Page 3 of Toxic Revenge, Part Two (Mafia Omegas #2)

Chapter

Three

TALIA

The grit of the cement bit into my palms as I pushed myself upright. My head was woozy, the world nothing but a blur of light and shadow. Every other sense was in overdrive, maximized by my heat.

My nose wrinkled from the stench of gasoline and diesel; fast food trash and human body odour. No hint of my mates anywhere. No scents that I wanted to be wrapping around me in my sensitive state.

I heard every rustle and footfall in the shadows. There wasn’t anyone close; but it was only a matter of time. I was catching attention. The wrong kind.

I needed to get out of here.

Yet despite my flesh being hypersensitive to every piece of gravel, each drop of sweat snaking down my heated skin, I couldn’t control my body. My limbs felt like they weren’t even connected to me.

All I could do was stay seated on the ground, rocking back and forth.

I need them to find me.

I closed my eyes, the blurry lights migraine-inducing.

Mercer. Conrad. West. Find me…

Tears slid down my cheeks. I wasn’t sure if they’d ever stopped, but the reminder of what I’d lost was enough to bring them back. Would the pack even want me now? I belonged to another alpha, and there was no way I knew of to break that bond—not without risking my life.

I would risk it, though.

I would do anything to get his presence out of my head, to remove his scent from my life for good. If I didn’t make it through, death would still be better than the alternative of having nothing but Benjamin. Forever .

Slumping back down, I tried desperately to pull myself along the ground. There was a signpost a few feet away. Maybe I could haul myself to my feet with its help and then stumble over to the next one. A signpost at a time, I could make my way... where?

Where was I supposed to go?

I wanted my pack, I wanted to make sure Conrad was OK now, but the hospital wouldn’t be safe. Where was West? He hadn’t been at the hospital, so maybe I could find him.

Patting down my body, I felt for my phone. Some of the haze was clearing and more options were opening up in my mind. Call West. Call Dad. Call someone .

But my phone was nowhere to be found. I left it behind in the gargoyle man’s car. He’d said his name was... Guinn. Had he actually called Benjamin? Is that how my scent match had found me out here, on a random street in the middle of Villem?

“Asshole,” I muttered under my breath.

My body burned from the roughness of the ground and the warmth of my heat arousal, but I kept up my attempts at getting to my feet. I couldn’t be a sitting duck as the city woke up. I doubted the first person to find me would have good intentions in mind for an abandoned omega in heat.

Car tires screeched to a halt nearby, and I tried to summon the energy to drag myself faster toward the pole. My teeth sank into my bottom lip, a nervous tic in hopes of quelling my panic. It didn’t do anything but make me bleed.

A car door opened, but I refused to look at who’d found me.

“Holy shit.” His tone was horrified and hazily familiar.

Gargoyle man. That’s the owner of the voice.

I whipped my head around to glare at him. “Get away from me.”

He held up both hands. “All I want is to help you.”

“No you don’t. You called Benjamin.”

How else could he have found me? Guinn was the reason I had a bite mark on my neck, binding me to that asshole forever.

I was within touching distance of my pole. My fingertips grazed it, but my weak muscles gave out before I could even think about getting myself up. I rested my head on my arm, vision swimming with translucent white circles and occasional black spots.

Guinn came closer, crouching beside me. “I promise you, I didn’t call him. I’ve got your phone, but I didn’t call anyone.”

I whined and shoved him away when he reached for me. He smelled vaguely of chemicals, his scent unclear even as his designation was obvious. It irritated my omega senses, which wanted a delicious smelling alpha and a knot.

“Don’t touch me.”

He sighed, glancing up and down the street. “I would love to comply with that request, Talia. I really would. But unfortunately if I want both of us to live through the day, I need to get you into my car. Now.”

His hands grabbed under my arms and hauled me up. I wanted to kick or punch him, but it happened so fast—and if he dropped me, I would collapse without the support.

I did open my mouth and let out a bloodcurdling scream, though.

“For fuck’s sake.” Guinn opened the car door with an annoyed grumble and shoved me down onto the front seat.

My foot was barely in when he slammed the door and shut me inside. I reached for the handle, tugging on it over and over again. It didn’t budge. He got into the driver’s seat and revved the engine, zipping onto the street and speeding away from the scene of the crime.

