Page 48 of The Omega’s Nest

Tristan comes over to me, hauls me to my feet, and embraces me. I wrap my arms around him and squeeze as hard as I can.

“You’re giving us all hope,” he murmurs in my ear. “So get the fuck out of here and don’t look back.”

“I’ll come back for you,” I say on impulse. Jesus, why hadn’t I thought of this before?

“Don’t,” Tristan says and pulls back. And he’s smiling, something mischievous in it. “You think Erasmus doesn’t have a grand plan? That he hasn’t been working that special ops guy he’s been banging for months? We’ll see you again, my friend.”

My eyes fill with tears. He’s been the best friend I could’ve hoped for. From the first day here, he’s been so good to me. All the omegas have. I have to go to Leo, but it’s excruciating to leave the omegas my omega now sees as family. In the midst of everything that’s happened with Leo, I hadn’t paused to think about how much this break would hurt.

“Cammie said to say bye. He can’t …” Tristan shakes his head and my heart clenches. Tough, aloof Cammie. I hate the thought of him hurting too much to even come and say goodbye.

“I’m going to miss you all so much,” I say wetly.

“Me too,” Tristan says and wipes my tears away with his long fingers. “But this is not goodbye. Trust Erasmus, yeah?”

And well, I can do that. Erasmus is terrifying, calculating, and weirdly patient for someone so young—if he’s got a plan to get everyone out, then everyone is getting out. It’s unfathomable, but mating Leo and getting out of here was unfathomable a week ago, and now here I am. And Tristan’s right, Erasmus doesn’t do repeats, but we’d all noticed he’d let that burly special ops guy book him once a month like clockwork, keeping it hidden from Whitman by presumably paying off the other alphas to keep his secret. He’s definitely working him for something.

Tristan steps back. “Get changed. Benji’s been lurking, but you know what he’s like—he’s not going to be able to go an entire night without bragging to the poor suckers who work the door about all the omega pussy he’s getting and they’re not.”

Right. There’s a hierarchy with alphas. And the bouncers are at the bottom of it. Of course Benji won’t be able to resist flaunting his status over them. He no doubt believes the way he terrorised me when he got me back will be enough to keep me put. And before Leo turned up, it would have been. But now my heart has permanently relocated to Leo’s chest, and my body won’t stop until it’s back in the arms of its new home.

Tristan plants a quick, firm kiss to my forehead. A sadness crosses his face as he pulls away, and he spins and walks out before I can crumble at the sight of it.

“Hi,” Stephen says and gives a little wave. He’s around thirty, tall and slim, kind of goofy looking.

“Hello,” I say and try to smile. These alphas are being unbelievably good to me, the least I can do is remember my manners.

“I’ll message you,” Terry says and slips out around the curtain.

“So,” Stephen says, looking around the room. “I’ve never been in a brothel, got bonded when I was fourteen, but I’ve got to say, the décor is much nicer than I was expecting. My omega, Charlie, he just loves velvet.”

He gives me a grin, and I’m not sure if he’s joking or not, but a surprised laugh bursts out of me. Then I take Leo’s bag of clothes into the little bathroom and get changed. As his clothes settle on my bare skin I take huge gulps of his scent—it soothes me in the deepest parts of myself. I have to roll up the sleeves, the cuffs on the jeans, and cinch the waistband with a belt, and the singlet and shirt hang like curtains under the hoodie, but I’m drenched in his scent. He even sent me socks.

I step back into the room, smelling head to toe like Leo, and feel a calm come over me. I can do this.

Chapter 18

Leo

Be at the exit in five minutes.

I stare at Addie’s text, force myself to stay where I am and remain calm.

See you soon, I type with shaking fingers. It’s a stupid message, a message that doesn’t come close to capturing the magnitude of what I’m feeling.

Terry messaged me when Benji went out the front. Then he left the building. He’ll be waiting for us on the other side of The Bell. He can’t be too close to this, and I don’t want him to be.

I watch the timer on my phone. The exit can’t be opened from the outside, so all I can do is wait. The wind picks up on the other side of the old stone brick wall. The exit backs onto a service entrance—a paved driveway with high walls, dumpsters, cigarette butts scattered around upside down milk crates. The smell of the ocean rushes over the wall and mingles with the smell of rubbish, piss, and what I hope is seagull shit, except growing up in a coastal town, I know gull shit doesn’t stink so I try not to think about it. A single light flickers over the loading dock as I stand in the shadows next to the door.

Two minutes.

I clench my fist at my side and focus on the timer. I wanted to bring a handgun, but Terry put his foot down. He reasoned that if I came armed and was caught, then I’d be killed for sure. If everything goes south and I’m unarmed, then there’s a chance I’ll just end up back in jail. I’m not so sure about that, but the thought of Addie in the crosshairs of a firefight is enough to stop me from wishing I had a weapon.

One minute.

I strain to hear through the old wooden door. It’s been fitted on the inside with a steel locking mechanism—I assume, since that’s what the other door was like—that can be opened from the inside, but not the outside.

Footsteps, light on the carpet. My heartbeat picks up. Addie.