He doesn’t get to win.
That means I’ll have to do something bold. My stomach turns at the thought. It might be my only play. With my plan forming, I keep up the small talk over breakfast. I try to drag out our conversation. I’m not ready for what comes next. There’s a clock on the wall near the bedroom door, it’s how I know we ended up eating and talking for about an hour and a half. I can’t stretch it out further.
He doesn’t take long to clean up and soon, he’s grabbing my hand and pulling me to the bedroom and shutting the door. Fuck. My chest feels tight with fear.Pull it together, you have a plan.The bonds have been weirdly quiet the last couple hours. I hope they’ll find me but I can’t wait for that.
Mark turns to face me, his gray eyes dark. It’s terrifying. Connor. He killed him, took him away from me, from Sophie, Max, James, and Mateo. He. Won’t. Win.
Feeling my resolve, I take a deep breath and prepare for the act of my life, literally. Before he moves to me, I approach him. His eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Good. Grabbing his shirt, I pull myself into him, hugging him tightly. He returns the hug easily.
Gods, my heart is beating so fast. I release him and take his hand, leading him to the bed and giving his chest a light push for him to sit. He does so without question. He’s only wearing a plain white t-shirt and some sleep pants that are doing nothing to hide how turned on his is.Don’t acknowledge that.I know my strengths and weaknesses and I know I can’t pull off hiding my disgust at that well.
With him sitting, his face is near level with mine. I step between his spread legs, moving closer to him and running my hand up his cheek and into his hair.Just do it, stick to the plan.I kiss him hard. I don’t think I can be soft even while trying to play along. His hands immediately grab my hips on either side, pulling me closer and damn near on top of him. It’s all for show, just be enough for him to buy it and hopefully keep my breakfast down.
We make out for who knows how long. I need a bar of soap to wash his taste out of my mouth. Anything would be better than that. Breaking apart, I play up how breathless I am. His smile is so dopey and blissed out. Good.
“Whoa, that was intense.” I pause, swallowing. He follows the action. “I need some water. Can I go get us some in the kitchen? We’re going to need it and I rather we don’t leave the bed once we really get going,” I say with a huskier voice than I thought I had in me and lean back into his space to drive it home. This is it, the crux of my plan. If he’s comfortable enoughafter that display of my “love”—gag—he’ll let me grab it alone, giving me a chance to swipe a knife.Please, please let it have worked,I’m begging anyone who’s listening.
He leans down, kissing my neck once, twice before saying, “Yes my flower, go get us some water and hurry back.” He punctuates it with a third kiss, teasing his teeth on my skin. I nearly jump out of my skin when he does it.
I open the door and close it halfway behind me, because if I close it all the way I think he’d be suspicious. I grab two bottles of water from the fridge and luckily, I don’t have to search for a knife as two are still in the strainer by the sink. They must be from last night. Now how to hide it. I still have the sleep shirt he made me wear; it has long sleeves with the ends buttoned, cinching it tighter around my wrists. Putting it in my sleeve is the only option. I quickly but carefully slide it under the fabric until the handle is resting at my wrist. I have to angle my hand to hold it there while my arm is down.
I have to use it the first chance I get. He’ll notice it quickly if he’s driving the action. Great I’m gonna have to do a repeat of what just happened. I’m so close just a little longer. Steeling myself again, I return to the room with a little jog so he sees my supposed excitement. Placing the water on the bedside table, I return to my previous position between his legs. What would immobilize him more? Probably if he’s on his back. I hope my guys forgive me for what I’m doing.
Stop, I can’t think of them right now. I’ll never pull this off if I do.
I can’t muster the strength to give him any kind of happy or sexy expression so I kiss him again. This time I move so I’m now sitting on his lap. Ignoring what I feel pressing against me there, I put more pressure on his chest until he takes the hint and lies back. Now fully on top of him, I keep my right arm further down to my side with my hand braced on the bedside table so it’s outof his line of sight. My left hand is right next to his face on the bed. Sleight of hand…isn’t that the key to most magicians’ tricks? Let’s see if I’ll have beginner’s luck.
“Mhm, fuck. You taste so good,” he moans as we break apart and he sits up, his hands now coming up to grope my chest. Before I can do the next step, he’s ripping my shirt, sending buttons flying in all directions and exposing my chest to him completely. It’s fine. Play the part. The steel of the knife is burning me, as if screaming to be released. He needs to be distracted; I can’t risk him seeing me taking the knife out.
“So perfect, my omega,” he says right before taking one of my breasts in his mouth. His eyes are closed. This is my chance. My hand is shaking. Fuck don’t wimp out now. Moving my hand and angling it so the knife slides out of my sleeve, I fumble a bit, trying to turn it around but manage it. I’m freezing.No, no, no, no.
You didn’t do this to fail. I need to get out of here. For Connor. For Keelan. For Parker, Eli, Ben, Liam, Jake. For Micah.
I honestly don’t know what happened in the next ten seconds but when I look down, Mark’s shocked face has gone incredibly pale and he falls back to the bed. The knife is sticking out of his stomach just below his ribs. A red stain spreads out like a plague on his white shirt.
I need to move, to run. I rush to get off of him and the bed. Once my feet are firmly on the floor, I take one full step, intending to run when he trips me on my second step. Letting out a scream as I fall, I try to turn as much as I can so I don’t face plant. It didn’t matter what I did the space we’re in because I fell right into the corner of the dresser by the door. My head took the brunt of it and my body is slow to catch up. The pain is immediate. I’ve never had a headache like this. Black spots are dancing around my vision.
Mark pulls me up by my hair, making me scream again. “You fucking bitch. This is what you do to the one person who loves you,” he growls out, wrapping a hand around my throat, the other around my waist to keep me upright. I have no strength left. The bonds are singing with concern and fear. I can’t block the pain from them. I’m so sorry. I tried. I really did. That fall was bad, I don’t think I can stay awake. Are my eyes still open? Everything’s black, I don’t hear Mark anymore. That’s nice at least. The pain is still there, both in my head and his hand squeezing my throat.
With the little bit I have left, I push everything I feel for my mates down the bonds before a loud bang rings in my ears. It’s so close.
40
JAKE
We finally found her. After working through the night, we narrowed down some rentals and River went to work looking into them. Ren sent in the drone this morning on the one that seemed the most likely. There she was. It felt like time stopped when I saw her on that screen, then quickly shattered when he showed up. It was all the confirmation we needed and Logan was there to see it. We started organizing the mission from there. Harrison’s team geared up as Logan only brought one other agent with him.
As I’m lacing my boots, Logan comes into the room. “You can’t be part of the team,” he says softly, making my head jerk up in surprise.
I scoff, standing up. “That’s not happening.” I’m ready for this, I just need my vest which I’ll put on when we get close. Logan’s hand comes down on my shoulder, squeezing it. His expression is one of sympathy. I brush him off. I don’t want his sympathy. “I’m getting my omega back.”
“I’m not fighting you on that but you can’t be the one storming that house,” he stresses. “If something happens, nothing can make people question the how or why.” Iunderstand what he’s saying, I do, but not going in there doesn’t feel right.
“I’ll go in unarmed. I just need to be there for her, please Logan,” I say, letting a breath loose. I can’t fail her again.
Scrubbing his hand of his face, he sighs. “Ugh fine. But you better not rage, I heard about what happened before you called me yesterday. We cannot have an alpha raging during the operation.”
“Cross my heart I won’t. Also, I hope you know my entire pack is coming. There’s no chance any of them are staying behind,” I tease but know this is just as important to them to be there.
