Starburgh is packed on a Friday night, so it takes a while to cut through the city. My excitement grows when I leave the traffic behind, turning off the highway onto the road that circles the large lake we live on.
A car turns onto the road behind me, its lights too bright in the darkness. I curse, squinting to see ahead of me. November is hunting season, which means the deer move around more. I don’t want to risk hitting one if it stumbles in front of me, so I slow down.
The car swerves around me, speeding up as it passes me. I sigh, grateful they are in a hurry. My eyes hurt from their riding my ass with their brights on. Reaching up to rub my eye, I barely react fast enough when they slam on their brakes in front of me, car angled to block the road.
Fuck!This asshole has to pick a fight with me when I’m less than three miles from home?!
Moving my hand to shift into reverse, I glance out the back, only to be blinded when another set of lights turns on. Pain sears my eyes as I jerk my head away. Dots swim in my vision. Those headlights have to be illegal!
Suddenly, my car door jerks open, and a fist connects with my temple. I’m dazed from the blow and struggle to fight back when I’m dragged from the car. Asphalt meets my back, digging into my hands as I barely avoid smacking my head on the ground. “Hijo de puta!”
I try to push to my feet and get my bearings, but as soon as my eyes adjust to those Fates-awful lights, I realize I’m surrounded. Swallowing around the lump in my throat, I go for my phone, which is buried in my pocket. A foot lands on my wrist, twisting hard enough to dig my flesh into the ground. “I don’t think so,” a man sneers, reaching down to grab the device and toss it aside. When his face gets close enough, I hiss out a swear.
It’s fuckingColin.
A quick look at the other faces tells me two of them are his parents. The fourth is familiar in a way I cannot place. She’s older. Stern looking. She stands back with her arms crossed, prepared to watch but not participate. That’s when it clicks. This is Hannah’s mother. Bethany Montgomery.
Colin punches me again. In the ribs this time. My fist flies to retaliate, but his mother is there, kneeling on my arms. I kick out, but his father steps on my legs, kicking my knee hard enough that I feel something tear. Punch after punch, kick after kick, they beat me until all I feel is pain and the blood that coats my body where it’s pressed to the road.
My eyes flutter closed, and I send up a prayer to Fate, asking them to shield my Omega from this pain.
As suddenly as it started, it stops. “If you survive long enough for them to find you, make sure you tellmy wifeshe has forty-eight hours to come home. Otherwise, your abomination of an Omega is next, and we won’t just beat the shit out of him like we did you.”
Anger roars through my body, but the pain drowns it out. I want to fight, to stop them from threatening my mates, but my head is swimming, and darkness is closing in. Despair flows through my soul as my eyes slip closed.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
One moment laughterfalls from my lips, and my feet pound across the floor as I chase Kaitlin to her playroom to clean up. The next, I crash, feet sliding from beneath me as I stumble. My knees slam into the hardwood, but I barely feel the pinch of pain.
I can’t breathe. Can’tthink.
The sharp sting of wrongness floods my body. It’s nauseating.
My hands meet the floor, lungs burning as I try to make them work, but it’s like my body refuses to cooperate. Something iswrong. It uncurls from deep within me, a primal instinct that takes control of my body and rips a roar from my throat.
Hands grip my shoulders, pulling me against a hard, warm body, but I shove them away. I have to move. To go…where?I don’t know; I just know I need to leave. Someone calls my name with a tear-stained, shaky voice, but I can’t look back to see who is there, worrying about me. My existence narrows to a single thread. It tugs at my soul, increasing in urgency. Stumbling down the hall toward the garage, following the misty gray connection. I’m stopped, a hand gripping my shoulder tight. I whirl, baring my teeth, ready to fight, but then my Alpha is there.His bark cuts through the insistent pulse long enough for a tear to slip from my eye.
“Help.”
That single word gets him moving. He always knows what I need, so when he climbs behind the wheel of Manny’s car, I slide into the passenger seat. My heartbeat pounds in my head, so loud I can barely hear the roar of the engine as he backs us into the driveway. “Which way?”
Closing my eyes, I focus on that thread and point to the right. Toward Omen’s house. Or the highway. Starburgh, if we drive far enough. He guides us there, hands tight on the steering wheel as he flicks glances my way every few seconds.
I’m a mess. Crying and shaking, unable to speak. None of it makes sense, not until we round the bend leading to the highway and see our car stopped on the side of the road. It’s still running, the lights shining into the trees that line the other side. The driver’s door is ajar, the interior light revealing the overflowing back seat. And no one inside.
Shepherd slows to a stop, throwing on our hazard lights in case another car drives by. He swallows thickly, turning wide, panicked eyes toward me. I kick my door open, not bothering to close it as I dash around the front of the car. My heart stops, steps stuttering when I see the outline of someone lying on the pavement by the open door. Shep catches me before I fall, steadying me with a hand wrapped around my wrist.
We close the distance together, hearts racing and a whirlwind of worry volleying back and forth through our bond. Manny lies on the ground, eyes closed and chest shuddering with each breath. Sobbing, I drop to my knees and crawl to him, gently cupping his cheek with my hand. He’s been beaten, the dark red spots already blossoming into bruises. Blood leaks from the cuts on his lip and brow, and a glance down his body tells methose aren’t the only spots. “Hot Stuff, stay with me. I-I need you t-to open those pretty eyes and tell me y-you’re okay.”
Shepherd stands rigid beside me, phone pressed to his ear as he barks at the emergency dispatcher. He’s on alert, attention snapping between Manny and our surroundings. If whoever did this is still nearby, my Alpha is going to tear them to pieces. I’m going to help.
Manny groans, head turning against my palm. The eye that isn’t swollen shut blinks open. He’s dazed, most likely concussed. Where the fuck is the ambulance?
“F-Foster?” My name croaks out, followed by a pained hiss. His eyes pinch shut, and I cry harder. “Y-you can’t be here. Gotta leave. Too… dangerous.”
“I’m not leaving you,” I promise him. “Shepherd is here. Our Alpha will protect us.”
His head shakes, concern for me sliding through our bond. Now that we’re here, I realize it was the pain in his bond that sent me into an Omega Panic earlier, forcing me to follow his bond until I found him.
