Someone with an alpha’s build gets out of the back seat. Fear chokes me when I realize it’s Jensen. His sleazy grin makes him look older than his forty years, and his light brown hair thinning in the front doesn’t help matters. “I thought I saw you at that red light back there. I told my driver Ihadto see if it was my omega playing hard to get.”
I stand there, petrified.
He takes my silence as a sign to continue. “I don’t appreciate being ignored. I’ve offered you quite a lucrative deal. Are you always this rude to your clients?”
Finally, some form of self-preservation slams into me. I kick my suitcase at his shins and run towards my building door. We don’t have a doorman, but we need fobs to get in. I slam my keys against the panel and the door unlocks for me. I open it just enough to slide in before I throw all of my weight into it, the lock sliding back into place.
He hits the glass half a second after it locks, banging against it. I’m terrified it’s going to shatter. Jensen stares at me with so much hatred I can’t breathe, but I manage to walk backwards.
“WHORE! I’m an alpha! You can’t treat me like this!”
His violent words propel me to run, but I can’t take the elevator. The floor number illuminates above it, and he can’t learn what floor I live on. I run into the stairs, terror pumping through me as I take them two at a time. My body screams from the effort, my lungs burning, and my legs protesting every step.
It’s impossible for him to know which apartment I’m in, but I’m too afraid to lock myself in a place with only one exit, so I go three floors above mine and hide in the stairwell.
I need my alphas.
Chapter 28
Madi
Frozen with fear, I can’t catch my breath. I collapse onto the concrete beneath me as I forage through my bag to find my cell phone. If Zachary hadn’t fixed it, I’d have no way to call for help. Alric’s name is first and I slam on the call button. He answers immediately.
“Madeline, I’m so sorry, I?—”
“I need you— please, I— help.” It’s a jumble of weeping words.
“Of course, of course, honey, we’re on our way. What’s wrong? Where are you?”
“He’s outside,” I whisper.
“Who? Madeline, who’s outside? We need your address.”
“Jensen, an old donor, he wanted to be a client but I rejected him for being a jerk. He saw me at a stoplight coming home from the airport. He tried to take me.”
A growl rips through the phone. “We’re getting in the car right now. Tell us where to go, honey.”
I can barely get out the cross streets and the building number. Hunter and Zachary are frantic in the background.
Zachary’s voice fills my ear. “We’re on our way, sweetheart. Alric’s breaking every speed limit in the city, we’re only a few blocks away.”
I dissolve into guttural sobs, but he keeps speaking in soothing tones. It’s hard to hold my phone with the way my hands are shaking. “The code for my unit is 255344. It’ll call to my phone and I can let you in. I’m in the eighth floor stairwell. Take the elevator, it’ll be faster.”
Not even a minute later, the call comes through and I hit approve, then Hunter is bellowing my name from below, his flying footsteps echoing up the stairwell. I want to get up and run to him, but my body feels like it’s made of lead. I can only lie in my fear on the floor, clinging to my purse, desperate for him to find me.
When Hunter finally sees me, his whole face relaxes with relief, taking the last steps four at a time. He scoops me up like I weigh nothing and I bury my face in his neck. The second his scent hits me, I’m able to breathe again.
“Everything is going to be alright,” he promises, kissing my head over and over again and somehow, I believe him.
He holds me like he would never let go, rocking us back and forth. I cling to him, taking deep inhales of his scent, desperate for more as my heart rate returns to normal.
A minute later, I hear a soft pinging from the hallway and my name being screamed and Hunter sets me down. The stairwell door slams open, and even though I know it’s Zachary and Alric, I jump.
Alric reaches me first. His murderous expression has me scrambling back against Hunter’s chest and Alric freezes, face shifting to devastation at my reaction. “I’m sorry. It’s okay, it’s okay.”
I nod and open my arms to them. Zachary and Huntersurround us, their bodies pressed to mine, soft kisses landing wherever they can reach.
“Where’s your apartment, sweetheart?” Zachary asks.