He’d kidnapped me.

So much for Mr. Nice Gargoyle Man.

“Lock is engaged,” he said. “You won’t get out until we get to where I’m dropping you off.”

“And where the hell are you dropping me off?”

“Somewhere you’ll be taken care of.”

Taken care of could mean one of two things. Given a bed and comfy blankets to ride out the heat that was causing me immense pain... or murdered and weighed down at the bottom of the bay.

“Where?” I demanded again.

Guinn took a sharp turn, and I barely managed to avoid smacking my head on the window. “Put your damn seatbelt on.”

If he was bringing me to be killed, he wouldn’t be worried about vehicle safety, right? That was a good sign.

“I will if you tell me where you’re taking me.”

“You’re just as insufferable as I imagined an Alfieri heiress would be. Seatbelt first, then I’ll tell you.”

Guinn knew exactly who my parents were. Damn it. And I was stuck in a sports car with him.

With shaky fingers, I grabbed the belt. It took a few tries to click it in, but I managed it right before the next sharp corner. Guinn was driving like a maniac.

Then again, he was running from the scene of a kidnapping. So maybe it made sense.

“Done. Tell me where we’re going.”

“The Omega Haven Residence.”

My eyebrows drew together. I knew that place. We referred omega psychiatric patients there sometimes. It was a long-term care centre for traumatized omegas. They had a small acute ward but focused on omegas who needed help for a minimum of six months.

“Why are you taking me there?”

“Because I’m not planning on dying today.

I should have walked the other way when I met an Alfieri daughter in the hospital parking lot, but no.

I decided to try and be the good guy.” He laughed.

“And hasn’t that fucking backfired? If I called your family, I would end up killed or worse for failing to keep you safe—regardless of the fact that I was fucking trying .

Like to see them keep a delirious omega safe in the middle of hostile territory. ”

I stared at him. He was glaring out the front windshield. “Why didn’t you call them to get me and then leave me on the street?”

“What kind of alpha would I be if I left an omega alone in your state? We have protective instincts, you know.”

That made sense. “Who the hell are you? Why do you even know what my family would do to you?”

He huffed. “I’m Guinn, and I didn’t call your crazy ex. That’s all you need to know.”

We’d left the lights and skyscrapers of the city behind, and his driving was smoother on the highway. Farmland and forests took turns populating either side of us, the orange glow of sunlight growing more intense as the sun rose behind the mountains.

I believed him.

We were really going in the direction of the Residence. He could have called Benjamin... but my scent match had seemed too cocky to have been tipped off by some random man. He’d known where I was, not by chance... but by design.

Benjamin was more dangerous than I’d given him credit for.

Everyone had warned me, and I hadn’t listened. And now... here I was.

Bonded and abandoned.

I hugged my knees to my chest, resting my feet on the seat. “How much longer to Omega Haven?”

“Fifteen minutes.”

Letting my head hang down, I stared out the window at the passing scenery. Everything hurt, from my tingling toes to my throbbing temples. I wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep for a year, but I wasn’t sure if my body would let me.

Not until I had my alphas by my side. If they still wanted me. If they didn’t... I wasn’t sure what I would do.

“Can I have my phone?” I asked quietly.

He’d have dropped me off and gone on his way before anyone could get to the suburban Omega Haven if I called now. I wasn’t planning on calling my family, anyway. Just West.

Guinn fished it from his pocket and passed it over.

I tapped the screen and unlocked it, going through my contacts.

I didn’t even have West’s number. Fuck . Only Mercer’s and Conrad’s. How was I supposed to contact him?

Trying not to cry was proving useless. Every emotion was turned up by ten. I went to my call log instead, scrolling down to find the last time Benjamin had been called.

Guinn hadn’t called him. At least not using my phone. The last outgoing call to that number was when I’d called Benjamin to try and find him.

Swiping back up to the top, I noticed a list of calls in red. Missed calls. So many from Emilia, some from Lavinia, but also plenty from a number I’d never seen before. They hadn’t left a message, but from how many times they’d called, they had something important to tell me.

Could it be West?

Tentatively, I tapped the number to call back.

It rang twice.

“Yeah?”

West’s voice washed over me like a soothing wave. I immediately started to sob, clutching the phone.

He’d tried to call me. He could come and save me from the hell of this lonely heat.