After a night of being fucked by Shadow and hardly getting any sleep, one would think I would be a zombie on my feet. Yet I was bouncing on my toes, brimming with a new surge of energy, even if the sweet tingle of my pussy still ached from Shadow’s cock. It was a beautiful reminder of what it felt like to be adored by a god of an Alpha.
With a sense of clarity, it confirmed the longer I went without sex, and my heat came over me, the more control I lost over every inch of myself.
Shadow had woken me up with a kiss beneath the sun’s warmth that spilled over my bed, then led me into the shower. Meet you downstairs in the kitchen, he’d said. He had helped me through the heat all night long.
Skipping down the steps, I reminded myself that these extreme high and low emotions would pass once I broke my heat, but I was also feeling something else… an impact the Alphas had on me.
Was it love? Admiration for them protecting me? What did they call that in the old movies? Puppy love?
No, it wasn’t puppy love. That faded, and I couldn’t imagine my feelings dwindling. What I felt was far more than a crush. I turned and stared at my reflection in a mirror I passed in the hallway. Wet, pink hair was combed off my face, and my eyes appeared wild and lighter than I remembered them. A light blush stained my cheeks, and my lips looked swollen and redder. Shadow had kissed me roughly last night. Running my fingers over my mouth brought back memories of his lips on mine. I’d give anything in the world to have him in my bed every night.
I fixed the thin-strapped tank top that looked skewed across my shoulders and brushed my hands down over a pair of jean shorts, the light clothing aiding in my constant heat.
Back to my thoughts, I strolled down the hallway, thinking what I felt had to be more than puppy love. It was a grown-up emotion—gratitude, yes, but also the conviction that the men would protect me, no matter the cost. I’d never in my life experienced such care and devotion.
Stepping into the kitchen, everyone was there, sitting on stools around the middle island, pawing at plates of food. Thelma set a large plate of pancakes in front of them and greeted me with a welcoming grin.
“Morning, and good to see you out of your room. Now take a seat and eat. You need the energy.” She wiped her hands on her apron, which she removed as she approached me. “I have a tea date with two friends. I need to hurry now.” Her smile was contagious in the best possible way. She waved as she hurried out of the kitchen.
Turning back to the four men, Aspen was tapping the stool next to him eagerly, and I sauntered over to climb up. Before I was comfortable, he’d already filled my plate with a bit of everything, just as he’d done up on the terrace days ago.
A girl could get used to being waited on by such a gorgeous Alpha.
“How was your sleep, sweetheart?” Shadow asked, pushing a glass of juice in front of me.
“If she got any sleep from what I could hear,” Aspen teased, nudging me with his shoulder before leaning in closer. “Eat up, little Omega, while the food’s still warm.”
There wasn’t a speck of jealousy from him. He seemed more amused, which was a relief because I couldn’t deal with more drama.
“I missed you while you were gone,” I whispered to him.
“I know you did,” he bragged, then kissed me on the lips before returning to his eating. My cheeks burned up, and I lifted my gaze to Daniel, who was grinning at me. Shadow pushed a strand of hair out of his face in such a doting manner, my heart soared, painting the perfect family picture for me with the level of affection they had for each other. I understood more why Daniel had panicked about me being with Shadow and was scared he’d lose him.
Everyone was eating while a small TV in the corner of the room played the news, talking about a large storm front coming in the next few days and telling us to prepare for potential flooding.
When I finally turned to look at Viper, who sat at the end of the counter, popping a grape into his mouth, his green eyes were on me. I couldn’t ignore the fierceness behind them and wanted to know what he was thinking.
The time I’d spent with him on the terrace and him sharing his heartache with me hadn’t left my thoughts. I wanted to speak to him about it, especially after he killed Roman outside my room. It was a relief that the man was gone, but anxiety knotted in my stomach that his absence could bring others to the compound, looking for him.
Viper just sat nonchalantly, throwing grapes into his mouth, studying me like he had no plan in the world to share anything else with me. He had a strange expression on his face that confused me… Did he blame me that he had to kill?
“Eat up,” Shadow said.
