Pierce swung his arm up and punched me in the ribs, but I barely felt it. My gun was heavy on my waistband, but I didn’t reach for it. I didn’t need it to take down this pathetic excuse of an alpha, and I wanted to feel every pound of flesh. I needed his blood coating my knuckles so that when I saw Josie again, I could proudly display how I utterly fucking ruined this piece of shit. She deserved nothing less.
This pack thought my omega belonged to them.
They had touched her.
Tormented her.
They deserved to die.
I knew Josie had held back the details of what happened with Pack Madden at Glen’s, but I didn’t have to hear the details to know they had hurt my mate. She had trembled when she talked about it. I had held her as her body shook and her scent burned with fear.
They deserved every ounce of pain and suffering I could give them, and it would still never be enough to make up for what they had done.
Josie was mine.Ours.
To protect. To love.
Every hit of my fist against flesh was an atonement for the pain she’d gone through. Every ache of my muscles, the price I paid for not keeping her safe. In the back of my mind, I knew I was punishing myself as well.
“Theo, stop! We’ve got them all tied up. Jericho is still in the warehouse. We need to get Josie.”
Ben’s voice reached me through my red haze, and I stared down at the bloody, beaten face before me and took a shuddering breath.
My mate was alone.
She should never have to be alone again.
My heart kicked up again, startled out of its icy prison, each heartbeat urging me to run, to save my mate. I tugged on the string tying our souls together, desperately telling her to hold on.
Just then, the side door opened and I whirled around, heart pounding with the hope that it was Josie.
Cam raised his gun at the figure who emerged, quickly lowering it when he saw it was a frail omega.
“Don’t shoot,” she cried, collapsing to the ground.
“Shit,” Ben said, rushing over to her. “What’s your name? Is there an omega still in there?” he asked. The omega shook with fear, then answered on a whimper, “She… she rescued me from an alpha—”
I didn’t let her finish as I whirled towards the door, Cam hot on my heels.
Our mate was alone and in danger. We weren’t going to fail her again.
ChapterFifty-Seven
Josie
For a split second, terror seized me so severely I couldn’t think, couldn’t feel. And then my alphas reached me through the bond, responding to my fear, and it propelled me into action.
“Run,” I said to Jennifer, pushing her towards the hallway to the right. She wouldn’t be able to outrun Jericho, but I could be her shield.
My pack father sneered, the viciousness in his eyes a stark contrast to his usual icy calm. I had no idea why he was here, but I could tell he hadn’t expected to see me.
“What perfect timing,” he said, adjusting his cuff links as if bored. “Pack Madden and I were coming to check in on this new facility. What a happy reunion this will be. I couldn’t think of a better location for them to bond a worthless slut like you,” he spit out.
My blood ran cold. What if Pack Madden found me before my alphas did? There was no way I could fight them all off. Cam sent a rush of rage and love through the bond, and my chest eased. They were coming.
“We were displeased to hear of your escape from Glen,” he said with a sneer. “Of course, the excitement for alphas is in the chase. Your mother thought she could get away from us, run off with that weak, useless excuse of an alpha. She learned the error of her ways in the end.”
A sick feeling settled in my stomach. I had always suspected it, but this felt like confirmation: this man had taken my chance at having a loving father and a mother who wasn’t so wrapped up in her suffering that she took it out on her daughter.
