Page 5 of Savage Trap

I get what she’s saying, but I can’t help but think of the Tower and the bloodbath that saw me hunt down Roan Bisha. I never would’ve got out of their alive without my pack, but I was the one who tore him to pieces in my wolf form. I could argue it was in self-defense, but it was pure vengeance that drove me. That made it so personal. Not just for me, and what he threatened to do to my pack, but for my mom, and all those years when Bisha treated her like trash.

“I just wish Arben was with us,” I murmur, my gaze drifting to the woods leading to our cabin. “I mean, I know he’ll be there with us in Chicago, but I don’t want him in the shadows. I need him by my side.”

She pats my hand in sympathy. “He thinks if he stays too close, he’ll get distracted, and something will slip past him. And keeping you safe means more than his own happiness.” She leans closer, her gaze intense. “He’s a guardian, Elvana. It would destroy him if anything happened to you.”

Only my dad and Mrs. Lewis know about us being a fated pack, which basically means we’re a fairytale come to life. Once upon a time, it wasn’t uncommon for a pack to have two omegas at its core, with a guardian to oversee the bondmates. We might not be all the way there yet, but we’re stronger through our shared abilities, and more in tune through our shared bonds. Link and Cam have been researching the phenomena, and according to the history books, fated packs were typically bigger and more powerful than any other. In essence, a formidable team. Which is exactly why Arben should come home, or let us join him and work this mission together.

But my argument isn’t with Mrs. Lewis, who loves Arben nearly as much as I do. So I give her a quick hug and wait until she’s gone inside and locked the mansion up tight before I join the guys.

We’re leaving the estate with a squad of my dad’s best guards and all of Link’s security upgrades, but I’m still feeling out of sorts when we get to the airstrip. I’ve barely said a word the entire way there, and I’ve bitten one of my nails down so far it’s bleeding.

“Is this because of the flight or the destination?” Cam asks as he studies my messed-up manicure. We’re crossing the tarmac to dad’s jet, which looks disturbingly small from this angle. I guess most people would get excited about a trip on a private plane, but I feel an uncomfortable swoop in my belly as I think about spending the next couple of hours locked up inside it.

“Neither. I mean, I went to boarding school in Europe, so I’ve been on planes before, but never one this small.”

“Well, private jets are often safer than commercial planes, since they’re better maintained, and can hop around any bad weather. Plus, your dad’s pilot is an ace.” He kisses my palm, filling my clenching belly with the good kind of butterflies. “You’re in safe hands, I promise.”

“I just hoped we’d all be together.” Missing Arben is a given, but I hold up my phone, displaying the message I just received. “Dad’s delayed and going to miss the flight. Something to do with the Omega Underground, so I’m glad he’s taking care of it, but the timing sucks.”

Cam nudges Link in the back. He’s wearing jeans and a black bomber jacket, and I can see the outline of a handgun under the fabric. “You across the Lucas situation?”

“It’s a hiccup, not a problem.” We’re almost at the airstairs that lead up to the plane and I watch Link’s hand slide under his jacket. I’m not at all surprised when he pulls out a pistol – one of a matching set my dad gave him as a welcome-to-the-family present. “He’s already booked on a commercial flight in a couple of hours. Two of his guys are with him, and I’ve checked out the pilots and cabin crew. No red flags.”

I’m tempted to suggest we just wait for him, but we’ve got commitments at the other end we can’t push back. Dad has put a lot of effort into his alliance with our host, the Alpha of Chicago, who’ll be acting as a kind of peacekeeper during the negotiations. Since we’re guests in his city, we need to be on our best behavior, which includes making a good first impression.

Politics. Ugh. If it wasn’t so important to my dad and the future safety of omegas on the east coast, I’d shift into my wolf and spend the next week chasing birds around Lake Michigan.

We wait as Link heads up the stairs first, his gun drawn and pointed into the plane. Only once he’s been inside and ruled out an ambush does he motion for the rest of us to follow. The pilot and flight attendant are waiting for us at the top, and as soon as they realize I’m a nervous flier, the pilot invites me to check out the cockpit. Kelly sticks close to my side, our fingers entwined, while the pilot patiently answers my questions about parachutes and snow geese flying into propellers. He makes it pretty clear that he can handle any emergency, and I’m feeling a lot less jittery as we buckle into the luxurious cabin and the attendant brings me a champagne cocktail.

The seats are in pairs, facing each other, and Rory is sprawled in the one opposite, sipping from his own glass. Kelly is sitting next to me, Link and Cam buckling into the seats across the aisle. I take a sip from the chilled flute and then set it aside, too keyed up to appreciate the bubbly cocktail. When I look out the window, the stairs are being lifted, and the attendant is locking the door. No one looks worried, but I’m hyper aware of every rattle and hum as the engine fires up and the plane starts to taxi down the runway.

“It’s all normal,” Kelly tells me, squeezing my hand. “We’ll be there in a couple of hours. You want to watch a movie or play some chess?”

Kelly is crazy good at the game and has been trying to teach me, but I’m distracted by a thumping sound and suck in a breath as the world dips away under us. I catch a glimpse of green trees and rooftops, and then the bright blue sky is suddenly all around us. “Crap. We’re up already?”

“Yep, we’re on our way, Angel.” He gives me one of his heart-melting smiles and kisses the back of my hand. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

I bite hard on my trembling lip, my ragged nails digging into the buttery leather armrests. “Even when I’m a shaking, sweaty wreck?”

He pins me with his perfect whiskey gaze. “Especially then. You’re the girl who walks into lions’ dens, Angel. They don’t make people braver than that.”

That’s high praise coming from Kelly. On paper he might be a golden boy born into eye-watering wealth, but like me, he was used and abused, exiled from his home, and punished for being born an omega. He was then sold to an asshole alpha who held him captive for nearly a year while his pack did literally everything to find him. That piece of trash is dead now – torn apart by Link in the Tower – but Kelly still has nightmares that he’s trapped and alone.

Which is just another reason we need to get this alpha council in place.

Because it’s either that, or Arben will spend the rest of his life trying to save us from the shadows.

But I’m too tense to think about that now. Instead, I lean into the aisle and cock a brow at Cam. “Ready to make good on your wake-up call, Alpha?”

Cam

Growing up, I thought I knew everything there was to know about mind games. The pack leaders saw it in me early, and I was eventually trained to be a medic with a specialty in mental manipulation. Shifters are notoriously hard to break through physical violence alone, and when we needed to get under someone’s skin, I used a mix of drugs and psychology to find a way. But all those dark days of twisting heads never prepared me for how I react when Elvana crooks her little finger at me.

I’m unbuckled and on my feet in a second, raking a hand through hair that I shaved off months ago. But at least I’m not as goddamn obvious as Rory, who stares up at us like a whipped puppy.

“You can come too, Rory,” she says with a smirk. “Just remember that the first orgasm is mine.”

Rory looks affronted. “Babe, when have I ever left you hanging?”

---