“Theo! It’s Josie!” Ben called out as he held me tight, as if trying to make sure I was real. I was doing the same, gripping his shoulders and burying my face in his neck.
“How are you here?” he asked, choking on a sob.
I clung to him, unable to speak. His spiced apple pie scent swirled around me, richer and more mouthwatering than I remembered, and his body was firm against mine.
Not a ghost. Real.
“Josie?” Theo ran his hands down my back.
I tried to press myself up to a seated position to get to Theo but was stopped by Ben’s arms.
“Here,” Ben grunted, awkwardly maneuvering his arms until I could sit up. They were both handcuffed, and it filled me with rage. How dare anyone treat my alphas like this?
Theo’s face was white with shock as I threw myself at him.
“Fuck, angel. Fuck. How are you here? Are you okay?” Theo rested his forehead against mine as he clung to me, and I could feel his tears mixing with my own.
“I’m fine,” I choked out.
I cataloged the dark circles under their eyes, their unshaven faces, and tattered prison uniforms. The bruises I’d seen the first day of the trial had faded, but I was terrified they had more injuries I couldn’t see.
I looked around, my heart thundering when I didn’t see Cam. He would never keep me waiting, never hold himself back. “Where is he?”
“Unconscious,” Theo said with a grimace. “They drugged him, but he should be okay.”
Ben grasped my hands the best he could with his bound ones. “Shh, precious. We’ve got you. He’ll be alright.”
I realized I was whining. I cut off the noise and took a shuddering breath. My vision spun with the intensity of it all, and I was still terrified that this was somehow not real or that they would be taken from me again.
“I have the handcuff keys,” I said with a sniffle, pulling them out of my jacket pocket. I fumbled with them but finally managed to unlock Ben’s handcuffs, whimpering when I saw the deep red marks they’d left on his wrists. He sat up, keeping me on his lap, and cupped my cheek.
“Just breathe, angel,” Theo murmured, pressing little kisses to the side of my face.
My hands shook as I unlocked Theo’s handcuffs. He immediately wrapped his arms around me, a purr rising in his chest. I pressed my face into his neck, ignoring the layers of offensive smells on his skin and clothes and focusing instead on his warm coffee scent. It reminded me of quiet mornings spent in the kitchen, of days spent browsing in a bookstore.
It reminded me that there was goodness in the world and more to life than just trying to survive.
“God, Josie, I’m so sorry I let them take you,” Ben choked out, resting his face on my shoulder.
“They dismantled the alarm somehow,” Theo said, looking stricken. “We should have gone into hiding. I’m so fucking sorry.”
I wrapped my arms around both of them the best I could and held them tight.
“Please don’t apologize,” I whispered. “It’s not your fault.”
Both of them started to speak, so I cut them off. “I didn’t think I’d ever get to see you again,” I said, closing my eyes and swallowing past the lump in my throat. “I don’t want our time to be shadowed by the what-ifs. I love you more than anything. All I wanted was to get back to you, and I did it. I rescued you.”
Ben’s hands tightened on my hips. “You did so good, precious. So, so good.”
My tears came faster as I lapped up his praise.
“I’ll never stop being sorry for being separated from you. Never again,” Theo said.
I nodded into his chest.
“I should tell you off for risking yourself like this,” he added with a watery chuckle. “But I’ll let Cam scold you when he wakes up.”
I wiped my tears. God, being scolded by Cam would be a dream come true.
“Where are we?” Ben asked, looking around.
“West of town. There’s a safe house down that path,” I said, gesturing at the marked tree. “Amirah said it was about a two-mile walk.”
“Amirah? What happened after they arrested us?” Theo asked, his voice sharp.
I bit my lip, hesitating. I didn’t want to get into everything that happened while we were in the middle of the woods. My omega urged me to get my guys to safety so we could bond them. And fuck them. At least she was consistent with what she wanted.
“I’ll tell you when we get to the safe house,” I hedged.
