Page 34 of Jace

“The fuck?”

Jace breathed that out, and it felt like the world stood still.

“You did that to my sister?”

“Damn straight.” Snake’s eyes glittered. “When your sister was under me, screaming for more, screaming for me to knot her…” The shit-eating grin faded slightly, some other more thoughtful expression rising before he roughly shoved it away. “She fucking loved it, just like all omegas do. It’s all part of what they are.”

“Ssh…” Ryder said, bringing my focus back to my own body, hearing the low whines escaping my lips. “That’s not how it works. Snake’s fucked in the head.”

“Snake’s dead,” was all Jace would say, his voice perfectly flat.

And then the gloves were off. Jace strolled up to Snake, the other man lifting his fists, but it didn’t seem to matter. Whatever was inside Jace, he knew how his opponent would strike out, what tactics he’d use. Jace was there, anticipating, predicting, countering, and then, as Snake’s breath started to come in hard, all that explosive energy getting him nowhere but tired, when Jace had him right where he wanted, he attacked.

“That’s it,” Ryder said. “Smash the bastard.”

So Jace did, obliterating the pretty features of the blond alpha one punch at a time, until finally, his face was a bloody mask and he fell to the ground, right as the police sirens began to wail.

“Fucking coppers have brought reinforcements,” Dane said.

Ryder shot back, “Jace, we gotta go. Now!”

“Keep your fucking head down and your eyes off my omega if you want to keep them,” Jace growled over Snake’s prone body. “I’m serious. If I detect you even breathing her scent, you’re a dead man.”

I threw off Dane’s hand and stepped forward to the hissed sounds of frustrations of the alphas, but I needed to do this. I walked up to the man on the ground, found that a savage side of myself I’d never tapped into liked this, liked seeing the man who thought himself fit to lay hands on me brought down so low.

“Well, well, look what we have here,” I said, an echo of Snake’s words to me. “Look how swollen and wet you are.”

“Sloane…” Jace rumbled, then I did something I think surprised even him. I drew my foot back and kicked Snake in the guts as hard as I could, the oof of forced out breath making me smile. And Jace? He smiled back, his brows creasing in confusion, but we didn’t get a chance to interrogate that further.

“Unless you guys want to see the inside of a cell, we need to move, now!” Dane shouted.

“Let’s go.”

That was all the warning I got as I was scooped up and then rushed out, back through the stairwell and into the alley under Art’s direction. Two big black SUVs pulled up with a screech, and I was shoved in the back seat, the engine turning over, the wheels squealing before I could even do up my seatbelt.

“Fuck, watch it!” Jace shouted, his arm locking around me, keeping me safe, like he always would, I realised. Somehow, I knew that. I just stared at him as he ballsed out the guys in the front seats, as we scuttled back to Desparion.

Chapter Eleven

Sloane

“No!” My nails clawed at his skin, trying to gain a strong enough grip, but I was never going to be strong enough to stop him from what he needed to do.

“Sloane…” Tears formed, then beaded in my eyes, burning their way out. “Sloane!”

At his bark, I went perfectly still.

The wailing sirens followed us while the SUV bounced and rocked as we entered a huge concrete tunnel. The daylight disappeared, and the vehicle headlights came on, the sounds of sirens fading.

It was dark inside the SUV, and safe, but Jace’s arms were the safest place in the world.

I breathed his woody scent in, letting it fill my lungs, glorying in the sensation of his strong arms around me.

A week ago, I’d been a rational beta. No, I reasoned, I’d never been a beta. I’d always been an omega waiting on a trigger, and oh, how I’d found it. I’d seen both sides, the horror of men like Snake, the corrupt Dawn Agency, and in the most unexpected of places, I’d found this beautiful saviour. I sensed complexity lurking beneath his rough façade. His mention of his sister had been vague, but there was both pain and love there.

The old part of me wanted to cling to logic, to shy away from the instincts threatening to overwhelm me, yet my instincts were the only thing an omega could and should trust. After Snake had his hands on me, I understood that even as my body might respond, my mind retained enough cognisance to differentiate between choice and biology.

Snake was a sick twist of biology.

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