Page 27 of Crave

He snapped another set on Quinn. He paused, leaning a little too close for comfort, his hand coming up to grip Quinn’s face. The ugly tattoo on his hand had always amused me: a crest with his own name in the middle. Like he was going to forget his own name? How douche-bag do you need to be?

His hand clenched around Quinn’s face, looking like a brand on his skin. He inhaled Quinn’s scent deeply, his eyes going wide with shock. “You’re a fuckingOmega?”

I flinched as I waited for the blows to come, but they didn’t. When I opened my eyes, I would have almost preferred a fist to the face then to see the gloating look.

“You’re an Omega pair?” Wilkie crowed. “The Goddess has fucking blessed us, Joseph. A fuckingOmega pair.”

I looked at the despair in Quinn’s eyes, a sensation that matched the sinking feeling in my own gut. We were fucked now.

16

QUINN

“On your knees, Omega,” Wilkie growled at me. “I’m not taking any chances that you’ll slip through my claws again. Oh no. I’m going to bond you right now until you’re tied to me forever, and your only dreams will be how good you can suck my cock and bear my young.”

The Alpha compulsion had me dropping to my knees with a grunt, and I whined in frustration. It was almost worth losing my hands to get out of this. I couldn’t be tied to this man, couldn’tstandthe thought of his teeth on my body. Or any part of him in Susannah.

I’d die first.

I looked over at a shaken Susannah, her eyes wide and her skin pale. I tried to reassure her with my gaze, tried to reassure her that we’d be okay. I didn’t know how yet, but we would. This wasn’t the end.

“Never,” I growled at Wilkie, spitting at his feet. He laughed, then kicked me in the face, my body lurching up and backwards as darkness threatened to close in on me.

No.I couldn’t leave Susannah alone.

I struggled back to my feet. “You limp-dicked fucker. You’re too weak, too cowardly to be called an Alpha,” I growled, though my words were slurred and my jaw hurt. Fuck, had he fractured something?

“Weak?” Wilkie snarled, prowling forward. “DON’T FUCKING MOVE.” The amount of Alpha bark he’d put into his command had my whole body stilling. Me and my big mouth.

“Wilkie,” Errol started, his voice almost a whine. “We should go before the fire gets here.”

Wilkie turned toward the older Beta with a snapped curse. “Shut the fuck up and get the cars then.”

While Wilkie was distracted with Errol, I mouthed to Susannah,Run.She shook her head, and if my jaw didn’t ache so bad, I would’ve gritted my teeth.

But then it was too late; Wilkie was concentrating on me again. “Suck my cock,” he purred with Alpha persuasion. He freed his dick, and I felt myself lean forward without any conscious will.

No. No.My jaw opened, and I yelped in pain. Definitely broken.

Then Susannah screamed. It was a blood-curdling, ear-shattering sound that threatened to burst my eardrums. Wilkie whirled around with his cock in his hand and a snarl on his face. “Shut her the hell up before everything goes sideways,” he hissed at Joseph, who stepped close and slapped Susannah, before stuffing what might have been a handkerchief from his pocket into her mouth. Who fucking carried handkerchiefs these days?

Hands handcuffed behind her back, Susannah’s voice was muffled as Wilkie turned back towards me, kicking me in the chest until I fell face-first into the dirt. “Well, I guess there's no time for foreplay. I’m going to bite you now, and I’m going to make sure it fucking hurts,” he growled at me, his expression inhumanly gleeful at the prospect of making me hurt.

He dropped down and placed a knee on my back as he started to tear at my clothes. I turned my head back toward Susannah.Run,I mouthed silently to her again. I didn’t want her to see this. I didn’t want her to have to succumb to this either.Please.

Again, she shook her head. And then Wilkie’s weight was gone. There was a roar as a fully shifted Manix tackled him into the dirt beside my face.

I scented Murphy immediately. Joseph shifted and launched himself into the fray, but he didn’t have a hope against a fully shifted Murphy. But a solo Murphy against Joseph and Wilkie together? He’d be in trouble. Wilkie was powerful, which was why he’d gotten away with his shit for so long.

Struggling to my feet with no hands was not easy, but I was up and in front of Susannah quickly. She was hissing with anger that we couldn’t shift and help. I hip checked her. “You need to go and get help.”

“No! I won’t leave you.”

“Fuckinggo!” I shouted, and with one last anguished look, she sprinted back toward town. I breathed easier as soon as she was out of sight. Throwing myself into the brawl, I knocked Joseph off Murphy’s back where he was trying to claw at his jugular. Fucker couldn’t even fight clean. I fell hard on my arms and felt something pop, but I didn’t have time to think about the pain. Back on my feet, I grimaced but ran at them again.

Wilkie swiped at me with his shifted claws, and I felt them peel open my skin. I just needed to keep him distracted enough that Susannah could be long gone. And so Murphy had a chance. Panting through the pain, I did my best impression of a wrecking ball until I was bleeding too much and my limbs felt impossibly heavy.

“Murphy,” I croaked out, the words feeling too big to pass my throat. They were pummeling him now. Wilkie was bleeding heavily, but between the two of them, they’d managed to get Murphy on the ground. “Get up,” I grunted. “Fucking get up!” It was easy to say as I lay on the ground, bleeding out.

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