“No, you’ll tell us now,” Ben said, startling me with his commanding tone.
“Umm… I just…” I looked around, feeling exposed in this clearing. I knew Charlie was currently wreaking havoc on all the courthouse systems, preventing them from tracking us, but our position still didn’t feel secure enough.
“I promise I’ll tell you everything once we’re safe.”
They looked like they were going to argue with me.
“I need to see Cam,” I added with a whine.
“This is not over,” Theo said, gripping my chin.
I nodded, leaning in to steal a quick kiss from each of them before standing up. Ben reluctantly released his hold on me. I watched him carefully as he stood, making sure he wasn’t injured.
“Come on, beautiful,” he said, leading me over to the van and giving me a boost into the back. His hands might have lingered a bit longer than they needed to on my ass, and I might have wiggled back into his hold. That part of me that wanted, that desired, felt like it had woken up again.
It took a moment to adjust to the dim light in the van, but my eyes were immediately drawn to Cam’s prone form. I crawled on top of him with a sob, unlocking his handcuffs before wrapping myself around him and burying my face in his neck. I breathed in deep lungfuls of his scent. The only thing that kept me from panicking was feeling his chest rise and fall steadily beneath me.
He shifted slightly and groaned.
“Cam?” I cupped his face with my hands.
“Baby girl?” he croaked.
Relief rushed through me at the sound of his voice, the feeling so sharp it took my breath away. Cam’s eyes blinked open and his expression was one of pure shock. His hands gripped my hips tightly and he pressed his face to my skin, scenting me as I had him.
“Am I dreaming?” he whispered.
“No,” I said, wiping away the tears on his face.
“It’s you?”
All I could do was hold him closer and nod into his neck.
“You alright, Cam?” Theo asked from the van entrance.
“Is this real?” Cam asked again.
Theo hopped into the back of the van, clasping Cam on the shoulder. “It’s real,” he said, the first hint of a smile I’d seen on his lips. “But we should get going. Josie, love, are we supposed to do anything with the van?”
“Amirah said to just leave it here.”
Cam groaned as he sat up. I tried to move off of him to make it easier, but he wouldn’t let go of me. “Where the fuck are we?” he asked.
“Near an Alliance safe house,” I said, examining his face. He was pale and his jaw was shadowed by a bruise that was already fading. I finger-combed his hair and used the hair tie on my wrist to pull it up in a bun. His eyes never left my face, his expression filled with awed reverence. He leaned into my touch with a slow breath.
“How did we get here?” he asked, pulling my hair out of its bun and running his hand through my long waves. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful.”
He looked so bewildered, and I couldn’t imagine how disorienting this was for him. I pressed the gentlest kiss to his lips. “I rescued you and drove the courthouse transport van here.” My voice was a whisper. Seeing Cam so weak was unsettling. I felt my omega taking over, insisting I get my alphas to safety. How was Cam going to make the walk? Were Ben and Theo more injured than they let on?
“You what?” Cam growled, sounding more alert and startling me out of my thoughts.
“What?”
“You commandeered this van and drove it here by yourself? Who let you risk yourself like that?” Cam asked with a scowl.
Theo snorted behind me, and I wrapped my arms around Cam’s neck, hiding my smile in his chest.
“You can keep scolding on the way,” Ben said, “But let’s get going.”
I pulled myself off of Cam, who reluctantly released me.
“Can you walk?” I asked him.
“Of course I can,” he said. He made his way to the edge of the van and jumped down, but his legs collapsed from under him when he hit the ground.
“Fuck,” Theo said, throwing his arm around Cam and helping him up. “Lean on us.”
Ben came to Cam’s other side and slung his arm around him.
“This is fucking stupid. I don’t need help,” Cam growled.
“That’s fine, but let us help anyway,” Theo said.
I met Cam’s gaze, blinking quickly to keep my tears from falling. I needed to fix this.
“Please let them help you, alpha,” I said, standing on my tiptoes and kissing him on the lips.
