Page 148 of Priceless

“I hope that got through to you, and you better fucking listen, Ocean. You are going to go home, you are going to fuck them into a coma, and you are going to get the information I need. Understood? I have made promises based on this information, and you. Will. Fucking. Get. It. Whether it’s before or after I destroy your life is up to you.” He straightened, looking down at me and straightening his shirt like the way he’d struck me had released what he needed. “I expect it in less than forty-eight hours, or all of you will pay the price.”

Pain throbbed in my head and my cheek.

I wouldn’t do that. Even if our marriage ended up being temporary, I wouldn’t. I was falling in love with them, and I could take the punishment. I’d been taking it my whole fucking life. I wouldn’t betray them. “No.”

“No?” His voice was as cold as I’d ever heard it, and fear dropped through me. Frank was coming toward me again with his hand raised, and all I could do was panic. There was nowhere for me to go as I scrambled backward. If I could make it to my feet, maybe I could run?—

The door flew open and Everett came striding through. His fist connected with Frank’s jaw with a sickening thud. It knocked him away from me.

Micah was there, scooping me up and pulling me close, hands tracing my face where I’d been hit.

The growl in Everett’s throat was feral. “If you ever lay a hand on my wife—my Omega—ever again, I will rip your tongue out of your fucking skull and make you choke on it before I kill you. Slowly.”

Frank sneered. “You think you have any right?—”

His back hit the mantle so fast it was a blur. “We have every right, you piece of fucking shit.”

Cameron stood back with hands in the pockets of his slacks, his stillness terrifying. Rage pulsed off the three of them like a living thing.

But Everett was still the one speaking. His tone belonged to the Alpha who inspired fear, and I’d never been more grateful. “You will never speak to Ocean again. You will never look at her. You will never contact her in anyway unless she chooses to do so first. If I hear that you’ve mentioned her to anyone, they’ll find your body beyond Clarity’s coastal waters. In pieces. I’ll do the chopping myself, and your hands will go first. They’ll never know who did it. Do you understand me?”

I didn’t even realize I was crying until Micah gently swiped the tears away, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Everett and Frank.

My uncle was as pale as death. Micah turned and kept me behind him. His hand grasped mine. An Anchor. “We will be sending a team to gather every single thing of Ocean’s left in this house. To dismantle the greenhouse and move it to our home. You won’t resist this. Got it?”

“You can’t just threaten me and think it will stand.” Frank wiped blood from his lip where Everett split it.

“You want to test that theory?” Cameron snarled. “We know how many cameras you have in this house. We’ll be taking this footage, including the footage of you assaulting our wife, with us when we go. Everett?”

One punch later, Frank was unconscious on the floor. My breath hiccupped, tears and panic flooding to the surface. My entire body shook despite Micah holding me once more.

“I told him no,” I said, my voice breaking. “I wasn’t going to do it. I told him no. I told him no.”

“Shh,” Micah breathed the sound into my hair. “We know, sweet girl. It never even crossed our minds.”

All the fear I pressed down came up and burst out. The relief of them coming to save me, even when I hadn’t known I needed it.

Micah kissed my forehead, clutching me to his chest before gently letting the others hold me. I needed all of them and couldn’t stop holding on. Because if I let them go, I was afraid I’d melt.

Everett lifted my chin with a single finger. I didn’t look at him, but he didn’t let me look away. “We got here as soon as we could. Frank deserves everything that’s coming to him and more. We’ll explain once we’re home and you feel safer. But you don’t ever have to see him again.” He kissed me once, and then again, harder. “We’ll always protect you, Ocean. I’m sorry we didn’t get here sooner.”

I let my forehead fall to his chest and basked in the feeling of safety they gave me. Cameron lifted me off my feet. I went to protest, but he gave me a look that silenced me. “If you say anything about your body right now, on my ability to carry my Omega, I’ll punish you.” He winked as he said it, though there was still anger in his eyes. Directed elsewhere. Not at me.

Tucking my face closer to him, I fought against the throbbing pain and tried to breathe. Tears still leaked from my eyes, and I hurt, but they had me.

They came for me.

49

OPUNTIA

(PRICKLY PEAR, PADDLE CACTUS)

MEANING: I BURN

OCEAN

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