillow and wrapped his arms around it, hugging it close, burying his face in the stubborn alpha’s scent.

Diesel would one day be Ridley’s staunchest supporter.

The one who believed in him intrinsically, who defended him and argued for him.

But Titus… Ridley inhaled deeply, that low throb returning.

Titus would turn Ridley’s world upside down.

Maybe he already had. There was something about him, something that tugged at something deep in his core, pulling him in like a magnet.

Ridley would love all of these men, but with Titus, it would be something else entirely.

Ridley just didn’t know what.

Titus was sure the others would refuse Ridley’s idea.

He was certain that his pack would never allow an omega in their ranks, regardless of his level of autonomy.

Ridley knew that Diesel would stand up for him, would argue his case, but he also knew Titus would, too.

Even if Titus didn’t. The knowledge made him giddy, like there were bubbles in his heart, tickling him from the inside.

Titus appeared in the doorway, glowering at him as he grumbled, “Stay here.”

It wasn’t a question, so Ridley didn’t justify it with an answer, just gave him a serene smile that only seemed to further irritate the grumpy alpha.

Titus had given him an order. Ridley complied for a whole ten minutes before he slipped from the bed, wrapping his blanket around his shoulders before he headed out the door.

The marble was cold against his bare feet and the wind whistled through the wide open staircase.

Where was the wind coming from? What even was this place?

There had always been rumors, urban legends about an underground city run by criminals.

It had always sounded so silly to Ridley, he’d never given it much thought… until now.

He crept up the staircase, stopping as soon as he could make out voices.

If he got too close, they’d be able to smell him.

Luckily, alphas were always so loud, like every thought they had was so brilliant it needed to be heard by everyone in the room.

He sat down on the step, wrapping the blanket tighter around himself as he listened.

“Where is he now?” Ridley heard Steele ask.

“Locked up,” Titus replied with so much confidence that Ridley looked down at himself as though that might somehow be true. He shook his head at his own ridiculousness. Why would Titus lie about that? Why would Diesel go along with it?

“You locked him up?” Jensen said, tone just indignant enough for Ridley to smile. “That’s kind of fucked up, no?”

“He’s in heat,” Titus said, tone somehow even grumpier than before.

Preheat, actually, thank you very much. Ridley shivered as another gust of icy wind blew past, pulling his blanket tighter as Sugar’s voice boomed, echoing throughout the space.

“Heat? Here? In our house?”

Ridley rolled his eyes. Was it really that scandalous?

“That’s what I said, yeah,” Titus snapped, the strain in his voice almost making Ridley feel bad.

Almost.

“Preheat, I’d reckon,” Diesel said, always the voice of reason. “He was far too level-headed to be in full heat.”

Thank you. Was Diesel an alpha or an angel?

Ridley couldn’t decide. There was something so appealing, so cozy, so…

addicting about the stocky alpha with his pretty lips and his cleft chin that Ridley had to bite his lip before he got too excited and let everyone know he wasn’t actually locked up.

Still, Ridley just knew that once he was in Diesel’s bed, the alpha was going to ruin him in the best possible way.

Or, maybe, Ridley was just really fucking horny.

“What should I have done?” Titus asked. “Let him send everyone into rut? He’s not on suppressants. That means he’s likely not on birth control. Any of you feel like bringing a baby into this shit show? Hmm?”

Ridley’s omega purred at the thought of a baby.

Their baby. A pack baby. He bit his lip as his mind conjured up images of each of them breeding him.

Separately, together, Ridley’s omega didn’t care how they did it, but he definitely wanted it done.

And soon. While there was no way Ridley would ever even consider bringing a baby into—as Titus stated—their current shitshow, someday. Someday, he would be a mother.

His omega wanted that now, but his omega wasn’t the one who had to deal with the very real consequences.

The only thing worse than being an unmated, unclaimed omega was being an unmated, unclaimed pregnant omega.

The government would rip that baby away from him the moment it drew its first breath and Ridley would die before he let that happen.

Ryker’s soothing voice poured over Ridley like warm water, pulling him out of his horrific thoughts. “We’re just trying to figure out what’s going on. Why are you at eleven right now?”

Ridley thought about his interactions with Titus thus far. The alpha had been at eleven since the moment they’d met. Ridley hadn’t realized he even had another setting.

As if to prove his point, Titus gave a frustrated growl, but it was Diesel—Ridley’s champion—who answered.

“Because we’ve spent the last hour comforting an extremely horny, extremely wet, very desperate omega who spent that whole time begging us to fuck him into the mattress while grinding against us.

” Ridley flushed, frowning. Not the whole time.

“Do you know how hard it was to say no?”

Who’s fault was that? They didn’t have to say no on his account.

They were the ones being stubborn. They were the ones who didn’t seem to understand just how ready and willing Ridley was to fulfill his side of the deal.

Ridley stood, staying crouched as he went up three more stairs until he could see into the large empty space.