Page 56 of Into the Fire: Before

A new scent. A scent that didn’t belong here.

My heart pounded, mind racing as I scrambled to figure out what to do. Swallowing, I’d just made up my mind to sprint for the door and start yelling, when one of the shadows broke and lunged right at me, stealing my breath before I could even scream.

Sixteen

Caine

Myalphadidn’tlikethat there was a sick omega nearby and he wasn’t tending to her. And hewould. not.let me sit still.

It was lucky I hadn’t yet left the parking lot from today’s therapy session before Brea could jog over and knock on the window, forehead marred with worry. The second she mentioned Taryn being unwell, I’d given a curt nod and peeled out of the parking lot, making the half-hour drive in twenty minutes.

I’d almost told Taryn about the appointment, about Brea being my therapist for going on a month now. I’dwantedto tell her. Talking it through with the both of them was the only chance I could accept the invitation still sitting on the kitchen counter in our apartment.

Because no, I did not bringthatup in therapy. I’d gone to every appointment and fought through my instincts to sit in silence the whole time and spilled close-held secrets in front oftwoshrinks. But no fucking way was I discussing a possible heat break with my therapist in front of her boss.

Nope. Never gonna happen.

In the end, I said nothing. Like a big scared prick.

Taryn’s door had closed around one o’clock. By four, I’d worked my way through every work order in the building. Fixed a cracked outlet cover, unclogged a sink drain, shown the elderly alpha on the second floor how to use the dimmer for the thousandth time probably. When those were done, I cleaned the air vents with a toothbrush. And vacuumed the rug in the lobby. And watered the fake potted plants.

Between each chore, I’d passed slowly by the Maddox apartment. I had no fucking clue why. The building’s scent neutralizers did their job well. I couldn’t get a whiff of anyone in the building unless I was fully inside their unit. Still, the regular walk-bys soothed my alpha by centimeters, so I kept them up through the afternoon.

Around five o’clock, I was polishing the banister between the second and third floors when every hair on my body stood to attention. A chill like millions of iced needles prickled my skin from scalp to toes. There was no sound. There was no scent. Only the undeniable knowledge thatsomething was wrong.

I sprinted down the stairs, dread growing in my gut.

Omega sick. Omega hurt?

Standing outside the omega’s door, I closed my eyes and leaned in, breathing deep. The faintest ghost of toffee lingered, so thin I wasn’t sure if it was real.

Help the omega?

I stood frozen, keys in hand. What if she’d stubbed her toe? What if her head just hurt still?

What if her heat was starting early? And I knew Brea wasn’t home yet…

No, couldn’t be that. Our standard neutralizers wouldn’t hide a heat spike, even an early one, this well.

My heart thudded in my chest. I didn’t know what to do. My alpha didn’t know what to do.

Then an explosion of black-burnt toffee scent nearly bowled me over, and the decision was made. I unlocked the door and swung it open.

For a moment, the world stopped. Like my mind was encased in stone. Ice. Two of the barstools at the breakfast bar were knocked over, as was an armchair in the sitting area. The corner of the rug had been kicked up, and there was a faint crack in the drywall to my left.

And to my right was Taryn. Hands bound in front of her, tears streaming down her face and around the pudgy hand covering her mouth and pinning her to the wall. Before her stood a mountain of a man, easily a foot taller than Taryn, his free hand fumbling with the waistband of his jeans as Taryn thrashed against his grip.

The room went red. The omega went red. The beta holding her went red. My alpha roared and reared back, ready to lunge, strike, kill. I gave him the wheel.

Faster than I could command my body to move, it did. It pulled the brute off Taryn and threw him to the ground. I vaguely registered Taryn’s wheezing gasps as her mouth was finally uncovered, the hiss of her body sliding down against the wall until she was sitting, crumpled, on the floor, the sobs that choked her as she stayed back.

But more front of mind was causing this asshole as much pain, agony, punishment as I could before I ended his pathetic life.

I’d taken him off guard. Even with my alpha strength, tussling with a beta of this size would normally be at least marginally more difficult. Not today. I straddled his broad chest, my left hand pressing down on his throat as my right rained downpunch after punch. My breath tore out of me in ragged, crazed pants.

He’d put hands on the omega.

He’d hurt the omega.

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