"What the fuck happened?" I demand.
Stefan's head drops into his hands, his shoulders shaking. When he looks up, his eyes are haunted in a way I've never seen before. "Charles Driscoll happened. Fuck. He's always been a dirty fucking bastard but this..."
"He did this to his own son?" The pieces click together. This must be Ashton, the Omega Stefan has been protecting. The one he mentioned a few days ago when Dustin stitched him up in the woods.
"No," Stefan says, looking up at me with those haunted eyes. "He started a fucking war he can't back out of, and I stole his son from the aftermath. I didn't know where else to go. Shit, I shouldn't have come here. Where is..."
He trails off, his nose twitching as he catches Solana's scent. The house is full of Omega in heat, impossible to miss. Vanilla and orchid and arousal mixing together into something that would drive most Alphas crazy. But Stefan just looks concerned, worried about adding to our problems.
"She's safe," I cut him off, knowing he's asking about Solana. "But right now I'm focused on you. Injuries?"
"Ashton's got a few bruised ribs," Stefan says, his attention going back to the Omega on the bed. "I don't think anything is broken, but on top of the stitches Dustin put in..."
I frown, remembering Dustin's emergency call a few days ago. The stitches would be fresh, barely healed. Any kind of impact could have torn them open again, which would explain the blood soaking through Ashton's shirt.
Dustin appears in the doorway with the first aid kit, his hands trembling so badly he nearly drops it. I know better than to grill him about his loyalty to his family right now, not that I have a problem with it.
We all do things for the people we love, cross lines we swore we never would. Stefan showing up here with an injured Omega is proof enough of that. The fact that he risked leading trouble to our door means he was truly desperate and out of options.
Dustin sets the first aid kit on the bedside table, letting out a pained sound, his eyes fixed on something below my line of sight. I follow his gaze to where his hands hover over a spot on Stefan's thigh.
The fabric of Stefan's jeans is soaked through with blood, high enough that it could be severely damaging. The placement alone makes my stomach drop.
"Shit," I mutter, moving closer to assess the damage. "We might need a doctor."
Stefan just shakes his head, leaning back in the chair. “The bullet isn’t that far in. Just a surface wound.”
My brows rise clean off my head as I realize the ‘war’ that Charles Driscoll might have just started wasn’t a euphemism.
Chapter thirty
Solana
I'm freaking out inside the room, my hands gripping Moo-Shu's fur as I try to understand what's happening. The sounds from the house have gone quiet, but that almost makes it worse. The silence feels heavy, filled with unspoken threat, my heart pounding against my ribs, each beat echoing in my ears.
I don’t like being in here and even if I turned the lock, I hate it.
The heat that's been coursing through my body for the past day has been replaced by terror. Every second I spend locked in this room pulls at me, tugging at something deep inside my chest. It's not the physical need of heat, not the desperate craving for a knot. This is different, more emotional, more urgent.
An emotion that doesn’t even really feel like... mine.
I pace back and forth across the bedroom, Moo-Shu watching me with those big gentle eyes, his tail swishing occasionally. He can sense my distress, the way animals always can, but there's nothing he can do to help.
The bond. That's what this is. The connection forming between me and my Alphas, still new and fragile but growing stronger every day. I can feel Dustin's distress like it's my own, his emotions bleeding through whatever invisible thread connects us. Fear and panic and grief, all tangled together into something that makes it hard to breathe.
I need to get to him. It’s the same need that hit me the moment Kade called me, a need growing stronger than anything my heat has thrown at me. My instincts are screaming that my Alpha is in distress, that staying locked in this room while he suffers is wrong on every fundamental level.
But Kade told me to stay in here, and yet, the pull toward Dustin is stronger than that Alpha bark, stronger than fear of punishment. I can't stay in here while he hurts like this.
I move to the door, my hand hovering over the lock. What if there's danger out there? What if Kade had me lock myself in here to protect me from something? When there’s another sharp emotion hitting me square in the chest, I turn the lock with a soft click.
"Stay," I tell Moo-Shu, pointing firmly at the floor.
The cow settles down with a soft huff, his legs folding beneath him. He doesn't look happy about being left behind but he obeys, his dark eyes watching me as I slip through the door.
The hallway is almost eerily quiet as I step out of the room and close the door softly behind me, my hands wringing together nervously as I twist around to see Dustin just outside the guest room.
His back is pressed against the wall, his breathing coming in harsh, ragged gasps. Kade is right there with him, their foreheads pressed together in a way that looks almost painful. Kade's hands cup Dustin's face, his thumbs stroking along Dustin's cheekbones as he whispers something too quiet for me to hear. Dustin's eyes are closed, tears streaming down his face, his whole body shaking with the force of whatever emotion is tearing through him. I haven’t seen him like this before, the crack in his easy-going exterior concerning.
