“I’m not leaving you, Mona.”
“Ingrid will need you.” My throat threatens to close, but I keep talking through it, hoping the knot will lessen. I need to be brave. “They’ll all need you. You have no idea what condition they’re in. The alphas are healing, and fortunately, none of them are in rut, but all the deltas are omegas now and…” I swallow. “One is pregnant.”
Andrea grits her teeth. The steering wheel cracks. “If the alphas aren’t in rut then how the fuck—”
“Do not judge them. Don’t you dare. You have no idea how much it hurts to be in heat without help. The alphas—it’s not consent, we both know that. They know that. But they’re helping the omegas through it. Locked in a cell together, one at a time, after those women are spelled, naked and screaming for dick. And when their scent changes, when the heat hits and the omega turn happens, the alphas—they try to hold back. Trust me. But they were throwing themselves at them, and…”
And I know what it’s like, because I did it to Silas. He held back with Lily, but with me… the second he entered that cabin, I was on him. He had no more choice than I did.
It all sucks. And it’s all wrong.
But I’ve seen the alphas in my vision, too, and they are just as fucked up over all this, if not more so, than the deltas—omegas, now, I guess.
We’ll get them out of there, but it will be a long while before they’re okay. Lily only just left the hospital, and she’d been in there for weeks.
“Okay, well, since the alphas are slightly better off,” she says, still with some judgement in her tone, “and they heal faster, they should at least be able to help. Did Deidre say what would happen when we arrive? We’re not going near her if the wolves aren’t already outside waiting for us.”
I sigh and look out at the passing landscape, the quiet highway cutting into jagged rock. The sun is setting, streaking the sky with yellow and vibrant purple. A full day away from my mates. I alternate between gut-wrenching pain and numbness. Beep helps, actually, keeping me calm and focused. I’m surprised she’s as on board with saving the omegas as she is, considering her dogged insistence that our mates not only know best, but should be by our side at all times, protecting us.
But we are not selfish, and we cannot watch others suffer,she interjects.
I wish I were.
Just as that thought threatens to drag me down to another dark place of missing home, something slams into the truck bed with enough force to make the metal frame shake. Andrea shouts, jerking the wheel so hard I’m thrown against the door. The tires squeal against the asphalt as we careen toward the shoulder. Cars blast their horns as we skid off the highway, andAndrea regains control as she pulls over. My pulse explodes in my ears, alarm rattling my bones as I turn in my seat.
My heart leaps.
I curse under my breath. Relief, panic, and sweet fucking joy. “Fuck,” I mutter.
Andrea stops the truck, and we both climb out as the giant falcon leaps from the bed and shifts. Ghost’s multi-colored feathers give way to golden-brown skin, the texture smoothing into long, corded arms and toned legs. I force my gaze up to meet his swirling, amber eyes, glowing with rage.
“What in thefuckdo you think you’re doing?” His alpha pheromones are so potent I have to take a step back.
I’ve never heard Ghost sound so angry. I’ve never seen him with this much emotion at all, in fact. He’s practically vibrating with it. He steps closer, and with the anger radiating off of him, pouring with the potency of his magic, I should be scared. But I take a step closer, meeting him halfway, my mouth watering.
He’s here. He came for me.
Shit.
“What are you doing here?”
“Excuse me?” He looks at me, open-mouthed and incredulous. Then he turns to Andrea. “You are supposed to be watching out for her!”
“She is not my keeper!” I yell back, taking a step in front of Andrea. “And neither are you!” I stab my finger into his naked chest, heaving with rage. It shouldn’t make me hot. Goddamn, what a mess. “Look, this isn’t—you have to go back. You can’t be here.” I press my palms into his hard pecs, feeling the heat spill out of him, making my thighs clench. But Deidre will know he’s here, and panic distracts me, so I give a little shove. He doesn't move.
“What was that?” he asks, brows furrowing. He tilts his head, leans in close, sniffs my neck. “You panicked just now. Why? What’s happened?”
“Ghost, you can’t be here. You have to go. Please. I’m begging you.”
His eyes glow, then narrow, before dismissing me and moving on to Andrea for answers. She’s an impressive woman and alpha. But Ghost has always been a little different. His alpha is strong, yes, but he’s also a witch. And his power is unsettling. She withers slightly beneath his gaze.
“The witch will know you’re with us. And she will slaughter the entire silo of shifters. She’ll kill my mate,” her voice cracks.
“Andrea,” I hiss, with no heat behind it.
Ghost contemplates her, questions and answers mounting behind his eyes. Then he steps back and looks me over. Inspects me, and as his shield drops, and I practically inhale his oceanic scent, the wisps of sulfuric magic tell me he’s using magic on me.
“Ghost?”
