“Cam, Theo. Where. Is. Josie?”
A dangerous, icy calm came over me.
My vision narrowed, and the world grew quiet for a terrifying moment. It lasted just a second, then adrenaline coursed through my body—a bolt of electricity shooting my legs into motion. Cam was a blur of motion beside me.
A wordless agreement rose between us with each pounding step: nothing mattered but finding Josie and destroying anyone who dared harm her.
“She’s walking through the back of the warehouse,” Ben called breathlessly through the earpiece, disbelief and desperation coloring his tone. His heavy breaths followed, telling me he was sprinting towards us.
I cursed myself. Why the fuck had she gone off alone, and why hadn’t we given her an earpiece? We only had four available and assumed she’d be with one of us at all times, so we gave the fourth to Grant. In the rush to get the terrified omegas into the vans, I had lost sight of her.
The wind whipped around me, and a multitude of scents laced the air as we neared the warehouse. I was about to round the corner to the side entrance when Cam grabbed my vest and pulled me back.
I turned on him, on the verge of snarling, when I heard familiar voices. He raised his eyebrows and held his gun low as we pressed our bodies to the side of the building to listen in on Pack Madden.
“We should just take one of the omegas here to bond with and be done with this,” one of the alphas said.
“We’re not bonding anyone here. Take whoever you want as a toy, but that Porter cunt is ours. And I, for one, am looking forward to teaching her a lesson for running away.”
A red haze fell over my eyes at their threat to my mate, and I rounded the corner without thinking. Reason and strategy left my mind as I embraced the bloodthirsty feral alpha I’d avoided at all costs, ruled by the need to crush, destroy, maim, and kill the ones who sought to harm what was mine.
My Josie.
I lunged at the first person I saw. We crashed to the ground, his head hitting the pavement with a satisfying crunch. I recognized the alpha as Pierce, Jericho’s fucking protégé. He tried to push me off him, but my rage fueled the punches I rained down on his face. No time for precision, no analysis of my enemy’s shortcomings for an efficient, strategic fight. No. This was raw, dirty aggression, and I reveled in the sickening snap of Pierce’s nose as it started gushing blood.
Cam barked at the alphas to get down on the ground, but murderous rage still hummed through my blood. I couldn’t stop. Couldn’t back down.
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.
