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A thoughtful pause overtook the group, and Cal found Della in the crowd. Her face had fallen, a hollow sadness taking the place where the impassioned argument had vacated. Those precious lines of her face stood out stark and forlorn in the fading light, incongruously paired with an expression of such open bafflement and disillusion. She looked simultaneously young and old and so hopelesslylost.
In his chest, their bond twanged like an out-of-tune guitar, the notes sour and grating, and he cursed himself again for bringing her here. Should’ve gone their own way and left all this behind when he had the chance. That future wavered, fading like a desert mirage, and panic clawed at his guts. He needed to get to her, to take her in his arms, to give her his purr, and remind her of everything they’d shared.
“I know she’s a part of your Pack,” Cal continued, forcing himself to stay calm, stay reasonable despite his surging turmoil, “and I know this looks bad, but right now, you need to listen to what we’re trying to tell you. There’re rogue Alphas north of here, maybe making their way here as we speak. They want your food, your horses, and they want your Ome—”
“Fuck this guy and fuck this bullshit story,” Silas interrupted. “Unmated Omegas wandering around by themselves. What a crock of shit. Sloan, wasn’t Rue helping you all day in the stable?”
“She was...” Sloan scraped a hand over his jaw.
“But you got called down to the fields, so how would you know?” another Alpha pointed out.
“Are you saying Rue and Zorah took two horses and went for a joyride alone, and you didn’t stop them?” Riddick hurled the accusation at Sloan.
“Hey, fuck you.” Sloan’s face turned red. “I was pulled in three different directions today. What the fuck wereyoudoing?”
Riddick snorted and folded his arms over his chest. “Not misplacing Omegas, that’s for sure.”
A few others joined in, shouting harassment at either Sloan or Riddick or telling one or both of them to shut up.
Cal cleared his throat, raising his voice for this last reveal. “The ones coming here know all about you. Someone in this Pack is in league with them and feeding them information.” He shifted his glare to Silas. “I’d sure be interested in knowing how often Silas here has been doing the patrol route alone. Della and I have no reason to lie, but he’s awfully invested in discounting what we’re saying.”
Hunter zeroed in on Silas, and Cal saw the cogs start to turn. Colt straightened his shoulders, looking less like he was going to punch Cal again and more like he was actually reconsidering the situation.
“It’s the truth, Hunter. Please listen,” Della whispered into the contemplative quiet. “Cal didn’t do anything I didn’t ask him to. Let him go.Please.”
If her pleas affected him, Hunter did not show it.
“We need to sort this out,” Hunter said finally. “Until we do, Colt, you take him.” Hunter jerked his chin at Cal. “Silas, you’re with me. Logan, get Della home and get her something to eat.” He pointed an index finger at Cal’s mate. “Stay in your cabin. Don’t make me have to come track you down.”
“No!” Della jolted back to life, clawing at the Alpha who restrained her, his face set in a grim line as he adjusted his grip on her to subdue her flying fists. “Where are you taking Cal? What are you doing with him?”
Her anguish screeched through the bond and the stunned air of the mess hall. Several nearby Alphas took involuntary steps away from the snarling hellcat, their eyes wide with disbelief as to what they were seeing. This was not the Della they were used to. But, the Della they were used to was not Cal’s fierce little Omega.
Knowing it was just as pointless but unable to sit idly by as his Omega suffered, Cal renewed his struggle, shouting into the chaos. “Don’t touch her! You’re going to hurt her!”
“Hunt! He didn’t do anything wrong! Colt! Stop this!” With the energy of pure Omega fury, Della thrashed and fought while screaming at anyone and everyone in earshot. “Let go of me! I need to be withhim!” She stomped on the Alpha’s foot hard enough to make him swear, and a second Alpha stepped forward, stooping to restrain her kicking legs.
“Get her out of here,” Hunt commanded, hiking a thumb toward the door.
“No! Don’t do this! Don’t! Please! Let me go! Cal!” Two Alphas carried her toward the door, pinned on her side like a rolled-up carpet. Her eyes, hysterical, roved to find his, abject terror in their depths.
Cal strained hard against his captors, saying soothing words she had no chance of hearing over her own bellows. “Della, just wait. I’ll take care of it. Just sit tight, okay?” He forced the reassurance down the bond, but it, too, got drowned out.
“Cal!” Outside the mess hall, her screams faded into the night, but the turmoil surged through the bond unabated. “Cal!”
The anguished note in her voice pierced his precarious control. His Omega was hurting, and she needed him. With a final gust of strength, he yanked away, desperate to get to her and ease this torment. Pain erupted in his right shoulder as the joint jumped the socket, nearly buckling his knees as his arm hung limp. He cursed, his vision snowy as the physical pain cut through all the other sensations slashing and hacking at his body.
“You should let me go to her,” he panted, sweat prickling at his temples. “She needs me.”
Hunter’s expression went hard, and ice slithered down Cal’s spine. “We got it from here. Della’s no longer your concern.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Della
The same Alpha stood in the doorway as the last time she checked. With an aggravated huff, she squinted at his unfamiliar face in the darkness. He had the look of an aging movie star who’d spent too much time in the sun: handsome, but weathered. Staring back at her, his arms folded like a bouncer guarding the entrance to a chic nightclub, complete with the air of stone-faced boredom.
“Like I told you before, Alpha says you have to stay here.” His gaze turned pitying, which only riled her harried nerves even more. “You should just go back inside and try to rest. I’m sorry, ma’am.”
