Page 80 of Shades of Scars

She’d been there when I found out I was pregnant. Why wouldn’t she have trusted me with this?

I know she’s looking at me, but I can’t see her eyes behind the big sunglasses. “Since that first day he was in town and Caito sent him to keep an eye on me.”

Over two weeks. She’s known she has a scent matched alpha for over two weeks.

“I wasn’t trying to keep this from you, Scarlett. I swear to you.” She sits up straighter. She reaches for my hands, andI surprise myself when I let her take them. “The only reason Cosette knows is because of the incident at the diner. She was there that day. I had to confess to her why he was acting that way so she could convince Jerry not to call the damn cops on the psycho dressed like a goddamned mercenary, with literalgrenadesstrapped to his chest mind you, pummeling people’s faces in.”

I swallow my emotions down and chalk it up to pregnancy hormones. Mine have been all out of whack lately. “I’m not mad, Kate. I just wish you would’ve told me sooner. I could’ve had Caito remove him and had someone else watch out for you.”

Kate shakes her head, giving my hands a squeeze. “You know as well as I do that Caito wouldn’t have been able to pull Fraser away unless he put a tranq dart between his eyes or something equally as forceful. If you think Caito is a lunatic when it comes to you, you haven’t met Fraser Arson. He is grade A stalker material. I’ve never met a crazier alpha.” She shudders and I frown.

“If he’s bugging you that much, I will have Caito deal with him. And if my alpha can’t manage it, I will.” I growl, feeling suddenly protective of my first ever omega bestie.

She takes her glasses off and offers me a watery smile. “It’s fine, really. I’m just taking it day by day, you know? Kind of like you did. Despite what I said to Caito, I don’t think I’m ready for alphas. I’m just hoping and praying he hasn’t said anything to his pack mates about me.”

“If he had, I don’t think they’d have stayed away. Unless they all have different mindsets about omegas than Fraser does. Don’t worry. When Caito returns home, I’ll have him speak to Fraser about backing off and giving you space. He can still watch over you without being an overbearing prick.” I assure her, and she nods, sighing heavily.

“No more talk of unhinged alphas. I just want to bask in the sun and enjoy this before I’m stuck in my apartment for another two weeks.” She releases my hands so she can lay back against the pool lounger.

I am just about to finish up applying my sunscreen when a literal explosion rocks the building, sending me pinwheeling back off the lounge seat I’m sitting on. My back hits cement, head cracking painfully against the hard surface, and a vaguely hear Kate scream something. I think it’s my name, but my brain is a bit fuzzy for a few precious seconds.

I blink my eyes open where I’m on my back with my legs up on the upturned lounge seat, and Kate is peering over me, her palms on my cheeks. It takes me several blinks to clear the haziness from my swimming head to hear the words coming out of her mouth. “Get up, Scar! I think a bomb has just gone off! We need to get off the roof!”

She wrenches me up off the ground, and I groan in pain. Despite the chaos, Kate is surprisingly calm as she wraps an arm around my waist to help haul my ass across the roof towards the elevator. Just as we reach it and she jabs her finger into it, nothing happens. The display above the box doesn’t even light up.

Power is out.I think I might say this to Kate, but my head feels like it’s a million pounds at the moment. She mutters a rather colorful curse that somehow filters in through the haze, and then twists us. “There’s a staircase.” I manage to get out, raising a shaking finger towards the left hand side of the rooftop where an emergency staircase is.

Together, we stagger towards it, Kate mostly keeping me upright. Fuck, I hope my fall backwards didn’t hurt the baby. My hands shake when we reach the door, and I fumble to press in the code to release the locking mechanism. It takes me twotries before the door springs open, allowing us passage down the staircase that Apollo told me empties out into Wren’s office.

In the dark, Kate guides us down the stairs. When we reach the bottom, the door is already open, which immediately raises my hackles. From what Apollo told me before coming up here, a code is needed to get through both sets of doors on both sides.

It’s only when we spill out into Wren’s office do I come to the realization of what exactly is happening.

I come face to face with my worst goddamned nightmare.

“Hello,pet. Someone has broken the rules, I see. I think it’s about time you return home for a few refresher courses.”

52

Apollo

Ishould have fucking known something was wrong the moment the damn microwave stopped working.

That was about thirty seconds before the entire building seemed to rock sideways and send me flying across the kitchen.

Our penthouse is flooded with masked assholes before I’ve even picked my ass up off the beautiful tile work that Lark loves so dearly. “Son of a bitch.” I snarl when I get the butt of a rifle against my cheek, making stars burst across my vision. If it wasn’t for the fact that some sort of earthquake just handed me my ass, I would have been more prepared for this shit.

All my damn panic buttons to alert my pack brothers are out of arm’s reach at the moment.

A fist slams into my jaw then, sending my head sailing back to collide with the unforgiving tile again. This time, I think the poor tile cracks. I groan.Fuck. Whoever just punched me has one hell of a right hook. The coppery tang of blood floods my mouth. Pretty sure I just had a few teeth knocked loose.

Now that I’m dazed, arms hook underneath me and yank me to my feet. My vision swims for a moment before I can clear it. But then I think I must be seeing shit, because the woman that steps into my line of sight cannot be who I’m really seeing.

“Raven?” I think I whisper her name, but she hears me. She also grimaces. Wren’s alpha sister moves towards me, dressedhead to toe in black with a fucking gun hanging loosely from her hand. She has her white hair braided back from her face, making her truly look like some warrior viking goddess of old.

One with a tad too much leather and not enough armor.

“Where is she, Apollo? Just tell me where she is and we’ll make this quick. I don’t want to hurt you.” At first, her words confuse me, but then I take a quick look around and realize exactly what the hell this is.

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