I lowered my plate and went right for the extra-crispy bacon, my mouth salivating before it touched my tongue.
“It tastes even better with maple syrup,” Aspen suggested, lifting the bottle toward me. “It goes great on eggs, too.”
“You’re a monster,” I mocked him. “No one adds maple syrup to their bacon and eggs.”
“I do,” Daniel said.
“And me,” Shadow added, but Viper kept silent.
“Well, then I’m sharing breakfast with demons because that’s just wrong.” I laughed, sliding my plate away from Aspen, who was squirting the sugary liquid all over his food.
After a few mouthfuls and everyone watching the news about the upcoming storm, I muttered, “Was there anything you found on our trip, Shadow and Aspen?”
Shadow swallowed the food in his mouth as Daniel hopped off his seat and proceeded to make a latte in the fancy espresso machine.
“Unfortunately, my contacts proved useless, but the trip wasn’t a complete waste,” he said, eyeing me as he shifted in his seat while Aspen leaned closer, the heat of his body warming me. The way he studied me and touched my thigh was distracting.
“Oh yeah? What’d you find out?”
“I discovered that your friends, Charity and Adella, are safe at the Institute.”
I might have squealed. “Oh, you have no idea how good it is to know you’ve found out about them.” Sure, they may not be in the safest of places, but better off at the Institute for now than kidnapped and killed by Alphas like Roman.
“But no one has heard anything about your friend… Frankie, was it?” Shadow added.
“Frannie,” I corrected him, trying not to let his update deflate me. I twisted the napkin in my lap, because, for all I knew, he was asking for someone called Frankie and got the completely wrong information.
It was impossible for me to play it cool and not feel like I might burst into tears at hearing about my friends and how much I missed them, wishing they could be here with me.
“From what we heard, your friends still haven’t shown signs of being Omegas and are safe,” Aspen murmured, his hand sliding across my lower back.
I blinked away the tears. “I really miss them, and it’s difficult to know they’re still stuck there.”
Daniel returned, placing a cup of frothing hot coffee in front of Shadow. “Would it be that hard to find a way to get her friends here, too?”
Shadow’s jawline clicked, and a sharpness flared over his features.
“I wish I could say that was possible, and maybe later on, there might be a way, but right now, there’s a lot of commotion about your disappearance.” He stared right at me, and my stomach dropped.
“What do you mean? Ms. Bakewell is looking for me?” My voice quivered.
Shadow pushed his plate aside, which Daniel quickly collected, and leaned toward me from across the table. “They’re saying you were stolen from the ball, and several eyewitnesses confirmed it. No one could recall who took you, though, so that’s our saving grace.”
I blinked at him, my heart thundering in my veins.
“What does that mean, then?”
“The Russian mafia is involved, and everyone is putting out search parties for the missing Omega.”
I gasped, and suddenly all the food in my stomach threatened to come back up. I was off the stool and pacing before I could think of what I was doing.
“This is really bad. If they catch me, they’ll sell me to old creeps to share, then what happens to you? They’ll…” I couldn’t even bring myself to say the words.
“We’ll be fine,” Viper finally spoke up.
For a while there, I’d forgotten he was even in the room with us.
“You can’t be sure of that,” I answered
“Viper’s right,” Aspen agreed. “We’re fine. The concern is not us but keeping you safe and with us.”
I wasn’t a fool and knew they were trying to placate me, ensuring I wasn’t scared. Shadow’s darkening eyes said it all.
“The solution is that we increase our protection around the compound, and we all stay low until this blows over,” he said firmly.
My insides were taut and about to snap. “Am I going to be on the news? I’ve seen missing Omegas broadcasted on all the channels.”
Shadow shook his head. “They wouldn’t want to bring bad publicity to the Institute and reveal they lost an Omega.”
“Come finish your breakfast.” Aspen offered me his hand. “I promise I’ll never let anyone take you from us.”
I rejoined them just as a news event caught my attention on the TV. I couldn’t hear the words with Daniel and Shadow chatting and my heartbeat pounding in my head with trepidation of the trouble the pack was in, but I read words scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
Jack Seilen, the caretaker at Bakewell Institute for Girls, was discovered this morning outside the grounds. His body had been divided among three garbage bags found on the curb.
