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I held my hand to stop him. “All I’m going to say regarding who he is would be ‘club business’. Now, you and I both know that not one man in this club would DARE lay his hands on an omega in anger. I know you have a few reservations about that left in your mind, but I am telling you now… NEVER. As for him being in my room, it’s OK. You did the right thing. All I’m asking is that you clean up the mess in my apartment when he gets moved.” That was all I was going to get from this group. Time to move on to my office and grab a phone.
My way across the bar to my office in the back required me to pass by the stairs. I swear I could see the heat smell rolling down from upstairs and forming a cloud at the bottom. Yeah, Ihad to walk through that cloud to get to my office. I held my breath the whole way. Not that it did any good. Once I closed my office door and took that first breath, I realized that my clothing was covered in that smell. It was a damn good thing that I had discipline. For how long, though?
Pulling out my keys, I unlocked the bottom drawer of my desk and grabbed the burner phone. The club had 12 burner phones at all times. Every number was programed into every phone. Each phone had a number that correlated with a time. One through twelve. I held one in my hand. Obviously, Bear had taken number 3 on the job with him, hence telling me to call them at 3. I hit the power button and laid it on my desk to boot up. After pouring myself a shot of scotch. Yeah, I know, I shouldn’t with an omega in heat in the building, I hit the number 3 on the phone to make the call.
3 rings and a faint click“Boss?”
“Dammit, man, you know I hate that shit. Fuckin’ Owen started it. It needs to stop.” Even I could still hear the smirk on my face.
“You check on him yet?”Bear sounded worried.
“Ain’t made it up there yet. Some weird smells happening here, like in the cave. I know Clip smelled nothing, but I did and it’s back.” A quick swallow and the scotch warmed and relax my body.
” Yeah Mako, I’m thinking that smell might be HIM. You said you smelled it real faint when Hogg was around. Coulda been residual from living in the same house as the boy. Anyway, that’s not important. We showed at the designated spot man and that fuck of a brother of his. Gavin was in the alley beating the shit outta him. Stupid shit was laying out the entire plan to the kid between blows. Aww, Mako, some of the shit this fucker was saying. Just disgusting. Something about hoping we waited to kill him until he went into heat so he would knowhow it felt to be gang raped, then killed. How maybe he should just hang with us so he could watch it all go down. Maybe he would even take the first turn to ‘pop that cherry ass’. His fuckin BROTHER man. That’s a bunch of sick. Clip may have lost it and beat the shit outta the fucker. We left him in the alley while we loaded up the kid and Clip waited around the corner after calling an ambulance. Fucker’s alive, but we’re not sure how healthy he is. Part of me wishes we killed him. Anyway, the kid started going into heat in the back seat of the car, man. Not good, brother. Me and Spuds gave him over to the hang arounds to take care of. Too much adrenaline running through us. We loaded up everyone and Spud led us on a run to get away before something happened.”I don’t think Bear took 3 breaths during that entire rant. You could feel the anger welling up through the phone the longer he spoke.
“It’s alright brother, I get it. Given the circumstances, you did everything you could do to protect him. Thank you.” I know it didn’t need to be said, but I said it anyway. “The hangs cleaned him up. He’s in my spare right now because he chucked and made a mess in the guest room. They cleaned up him and the room, just waiting on laundry to dry to move him back.” I heard the relieved huff from my second. “So, he’s aware of the circumstances? I hope he’ll be able to understand he’s in no danger once his heat clears and we can talk to him. I’m not even gonna try while he’s in a state. This Gavin fucker is damn lucky I got hauled away. If I was there, he would most likely be dead. That shit is fucked.” I couldn’t help but be angry. Who treated family like that? Over fuckin money, no less.
“Anyway, brother, we’re at our usual spot just north of TAC if you wanna head this way. There’s 15 of us here. Everyone who actually saw him. We grabbed them outta the club and headed out. The others dispersed to their homes. Figured they were safe with some of em being mated and not everyone knowseverything. That’s up to you to decide who gets to know.”Bear would make an amazing leader. That’s why he’s my VP, but he doesn’t have any ambition to have my job. The way he defers decisions to me makes that obvious. Yet another reason I love my brother. Not that I ever wanted the damn job, but who else was gonna step up after Pop was killed. We had to make sure the club stayed what it was. A refuge.
