Page 7 of In Their Arms

"You pissed off the wrong set of people, Keller." His words are careful as if he already knows I won’t like where this is going. "The judges looking at your case aren’t interested in the evidence. They want to lock you away, no hearing, no defense, just gone.”

"That doesn’t surprise me. Hudson’s been working overtime, hasn’t he?" It makes sense that he would try to sweep his wrongdoings under the rug by throwing me in the limelight. My question is why he’s trying so damn hard. Why it matters so much to him that he stays out of jail and retrieves Luca.

"He’s pulling every string he can find. Not just you, either. He’s trying to gut your credibility, bury your family, your entire pack. From what I’ve seen, he’s got his hands in more pockets than I can count."

None of it should shock me. Hudson plays dirty. He doesn’t just fight to win—he fights to destroy. But hearing it out loud, knowing this isn’t just about Luca anymore, that Hudson is trying to burn down everything in my life? That makes my blood boil.

I don’t say anything as Trent leads me back through the dimly lit hallway and to my cell. He doesn’t speak again until the bars are sliding across the opening, once again locking me in. "You need someone to look at your face?"

I shake my head out of instinct, and immediately, regret spikes through me like a knife to the skull. "Fuck," I mutter, hissing through my teeth. I breathe through it, forcing the pain down, and exhale slowly. "I just need to get home. Something isn’t right. I need to speak with my lawyer." The words taste wrong in my mouth, like admitting them out loud makes it worse.

“I’ll call him when I get back to my desk.” Trent leans closer, pressing his hands against the bars. "I’m working on your bail, but it’s going to be an obnoxious number. And there are going to be stipulations. Don’t look at me like that, Luther. None of our regular judges even wanted to sign off on it. This investigation is ten levels of complicated."

"What kind of stipulations?"

Trent’s hesitation has me on edge. I sit forward, waiting for the blow and not realizing just how horrible it’s going to be. He clears his throat as he drags a hand down his face. “If you’re released, you won’t be allowed in the same house as Luca until the investigation is closed."

"That’s my fucking Omega." I breathe through the pain in my head, focusing on Trent, wondering if he’s telling me a damn joke. If I have to rent one of the apartments on the other floors or stay at a hotel, I will.

"I’m between a rock and a hard place, Keller. I don’t have a lot of choices. I can see your mind working out all the possibilities and I’m going to tell you right now that none of those are plausible. The system seeks to protect Omegas in its own twisted way while trying not to rip families apart. You’d be allowed to go home but Luca would be taken to the Omega Center or returned to his parents.”

Trent has to be fucking lying because one of those options will have Luca spiraling in a place he’s not used to. The other will have him right back in Hudson’s arms. After learning that Luca’s parents all but sold him to Hudson, I refuse to let those bastards anywhere near him.

The chief taps the bars and leaves me alone to my thoughts, the pain, strained bonds, and the absolute chaos of the reality that just dropped into my lap. But this is exactly what Hudson wants—to disorient, to pull us apart, to make it harder to protect Luca.

And it comes back to the question why? Why is it so damn important to have Luca?

4

Luca

The beeping is relentless. It cuts through the silence in sharp, steady bursts, each sound marking the fragile beat of time, counting every second that Blake’s body struggles to hold on. Somewhere in the room, a machine whirs, another clicks, monitoring, registering, keeping track of things I can’t control. Things I can’t fix.

But I can’t take my eyes off of him, off of my Omega, suffering there on that hospital bed alone. The oxygen mask covers most of his face, fogging slightly with every breath, the rise and fall of his chest too shallow, too slow. His skin is too pale, his scent faded to something almost sour. The machines might be keeping him stable, but nothing about this is right. Nothing about him lying here like this is right.

I don’t even realize I’m crying until the warmth of the tears slip past my jaw, landing on my clenched hands. Grayson has me tucked into his chest and I’m not sure if he’s trying to anchor himself or me at this point, his purr unsteady as it thrums through me. The bond is shaky with a billion different emotions, Luther’s barely contained rage slipping through. God, everything is a mess and I can’t help but think that most of it is my fault.

Quentin clears his throat, pressing a file to his chest. He waits for us to register his presence and that’s when I notice Maceo is standing beside him, my Beta firmly gripping one of Blake’s hands in his. There’s so much love and pain in that stare that I choke on a sob before sagging against Grayson’s chest. This hurts worse than Hudson’s bites on my neck.

“Grayson, may I speak freely?” Quentin waits and I realize it’s because Maceo is here, a mate he doesn’t yet know about. Grayson nods, placing a kiss on my head and pulling me against him tighter. “This isn’t related to his heart. This is just the stress in general.” Quentin looks almost uncomfortable as he shifts on his feet, weathering a tight smile. “I know enough of your situation to know that you’re going through a difficult time. Unfortunately, in times like these, an Omega’s biology will try to self-regulate or fix whatever is going on.”

I huff out a sigh, not entirely sure what he means. Whenever my body would ‘self-regulate’, I’d curl up in a little ball inside the closet and block out the world but the love of my life is currently unconscious on the bed. He was fine in the car but slowly slipping away until Quentin suggested the machines he’s currently hooked up to. I just don’t understand how it all happened so fast.

“Blake is going to need his mates, whether that be three,” Quentin gestures to Maceo, “or four. With Luther temporarily gone, his body is trying to regulate that loss. Acting as a beacon to draw his Alpha back to him.”

I reach up to my bond mark, lightly tracing the edges of Luther’s claim. It tingles beneath my touch, his anger simmering through me. The touch seems to ignite the other, healing bites on my neck, Hudson’s irritation and disgust hitting me full force. It flares, pain spreading through my shoulder, my nose scrunching up in response.

Quentin notices the movement. His eyes flick to my hand, to the spot where my fingers press against my skin, but he doesn’t address it. Instead, he focuses his attention back on Blake. “Your Omega is going into heat.”

Grayson stiffens against me, his breath leaving him all at once. “That’s impossible,” he says, shaking his head. “He’s on suppressants.”

"Which is why this is dangerous," Quentin replies. His shoulders fall, the weariness of a man who’s seeing someone he cares about fall apart. I’ve never had a doctor long enough to create a connection, to know that I was in good hands if I needed help. I’m thankful Blake has Quentin because while this information is hard to hear, I know this man cares. “His body is rejecting them which is putting even more stress on him.”

My gaze falls to Blake again, his scent moving from the sour, acidic aroma to something sweeter, his pear scent mixing with honey.Oh. My. God.Heat spreads through me, making a beeline for my cock as I try to swallow down the sudden need to be filled. Blake’s heady scent is so much more potent than I remember and it’s taking all my restraint not to climb on that bed, wake him up, and ask him to fix this.

“Unfortunately, this is the hard part. We can’t fight biology and there’s nothing stronger I can put him on without flushing his system so that nature can take its course. I know we’ve spoken many times in the past about… Blake’s desires but this one might not really be a choice.” Quentin steps around the bed, offering me a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “He will be okay but he’s going to need all of you for this next heat. It will most likely be unpredictable seeing as he hasn’t had one naturally in a few years. Once Blake wakes up, we’ll figure out what he wants and we’ll go from there.” Quentin pats the edge of the bed and heads out the door, leaving us alone.

I bury my head in Grayson’s chest, taking lung fulls of his scent to calm me down. It doesn’t really help but I stay there anyway, letting the tears soak into his shirt. His fingers drag through my curls, tracing the strands as he helps me relax. The reassuring touch has an edge to it, something between worry and despair beneath the strength he’s trying to give me.

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