Cam huffed out a sigh but didn’t argue.
“You sure we’re just supposed to leave the van?” Ben asked, eyeing it skeptically.
“Yeah. We’ll need it tomorrow night,” I responded.
“What’s tomorrow night?” Ben asked as we started down the narrow path to the safe house. I led the way, trying to pick the easiest path for the guys and keeping my eye on any tree markers.
Shit. I didn’t want to get into this out in the open.
“I’ll tell you once we get to the house,” I said.
“Josie,” Cam growled.
I turned around, taking in all of their disgruntled expressions.
“What happened since we were arrested? How did you get to Amirah?” Theo asked.
I bit my lip, realizing they had no way of knowing Glen had pulled a supervillain move and locked me in his dungeon, and now was not the time to tell them.
“I’ll tell you everything when we get there.”
I resumed walking, but Theo’s snarl made me jump and whirl around. I looked around, eyes wide. Had someone found us?
“Are you limping?” he bit out, his eyes wild as they honed in on my leg.
I pressed my hand to my chest, willing my heart to slow. The burnt edge of my alphas’ fury swirled around me, and I couldn’t stop my whimper. This isn’t how I imagined our reunion. Everything felt wrong and unsafe and I wasn’t sure how to fix it.
“Shit,” Theo said, running his free hand through his hair. His eyes softened and he held his hand out. “Come here, love.”
I took a few hesitant steps towards him. He grasped my hand and pulled me into his chest. Ben and Cam pressed around us until I was completely surrounded.
“My alpha is freaking out,” Theo murmured. “I’m not upset with you. I’m so relieved to be back with you, angel.”
I let out a shuddering sigh. “I just… I need us to get somewhere safe before I tell you everything.”
“Let me carry you,” Cam said. “You shouldn’t walk on your leg.”
I scrunched my nose at him. Ben met my gaze over Cam’s shoulder and rolled his eyes, a small smile tugging at his lips.
“Umm,” I said in a high-pitched voice, not wanting to insult Cam. “I can walk. Angie looked at my leg and said it was fine to walk on.”
“Let’s just keep going,” Ben said. “The faster we move, the faster we’ll get there.”
I threw him a grateful smile and resumed walking down the path before Cam or Theo could argue.
The rest of the walk was quiet, the chirping birds our only soundtrack. Every few minutes, I looked back over my shoulder. Ben and Theo were still supporting Cam, but he was looking more alert.
The air was crisp and I shivered in my jacket. At least the midday sun helped a bit. I worried about my guys who were dressed in thin prison-issued jumpsuits. Why didn’t I bring clothes for them? I had been so focused on rescuing them that I hadn’t thought through what we needed afterwards. I couldn’t even remember what supplies the safe house was supposed to have. Did it have food? Clothing? Medicine? I berated myself—I wasn’t doing a very good job of caring for my alphas.
Sweat trickled down my back as I kept going. I didn’t want to admit it, but my leg was hurting more and more. I thought I heard Cam muttering under his breath, and I knew my alphas were watching my movements carefully. I was doing okay until I stumbled over a branch and fell to the ground.
Ben was next to me in a flash, pulling me up and keeping a firm arm around my waist.
“I’m okay,” I said, but I couldn’t help leaning my weight on him. Ben’s clenched jaw was his only response.
“Ben, help Josie. I’ve got Cam,” Theo commanded.
Before I could protest, Ben swept me up in his arms.
“No, I can walk,” I said, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. I desperately wanted to relax in his arms, wanted to demand all my alphas touch me and never let go, but my inner omega was driving me right now. I needed to be the one to care for them, not the other way around.
“Shh,” Ben said, tightening his hold on me. “Just let me carry you for a few minutes to give your leg a rest, and then I’ll let you walk. But I bet we’re almost there anyway.”
A few minutes later, he was proved right as we came to a small clearing in the woods where a cabin sat in the middle of the trees.
