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And he was angry.
It took precious moments for her to realize Beau was demanding her location, longer still for her to flounder through that. She only saw the sign with Alderbrook a mere five miles away, along with Rockfell and Highriver long after that.
He stayed on the phone with her for a long time, every second ticking by in endless hours as a deep-seated chill filled her bones and the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on end. She was a single small Omega, alone in the dark of the bitter nothingness alongside a highway she didn’t know. She cried for them to hurry, but they were far away, and Rey wouldn’t hear of Beau hanging up to call someone else to come for her.
Then the phone went dead.
There was a rattling click, Beau’s voice no longer murmuring reassurances in her ear where she jammed the receiver against her face hard enough to hurt. She wanted to scream, but was too scared of who might hear it to give in. So she curled up inside the bank of phones, praying she’d be able to slip free of the bolted down poles if someone came at her.
She was still curled up in the shadowed parking lot of the abandoned gas station when headlights veered across the long dead pumps.
Devin swallowed hard, choking back her cries as fear spiraled through her chest. Heart slamming against the delicate cage of her ribs, trying to burst free, she shrunk into a smaller shadow among a host of others.
“Devin,” Rey bellowed, diving out of the car as it skidded to a stop with a spray of rocks.
Though she tried to move, to crawl out from her hiding place, a new fear took hold. Her limbs wouldn’t unlock from their defensive position. Wouldn’t let her run to him.
What if he didn’t listen?
“Devin, where you at, baby,” Beau shouted, veering off to the left as Rey went right.
They called to her, Rey becoming increasingly frantic as he ripped open the padlocked doors of the empty store.
“She’s here. I feel her, but where the fuck is she,” Rey growled, a handful of feet from Devin’s hiding spot. “Why isn’t she coming to us? What the fuck is wrong?”
He never listened to her, and he was so angry.
She must have made some sound, because Rey was racing towards her in the next moment. Too much, too fast, he overwhelmed all of her common sense. Instinct had her wedging her small body in the tight space he couldn’t reach, screaming as he grasped at her.
“Calm down, Rey,” Beau said, having to take his own advice as he rushed over only to find Devin kicking at Rey’s hands as she squirmed even deeper into the darkness.
“The fuck is wrong with you,” Rey shouted at her, grabbing her ankle to yank her out only to lose his grip when she clawed at his wrist.
“Rey! Calm. Down. She’s scared.” Beau crouched offering Devin an easy smile, sitting flat on his ass among the detritus flowing into the lot from the highway. Ruining those ridiculous expensive slacks he always wore to hunch down until they were on the same level. “It’s okay, baby. He’s just as scared as you are. You hurt?”
Devin gave a jerky shake of her head, hugging her knees tight to her chest so Rey couldn’t make another move for her legs.
“Okay, that’s good. So why don’t you come out now, hm? It’s just us. We’ll get you home and—”
“He’s so mad,” Devin whimpered, burying her face in her knees to muffle her quiet sobs.
“I’m not mad at you, sweetheart,” Rey said through a rough reverberation that strained for the soft tones of a purr. Failing that, he hunkered down nearby, holding out a hand to her in invitation. “I just want to get you home, that’s all. I’ve been so worried about you. I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“I didn’t mean to!” Devin continued to cry, words choked by her tears as she hid from the disgust she knew would be painted on Rey’s angular face. He’d never want her once he knew the truth. “I’m so sorry. I did it but I made him stop. I didn’t let him. You can’t hurt me, Rey, because I’m pregnant, and I won’t let you do that to yourself no matter how much you hate me, so just go now and I’ll… I’ll figure something out and-and… I don’t know. But I’ll figure it out and you don’t have to hate yourself for what you do next, okay?”
She’d been so afraid to be alone in this place, but now she realized her mistake. If she was with him, he’d know the truth, would see it as plainly as a scarlet letter pinned to her chest. He’d get even angrier, wouldn’t think about what he was doing. Would lose his temper and do something he’d regret. She had to figure out something else. Maybe Beau could take her to the apartment. She’d just live her days out there, give Rey the baby he so desperately wanted when it came.
“You… You’re pregnant?”
The smack of something hard and a spray of gravel made Devin shrink away, his earthy darkness flowing over her as he drew nearer. Then suddenly it came, the magnificence of his purr. The sound was perfection, just the right timbre, as he held out his hands to her. Urging Devin out of the shadowed niche and into his arms.
“Don’t be mad,” Devin whispered, crawling forward despite her apprehension at what he’d do once he realized what had happened. She couldn’t deny that sound or the way his heat seemed to envelope her from so far away.
The bond, she later realized, curled up in Rey’s lap in the back seat as Beau drove them back into the city. It was a live wire, writhing in her chest, warming her from the inside out as she clung to her mate. Rey purred hard for her, stroking her hair and cheeks, his hand having the faintest tremble as he set it low over her belly.
He made no mention of Max’s scent coating her skin in places it had no business being.
He kissed her damp cheeks, smoothing away the tears that still coursed down them. Soothing her into an uneasy rest as they drove the miles back to home.
