Page 26 of Wild Omegas (Wild Skies Ranch Omegaverse #1)

Josie

The scent of black licorice and cigar smoke envelops me. My stomach roils. I turn to vomit on Damien but he angles me away and it goes into the stands.

He clicks his tongue. “Is that any way to greet your new alpha?”

I wrench myself away from him and am surprised by my own strength. “Get the hell away from me. Why did you come all the way here?”

Damien reaches for me again. A few people around us stare and whisper, but no one moves to act. As Damien’s hand grabs my wrist I’m overwhelmed again by his gut-wrenching alpha scent. It’s so much worse than I remember—and maybe stronger now that I’ve been claimed by another pack.

“It’s time to pay up the debt you owe me, Josie Rose,” Damien coos. “I’ve come to collect.” His fingers dig into my wrist.

Tears threaten to build in my eyes but I manage to hold them back. I won’t give Damien the satisfaction of seeing how afraid of him I am. “I owe you nothing. That fire at my bakery was meant for my bakery only.”

Damien leans in. His breath smells like bubblegum and whisky.

His dark eyes scan me as if I’m a fine piece of art at an auction.

“Your insurance money attempt at best outed me and put me back into law enforcement crosshairs. Because of that, you me everything.” He yanks me in close.

The sudden aggressiveness of it makes me lose balance so I end up falling into him.

“I won’t sell you off, Josie. You are mine. ”

I duck my head down and bite his hand hard . Blood fills my mouth as he hisses and draws me away from him far enough to slap me in my face.

“Bitch!” He growls as the crowd around us gasps and backs away. “Insolent omega. You are worthless . Did you intend to also kill yourself when you realized the fire wouldn’t burn bright enough for insurance money?”

I growl back at him and try to wrench away again. Damien’s hold doesn’t budge. Fear claws at my chest to escape. “At least I set fires that actually fully burn. You didn’t win the barn fire.”

Damien laughs menacingly. “The barn fire at Wild Skies was a message and nothing more.”

But he did set it. He admitted to it. While I’m wearing the wire.

At least they can definitely get him for that too as well as his role in Serendipity.

“Well, message received.” I pull back again, and this time I’m able to yank myself free, but only because Damien’s gaze is tracking something behind me.

I take the chance to look down at the rodeo arena again to watch staff hauling a motionless Luke over the walls to safety. The pieces of my heart that shattered begin to ache. “If he dies because you hurt that bull, I’ll kill you myself.”

Damien’s expression turns patronizing. He holds up his bleeding hand and grins. “I’m going to love your attitude, Josie. I can’t wait to enjoy it while I enjoy you .”

The thought of him touching me more than he already has make me want to vomit again.

“Over my dead body,” I hiss.

Damien’s smile only deepens. It scares the shit out of me. “As you wish.”

He lunges for me. I squeeze my eyes shut but the hit never comes. I open my eyes to find two undercover cops hauling Damien away from me while he screams. Innocents around us flee from the fight. Brooks appears and then Carson, both of them flanking me on either side.

“Are you hurt?” Carson asks while Brooks puts himself between Damien and me.

I shake my head. My wrists aches and I’m shaken, but otherwise I’m fine. “Just get him out of here. We need to go to Luke.”

Brooks’s dark gaze tracks over to where the rodeo staff are checking Luke over. An ambulance siren blares in the distance.

“Go,” a short and stout man says to Brooks. He approaches with an air of familiarity. “We got him. It’s over.”

Brooks nods to the man and then starts to walk me and Carson away from the scene. I rip the wire off my body while we go. It feels too much like a rope around my neck, one tied to Damien and everything he’s caused.

By the time we get to Luke, the paramedics are already looking him over. I fall to my knees as close to him as I can be while not getting in their way. They’ve got him on a board and are checking his vitals and—most importantly—he’s awake.

“Luke!” I shout.

His eyes flick over to me for a moment. “Josie. I’m… fine…”

“You don’t look fine,” I volley back.

The closest paramedic turns to me. She’s my height but a few years older. “Are you family?”

“Yes,” Luke and I say at the same time. My heart clenches around his voice. The sound of that “yes.” Desperate, not warm. He’s terrified.

“We need to take him to the hospital,” the paramedic says. “You can ride with us. He’s broken a few ribs and his right leg.”

“Fucking bull,” Luke grunts.

I don’t have the heart to tell him in his current state that it wasn’t entirely the bull’s fault.

Luke must sense it anyway. “Damien?”

Brooks appears beside me. “They got him. He won’t be a problem anymore.”

Luke’s eyes shut. “Good.”

The paramedics finish what they’re doing and scoop up the board to put him on a gurney that they then roll into the ambulance.

“You coming?” the paramedic asks me.

I look to Carson and Brooks who nod.

“We’ll see you there.”

I climb into the back of the ambulance and pray.

It’s four hours before I’m allowed to see Luke once they take him back for x-rays and other imaging tests.

I spend it in the ER waiting room with Carson and Brooks, both of whom are on their phones eagerly awaiting further news about Damien’s arrest. That information finally comes from Brooks’s old partner who confirms Damien won’t be getting out of jail anytime soon.

Arrested. To be held without bail.

The Project Aurora case fully closed and Serendipity ended for good.

When we’re finally allowed back to Luke’s room, he’s awake and on pain meds so he seems comfortable. I carefully sit beside him on the bed and hold his hand between both of mine.

“Hey, angel,” Luke says.

I kiss the side of his face. “You’re never allowed to scare me like this again.”

He smiles and nods, but then his eyes catch something that scrunches his face. He lifts his free hand to gently brush a growing bruise on my face from Damien’s slap. “What happened?”

“Damien.” Luke begins to growl deep in his throat so I continue quickly, “He’s arrested. He won’t be getting away this time.”

“He still hurt you.” Luke looks ready to exact justice for that right now.

“It’s not that bad,” I assure him. A slap that bruises is actually quite bad, but that’s okay. “I got him worse, Luke. I drew blood.”

A grin slips free from Luke. “Good girl.”

I kiss his cheek again.

“We’re all safe now,” Brooks confirmed. “And it sounds like you’ll make a full recovery.”

Luke nods. “Not my first fall from a bull that landed me in a hospital.”

“Hopefully the last, though?” I ask.

Luke chuckles darkly. “I think so. This sucks.”

Carson laughs too. “Just happy you’re okay, man.”

We enjoy each other’s company until the doctors kick us out for the night. But we’re right back here the next morning when visiting hours start again.

It’s the daily ritual until, three days later, they finally discharge Luke and we return as a full pack to Wild Skies Ranch.

It’s Luke who gets to rest in my nest while he recovers.

It’s on the first floor with an en suite bathroom, and to be honest, I wasn’t planning on letting him out of my sight until he’s one-hundred-percent better.

There’s still so much to clean up post-Damien, but this is healed.

Our pack together at Wild Skies.

My past now fully in the past.

And Damien no longer a worry.

In the grand scheme of my grandparents’ plans for me, I have succeeded in at least one of them. The other…

Only time will tell if Wild Skies Ranch can be made a thriving ranch up to the standards my grandparents would prefer for their legacy. But what I know now is that with these alphas, we can do anything.

I walk into my bedroom to sleep for the night and find all three of my alphas already knocked out cold in my nest.

I can’t imagine a better sight in all the world.