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It started with Maddox - he was in the room where the window was broken first and several men had crawled in. They weren’t armed with guns, but it looked like they had knives. Maddox was almost invisible as he attacked them, quickly disarming them and knocking them out. One by one as they entered, they were taken down just as quickly. I looked over to where Cy was, seeing him with a massive bo staff as he smacked each intruder down, spinning and hitting them with incredible efficiency. I looked again and realized he was on the second floor, which meant the men attacking the house had scaled the side of the wall. Looking between screens, I saw Kian, looking calm and collected as ever despite the men coming at him. He seemed to have no issue shooting down each target who tried to enter, aiming his gun with precision. Most of the intruders had vests on as well and were stunned, falling down before turning to retreat. Most of them escaped, but I saw stains on the carpet around the house letting me know that there were at least a few severe injuries. When I finally spotted Jameson, I sat shocked as I watched the fight. There was a flood of men coming after him - he was in the living room on the ground floor where the largest window had been shattered. Dozens of men came in like a flood trying to take him down. He was a machine - absolutely unhinged as he mowed through them, punching, kicking, biting, lifting them up and hurling them back outside. I had never seen anything like it. The image of him taking on men who should have trampled him with sheer numbers by now was in direct contrast to the gentle alpha who had drawn out my deepest secrets and cradled me so gently. I now understood why they were so good at what they did - they were almost unstoppable when in action. The intruders were now running and limping away, crossing back over the wall of the yard on several of the screens. Looking around the house screen by screen, I saw that the pack was claiming victory. Each room was being cleared out, and though there were a few still bodies on the ground, none of them were the men I knew. Each of them had fought hard and they all looked tired, but the attack was subsiding. When almost all of the men were gone, I sat back with a sigh of relief. My guys had won. Each of the pack seemed to be yelling to each other from across their respective rooms, and slowly they found each other and seemed to be checking each other’s bodies for injury. I wanted to go join them when I suddenly saw movement on one of the screens. A singular intruder was still inside, emerging from a room. He had pulled out a gun and was slowly creeping around the house toward the pack. He was going to catch them unaware!
I looked around the room, desperate to get out. I grabbed the baton and reached under the cupboard to unlock the safe room door. Once it clicked, I glanced at where the man was and saw that it was one of the hallways in between the safe room and where the pack was currently regrouping. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the heavy baton and crept out of the room.
Chapter 54
Jameson
I wiped the sweat off my brow and looked at the carnage. The attack had been swift, but we were always prepared. Cy had rigged the entire property with secret alarms in the event anyone unwanted tried to enter the compound. We’d had plenty of adversaries in our time together, but most people were smart enough to know not to mess with us on our property. Until today. I looked over my pack, assessing the damage. No one was seriously injured. I would have been able to sense it through the bond if something bad happened. What had a massive mess to clean up. I hadn't taken on that many men at once in a long time, maybe ever. I couldn’t remember how many of them came at me. All I could think about was that I had to keep Bella safe. If they got to her, who knows what would have happened. The very thought of her kept me going as I took blow after blow, the fatigue only just now setting in. My alpha side had taken over, and between my instinct and my training, the attackers had been driven off. There were a few bodies left over, but it was nothing we hadn’t dealt with before. I was more worried about getting to Bella and calming her down. I knew she was probably terrified.
“Who do you think was behind it?” Maddox breathed out heavily as he rubbed his shoulder where he’d been stabbed. It wasn’t a deep wound. We’d patch it up. He was one of the best beta fighters I knew, so I hadn’t been worried about him holding his own.
“I’m sure it was our last client. No one else knew we had taken her. I’ll get revenge on that damn Lockwood pack. I hope their business goes under and that Celeste takes every cent they own.” Kian growled. I let out my own menacing growl at the mention of the client. Anyone else who tried to cross us would be dealt with.
“I’ll go secure the perimeter. No one’s on the lawn anymore, but I need to make sure the trip wires are all still working. We don’t know who else might attack next.” Cy said as he raced out the front door.
My alpha senses were still on alert, but with all the commotion, I had missed something. It was a half second too late when I heard the sound of someone who didn’t belong. Maddox looked behind my shoulder with horror and I turned just in time to see one last intruder, his gun pointed directly at my head. Each of us instinctually reached for our weapons, but I could tell we wouldn’t have time to stop him before he got at least one shot at me, at point blank range. I could see his finger tensing on the trigger almost in slow motion as I prepared to duck. But before any of us could react, an even faster movement happened directly behind him. A blur of hands swinging flashed behind him as a thud rang out in the room, and the stunned intruder fell to the floor. Behind him, our tiny omega was panting, her hands gripping a large metal baton as she stared down at him. This was the last thing I expected today. Our perfect, innocent omega saved me from a shot to the head.
We all took a moment to register that she was out of the safe room before she raised the baton again, aiming it at his skull. “Omega, wait!” I barked, and she froze as she looked at me, the baton held with both arms above her head like an ax ready to be hacked down. Maddox got to her first, scooping her up and removing the weapon from her hands while Kian ran to the man’s body, pulling him away.
“But he’s going to hurt you, I need to stop him!” She sobbed, trembling as Maddox curled her in his lap on the ground, smoothing her hair and murmuring comfort to her.
