It took a moment for Roman to gather control of himself, but he managed it. He glanced up through his lashes, taking measure of the man who sat across from him, from the rotting driftwood scent that seemed to roll off of him like a toxic cloud. If his scent was this nasty, something was wrong with him.
But unless it was fatal, it would not help him or Sidian to know that.
Dax studied him for a long moment, then set the tablet aside and shifted onto his knees. “You know, now that I have you, I think I want a closer look. The boys said you werepretty.”
Roman tried to lean back, but Dax was on him before he could, shoving his back against the floor of what Roman realized was a van at the same moment he realized his arms were still tied behind his back. The plastic of the zip ties refused to give, but the moment he tried to tug at them regardless, something plastic thumped into his forehead. A remote, he realized, that he watched Dax drop into the front pocket of his neat button-down like it was nothing, that he carried it on his person.
He forced himself to lie still as Dax got comfortable on top of him, straddling Roman’s waist. Long fingers looped through the metal bars of the muzzle, holding Roman’s head in place as Dax leaned over him, staring down at him like he was nothing more than a butterfly beneath a pin, moments away from being snapped into a frame. His hands ached and his shoulders protested, but his head swam every single time Dax jerked it from side to side, leaving him nauseous and dizzy.
Dax laughed, the sound unsettling, needles pricking Roman’s skin. “My, my, youarepretty.”
The hand dropped from the muzzle to curl around the front of Roman’s throat, and he remembered how Sidian’s hand felt there—sweaty and trembling with excitement yet careful. It was nothing compared to the firm grip of Dax’s fingers digging in too tight, cutting off Roman’s air supply as another hand slid under the front of his shirt, fingers dragging over his bare skin.
Being touched like that was revolting, but when he squirmed, Dax tightened his grip.
“Your attitude and your insolence leave a lot to be desired, but we can always break you of that should we need to do so.” Dax leaned closer to him, over him, his lips brushing against Roman’s ear and making him shudder in disgust. “My men were right, though. You have potential. If you survive what we have planned for you, I’ll break you at my feet just like I will that stupid little omega bitch.”
Instinct told Roman to do something,saysomething, but he clamped his jaw and refused to rise to the challenge. Sidian was somewhere, likely not in the vehicle with him based on the lack of his sweet lily scent, but Pack Kincaid would have him. Roman had to get to him.
He would not cost himself that opportunity by letting Dax Kincaid hiss in his ear and piss him off. He’d hold out for theperfect chance to strike when he knew it wouldn’t be a wasted chance.
Dax slid away, scooping his tablet back up. “This is going to be such afunnight.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Within minutes of all but demanding Roman leave the room, Sidian felt like shit.
He pushed himself up from the floor, wiping his damp, sore cheeks with the long sleeves of his shirt as he studied the broken chair on the floor. Sighing, he bent down to pick the pieces up, tossing the smaller ones in the trashcan and setting the broken legs and the cracked back on top of the table. They would have to pay for that on their way out, and it didn’t even make him feel better. All it did was make him feel worse than he already did, having to confront the sign of destroying something in his rage.
Better to break a chair than hurtling any more insulting words at his mate. Fuck, what waswrongwith him? It had been months since he’d last seen Amey. Why did he take that out on Roman?
A soft knock at the door stirred him from his thoughts, and he scraped at his cheeks again as he rounded the table. It was either the motel manager, and Sidian hoped being an omega would give him an edge on apologizing, or it was Roman who hustledout and forgot the room key. Either way, Sidian owed both of them an apology, and if it was Roman, he was going to drag him to bed, tuck him in as best he could, and smother him with affection and touch until he knew how valued he was.
As soon as Sidian unlocked the door, someone shoved it open from the other side.
He stumbled backward over his own feet and would have fallen if a hand hadn’t darted out to grasp him by the front of his shirt, keeping him standing if unsteady. It took him a second to process the familiar face in front of him, his brain refusing to let him see the reality of his situation as the floor vanished beneath his feet and his heart dropped straight into his gut. He knew the eyes that gazed into his own, the slight smirk that always set at the edges of Dax Kincaid’s lips.
No,Sidian thought as Dax stepped further into the room, his grip on Sidian’s shirt pushing him back.No, no, no. This is a nightmare. It’s not happening. He can’t be here. That wasn’t his house!
“It’s been a long time since we’ve spoken to one another, hasn’t it?” Dax asked before he shoved Sidian onto the bed, letting him scrabble over the comforter so he could drop on the other side of it. “Look at you. You haven’t forgotten how to cower when I show up.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” How could he have found them? Did he know they’d gone looking for him? Did he know where they’d gone? How did the Mambas have the wrong address, and how the fuck did all of it lead Dax right to Sidian’s door?
Dax combed a hand through his hair as he rounded the bed, and Sidian pressed himself back against the wall, knocking over the lamp as he dragged himself up onto the nightstand. He felt so small, trapped, his heart thumping against his ribcage as more alphas spilled into the room. Talon and Ford guarded thedoor from the inside, and Sidian might have been wrong, but he could have sworn he saw Jett standing just outside the door. Guarding the room from the outside.
Half of the pack had come for him. There would be no escape. He couldn’t take them all on by himself. “Get away from me. Get the fuck away from me!”
Dax caught him by one swatting hand and threw him onto the bed with far too much ease.
This time, though, Sidian barely dragged himself across it before a pale hand closed over his own, something digging into the mattress next to his hip. “Stop moving,omega.”
Sidian’s entire body jerked to a stop, his breath coming in rapid little gasps although his body refused to obey him. Tears burned in the corners of his eyes as frustration gnawed at him, the stress and fatigue of the night banding together with his own stupid prime omega hindbrain to leave him helpless and terrified beneath the weight of Dax Kincaid. Right where Dax wanted him.
“This is where you belong, little omega,” Dax crooned in his ear, jarring another broken cry from Sidian’s chewed, bleeding lips with a thrust that threatened to rip him open again. “The only place you could ever belong. Now just lie there and accept it.”
“Please stop,” Sidian wheezed, but he knew the alpha wouldn’t. None of them ever stopped.
All his pleas earned him was a throaty laugh as Dax fucked into him again, the jeers of the rest of the pack echoing off the walls. “But your needy little cunt doesn’t want me to stop.”
