I immediately go over to them and take Vera in my arms. She’s here and she seems to be doing okay. She smells like a garbage can, but that doesn’t take away from the relief rushing through me at having my Omega in my arms again. I lift my arm slightly so Luca can push in with us, and the Beta seems to finally relax a little.
“This is why I didn’t team you two up. You were supposed to get out, not get yourself into more danger.” Derrick’s grumpy voice also seems to be full of relief. “You won’t listen to orders if you think you know better.”
Caleb lets out a low laugh. “You think I’m going to go against Vera? Especially when her plan seems like the right idea?” The large Alpha wraps his arms around us, holding us as he lets out a low rumble, content, soothing, one that’s way more effective than mine.
“We’ll talk about this back home.” Derrick orders the next group of five people to meet the vans, before he comes over. “You four are next. I’m sure Mathew and Riley are eagerly waiting for you.”
I turn to him. “What about you?” I’m sure Timothy and Eli are eagerly waiting for him to return too.
“I can’t command anyone when I’m not here.” He looks around. “Plus, there’s only two more groups after you. So I’ll be out of here in no time.”
I don’t like the idea of leaving him behind, but I know I’m not going to be able to change his mind. This is how the organisation works, this is his role, and this is how they always do things.
“Guys?” Riley’s voice is tense over the earpiece. “Mathew got into a bit of trouble. We’re getting him to someone who can help him. Timothy is with us, some of his guys have taken over the tech van.”
My heart drops and pheromones full of dread flare around us. Fuck.
If he can’t be taken home to be treated, things must be really bad. It’s not like there’s a full-on hospital back home, but most injuries can be effectively treated there. Mathew has the staff for it.
If they’re taking him somewhere better equipped, that means that Mathew isn’t doing well.
The shot wound on his leg didn’t seem too bad. There was blood, but from what I saw, it wasn’t bad enough to be dangerous. Though, maybe waiting around too long, and not going home to get treated right away is part of the issue.
“We need to go to him. I don’t want to go home.” Vera’s voice is small, quiet, pained. She’s clearly running out of energy. “I need to be with Mathew.”
Derrick makes a frustrated sound, shaking his head, before letting out a deep sigh. “We’re all going out at once. I’m joining you four.” He directs the last people out before he looks to us. “Time to go.”
I’m glad we’re finally moving again. But knowing that Mathew is out there, not doing well, and we’re nowhere near him, it’s bad.
I hate it. I hate not being with him when he’s not feeling well, when he’s hurt, when he’s in pain.
It hate it when we’re not all together.
As we were leaving the storage space, the police sirens and sirens from other emergency services were getting really close, which was fucking scary.
Five people, all of them covered in blood, sneaking along a basically deserted back road isn’t really the safest feeling to begin with. But it’s a hundred times worse when you can hear sirens all around you.
Luckily, we were moving away from the brothel, along a smaller road, so the police shouldn’t be sniffing around here any time soon, and the vans weren’t too far away either, so it was all over pretty quickly.
Derrick directs the diver of the van that’s picking us up to hop into one of the other vans, before taking control of the wheel.
The rest of us pile into the back together, staying close. The fear of not knowing how Mathew is doing keeping us quiet, anxious.
Vera moves carefully, her hands on my arms, touching wherever she can reach. “Did you get hurt anywhere?” She looks up at me, her eyes are intense, full of worry
I take her hands, holding them, trying to stop her shaking. “A few bruises. Nothing else.” Most of them from when Derrick threw us to the ground to get us out of the way of the shooters. “What about you?” I take both her hands in one of mine and run my other hand up her arms, trying to figure out what blood is hers and what blood is from other people.
“Some cuts. All shallow.” She lets out a quiet laugh. “And some bruises that are going to be very sore tomorrow.”
“Good.” I put my forehead against hers, flinching a moment at the stickiness, not knowing if it’s from blood or sweat or both. Likely, both. Gross.
Vera sits in my lap as she reaches out to Luca. “How about you?”
The Beta leans into her hands, closing his eyes, savouring her touch. He’d probably purr if he could. “Some bruises, nothing more. Mathew protected me.” His voice breaks at the end and he quickly covers his face with his hands, hiding his tears.
Caleb lets out his deep rumble again and pulls Luca closer to him, which seems to calm the Beta down. “He’ll be fine. Mathew is strong and I’m sure he’s been through worse.”
Mathew has been through much worse, but that was before he had a pack and before he got pregnant. The stakes are very different now.
