Page 26 of Pack Owned
CHAPTER 8
LIAM
Istep outside of the cabin, thunder booming in the distance. Since Ryker’s already chewed my ass out, he should’ve calmed the fuck down by now. If he wasn’t so goddamn stubborn, he’d admit Kayla is our Omega.
Flashes of a cruel Alpha’s fists, the sting of a belt, the shame of being powerless—my old man’s twisted rage surfaces, ghosts I’ve fought to escape. I swallow down the bile, letting the anger fuel me instead.
“All right, we need a plan,” I say as I walk up to Ryker. Figure out how to claim Kayla as our Omega and get Nexus off our back. They’ll just have to strike her name off their damn list.
“How long before you think you can get the information out of her about the other Omegas on the bus? That way, we can track them down and finish this job.”
Ryker still wants to turn her in? Is he insane? One whiff of her scent and it was like a switch flipped inside me. The memory of Kayla’s rain-soaked musk, intoxicating and vulnerable, still haunts me. A primal urgency to claim her courses through my veins.
I snarl, stepping closer until the air between us crackles like a live wire.
“She’s our goddamn Omega, whether you like it or not.”
“Ours?” He throws his head back, bitter laughter slicing the air. “They’ll fire us and never hire us again.”
I can feel it in my bones—the need to protect her, possess her. It’s a call as old as time that doesn’t give a fuck about consequences. I have to buy time, get Ryker to realize what I already know.
“Right now, all bets are off. We can’t pass her off now with bruises.”
Ryker’s jaw clenches tight. “No, we had a deal. She’s already been sold… paid in full.”
“Look, I’m done playing by anyone else’s rules. Let them come. We’ll take ‘em on. For her.”
“Jesus, Liam.” Ryker shakes his head. “You’re a goddamn loose cannon.”
“Better than being a fucking coward,” I retort, knowing full well that Ryker’s anything but.
“Fuck you! You’re a goddamn liability!” Ryker accuses. “Sooner or later, your impulses will get us killed!”
My blood is a live wire, zapped by the ferocity of my need to claim what’s fated as ours.
“We can’t just cancel the order like a fucking pizza!”
“Then we take her back. They’ll gut us trying, but we don’t roll over, Ryker! Not for them! Not for anyone!”
“Shit.” Ryker’s shoulders bunch. “We can’t keep her. If we did, they’d never hire us ever again. Fuck, we’d be washed-up bounty hunters. No one will give us any assignments ever again.”
“Then let’s stop talking shit and do something,” I snarl, every muscle screaming, every nerve on fire.
“There’s nothing to do except deliver the package and hunt for the others so we get our pay.”
Heaving breaths, my blood roars in my ears.
“Fuck,” I rasp, glaring at the sky as if it might throw down some answers. My chest heaves, lungs burning as I try to suck in enough air to douse the fury blazing inside me.
“We done here?” Ryker’s voice grinds out, deep and ragged, as if he’s been sprinting all night. His breathing is heavy, his stance weary yet wary.
Every instinct in me is screaming to claim, fight, protect.
“We need to think this through... strategize.”
“Since when do you strategize, hothead?”
I shoot him a glare as sharp as broken glass.
