Page 23 of Bound By Pain
Shaking the other man’s hand, I step aside and allow them to open the apartment door. Outside of the time I picked Bea up for our date, I’ve never visited her place.
The interior is just as cozy and colorful as I imagined, with bright throw blankets on the couch and pictures on every wall. I study each one as we pass it, heading to the first door outside of a short hallway. I know it’s Bea’s as soon as Omen swings the dooropen. A blast of her pineapple-coconut scent hits me, making my eyes roll from how delicious it is.
“Do you have a bag?” Omen asks.
Nodding, I hand her the scent container I’d stopped and bought. She eyes it and smiles. “Good choice.”
I stand awkwardly by the door, looking over my girl’s room as her best friend packs the container full. When she zips it closed, she pulls a small suitcase from the bottom of the closet and stuffs several outfits inside. I’m grateful for her help, because I admit I would have forgotten to grab anything for Bea to wear.
When Omen tries to lift both bags, I step over and take them from her hands. Nebula is still standing in the doorway, not wanting to step inside another Omega’s space. He takes her hand when she gets close, pulling her to his side.
“Thank you. I appreciate your help with this.”
Omen smiles sadly, eyes roaming around the apartment. “Bring her home, Orion. I don’t know what I will do without her.”
‘Me neither,’I think, but I just respond with a sharp nod.
Back outside, I stop to consider what to do next. Bea has three other mates. Lex, her bodyguard Ridley, and a mystery fifth mate we haven’t met. I can’t do much about not having anything with the last one’s scent, but I can try to find Lex and Ridley’s apartments. Anything to make things easier for Bea when they find her. Because they will find her. They have to.
CHAPTER 13
Wakingup feels like digging myself out from beneath wet sand. My limbs are so heavy that it takes several minutes for me to gain enough feeling to twitch my fingers. Even my thoughts are sluggish, struggling to connect to the pain I know should still pound through my body.
As feeling comes back, my panic increases. A warm, firm body presses against mine.
My breath picks up, matching the crazed beat of my heart. My thoughts scream to push away from whoever this is, to escape before they can hurt me again, but I can’t make my body cooperate long enough to open my eyes, let alone to move my arms.
A purr rattles to life beneath my ear, taking the life out of my feeble attempt to move. I try to protest, but my words come out slurred and unintelligible.
“Shhh, it’s okay. I’ve got you, sunshine. You’re safe.”
Sunshine.It takes a monumental effort to force my eyes open and tilt my head back far enough to see his face. As soon as his blinding smile and blue-green eyes swim into view, the rest of my senses kick back online, and I’m drowning in his key lime scent. A sob escapes my lips, and his smile falls. He presses his forehead to mine, holding me tighter while I fall apart.
“I’m so fucking sorry, Bea. I never should have left you in Starburgh to chase that asshole. If I had been with you… you never should have been in their hands.” Tears slowly trail down his cheeks as he stares at me, so much emotion swirling in his eyes that it makes me cry harder. “Never again. I’m not leaving your side. You’re going to have to get used to me clinging to you like a sticky toddler.”
“Even when I pee?” I croak.
Ridley gives me a watery smile. “All the time, sunshine. Day or night, in the bathroom or out of it. I love you too damn much to let you have another moment of peace.”
Pain rips through my abdomen, so fierce I have to squeeze my eyes shut to fight against it. It grows in intensity, making me whimper.
“Bea?”
I can’t respond to Ridley’s concern. It feels like I’m being torn apart from the inside out. As the waves of pain swell, my body goes limp, and I pass out, barely hearing my mate yelling for help.
When I wake a second time, I don’t feel as disoriented. My body is sore, but I can shift and move my limbs. Walking would likely be out of the question, but I’ll take just being able to move for now.
Feeling the bed empty, my eyes fly open. If it weren’t for the beeping of the hospital equipment, I would think our earlier interaction was a dream. Swinging my head to the side, I let out a relieved breath when I see my Alpha passed out in a chair beside my bed. I relax against my pillows, feeling safer now that I know I am not alone.
“Bumblebee.”
I startle, jumping and sending sparks of pain through my lower half. Turning to my right, I see my parents crowded around the other side of my bed. They were so quiet; I didn’t realize they were here. Or maybe I was so paranoid Ridley wasn’t here that I didn’t notice any noise they made.
“Dad?”
He jerks forward, sobbing loudly as he buries his face in the top of my hair. His hug hurts, and I wince, but I reach up with one hand and pat his arm. The sour tinge to his buttery popcorn scent is heavy in the air now that he’s close enough for the descenters in the room not to work.
“Oh, Bea,” Mom chimes in, reaching around Dad to take my other hand. My other dads crowd behind them, teary-eyed as they coo over me. It’s suffocating in the best way. After feeling so abandoned and alone in the breeding rings campground, I’ll gladly take all of their fussing and fretting over me.
