Page 54 of Unbonded (Pack’s Companion #3)

Panic washes through me at the violence shimmering in the air, but it leaves a strange kind of calm in its wake.

Despite King’s threats, this is just a petty robbery, and Dash was probably just a means to get me out of the coffee shop.

I feel a pang of satisfaction as the infuriated alpha starts to search my pockets. “I don’t have it. I left it at home.”

“Bullshit,” he snarls, upending my purse into my lap. “You were flashing it everywhere last night.”

Does that mean he was at the gala? I didn’t see him, but then, after my run-in with Lee, I wasn’t really interested in looking beyond my pack.

A hint of desperation burns my nose as he fails to find my ring.

“You better be fucking lying to me…” He stops suddenly, those shark eyes fixing on my neck.

“You’re not worth much to me without that rock on your finger, Omega. ”

It’s hard to hold his gaze as a shiver of dread works its way down my spine. He studies me with the calculation of a predator, yanking down Corbus’ scarf to press a thumb against the scar on my throat. “Move the auction up, Stanley. I think we’ve just found our star attraction.”

King, who I’ve managed to ignore up until now, growls behind me. “Fuck that, Brennan. You agreed. She’s mine .”

The older alpha gives a dismissive shrug. “I said you could have her if I got the ring as payment. No ring, no sweet pussy to warm your cock.”

I feel bile burn the back of my throat but force myself to swallow it down. They might be partners in crime, but King is now glaring at the other alpha. “You want me to wait until after some asshole has ripped her to pieces? Fuck that!”

Brennan’s shark eyes narrow to slits. “You think I’m happy about any of this? I want my payday . And like you said, these unbonded bitches are hot to trot. We add her to the line-up, and we could double the night’s takings. It won’t be half a mill, but it won’t be nothing, either.”

There’s an angry silence from King as he grips my thigh, and I force myself to lean back against him. I’d rather peel my skin off than let him inside me, but right now he sounds like the lesser of two evils.

“She's mine,” King says finally, but his tone is sulky now, like he’s already accepted my fate. “Just make sure they don’t mess her up so bad, I have to wait for her to heal.”

I jerk away from him, too repulsed to hide it, but Brennan just gives me an oily grin. “After she’s got me my money, she’s all yours.”

They don’t speak to me again, King busy on his phone as he sets up the auction for later tonight.

Brennan makes a couple of calls of his own, casting vicious smirks my way as he assures his clients that he has something special on the ticket.

Prime, needy omega, and a haughty bitch to boot.

I try to keep the horror off my face, but the more they talk about selling me off to the highest bidder, the more my skin prickles with icy dread.

I’ve spent weeks wondering if I’ll have to suffer through my last heat alone, and now that’s the least of my concerns.

It won’t come to that. Bram will find me before the auction even starts.

I cling to that hope as they pull up outside a warehouse in Queens.

It’s a black block against the gray sky, three floors of peeling paint and razor wire with a narrow alley on one side.

It looks no different to the other rundown buildings on the street, and my heart sinks as I realize we’re in an industrial complex.

I’d been hoping to catch someone’s eye, maybe signal for help, but this isn’t the kind of place to attract a weekend trade.

Or, at least, not the kind of trade that I want any part of.

They drag me inside, the scent of old sweat, sawdust, and engine oil rising to greet us.

The bottom floor is full of luxury cars, all in various stages of being stripped for their parts, but the alphas head straight up a rickety staircase.

It opens into a narrow passageway with an office on one side and a bathroom on the other.

The stench from the latter is enough to make me gag, but I’d almost prefer it to the room at the end of the hall.

It’s a windowless box with a single bed, lamp, and small TV perched on a card table.

The faded comforter is almost as stained as the concrete floor, but I barely notice given the reek of terrified omega hanging in the air.

Brennan pushes me over to the bed, and I sit gingerly on the edge while King stares at me like a starving dog. I want to curl into a ball and block them out, but I can’t stop myself from asking, “Why are you doing this?”

I expect King to start whining about my unpaid debts, but Brennan surprises me by spitting on the floor. “Your boss stuck his nose in my business, didn’t he? Had my club closed down, and got those Fed pricks to ride my ass.”

He’s talking about Bram, I realize. It’s probably because of the omega smuggling cases he’s working on with Perry, which makes Brennan the other partner in Red Haze.

Anger rolls off him as he looms over me, snatching the end of Corbus’s scarf until it tightens painfully around my neck.

“Seems like he’s been sticking something in you, too,” he leers, ripping it off and tossing it at King.

The other alpha hurls it into the corner - no doubt smelling Corbus on the fabric - but Brennan just chuckles.

