Page 100 of Feeling the Heat: Part Two
My whine breaks free past the control of his bark, but it cuts off as he glares at me. Fuck, what am I going to do? More panicked tears roll down my face, soaking into my shirt.
“Don’t cry. You wanted to be with your sister, and now you will be.” He presses the back of his hand to my forehead and smiles. “Once your heat starts, you’ll forget anything but the joys of taking a real alpha’s knot. By the end, you’ll be so used up and covered in my bites that your weak excuse for a pack won’t want you. I’ll have all the evidence I need to show the world that you’re an omega whore who will do anything for alpha dick, not some symbol of omega oppression.”
“Bryce,please.” Megan’s voice shocks me. She reaches out to him, and he bats her hand away with a growl.
“Go wait out in the hall. I’ll tell you when I need you again.”
She recoils, nodding and scrambling toward the door. “P-please, don’t hurt her.” Our eyes meet for a moment, and I pour every last ounce of pleading and desperate hope toward her, though I know it won’t do any good.
38
She should’ve textedby now.
My leg bounces up and down as we sit in mid-afternoon traffic a dozen blocks away from our destination, staring at my phone and willing a message from Camille to appear.
A warm, heavy hand grips my thigh and squeezes, ceasing my nervous movement. “We’ll make sure she’s okay.” Ambrose’s attempt to reassure me is undercut by the roiling stress on his end of the bond that betrays his calm exterior.
“It’s been too long. Why hasn’t she messaged us?” I don’t recognize the way my voice trembles as I speak.
There’s a spike of terror from River’s end of the bond, and in a flash, he’s bursting out of the backseat. “We have to go.Now!” he shouts before taking off down the sidewalk in a run.
“Shit! Pull over.”
“Fuck, there’s nowhere to go.” Ambrose’s calm evaporates in an instant, his hands flying back to the wheel and honking at the cars in front of us.
“Over there!” I point to what is definitely a loading areaand tow zone.
He nods and, in a move I never thought I’d witness, the law-abiding, mild-mannered alpha honks again as he weaves up onto the empty stretch of sidewalk to maneuver the car into the space. Bystanders shout and cars honk back, but neither of us cares as he cuts the engine and we hop out of the car, slamming the doors and taking off after River toward the hotel.
“Fuck.Fuck.” Ambrose’s eyes seek mine as we wait at a crosswalk for the light to turn, and the abject terror in them is another first for him. “She has to be okay. She has to. I can’t—” He sucks in a choked breath and starts to shake. Alpha pheromones radiate off of him in a rotten citrusy cloud, and I grip his shoulders, realizing it’s time for me to be his support for a change.
“I know. Whatever is going on, we’ll help her, and she’ll be okay.”
“But River… he can feel her. He knows that she’s?—”
“No.” It’s as close as I can get to an alpha bark, firm and commanding. “She needs us. Focus on getting to her and helping, not on what could be wrong.”
Ambrose nods, and that’s all the time we have before the light turns and we’re racing off toward the hotel again. We manage to catch up with River by the time we’re at the hotel entrance, passersby giving the alpha a wide berth as he growls when the rotating doors slow him down.
“River, wait, what’s wrong?” I call out between panting breaths as we chase him into the lobby. Shit, I need to do more cardio. I’m not built for running like this.
“Excuse me, are you guests here?” the receptionist calls out after us, but none of us bother to respond.
River shakes, his body coiled tight as his alpha prepares to destroy any threats. “She’s scared and in pain. I have to get to her. I have to get to our omega.” He’s panting, pupils blownwide, and there’s nothing behind his eyes except his alpha’s instincts.
When I glance over at Ambrose as we wait for the elevator to arrive and the receptionist heads our way with more questions about our right to be here, he has a matching look in his eyes.
We step onto the elevator, and the doors slide closed as River smashes the button to the 4th floor. A dull growl fills the elevator, drowning out the soft music playing, and both alphas stare at the level indicator like they can will it to go faster.
Fuck. I’m scared of what their alphas are going to do if we find Camille and she’s hurt. They’ll kill whoever did it. These two kind, gentle alphas are thrumming with protective rage for our omega, but someone needs to protect them, too.
I push in front of the elevator doors before it comes to a stop. “I’m going in first. Stay in the hall.”
“Fuck that, she needs us,” River growls. He tries to push past me as the elevator doors slide open, but I shove him back. He may be an alpha, but I’m a hell of a lot stronger than him.
Ambrose growls at me, ready to use his bigger size to get me out of the way, but I grip the front of his shirt and lock eyes with him. “She needs her alphas not to be in jail for murder. She needs them to be safe and ready for her heat. Stop growling and listen to your beta, or I’ll make you listen.”
Against all odds, against everything I was told growing up about alpha dominance, and despite my lifelong inferiority complex, they stop growling. Their eyes clear, and both alphas nod, their aggressive postures easing.
