Page 35 of Cause Of Death

I’m riding high on adrenaline, and lucky for me it seems to be keeping the worst of my heat at bay. It’s still there in the background, simmering away, but for now I’m able to think and move without being stranded on the edge of an orgasm. My body is still loose and relaxed to an extent, preparing to both ride and be ridden, but I’m in control. Disa is in a similar state to me, her slick production winding back enough that she’s able to contain it with the pads Henley purchased for her, without too much effort.

It’s the calm before the storm, and Henley has been keeping Adam preoccupied to help contain his alpha urges. I’m sure it’s also helped Henley to stay on track, as it’s either Steve or Leslie who end up mediating between the alphas, Disa, and me.

Done with our checks, we move back inside the master suite, Kimberly ignores us as she mutters and curses over her keyboard. I’m rather abruptly nudged in the side by a large elbow, and I glance at its owner with a questioning look in my eyes.

“Do you know how to shoot, Kieran?” Steve rumbles at me, and I nod. I might not be the most proficient of marksmen, but I can handle a gun.

“I know it’s not the same, but as a teenager I used to play a lot of paintball and laser tag. I’ve also gone out to the shooting range a few times with Adam when he’s needed to keep his hours up to retain his qualifications. It gets boring if you just sit there and watch, so I’d get some practice in as well. While I might not be great with head-shots, I fare decently when the target has a larger center of mass. Say, as in a human torso.”

“Good,” Steve grunts, then slaps a gun into my palm. “This is a Sig Sauer P320 Compact pistol. It’s a nine-millimeter semi-automatic Luger, the magazine holds fifteen rounds.” Steve walks me through the pistol’s various specifications and attributes, showing me how to disengage and re-engage the safety, and how to eject and insert the magazine. He holds out two spares and I take them, putting them to one side as I double-check that the safety is engaged on the gun.

“I’m hoping you won’t need to use them, but I’m also not an idiot. If I leave you unarmed, then it’s guaranteed that you’ll need a weapon of some sort. I also brought you these,” Steve mutters as he pulls out a handful of fabric from one of his pockets.

Taking the material, I shake it out to see that it’s a pair of thermal trousers and a shirt. The material is stretchy, and I look at him in puzzlement.

“They’ll probably be a bit big on you, but these are compression underclothes. They’re designed to help deflectknife blades, and also assist in the suppression of scents. An added bonus is that they’ve got pockets, and you can wear them under the clothes you have on.”

In an instant, I comprehend what Steve is hinting at. These items will not only help protect me and make it harder for an unknown alpha to “sniff” me out, but I can hide the pistol and extra magazines under my clothes without attracting unwanted attention.

I immediately strip down to my briefs, ignoring the fiery blush climbing its way up Steve’s neck and face, tugging the trousers and shirt over my body before redressing in Leslie’s borrowed sweats and shirt. The undergarments fit quite well, if not as tightly as intended, and are a little longer in the arms and legs than I’d prefer. I tuck the pistol in one pocket beneath the sweatpants, the magazines in the pocket on the other side, and then flick the cotton of the T-shirt over my hips, once more covering my body.

“You’re not shy, are you?” Steve chuckles softly, the blush still glowing under his skin.

“I mean, normally I wouldn’t strip down to my skivvies, but I figure if we’re all going to be spending my heat together, it’d be a bit strange if I’m uncomfortable undressing around you.” I reply honestly, to the sound of Disa’s laughter.

“He’s not wrong, Steve. Besides, by the time everything’s all said and done, we’ll be more than well-acquainted with each other’s bodies, down to every last freckle, wrinkle, scar, or blemish. Now that you’ve gotten a glimpse thanks to Kieran’s striptease, is there anything else we need to know? Are Kieran and I allowed to come out with the rest of you, or should we stay shut up in here like the fragile little omegas these assholes are expecting?”

Ooh, Disa hassass, and I’m here for it!

The sigh that heaves its way from Steve’s lungs sounds like it’s come from the depths of the earth itself. “Short-stack, you know it’s not up to me. Henley is our alpha—or at least he will be once everything is finalized—and he’s the one calling the shots. I’m actually surprised that Adam hasn’t tried to take charge, since he’s your bodyguard and all, Kieran. He’s made some suggestions, sure, but it seems like he’s happy enough to follow Henley’s lead, and I for one am grateful that we’re not knee-deep in an alpha pissing-match on top of an incoming incursion.”

As though speaking of the imminent attack has brought it to fruition, the power goes out.

They’re here.

In the two heartbeats it takes for the back-up generators to kick in, Steve disappears from the master suite, his footsteps silent despite his speed and bulk. He flicks the overhead lights off as he passes, and I quickly move to slap the bathroom switch off as well.

Just in time.

A low humming comes from above us, indicating that the generators are up and running, but no lights shine out from the rest of the house. Muffled thuds and creaking come from the opposite end of the house, and something tells me that they’re trying to break in through the garage.Good luck with that, I think snidely to myself, because to get to us they’ll need to pass through the rest of the house. They’ll also need to get through a sigma who can screw with their electronics, a delta they won’t even see coming, and two alphas justitchingto direct some of their pent-up aggression on those preventing them from taking care of their omegas who’re in heat.

A sharp inhale behind us has me spinning to face Kimberly, and her expression sends chills down my spine.

“I think I know who one of these guys is, and if I’m right, we’refucked!”

“What do you mean?” I whisper back, and she points at her screen. There’s a man there, an alpha by his size if I have to hazard a guess, one that is even bigger than Henley. He’s walking up to the garage door like he owns the place, not skulking or hiding his identity at all.

Blond hair cropped close to his skull, a nose that looks to have been broken so often it’s given up trying to protrude from his face, a jaw as square and unforgiving as granite, dead eyes, and a thin mouth twisted into a cruel smirk.

“He’s one of the alphas Leslie’s been tracking, one of the ones involved in the group after Kieran. He goes by the moniker of Pyotr the Butcher. We haven’t been able to uncover his real name yet. He’s brutal, has limitless strength, seems impervious to pain, and has been known to tear opposing alphas apart with his bare hands. If he goes up against the others, he’ll kill them all without a second thought. We might be able to overwhelm him, but not without losing people of our own.”

Kimberly’s horrified gaze sends dread flooding through me before she darts out of the master suite, likely in an attempt to find Henley and give him the god-awful news.

Fear unlike any I’ve ever felt before shreds through my body. I can’t lose them, not now. Not ever. Henley, Steve, Leslie, and Kimberly are my family. I’d hoped to include Adam and Kieran in that number by the end of my heat. Now there is a possibility that I’ll lose them all, forever. That is wholly unacceptable. I refuse to loseanyof them, not if I can help it.

I pace back and forth before the door to the nest, feeling Kieran’s concerned gaze following my every step. I have nowords of assurance for him right now, no glib catchphrase that will make him smile and know that everything will be alright.

I spin around at the sound of soft footsteps rapidly approaching, only to see my family barreling through the master suite door. The look on Adam’s face is furious yet resigned, the one on Henley’s despairing and apologetic.Fuck. Whatever Hen’s about to say, it’s going to go down like a lead balloon.

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