Fuck, is he going to want to stay here with us…
He can’t leave. Abel will be beside himself, especially knowing these random people who I can only assume kidnapped him off the streets when his first heat hit randomly, are still out there. I know the heats following can also be sporadic, and I refuse to let my bonded have to suffer without his Alphas.
And who am I kidding, I’ll be beside myself too.
I can’t protect him if he’s not with us. The only feeling consuming me since bonding with him is an overwhelming urge to protect and care for my omega. This deep need fills me to protect him and all the other omegas that are in danger from the horrific people running the omega auction website.
We looked last night, while August had drifted off to sleep after taking both of our knots yet again, to find the website, but we had no luck. Only a 404 error page was popping up. We even tried calling the number that texted Abel, but it’s out of service.
I have a bad feeling I’m about to become a low-level detective if the folks at the police station don’t do something to stop this shit from happening to these innocent omegas.
CHAPTER
NINE
AUGUST
A year later…
“Where the hell is Abel? This is uncalled for, Brian.” I stomp off in pursuit of my broody pack leader, and the contractor I put in charge of bringing my dream to life.
Heat Wave.
He just so happens to be walking up to us when I spin on my heel. I cross my arms over my chest. “Abel, Brian needs to be fired. I can’t handle another fuck up when we’re this close to being ready for inspection.” I huff. “It’s almost been a year in the making, and we could be opening our doors within the month if your men would get their heads out of their asses.”
I feel the possessive growl rumble through my body before I hear it, but it’s not Abel in front of me; it’s Kev coming up behind me. He wraps his protective arms around my shoulders, and my back melts to his chest. Closing my eyes, his sea salt and coconut scent wash over me as if I’m the sandy shore to which his waves crash on.
“What did I tell you about the stress, August?”
“I-I have to get—” I stutter from the concern Kev is pushing down the bond.
“You don’t have to do anything; you choose to. And we support you in that, but the stress that’s thrumming through the bond is too much for me. I know for a fact it’s too much stress on you.”
“We just want to take care of you, Little Omega.” Abel presses his front against mine, letting his purr calm and comfort me. In turn, it causes me to melt into both of them. And for just a second, I let myself be held while I’m here working.
Heat Wave, or the premise of it, has been in the back of my mind since the week after coming out of my heat and being filled in on all that had happened. Auctioned off to the highest bidders, like my life only mattered to people when I was in heat. A heat that I had no clue would even be hitting me. I was a late bloomer. At twenty-three I thought my fate as a beta was just that.
Growing up with two beta parents, I didn’t know the signs, and truly, none of us thought it was even possible. Growing up we never had much, and testing to confirm designation was looked at as a luxury—one my younger brother and I never got.
So when the cramps hit me as I was walking home from my boring old desk job I had about a year ago, I hit my knees, curling into the fetal position, and that was the last thing I remember—still to this day.
My Alphas still remind me of what happened, and I think they still feel awful about it all. They thought the men running the “courting” website were setting up our first meeting… Come to find out, my soon-to-be Alphas were bidding on an actual omega in heat. I’m beyond thankful it was Abel and Kev who bought me.
Shivers rack my body anytime I think about how sideways that could’ve gone. But I find myself enamored when they tell meabout my first heat. Abel couldn’t hold himself back, and that’s my favorite part. Knowing that even before he was my Alpha he couldn’t help himself and eventually went into rut and marked me as his.
Coming out of my first heat, already bonded to my two glorious Alphas, who just so happened to both be my scent matches, was a lot easier than I figured it would be. The disgust and anger that I felt when my eyes first landed on my neck was the exact opposite of what my feelings morphed into once I met Kev and Abel.
I never knew life as an unbonded omega—never had to experience painful heats that left me unsatisfied, or worse, being thrown to the wolves and abused. It’s been pure bliss, well, besides these fucking contractors.
Once my heat was over, we immediately went to the authorities to report the website, giving them what little info we had on them. The owners didn’t give their actual names, so it was an immediate dead end. And to make things worse, the detective assigned to our case said they see this same situation more than a couple of times a week and normally never find the missing omegas.
The familiar pang of pain hits me in the heart knowing that my friend from high school was one of those omegas that was never found.
I could sense the judgment being cast on me in the police station as I snuggled up with my Alphas who had just admitted to buying me but thought it was just a date that was being purchased. Everyone’s eyes immediately landed on my fresh bond marks. But I know for a fact the big bad Alpha behind the desk would’ve done the same thing if an unbonded omega in heat had been dropped into his lap.
Being a claimed omega, there was nothing anyone could’ve done to separate us, unless my Alphas were physically injuringme. And knowing them now, Kev and Abel would never cause me any harm. To this day, I couldn’t imagine being apart from them—even a year later.
My traitorous chest starts to purr when my mind floats to the memories of that heat and the two that followed. They’ve all been perfect, everything my late-blooming, omega heart could ever want…