“Nah man, if it gets too bad here, I’ll head over to the motel and stay a night or 2. I just spent 24 sitting in a hard ass chair in the station. As much as I love my lady, riding her that hard for that long, I won’t be able to feel my legs for days. I guess we need to stop calling Theodore ‘kid’ too. He’ll be 25 in a few days, and we’ve all gotten a whiff of his heat. Let’s give him the respect of calling him by his name. Any ideas about how this should play out? I’ve got a couple rolling around in my head, but it’s all gonna depend on how he handles everything once he can think clearly.” Hell, he wasn’t the only one that needed to think clearly. What the fuck was wrong with me?
“Yeah, him having a clear head is gonna be necessary. Fuck man, I hope he understands this whole fuckin’ shit pile. I’ll help explain it, but I’m damn glad I don’t have to do it by myself. Owen give you any shit? Last thing I heard as we hauled ass outta there was Owen asking who the hell he was and why they were tasked with his care. Our little Owen has grown a pair, man.”He huffed a laugh towards the end.
“That boy hasn’t only grown balls, but he’s developed a mouth, too. I had to invoke ‘Club Business’ to shut him down without explanation. We’ll eventually let them in on it, but not right now. Not until we know exactly what it is we’re dealing with.” I hated feeling like I was hiding shit from my club. Even though omegas and women weren’t allowed to be a part of any organized group, church was the only exception for omegas. But I saw all theomegas and women in my club as part of my club. Fuck those laws.
“Whatever you decide. If they wanna know, OK, but I can’t see forcing it on them. Shit could easily go sideways with this, and they’ll have a damn site less protection than we will. Speaking of protection, what was the 24 about? The boys in blue showed up and you just went with them?”I was wondering how long it was gonna take him to ask.
“I’m thinking it had something to do with the job itself. Some omega I’ve never seen accused a ‘biker’ of beating him up and trying to rape him. Obviously, I fit the description he gave to the cops. They ask some questions and gave some excuses why it was gonna take a day for the omega to make it to the station for ID, but they had to hold me on ‘suspicion’. Gave me a rock-solid alibi for the job, though. Can’t help but think that was the intention. Once the omega showed up and verified that it wasn’t me, they cut me loose. A little over an hour ago. Speaking of… how did it go? Other than the Gavin bullshit?” I was ready to be off the phone so I could finish up here and decide if I was staying or not.
“All good. No cuts, no bikes. Except for Clip, and he parked 2 blocks away. That’s why he stayed and waited for the ambo. Well… that and he really wanted to know if he killed the guy. Once we got back to the club, we did what was necessary for his safety and ours. I’m sure you’ll hear everything about the brother’s condition when you finally decide to talk to Hogg.”That was the last piece of the puzzle. Time to move on with my evening.
“Yeah? Good. Then I’ll head on up and check on him and decided what I’m gonna do. I might camp on the couch in the office instead of heading out. I’m getting too old to keep doing this shit. Might have to revive that garden Gramps used to have. I kinda get why he loved it so much. Been thinking about it since I got back here from the station.” I didn’t bother to hide anythingfrom Bear. There was nothing he didn’t know about me, well… except for dick size. Fuck, I needed to not think about my dick with that omega in heat.
I hung up the phone and took a second to wipe the call log before powering down and stuffing it back into the drawer. “Owen!” I yelled for the boy before I rested my head in my hands. Damn, I was wiped out.
“Yeah boss?” fuckin smart ass.
“Come on in.” he opened the door the rest of the way and I motioned for him to close it.
After I heard the click of the latch, I looked the omega in the eye and pointed to the couch. As soon as he parked his ass on the cushion, I made my decision. “Owen, I know what I said about this being ‘club business’, but that’s because I’m not sure how deep into this you will go. You omegas and the girls have always been and will always be a part of this club, but there are some things that some folks can’t handle.” I didn’t have any kind of speech in my head. This was all unfamiliar territory, and he was just gonna have to understand that I was winging it. “Not everything we do here is completely above-board. You feel me?”
He scoffed at me and gave a little smirk. “Care to tell me how I was not supposed to know that before now?” Fuckin smart ass. “Look, boss, how you keep the coffers flush, and your day-to-day shit doesn’t concern me or any of the others. How you ALL treat us does. We trust all of you with our lives. Hell, most of us wouldn’t even be alive without you guys. We understand why everyone left. Fuck, even the best of alphas would have a hard time around an injured omega in full heat. Honestly, I’m impressed that you’re holding out as well as you are, but you’re sweating like a leaky faucet right now. We just wanted to be sure that no one was gonna show up while everyone was gone. It was just us here, and its obvious someone beat him up. If someone followed the guys here with him, there would be no way toprotect him or us with all of you gone.” There went my idea of leaving for a motel. Looks like the couch for me tonight. No way I was leaving them here alone and calling in some of the mated brothers wasn’t an option. They’d want to bring their ole ladies and men, too many people would know. Until we had a better idea how this was gonna play out, fewer was better.