“It’s okay, omega. You stopped him. We’ll take care of it now.” Kian had already taken his limp body away, and luckily for the intruder, he didn’t see or recognize Bella. If he had, he’d be disposed of permanently rather than dumped miles from here as a mercy. “Listen omega. You don’t want to go too far when it comes to violence.” Maddox’s comforting beta energy calmed her down until she was only barely trembling. I was glad we stopped her from doing more damage. She didn’t need to carry the guilt of killing a man, and several blows to his head with her weapon would have accomplished that. It was hard enough for me to deal with offing another person, and I had done it plenty of times to people who usually didn’t deserve to walk this earth.
Bella sat in Maddox’s lap and calmed down, hugging him tightly as she cried. “I was so worried! What if something happened to one of you?” He rocked her as Cy and I made quick movements to get the broken glass out of the way. We didn’t need her seeing anything else traumatic. Kian and I had started rearranging the furniture, pushing the couch back up when she cried out again. We rushed over to see her pulling her hand away from Maddox’s shoulder, blood dripping off of her as it slowly oozed out of his wound. “You’re hurt!” She wailed. Maddox grabbed her hand and held her tightly.
“Just a flesh wound, omega. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before. It will heal.” But nothing he said calmed her now. She started scrambling, trying to peel off his vest and see his injuries. “Where else? Where else are you hurt?” I reached down to help calm her.
“Omega, none of us are hurt badly. There is nothing to worry about.” She turned to me, her eyes wild with anxiety. I smelled her tangy perfume, its usual sweetness turned sour with her worry.
“Let me see you!” She started grabbing at me and pulling at my clothes. My hands went to peel off the vest and take off my shirt. I wasn’t injured except for a few scratches and bruises, but even that sent her into more of a spiral. “He almost killed you! They almost killed you all!” She sobbed as Kian and I let her roam her hands all over us, alternating between checking our skin and hugging us as we tried to get her to take deep breaths. While her head was buried into my stomach, Kian and I exchanged looks. With our lifestyle, coming home banged up was common. Being attacked or even killed wasn’t out of place in our world. Bella was traumatized by what she had witnessed, and couldn’t bear to see us hurt. How would she deal with us doing this for a living?
Seeing her in this state made something deep inside of me ache. I had promised to keep her, never let her go. But how could I provide her with the life she deserved when I couldn't promise that I would come home each night? How could I bear doing this to her? What kind of alpha would I be to bring her into this world of uncertainty when a good pack was supposed to make their omega safe, secure, and calm? At the same time, our connection was undeniable. This omega was made for us. I couldn’t let her go.
Kian looked at Maddox, still on the floor and with a morose look on his face. The omega’s pain was causing him pain as well. “Give her something to calm her down, then we need to talk.”
Chapter 55
Maddox
“Just rest, Bella. You went through a lot today. We just got through your heat, and then you had to witness all of that. I’m so sorry.” I patted her forehead with a cool compress. She’d been having an anxiety attack earlier. Luckily, I had what was essentially a small pharmacy’s worth of medicine at our place and made her a concoction to relax her and help her sleep. She smiled up at me as she held my hand.
“It’s okay. Everything will be alright. We will find a way to tell everyone I’m safe, and everyone will stop looking for me. Once you bite me, they’ll never have reason to separate us. Then we can all be happy!” She beamed at me and my heart wrenched. Even in the most dire circumstances, she found a way to look at the positive side of things. I tried to smile back at her as she yawned.
“Rest up, little one. I’ll be back to check on you later.” She nodded and her eyes dropped into slumber before I even stood. She must have been exhausted from the emotional whiplash of everything that transpired. I shut the door softly and headed for the study where the rest of the pack was waiting. All of us had been through so much - the incredible high of Bella’s heat, our shared exuberance to have her, our newest pack member just within our grasp. And then the shocking reminder that we did not live in the same world she was from, where she really should be.
I walked in and felt the dire mood surrounding me as everyone stood around silently. I slumped into a chair next to the desk Kian was leaning against. It was a mistake to sit there - I could smell her slick from an earlier sexual adventure she’d had with him here in this very study, and it made me crave her even more now. But this arrangement was too good to last. We’d already selfishly put her in danger by keeping her with us. It was exactly as Kian had warned us would happen, except he fell for her too.
No one spoke. We all settled into the uncomfortable silence, all of us aware but too afraid to say what we knew we should do. I figured I might as well put it out there.
“She could have died today.” Silence. “She found her way out of the safe room.” I smiled bitterly at the thought. Our little omega, too smart and loyal for her own good. “If she’d missed the blow to his head, if he’d mistaken her for one of us and turned and shot-”
“Don’t even speak on it!” Jameson growled, his voice so loud it caused reverberations through the room. He was squeezing the arm of his wooden chair so hard it was splintering. “Never say something like that. She’s safe.” Kian sighed, running his hand through his hair. It was messy again. I’d never seen him like he had been these past few weeks.
“Maddox is right. We put her in danger. And we’ll keep putting her in danger as long as we live like this. You saw how she was when she realized Maddox was hurt.” Jameson stood quickly, his alpha presence filling the room.
“That’s why we will always be there to comfort her! As we promised!” Jameson was emotional now. He’d grown attached to Bella, their connection a salve to his wounded soul that I wasn’t sure he could live without. Kian faced him, unphased.
“How much do you think she can take?” The rest of us thought about it as uncertainty crossed our faces. We were used to omegas from the Eastern Province, ones who had grown up living a hard life, who knew how things worked. Bella wasn’t used to this lifestyle. She had too much empathy, too much care. She believed in a happily ever after. “Do you think an omega of her nature will last knowing every time we take a mission, we risk being hurt? We’ve been lucky so far. But Maddox, you were right.” He turned to me, his gold speckled eyes boring into me. “Packs who live like we do never make it to old age.”
