Page 6 of Redemption

As we left the first bar an hour later, I noticed that the car wasn’t out front. “Where’s father’s car? Aren’t we being driven from place to place?”

Gavin smiled at a pretty omega passing him on his way into the bar. “Nope, we’re walking. Every place planned is within a couple blocks. No need to waste gas, we can walk it. Clear our heads.”

Half a block down, we entered a second bar. This one smelled worse than the first and the music playing was older, so were the patrons. “Are the drinks here cheaper? It doesn’t look as modern as the last place.”

“What in the hell would you know about modern? You live in a set of rooms in my family’s house. No rent, no bills. You justfreeload off us. Just fuckin enjoy your night out.” He sounded exasperated. Shaking his head, “Jesus.”

“Sorry. I was just trying to make conversation.” I slowly scanned the room looking for someone I found attractive that I could work into my plan for the night.

He stopped and turned to me. Leaning close to my face and snarling, “I’m being seen in public with you against my wishes and better judgment. I never said I wanted to talk to you, too. Just drink your fuckin drinks and let’s get this night over with.” I hunched my shoulders down and tried to make myself as small as possible. I didn’t want to be here either, not that I would ever say that to him.

After the 3rd bar and 4 beers, I was a little lightheaded and feeling hot. Not sexy hot, but like I was in a room with the temperature turned too high. Gavin kept checking his phone like he was waiting on a call or text. Maybe he was just checking the time over and over. I didn’t know. Not really sure I cared by that point. I was ready for this to all be over. Rubbing my hand over my abdomen just below my belly button to soothe the slight ache that appeared there, “Gavin, can we go home? It’s been kinda fun, but I’m not feeling too good. I just want to go to bed.”

“Really Theodore? Bed? Who’s bed? I’ve been watching you check out the alphas in the last 3 bars. You looking for something specific?” he carried a bit of a list to his walk and a bit more to his speech. I tried to count how many beers Gavin drank over the course of the night, but I lost track after the 7th, and I know I saw him take at least 3 shots at 2 of the bars when he went up to get us beers. This didn’t bode well for me.“One more place and then we’ll find you a place for a nice long sleep. Plenty of rest for you.” The way he tried to growl at me while he slurred his words would have been funny under any other circumstances. “We’re headed one block over. It’s where my friends and I hang out most often.” He leered at me again and my stomach lurched. “We’ll cut through here.” He turned into the alley.

I’d guess it was 25 or 30 steps down the alley when Gavin stopped. “Fuck Theodore, you’re close. I can fuckin smell you already.” He was clenching his fists over and over by his sides.

“Smell what? I didn’t do anything Gavin.” I tried backing up a few steps when he reached out and grabbed my shirt. “You’re not going anywhere. Not now. Not ever!” He pushed me away hard with his left arm and his right fist connected with my cheek, knocking me into the brick wall behind me. Pain shot through my head as it connected with the bricks, hard.

My vision faded in and out and I had a hard time breathing as his fists pounded on my body over and over, anywhere he could reach. I focused on staying conscious and not throwing up as pain shot through various parts of my body. Ranging from sharp stabs on my extremities to a hot dull ache in my back and abdomen, the pain worsened. ‘In and out. In and out.’ Were the only things I could concentrate on trying to control my breathing. It wouldn’t be good if I passed out. I know he was yelling and growling, no signs of a slur in his speech now. “Heat… what my friends and I did to you… nothing compared… gang rape… your cherry ass… my turn first… kill you.” None of it made sense.

The blows stopped and I felt a deep growl reverberate through my body. “Get the fuck off him, you bastard!” I felt hands on me as I was lifted into the air. Before I could open my eyes to see who it was, everything went black.

Chapter Seven

Mako

Twenty-four hours. 24 fuckinhours of my life down the drain. Epic waste of time and resources, not to mention I had to send Bear, Clip and Spuds to take care of a job that I needed to contain and control for it to go right.

That wasn’t completely true. I trusted those 3 with my life, so why did I have a lump in the pit of my stomach the size of Washington State? Something felt off. Honestly, it had been a bit off since that damn meeting in the cavern. I simply chalked it up to the morality of what we were being hired to do. Shit like that always set off my inner rage. I hoped Bear had come up with a solid starting point for a plan to get through this with no harm to the boy.