“Good enough for a shag, but not worth biting, is that it?”

I turn my face away, refusing to be baited, but the alpha reaches out and gives my cheek a stinging pat. “Don’t worry, Omega. We’ll get you a nice hungry alpha before the night is out.”

I keep my gaze fixed on the wall, but the moment they bolt the door behind them, I leap off the bed and snatch up Corbus’ scarf.

I press the soft wool against my cheek, breathing in his comforting scent.

If I close my eyes, I can almost picture him beside me, one of those lightning-quick smiles tugging at his lips.

Think, Kate. Find a way out of this hellhole before you never see that smile again.

Placing the scarf behind me on the bed, I walk over to the door and press my ear to the wood.

There’s a claw mark right at my eye level, but I avert my gaze as I listen for any movement in the hallway.

“King?” My voice cracks, and I clear my throat before trying again.

“Stanley? Are you out there? I really need to talk to you.”

I kind of expected him to be lurking nearby, but I still take a startled step back as the lock clicks and the door opens. King slips inside, casting a furtive glance over his shoulder. Yeah, he’s definitely the lap dog in their fucked-up partnership.

“What is it, Kate? I can’t be in here for long.” Despite the tension in his eyes, he licks his lips as he stares at the bed. Arousal rises off him and I almost laugh. Is he really so delusional he thinks I called him in here for a quickie?

“I need you to get me out of here, Stanley.” I force myself to take his hands, biting back a grimace as his fingers tighten around mine.

“This isn’t you. You don’t go around kidnapping people.

And if you’re upset because I owe you money for the house, I can fix that.

My bosses are wealthy, as you know. If you give them a call, they’ll cover my debts. ”

“They’re not gonna pay what Brennan will get at auction,” he argues, still sounding sullen. “He’s planning on five figures.”

My stomach flips. What the hell kind of auction pays that much? It can’t be anything good, and I let him see the fear on my face. “Please, Stanley. You know me. You can’t put me through that.”

“It’s not my choice. When I told him about you, I just needed his help to find you.

I thought you were going to use that heat auction place, and I wanted to get to you first.” He sounds like a little boy whose toy was snatched away, and I have to bite my lip to keep in my snarl.

“He just wants the ring, and maybe a little payback for that Webber asshole. But I want you. Way more than any ransom your bosses are gonna hand over.”

He tries to pull me in for a kiss, but my arms lock against his chest. I’m shaking, and his eyes narrow as he stares at my pale face. “They’re my pack, Stanley. They’re not just my bosses. I live with them, and I love…”

I realize my mistake the second his mouth slams against mine.

He’s not kissing me as much as biting the words off my lips, and I gag as his punishing tongue thrusts against mine.

A growl vibrates in his chest, and when he pulls back, his eyes are seething.

“Come on. We need to get this the fuck over with.”

“What?” He drags me towards the door, almost ripping the knob from the wood. “Stanley, just let me go and I won’t tell anyone…”

He yanks my arm harder, my panic rising as he heads towards the bathroom.

The door is locked, and he fumbles with a key on his belt before he pushes me inside.

The stench is overpowering, but he pushes me past the overflowing urinal, and I realize there’s a larger room behind it.

Dented metal lockers line the walls, along with a couple of grimy showers and a row of toilet stalls.

In the centre of the room four omegas are sitting on a small bench, their heads lowered, and their shoulders curled.

They look like castaways clinging to a sinking raft in a storm, except they’re not clinging – they’re handcuffed to the slats.

They’re also wearing identical sheer nightgowns, and my stomach flips again at the cloying stench of their fear.

“Got another one,” King grunts, and my gaze snaps to an older guy leaning against one of the lockers.

He looks like a biker in his leather vest and tattoos, but his scent tells me he’s a beta.

It’s nothing like Lachlan’s sunshine fragrance, but I feel a flash of hope until he drawls, “Does she get the same treatment as the others?”

King grinds his jaw but gives a curt nod. “Yeah. And she might need a double dose. She’s unbonded.”

The beta makes an unimpressed sound and pops open a locker, taking out a flimsy nightdress and a pair of handcuffs. But it’s the sight of the syringe in his hand that has me backing up into King. The alpha grunts, but holds me in an iron grip as the other man jams the needle into my arm.

I gasp at the painful rush of liquid into my veins. “What the hell is that?”

The beta pinches my chin and wags his brows at King. “Just a little party drug to get you in the mood.”

King grunts again, but I barely hear him, because heat is unfurling over my skin, and I feel a trickle of slick between my clenched thighs.

Oh, fuck.