Page 6 of All That We Keep
Luca lets out a low whine at being suddenly pulled from his peaceful sleep, his body instinctively tensing as he struggles to wake up and understand what's happening. "No," he starts mumbling, the word slurred with sleep but tinged with distress as his subconscious picks up on the fear flooding through our bond. "No, no, please..."
His scent spikes with distress, the sweet pregnancy hormones turning sharp and acidic with fear as I tuck him deeper into my chest. "Hudson won't take him from me," I growl out. "Not my Omega, not my babies." My free hand drops to his belly, Luca holding onto me the same way I am to him. My mates are all throwing us worried looks, no doubt the strange bond Luca and I share revealing itself again.
Grayson tries to reach for Luca but I just glare at him. I need Luca right where he is, even if it’s draining my energy.
Luther's voice cuts through my panic. "No one is taking anyone anywhere, love." His tone affords no argument as his gaze meets mine through the rearview mirror before turning back to the road. "He won't get within a hundred feet of you. I hate tying you down like this, Blake, but this is not just for your safety but also for my sanity." There's a pause, and when he continues, his voice is darker than I've ever heard it. "If he tries fucking with you or Luca or any of the pack again, I won't be in jail for just assault."
The threat in Luther's words should probably concern me more than it does, but right now it feels like exactly what I need to hear. However, the logical part of my mind is still struggling to process what's happened. "I don't understand how he got away." My voice cracks slightly as I try to make sense of the situation. "Ward promised that the county over had this handled. That the charges were solid and Hudson would be behind bars for a while." The last Omega hadn’t fared nearly as well as Luca orsome of the others. There was no reason he should have been out on bail.
And who could have possibly paid his bail?
Who would want someone like that on the street?
My breathing starts to pick up again as I start working through all the possibilities.
"Blake." Luther's voice cuts through my thoughts again. "I can feel you starting to spiral through the bond. I have no idea how it happened either. Ward didn't have many details, and I wasn't going to sit there grilling a fucking cop when I needed to get my pack home. The only thing I want right now is my pack in one place, away from everywhere else," Luther continues, his voice slightly strained as he fights to maintain control. "We'll figure out the rest once we're somewhere safe."
I look toward the front seat, studying what I can see of Luther from this angle. His grip on the steering wheel is really tight, his knuckles almost white where they're wrapped around the leather. I can see the tension in his shoulders, the way he's holding himself like he's ready to spring into action at any moment. Luther is having a hard time controlling himself, and that realization sends another spike of fear through me.
I take a deep breath, trying to center myself and stop the flood of terror that's been pouring through our pack bond. As I focus on my breathing, I become aware of the emotions coming from the others. Anger, fear,love…
I swallow nervously, my throat dry as I try to ask the question I'm not sure I want answered. "How bad is it?"
Grayson presses a gentle kiss to my forehead, his lips warm against my fevered skin as he tries to offer what comfort he can. "Pretty bad." His honesty hurts, but I appreciate that he's not trying to sugarcoat the situation. "Let's just focus on getting you two inside and settled, and then we'll figure out everything else."
5
Luther
It’s been a small amount of chaos unloading everything into the house and settling the pack into the kitchen. It’s awkward and unfamiliar, the large open space pulling discomfort through the bond. I can only imagine how Luca and Blake are feeling being uprooted from a place they found safe to this unknown house in a part of the city that they’ve probably never been.
But nearly two hours later, I can finally take a breath, all of us spread around the table after eating a full lunch that Grayson and Maceo brought in from the diner a few streets over. I lean back in my chair, surveying my pack and the toll the last several weeks has taken on them. The quiet feels different from the comfortable domesticity we've built over the last month, weighted with tension and unspoken fears that hang in the air between us.
I thought the worst was behind us. Hudson was locked up, Luca was healing and integrating into our pack beautifully, Blake was managing his stress levels better than he had in months, and we were all settling into a rhythm that felt sustainable for the first time since this whole nightmare began. I had started to believe that we could actually have the peaceful life we'd been fighting for.
Then Blake’s health started deteriorating all over again and when Ward walked into my office this morning and said that Hudson was gone? I just knew we had only scaled one hurdle.
One conversation, one piece of information, and our entire carefully constructed sense of safety crumbled like it was made of paper. The protective order means nothing if they can't find him to enforce it.
Something is wrong, and I don't have any control over fixing it.
And to add onto all of the bullshit that constantly keeps getting thrown at us, the public thinks that Grayson and I committed some kind of taboo sin in the world of Alpha dynamics by stealing another man's Omega. The rumors have been spreading through the business community like wildfire, whispered conversations about how the Keller pack broke sacred Alpha codes by taking an Omega who belonged to someone else. That's not what happened, but we can't exactly stop rumors with the truth when the truth involves trafficking rings and abuse that most people don't want to acknowledge exists.
The media coverage has been brutal in its implications, even if they can't print anything directly accusatory. Business connections are starting to ask uncomfortable questions about our pack dynamics and whether Keller Industries can be trusted to maintain proper Alpha protocols. It's all bullshit, but it's bullshit that could destroy everything Blake has built if we're not careful.
Luca twists around in my lap before saying something that sets Blake off in a fit of nervous giggles, both Grayson and Maceo tuned into our Omegas but my mind is elsewhere, my gaze traveling the old marble counters and high security layout from parents I didn’t have enough time with.
I remember being here years ago, back before Blake was officially ours. Brief moments when it was just Grayson and me. We were friends before we were lovers, this house holding so many memories of quiet conversations about what we wanted our future to look like, dreams that seemed impossible back then.
We used to sit on the back porch during those visits, sharing beers and talking about the kind of Omega we hoped to find someday. Someone brilliant and independent who wouldn't be intimidated by having two Alphas in the pack. Someone who could match our intensity and challenge us to be better than we were. At some point, I knew Grayson had already found someone who met that criteria and was just waiting for the right time to show me.
I would have never imagined that it would be Blake.
Even less, I would have never imagined that Grayson’s hypothetical scenario of having two Omegas would have involved Luca.
Never once in my life did I think I would be back in this house with a pack of mine, a family that I wanted to protect with my dying breath and worry that I might not be able to do it.
I refocus my attention on my pregnant Omega now dozing off in my lap, his cheeks flushed from overdoing it, the gentle swell of his belly warm against my arm where it rests across his middle. His scent is still overly sweet, but there's a contentment to it now that wasn't there when he first joined us. Granted, it’s now slashed with uncertainty since we told both Blake and Luca that Hudson had escaped. As much as I wanted to keepthat information to myself, the pack would feel every ounce of emotion pouring through the bond as I dealt with it.
