Page 73 of Storm
"It's going to be okay," he murmurs against my hair. "I won't let anyone take you."
I want to believe him, but the panic bubbling in my chest won't be soothed. I think of Jonathan's fathers, of their cold calculation, of how easily they discussed trading me like property. If they're willing to go that far, what else are they capable of?
"What about Jonathan?" I ask Alexander, leaning forward in my seat. "Is he in danger?"
Alexander's hands tighten on the steering wheel. "Jonathan can take care of himself," he says, but there's worry in his voice that belies his confident words.
The realization hits me then—I actually care what happens to Jonathan. Despite everything, despite his controlling nature and cold demeanor, I don't want him hurt. When did that happen? When did he become someone I worry about?
The mountain roads grow more winding, the forest on either side dense and dark. Reed's tail lights remain our guide, a beacon leading us deeper into the wilderness. I have no idea where we're going, but it's clearly far from civilization, far from the reach of the fathers and whatever forces they might have set in motion.
At some point, exhaustion overcomes my fear. I find myself drifting off against Rook's shoulder, the steady rhythm of the car and the warmth of his body lulling me despite the chaos swirling around us. My last conscious thought is how wrong my scent must be—fear and stress overwhelming the usual chocolate notes.
I wake briefly when the car stops for gas, blearily registering Alexander's hushed conversation with Reed outside the car. From my half-asleep state, I catch fragments: "...too risky to call him..." "...might be tracked..." "...Fox will be worried..."
Then we're moving again, deeper into the night, far from the life I've known for these past weeks. Rook holds me steady, his heartbeat a constant rhythm beneath my ear, and I surrender to sleep once more.
I don't know what tomorrow will bring. I don't know where we're going, or what waits for us out there.
But as I drift off in Rook’s arms, with Frankie and Alexander standing guard, I realize we’re not alone anymore.
We’re a strange, makeshift family—bound not by choice, but by survival.
And somehow, even with danger pressing in from every side, that feels a lot like hope.
Chapter21
Fox
Ijolt awake at the sound of my phone buzzing on the nightstand. The room is dark, save for the blue glow of the device as it vibrates against the wood. For a moment, I'm disoriented, the remnants of a nightmare still lingering. Of hands holding me down, of voices commanding me to submit.
The phone buzzes again, more insistent this time. I reach for it with trembling fingers, squinting against the harsh light of the screen. Alex's name flashes across it, along with a single message that makes my blood run cold.
"WE'RE COMING. OMEGA, BETA, ALPHA. NO JON. GET READY."
My heart stutters in my chest. Alex mentioned the new beta Jonathan had brought in—said he was sweet in a way I'd really connect with. And that alpha must be the one Storm was after all along. I don't know much except that he'd been hovering around the apartment and stayed overnight, much to Reed's obvious displeasure.
I sit up, pushing away the tangled sheets of Alex’s bed, and swing my legs over the side. The wooden floor is cool beneath my bare feet, grounding me as I try to process what this means. When Alex left, he promised it would only be a few days—just long enough to make an appearance in the city, to keep his fathers' suspicions at bay and help with the new omega issue.
Something has gone very wrong.
I move through the darkened house, switching on lights as I go, banishing the shadows that seem to reach for me. The house is quiet, save for the gentle whirring of the heating system and the occasional creak of the old wooden structure settling around me. My mother is nestled in her little cabin not far from the house.
I check the doors, the windows, ensure everything is secure as Alex taught me. It's automatic now, this vigilance, this need to verify my safety. Four years free from that place beneath the Omega House, and still I wake some nights feeling phantom hands on my skin, hearing phantom voices ordering me to kneel, to present, to serve.
My gaze drifts to my bedroom door, left slightly ajar. Inside is my nest—a soft haven I've created in the corner of my room, piled high with plush blankets and cushions, strung with delicate fairy lights that cast a gentle glow across the space. It's the one place I feel truly safe, truly myself. Where I have my heats with Alex. Sometimes Jonathan comes to help. Never Reed. Except a year ago.
The last time he visited this house, when Alex was away on another of his mandatory appearances in the city, and my heat hit unexpectedly, and violently. Reed was here then, had stayed behind to "keep an eye on things" as he put it. What he really meant was to keep an eye on me, to make sure I didn't break under the weight of Alexander's absence.
I never expected him to help me through the heat. Reed Howard, with his stormy eyes and perpetual scowl, the alpha who always maintained a careful distance from me. But when I collapsed in the kitchen, my body burning from the inside out, it was Reed who carried me to my nest, Reed who pressed cool cloth’s to my forehead, Reed who held me through the worst of it.
The Reed from those four days was someone I'd never met before—gentle, attentive, almost tender. He spoke softly, telling me exactly what he was going to do before touching me, making sure I was comfortable, checking constantly that I wasn't having flashbacks.
"I'm going to touch you here now," he would say, his voice a low rumble that somehow cut through the haze of heat. "Tell me if you want me to stop."
He never made me feel ashamed, never made me feel broken. He helped me through the heat not just with his hands or his alpha voice, but with his caring when I needed it most. When I asked if he would come back and help my future heats. He’d explained something I knew already.
"Fox, you mean so much to me. Please don't doubt that, but..." he'd started to explain, his voice gentle in a way I'd never heard before. I knew what he was going to say, and I nodded, sparing him from having to finish. He didn't need to tell me—I already understood that he was attracted to women. Men weren't his thing, and that is okay. I'd just hoped that maybe, after everything we'd been through, the four of us could become a real pack.