Three miles from the clubhouse, I realized I had never turned back on my phone after the cops returned it to me. Something I would remedy as soon as I pulled into the parking lot. I knew from the moment I got picked up that it was all bullshit. ‘Huh. Maybe Hogg wanted to keep his part of the deal after all.’ Icouldn’t be pinched or even accused of killing his boy if I was sitting in an interview room when he was kidnapped and killed. “Sick Fuck.” I grumbled to myself. As the wind blew through me, I lost the sound. I loved my bike. It was the only time I really felt free. After not being on my girl for a full day, I was enjoying the vibration between my thighs a little too much. Not that I would ever admit that to any of my brothers.

The first thing I noticed as I pulled into the gravel lot was the lack of ladies. I took a quick glance at my watch. It was 8pm. This time of evening, the lot should be packed with the bikes and vehicles of the brothers. The weather was warm and clear without a sign of rain, so there was no reason for anyone to park in the garage out back. That was usually reserved for winter and shitty weather. Have to protect the ladies. The only vehicle in the lot was the ‘shit box’ the club owned, so the hang arounds had a way to get to the store, doctor or just to get out and about. The women weren’t allowed to drive, but the omegas were. They were all free to use it as they pleased. We even covered gas and maintenance.

I got off my bike and reached for my phone. As I powered it up, I hoped everything was OK. No way was I rushing into the club house not knowing why no one was here. Ping after ping sounded. Texts and voice mails scrolled down the screen faster than I could read. I waited till the pings, dings and flashes stopped, signaling that all the data was being delivered. Scrolling back up, I saw that the most recent was a call from Bear with a voice mail. I knew that most of the information in all those texts would be in that one voice mail. Bear was efficient like that. I tapped the VM button and put it to my ear.

“Prez.”Well, that didn’t bode well for what would come next. Bear rarely called me by my title. He either called me Mako or if we were alone, by my given name. He was the only one that was permitted. I had a feeling this was going to be a shit show of epicproportions.“We got some problems. I’ll make this quick. The package was delivered. It’s waiting for you upstairs. Shit. Fuck, man. None of us touched the package. The delivery system banged it up pretty good though and well… Clip, he kinda lost it and may have disabled the delivery device for an undetermined time. Spuds decided we needed to make a run as a club. We’re headed south for a couple of days. We’ll be back on Tuesday afternoon. If you need to get in touch, call one of us at 3. We’ll answer. Later, man.”Fuck fuck fuckity fuck. No need to read the texts or listen to the voice mails. I knew everything I needed to know. There was enough code in that message to tell me damn near everything. I needed to get to my office.

As I passed the car in the lot, I smelled that garden flower smell I caught a whiff of in the cave. Not as strong, but it was there. What the hell was that smell? It’s not like it was unpleasant. It was comforting. Like home. Before my Gramps and dad passed. Gramps liked to garden when he wasn’t doing club business and I loved sitting on the stoop, watching. He always smelled like fresh turned earth and the flowers he was planting as he walked by me at the end of his day. So yeah… home.

A few steps more and I was hit with a sweet smell I knew all too well. An omega was in heat. These men knew to take their suppressants. We only had a couple of omegas staying in the club at the moment, but all of them knew the risk of going into full heat around all the alphas. Who would have been so damn stupid? Most of the brothers could control their baser instincts, but it wasn’t easy and not exactly fair. An unmated omega in heat could drive an alpha into a frenzy. Fight or fuck. Usually both. There were a few of us that could control it, but it wasn’t easy, and alcohol was off limits when it happened. Nothing to inhibit our senses. Well, I was gonna have to have a word with whoever it was as soon as their heat passed and make sure thepills weren’t ‘forgotten’ again. I really hoped it wasn’t someone trying to trap a brother into ‘ole Mandom’ by an uncontrolled claim bite during a frenzy fuck. “I fuckin need this shit like I need another hole in my goddess damned head.” Growling, I flung the door open.

