Raney goes to say something, but Koz all but snaps and explodes into an Alpha moment tired of waiting to pack our girl. “Raney! Get your ass in the car now, and let’s get packed!”
She doesn’t say a word, but she leaks Omega juice, betraying how thrilled she is.
Raney spins away from us and uncharacteristically runs towards her happiness. She dodges and weaves past her father and the Fallen MC. She ducks under her Alpha’s territorial arms, and she squeals her happiness, diving headfirst into the waiting limo.
And then her beautiful day gets blown out of the water when a ghost from her past abducts her from under our noses. Raney’s Alphas race towards danger and the instant emergency while my security team, as well as the others all react similarly.
I’m surrounded before I know what’s happening, and Ayden’s leading the charge, taking over. Gunfire and chaos scare me, but I lock up and whine when he’s behind me.
“For fuck’s sake, Heidi,” he snarls, frustrated by my natural reaction to him. And it is to him, because I know I’m as safe as I can be, but Ayden has hurt me before and every part of me remembers that.
I twist away when he grabs a handful of my dress to hold me still, making him even angrier, but it doesn’t stop me. I shove against the wall of Alphas slipping away from Ayden. Since I can’t see him, I can’t say for certain whether it was intentional or not, but he stops my running by grabbing my hair.
Except I’m not the same person I was, and he doesn’t have that kind of power over me anymore. I spin like a wobbly top to escape out of his hold, my elbow is up high like my trainer Rita showed me, and it hits him hard enough to make him let go.
“Don’t you fucking ever put your hands on me again,” I scream at him, leaping away from him and ducking between the Alphas that Koz sent.
Four of them surround me, cutting off Ayden from my view although I come face to face with a new view. People are down, bleeding and hurt, and Raney, Koz, Puck, and Hayes are gone.
I rush over to help the injured, along with nearly every other person.
“How can I help?” I ask one of the Fallen MCs and he shoves a t-shirt in my hand.
“Press down. Keep an eye on his heart-rate. If it drops too fast or gets under seventy call out. You good here?” he checks before he races over to the next person on the ground.
Ambulance and police sirens fill the air, and the emergency draws more and more people out of the woodwork. I need to get out of here but at the same time, the reality is Ayden will fill everyone in on what a shit show it’s been, including me not responding appropriately to him, but I refuse to leave people injured.
The minutes stretch out, and since we’re all running on adrenaline, everything seems exaggerated. Around me are smaller groups of people frantically focussing on four critically injured people. I can hear each Alpha bark and feel the urgency. Like anyone would. It’s draining, and I can feel even more of me slipping away, but I can’t just stop helping the person under me because it’s too much for me to deal with.
I’m completely caught up, watching everything going on but also keeping a closer eye on the man under me. The way he’s lying means I get to see his pulse point on his neck, making it easy to keep count like I’m meant to. I jump a mile when the bikie from before kneels next to me.
“You did good. Get out of here, or King will kick my ass.” He flicks his chin up, dismissing me but also thanking me in one gesture.
I stand up, searching out my girls.
“Where’s Simona and Tristan?” I ask one of my guards as I start making my way back to where my stuff is.
“They both left. They looked fine. Not hurt, not overly panicked. We should do the same,” he says.
I nod and let him guide me to a car they’ve managed to secure. And because we’re all a bit on edge, two of the guards climb in the back with me, Ayden, and another up the front.
The mood in the car is tense and frigid and it feeds the fear that’s now replacing the adrenaline from earlier. I must be scenting up; all the Alphas respond, and I have to squeeze my eyes shut so I don’t drop into the fear that wants to tear me apart.
“Can you not control yourself?” Ayden hisses out.
The air presses against me as the other Alphas respond to him. A small whine escapes as our designations take over.
“Heidi, I tell you to move, you move in the right direction. You put yourself in danger. We’re putting our lives on the line over and over for you and you don’t have enough respect for us. Makes a fucking joke out of…”
I squeeze my eyes shut, grinding my teeth so hard to stop responding.
“Pull the fucking car over!” one of the Alphas Koz sent over barks. At the click of a gun, I wait for the press of the barrel against my temple.
Squealing brakes feed my fear. A deadly, dangerous silence forces me to open my eyes. But what I find is not what I thought. Guns are pointed at Ayden.
“You’re a stuck-up cunt who’s got a stick up his ass for some reason. Jesus, even without a college degree or a slick power suit, us three understand what’s going on. Every fucking time you blink, you’re putting the client at risk. And no shit, I do not answer to you. I answer to her, so get your fairy ass out of here before I blow your fucking brains into next week.”
Ayden’s completely twisted around in his seat; his gun levelled back at the Alpha who’s sitting next to me serving Ayden his ass.