The room tilted around me as flashes of my time in the isolation cells at the Institute popped into my vision—Jack paying me a visit and whipping me with his belt and all the atrocities he’d done to all the girls there.
My veins turned to ice, and my attention jerked to Viper, who was getting to his feet.
He wiped his mouth with a kitchen towel and set it down, wearing a tight grin on his mouth when he glanced at me. Then he walked out of the kitchen.
He did it. Oh my fucking God, he’d gone and killed Jack at the Institute.
I couldn’t move as coldness seeped into the very essence of my being. With it came fear for Viper and what could happen to him if the Institute discovered he killed Jack. I should fear him, too, but I’d never felt scared around him.
“Little Omega, are you okay?” Aspen asked.
I couldn’t think, couldn’t process anything. Pushing against the table, I got off the stool.
“I-I have to speak with Viper.”
Rushing out of the room, I thundered down the hallway, taking in the living room and backyard, searching for him. As I darted past a corridor, something caught my attention, and I retreated to find Viper walking into a room.
My steps quickened behind him, and I burst into the room that ended up being an indoor theater. Two rows of lounge chairs faced an enormous wall-to-wall screen. My mouth might have fallen open in awe, but I shook that away, turning toward Viper, who was fiddling with an electronic panel on the wall.
“Are you looking for me?” he asked.
Unable to help myself, I marched up to him.
“You did it, didn’t you?”
He twisted his head toward me and grinned, not even trying to hide that he killed a man in cold blood.
“Is that a problem?” he asked finally.
My voice croaked when I attempted to speak. When I tried again, it came out shaky.
“I told you, I don’t wish death on anyone. Karma will come to everyone when their time is right.”
He hit a couple of buttons on the panel, and the lights dimmed while the screen lit up.
“If it’s easier for you, call me Karma.”
Collecting my hand, he led me to a two-seater couch. My feet stumbled alongside him, my head swirling, my cries of terror muffled in my chest. It wasn’t that I grieved Jack. The man was a fucking psychopath, but Viper had butchered him without a glance of remorse.
Should I be scared of Viper?
“Watch a movie with me.” He urged me to sit next to him, then pulled me against him, our sides pressed up close. “It’ll distract you.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off him, staring at him as darkness moved around in my head because of the blood spilled.
“You took two lives because of me,” I said nervously. “Do you normally kill people when they piss you off?”
His words came to me about Thelma telling him that he was turning into a villain. Did she know about him killing people? Which begged the question—how many people had he killed? My throat burned with the unasked questions.
I found his gaze amid the dancing shadows as the movie started and saw the intense protectiveness behind them.
“For those I care about, I’d fight tooth and nail to protect them. I’d eradicate the whole fucking city if it kept you safe, Trinity.”
My heart lurched in my chest, and I watched him, surprised that I wanted him even more. What was wrong with me? Was I the problem that I was attracted to someone like Viper? That I swooned because he was protecting me from the horrible people out there.
He trailed a hand across my cheek, and I leaned against his warm touch, my own fire igniting, then he kissed my nose.
“Let’s watch the movie and don’t overthink it. I want you safe, and the only thing that stands between them from getting to you is us. I won’t let that happen.” He held me possessively.
Torn. Broken. Scared.
All emotions that should have had me running away from him, but instead, I melted against his side. The world was dangerous, too dangerous for new Omegas like me. The streets were filled with monsters who’d use me, break me, then kill me.
Did that excuse Viper’s actions or me not running screaming from him?
I sat there for a long time, unsure how to answer that… unsure I wanted to face the truth.
Instead, I kept telling myself that Charity and Adella were as safe as they could be since the fiend preying on girls at the Institute no longer posed a danger to them.
Breathing easier, I eased into the couch without discomfort. Maybe that made me a horrible person, or maybe I finally accepted that to survive, blood had to be spilled.
For the first time, I had a pack in my corner, willing to do that for me.
