Page 1 of These Bonds that Unite Us
CHAPTER ONE
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I’m forced awake when a hand clamps over my mouth. I struggle against whoever is leaning over me until I hear Lex hiss out my name.
Blinking rapidly to clear the sleep from my eyes, I see my bodyguard’s wide gray eyes glancing from me to the door to my temporary bedroom-nest. It’s a violation for an alpha to enter an omega’s nest uninvited, something I know Lex would never consider unless we were in danger.
I carefully sit up, keeping as quiet as I can. My ears strain as I try to listen for movement in the house. Instead of hearing noise, I smell the faintest hint of smoke. “Lex,” I breathe. He stiffens beside me when he smells it too.
“There are eight men outside, two by their van and six spread out around the house. They most likely kept one on each exit with the other four heading inside.” Lex explains.
He’s leaning over so he can whisper the words against my ear so our voices don’t carry. I nod, my fingers digging into theblanket spread across my lap. The hits Fate keeps throwing at me never seem to end.
“Their goal is most likely to kill or incapacitate me, then grab you. I’m going to get us out of this house but you need to do whatever I tell you, Omen. If I say run you run. If I tell you to leave me behind, you will follow my direction without hesitation. Iwilluse my bark on you if I have to. Nod once if you understand.”
I nod shakily. My heart hammers in my chest, all the way up my throat. I swear I can taste my heartbeat on my tongue. The thought of being separated from Lex, of leaving him behind, makes me sick. I know they haven’t admitted it yet but he’s important to Bea. If anything were to happen to him…
No. I can’t think like that. I need to focus on following Lex. He knows what he is doing and I trust him to get us both out of here alive.
“I’m going to cross to the door and check the hall now. When I give you the signal, follow me. Leave everything behind. We can’t have the extra weight slowing us down.” He doesn’t wait for me to reply, walking silently to the door and sliding it open. The silence is tense and makes the few minutes he’s watching through the crack feel like an eternity.
I hear doors on our floor slam open and can’t help but flinch. If they catch me, they’ll drag me back to my father and once he gets his hands on me…
Lex waves me to him so I slip off the bed. I keep my footsteps as light as I can, trying to move as quietly as he does. We hurry out of the room and to the left down the steps. He has me hug the wall closest to the living room where the bottom of the stairs is blocked by the curve of the wall upstairs.
We’re only halfway down when we see the first of the flickering flames in the kitchen. The small table is ablaze, the firecreeping across the wallpapered walls toward the counters. Who sets a house on fire when they haven’t finished searching it yet?
Movement outside of the front door startles me. Panic makes my hands shake as I press them to my mouth to hide the heavy sounds of my shuddering breaths. I tiptoe behind Lex as he rounds the corner into the living room and wraps around toward the back door.
We’re only three or four feet down the hall when the door opens. I barely have time to blink before Lex is lunging forward, a knife glinting in his hand. He catches the intruder off guard, slamming into his chest and knocking him to the ground.
I watch as Lex’s knife slices into the man's throat, blood spraying the wall when he pulls it back out. The relief I feel is temporary, ruined when a hand grips my hair and yanks me backward. My startled yelp draws my bodyguard’s attention and he lets out a menacing growl. Cold metal presses to my throat hard enough to still my fighting body.
I meet Lex’s eyes and nod imperceptibly. Whatever he needs to do, I trust him with my life.
“Drop the knife, lock yourself in the laundry room, and you’ll walk out alive,” the man holding me says. The smoke is too thick now for me to catch any hint of his scent but his threat lacks the power of an alpha so I assume he is a beta.
Lex must come to the same conclusion because he barks out a command for us to freeze. The bark only works for several seconds with this man fighting it, but it’s long enough for Lex to get close enough to grip the man’s arm. His knife nicks my neck as it’s ripped away.
I dive forward out of his reach only to be met by yet another of the mercenaries. “No!” I shout and bash my head forward into his throat when he raises his weapon toward Lex and fires. I hear my bodyguard grunt but he doesn’t go down.
My current captor chokes from the assault on his windpipe but tries to fire again. I jerk sideways, smashing his arm against the wall with my full weight. The second shot goes astray, hitting a lamp in the living room behind us.
I stumble when a blow connects with the side of my chin, black spotting my vision from its force. I’m being hauled away, my feet dragging through the blood of the dead man on the floor. I trip over the doorstep, using my clumsiness to my advantage and throwing my full weight against the man’s arm again. His wrist slams into the door frame and his gun is knocked to the floor.
“Fucking bitch,” he seethes. He doesn’t have time to find another weapon before we’re both slammed to the ground. The mercenary’s head connects with the patio with a sickening crunch, but strong arms pull me back before I can meet the same fate.
Shouting comes from the front of the house, footsteps pound down the stairs and I know our time is running out. “Run,” Lex orders, the command bordering on a bark and taking the action out of my control.
My feet fly across the patio and the grass in the backyard. I burst through the wooden gate but I don’t stop. Lex’s heavy breaths follow me.
“Left.” A shot rings out from behind us as I skid around the corner. My thigh burns with sharp pain, a scream escapes my lips, but I don’t slow down.
We run for what feels like miles, but is only four or five blocks. When we reach the car Lex has hidden in a mostly vacant lot, I jump inside. He follows, not wasting any time to buckle in before he has keys in the ignition and we’re flying out onto the street.
“Fuck.” My voice comes out with a hint of a whine as I inspect my bleeding leg. It looks like the bullet only grazed me,thankfully. Lex wasn’t so lucky. His bicep took the hit from the first shot fired in the hallway. “Are you okay? I can try to rip off part of my shirt if you need to tie it off?”
Lex actually laughs, the sounds deep and entirely too calm for the situation we’ve found ourselves in. “They make that shit look much easier in the movies. Just keep pressure on your thigh and don’t worry about me.”
