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VINCENT

W e've been speeding along the coast for a while and I can see the water lapping at the docks as Paul races us through the industrial district. The torrent of salt water assaulting my senses shocks me enough to make me choke. I can practically taste it on my tongue as if all the windows were rolled down.

They aren't. Paul never turned off the child lock. It's Amaya.

Fuck, is she on a boat?!

"HURRY!" I snap, panic shooting up my spine like I'm being stretched to the max.

"What do you think I'm doing!?" Paul yells. His grip on the steering wheel is fierce and his eyes are glued to the back of Remy's truck.

I'm no longer needed to tell them the way. Amaya's tug in my chest got us close enough for the helicopters to spot the location. Remy said they were panicking which made it possible for the officers in the sky to spot them.

Now we just have to fucking get there.

Our tether pulls tighter and tighter. It feels like my heart is about to yank out of my chest and slam through the windshield to get to her. The aching organ would abandon its post just to ensure she's okay.

This entire five-hour drive, I've been so focused on the pull to my mate, rushing across state lines for fear I might lose her any moment. The few times I panicked, Lucas walked me through ways to lock back in on her. What didn't help was the incessant bickering in the car, though.

My head throbs with the concentration, and exhaustion pulls at my limbs the harder Amaya's presence radiates through the bond. Feral . I can't think about what might have happened to trigger my omega into fighting back viciously enough to knock me off my fucking chair, but still, I'm proud.

She'd been so quiet these past few weeks, hiding from me, protecting me. It all flipped on its axis with a waft of overpowering perfume and an ache in my nose that still hasn't calmed its heated pulse.

"Shit. Oh SHIT! LOOK!" Oliver bellows, pointing at the window on our side of the SUV. "FUCK!"

A yacht speeds through the narrow port, bodies dressed in black pointing guns off the sides. Another boat follows, this one smaller with more speed, riding the ass of the yacht, trying to get around it.

"Is that—Are they?—"

Emmett doesn't get his question out before Paul slams the car into a screeching halt behind Remy's truck. "Out of the car!"

I'm out before it even stops moving. Guns fire, screams, shouts, and engines roaring to life meet in the battle space to create my worst nightmare.

Paul meets me around the hood of the car and snatches my bicep before I can rush into the fray. "Stay back!"

"LET GO! Amaya's in there!" My heart pounds against my ribcage and my soul yanks tight, trying to pull me forward, but with Paul's grip the force threatens to send me to my knees.

Amaya's father pulls me back to him and yells in my ear. "You get hurt, she gets hurt, Vincent! Think!"

Shit. Shit, he's right. A bullet to me is a bullet to her.

Frantically my eyes search the chaos, narrowing in on the cages being hauled onto boats and some surrounded by officers on the ground.

"I don't see her!" Emmett informs, but I don't look at him.

The five of us, all of us and her dad, stand around watching bodies hit the ground in a pool of their own blood. Skin flashes on bony frames as another omega is saved and brought to the rescue vans. Up above, helicopters follow the escaping boats. Microphones spew threats and warnings.

"He needs medical attention!" an officer declares, holding a young boy in nothing but a pair of dirty, ripped basketball shorts. My gut clenches. The sandwich Paul made me eat wants to crawl its way back up as I watch the unconscious omega boy currently bleeding out over the male officer.

Bullets batter a truck beside us, forcing us to duck and crouch behind some barrels. A bullet to me is a bullet to her , I remind myself.

"Damn it! Holy hell!" Emmett gasps as he huddles beside me. "We're realtors . My god. What do we do?! What can we do!?" He's freaking out, but I can't help him when I need to help her.

Save Amaya, save the pack.

"Sam," Oliver whispers and shakes, tears in his croaked voice. His brother doesn't respond, but as Oli lowers in fear and shock, Sam inches forward. I watch the alpha out of the corner of my eye, but I don't tell him to move back and away from the chaos. Paul's too busy looking for Amaya on the other side of our position to stop him.

Restless energy jabs me in the back, making me want to rush forward into the fray, but I don't.

A bullet to me is a bullet to Amaya , I chant continuously in my head.

'Omega.'

As if my alpha sensed the doom approaching, a bloodcurdling scream pierces the air and shatters the sound barrier around me. All I hear is her, my omega.

All the logic in the world doesn't stand a chance.

Nothing keeps me from my omega.