“I’m calling church on Tuesday evening. I’ll let the guys know I want you to sit in. You’ll not be speaking or voicing your opinion, understood?” he simply nodded his head. “Keep in mind what goes on in church, stays in church until Bear or I say otherwise.” Another nod. “Now, I think it’s time I met our guest.” I rose from my chair and gestured to the door. Owen rose and followed. Time to face the music, whether or not I was ready.
Chapter Eight
Theo
The pain was worsethan anything I could ever imagine. I knew exactly where it came from. I was in heat. Full-blown heat. I learned all about it from the books I read.
On top of the heat, I knew it was my time. Gavin made that clear while he was beating the shit out of me. How stupid did I have to be to think that Gavin really wanted to celebrate my birthday with me? Stupid and desperate, that’s me. I should have known it was coming when my heat suppressant pills stopped showing up with my breakfast 3 weeks ago. I’d been taking them since I was 10. Just after, my father confirmed I was an omega. He and mother said that I had to take them to ensure my ‘purity’ until such a time an alpha could be chosen for me. They didn’t know I knew the truth. There would be no alpha for me. I turned 25 in less than a week. Instead of a claiming, there would be a funeral. Mine. I knew they would at least give me a funeral. They had to keep up appearances. Everything my parents did was about appearances. Before this heat set in, I wasready. The life I had was no life at all. No friends, no genuine family. Not one person gave a shit whether I lived or died. Over my life, I tried to make some kind of connection with the people I met to help with the loneliness. Very few bothered to engage with me in small talk. Most were simply clinical; they were there for a purpose and once that purpose was fulfilled, they left me alone again. Anyone that attached kindness to their job was quickly replaced. I didn’t want to affect their job, so eventually I just gave up and didn’t even try. I sat stoic until asked a direct question related to their purpose. My answers were short and to the point. The only thing ever given to me by my parents was a Kindle reader. It was supposed to be for school to download textbooks, but I found a few free romance novels to download.
If those books were physical copies, I would have read them apart. Literally. Thank goddess for digital media. I lived life through the alpha/omega love stories in those books. The powerful alpha who loved and protected his omega, willing to die to protect what was his. The omega who could spread his wings and be the person he was destined to be simply because of the love of his alpha and family. Love I knew I would never live long enough to have. Maybe I should have fought harder to find a way out. Run away from the people who held me captive, but I wasn’t one of those strong omegas from my books and this was real life, not a romance story. I was behind locked doors, living in a single set of rooms on the top floor of my parents’ house. None of the windows opened more than a few inches for air flow and when it was necessary for me to venture from my rooms, there were no less than 2 armed guards escorting me. I was allowed outside 1 day a week for 3 hours. To sit in the enclosed backyard so I could get a bit of fresh air and sun. Maybe that was the real reason I said yes when Gavin offered to take me out for dinner and a few drinks to celebrate. I might have planned to make off from him while we were out, but I wasn’t given time.He came to my room and offered; I said yes and less than an hour later we were headed out.
Once dinner was done and he told me to step into the alley to wait for the car to take us to our next destination, his mask fell off. Memories became fragmented after the first blow to the back of my head. I fell forward, hitting the brick of the building. I heard Gavin shouting, unsure if it was at me or not. I kept trying to see our attackers. The next fragment was Gavin standing over me, hitting my face repeatedly, calling me names and telling me tonight was the night. It was my time to die. Mother and father paid someone to take me out, but he wanted his fun first. He lost so much because of me. He deserved so much more than he got, and he was going to get it. I remember the words ‘heat’ and ‘gang rape’ and something about him getting a turn. My final thoughts were of my Poppy, and I hoped I would get to see him again. Then it all went black.
The next time I woke up, there was an omega sitting beside me. “I’m Owen and you’re OK. Mako will be here soon, and he’ll take care of everything.” I tried to sit up to get a better look at where I was. It didn’t smell familiar, and I hurt. I hurt all over. My face felt like it was on fire and my body was hot and wet. The Owen person put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down. “You’re in heat sweetie, you need to be as still as possible.” I jerked away from him to the edge of the bed. My stomach protested and I threw up. I heard other voices then too. I just couldn’t make out what they were saying. As I faded in and out, I felt my body being moved around. I’m pretty sure I was put in a shower. Why would they bother to wash me if they were sent to kill me? What did it matter if I was dirty when I died?