Walking into the bar was like passing through one of those split plastic sheets on a construction site. The air became thicker with omega heat and the smell of home became 10 times stronger. I really needed to find that smell. I wasn’t sure if I needed to get rid of it or wrap myself in it. Either way, I needed to find it. Soon. All 3 omegas and both of the club women were sitting at the bar bent over, whispering to one another. All 5 of their heads were touching. For a brief second, I was thankful for the family we created. Pushing that feeling down, I let out a deep growl. “Which one of you ‘forgot’ your suppressants and why are you sitting in the common area in HEAT?” Doing my best ‘really pissed’ voice.

Leave it to Owen to be the snarky one. That boy had sure come into his own. I was proud of him. “None of US is in heat ‘boss’. We heard you pull up and were wondering how long it would take you to come in. We were just betting on if you would ‘run’ like the rest of the guys or alpha up and come in and figure out what the fuck was going on. I, for one, would really like to know what the fuck is going on.” Yep, pure fuckin’ sass.

“Then who the fuck is in heat, dammit? I can smell it. I can feel it. What do you mean by ‘ran’? Where did the brothers go?” I eased myself into a chair by the door. It was becoming more difficult to concentrate. Fuck… that smell.

Bethie stepped next to Owen. “President Mako, sir. Owen had no reason to speak out of turn like that. We were deciding the best way to tell you, sir. Please don’t be upset with him. As a group, we decided to do what we did. I promise we are taking care of him. We’ll have him out of your room as soon as the guestroom airs out, sir.” I couldn’t only hear the tremble in her voice but see it. The poor girl was wringing her fingers so tight her hands were snow white and her knees were shaking.

“Bethie, while there are times, I would have reason to be upset with Owen, this is not one of them. He’s obviously stressed and is having a hard time reigning in his mouth. We all know he gets like this. Don’t worry. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on? Do you know where the brothers went and why?” I was doing my level best to remain calm. It was harder than usual and that confused the fuck out of me. My damn cock was half hard in my jeans. It was taking all I had in me not to adjust it. The last thing I needed was the women and omegas think I was making an offer.

“Well, sir, Mr. Bear and Mr. Spuds came in earlier. They had a boy with them. He was beaten up real bad, sir. Real bad and he was going into heat. He was unconscious. They left him with me and Owen and said they were going on a run; it was our responsibility to take care of him. We lay him on the table and cleaned up his cuts and bruises. Changed him into one of Owen’s shirts and shorts and moved him to the guest room. We all took turns sitting next to the bed in case he woke up.” She was slowly calming down. Bethie was still a walking ball of nerves, but she was slowly coming to understand she was safe here.

“OK sweetheart, I’m following so far, but if you put him in the guest room, how is he in my room now?” The last thing I needed was an unmated omega in heat in my apartment. With what I was feeling, it might be best if I walked out and stayed in a motel for the next couple of days. Let the 3-day heat pass. I could deal with the residual smell while it was fading a lot better than the full-on smell in my space during.

Owen lay his hand on Bethie’s shoulder and nodded his head. She stepped back and settled on a stool. Well, looks like our little group felt they had a leader. Color me more impressed.“He kinda woke up a few hours ago and before we could get him up, he sorta threw up all over himself and the bed in the guest room. We knew he needed to be cleaned up and so did the bed. I checked all the doors, and yours was the only one that was unlocked. I told Tina and Wills to take him into your shower and clean him up, then lay him in your spare room until we could get the room cleaned up and aired out. As soon as the bedding comes out of the dryer, we’ll move him. We didn’t know where you were since you weren’t with the guys. We didn’t know when you would be back. I decided all on my own. I’ll take whatever punishment you see fit.” Jumpin’ up Jesus on a pogo stick. Owen making executive decisions. I schooled my face as best I could, but I’m sure the pride shone in my eyes. A twinge of pain set in as I realized Owen was almost ready to leave us. He could function on his own and I took a bit of pride for myself in that. “Who is he and why did he get dumped here, Mako? He looks like he went a few rounds with a heavyweight boxer. He can’t even be classed as a lightweight. He's tiny Mako. I don’t think any of the other guys would have done this to him, but…” Now I understood. Owen saw himself in Theodore and wanted to protect him. There was no way I could blame him.

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