Page 27 of Bound By Pain
I kiss her, watching as her eyes go wide before fluttering shut. The feel of her lips pressed to mine, the soft sigh of her breath brushing against my mouth when I pull away. It’s heaven. We may have met under the absolute worst circumstances, but I’m glad to have her in my life. My Omega mate.
A throat clears behind us, interrupting our moment. I watch as the sweetest heat flushes up her chest and cheeks, tinging her golden bronze skin with a pink hue. I slip my hand in hers and lean back on my heels, refusing to lose the touch of her skin on mine.
“Miss Powell, my name is Maximilliam Porter. I’m the head of the FCDA. I apologize for Agent Barrett’srude intrusion. He was supposed to wait until we’d spoken with you about what happened at the breeding ring campground.” Porter levels a withering glare at me, but I’m unfazed. I needed to see my girl, so that’s what I did.
“He’s her Fate-matched mate. Keeping him from her would be cruel,” comments one of the other Alphas, a man with bright blue hair and a shit ton of tattoos. The Alpha beside him, with the graying hair and rumpled business suit, gives him a skeptical look. “It makes sense, doesn’t it? She was feeling a mysterious fifth mate’s pain for weeks. If those assholes held him captive, then it lines up.”
“Orion is right,” my mate says. “It was Creed’s pain I was feeling through the Fated connection.”
Guilt and anger war within me, knowing she had to endure even a fraction of the torment Marcus and his men put me through. I also know there is nothing I could have done to avoid it. Our type of connection is rare and disliked for a reason- sharing your pain is unavoidable.
“What are the chances!” Ridley slaps me on the shoulder as he walks around me, leaning down to whisper in my girl’s ear. Whatever he says makes her giggle. A beaming smile slips onto her face, and I can already see what his role in our pack will be.
“Bea.”
The full-body tension that enters her when Lex speaks has me glancing between the two of them curiously. Why does she seem so ready to go on the defensive? What has this broody asshole done?
“Lex.”
“Doctor Harrison is in custody.”
She deflates with his admission, looking exhausted. Given the shared looks among her other mates, I don’t think any of them realized she was still waiting to hear the outcome of the raid. It can’t be easy to wonder if the man who performed a black market operation on you against your will might have gotten away with it.
“Thank you. For telling me. And for coming to rescue me.”
“I’ll always come for you,” he admits with a grunt, then he walks out, leaving her staring wide-eyed at the space he had been occupying.
I stay by Bea’s side until she gives in and allows herself to fall asleep. During that time, I greedily soak up any tidbit of information about her I can.
She loves teen dramas, something I learned when she made us all watch a popular, cheesy, teen vampire movie. How she can find anything romantic about a hundred-plus-year-old guy dating a high school girl and constantly warring with himself about their relationship, I don’t know.
Though I suppose it somewhat reflects reality, given two of her mates share the same hot-and-cold tendencies. No one has outright admitted to being difficult, but studying my Omega, it is easy to see who has made her wary and who hasn’t. It will be interesting to see how things progress when she gets released in a few days.
The door to her room creaks open, and I tear my eyes away from where Bea is curled in her pile of scented blankets and clothes. Lex peeks his head in, returning for the first time since his earlier departure. He slips inside, moving to stand on the opposite side of the bed. A pained look flashes through his eyes when he looks down at her. He slips a fluffy coffeepot-shaped stuffed animal into the pile beside her.
When his eyes meet mine, his scowl returns. Grumpy asshole. His head jerks toward the door. I reluctantly follow him into the hall.
“Porter wants to debrief you.”
Growling, I glance back into the dark, quiet hospital room. Being away from Bea has my instincts automatically stirring to life. After everything we’ve been through, leaving her side won’t be easy. The last time she was out of my sight, she wound up beneath Harrison’s scalpel, and my inner Alpha is still raging from the pain we felt in our connection.
“No one will get to her here. Not with so many agents in the building, and not with Ridley glued to her side,” Lex promises.
“I’m sure you thought the same before she was taken.”
He looks away, jaw clenching, as my words hit their mark. “A mistake that won’t happen again,” he grits out. “The sooner you talk to Porter, the sooner you get back here.”
Sighing in defeat, I scrub a hand over my head and nod. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Riding down to the hospital lobby, I break our shared silence. “You planning on telling me what’s going on between you and Bea? Don’t think I’m going to forget your slip of the tongue earlier.”
He crosses his arms over his chest, refusing to answer.
“You’re clinging to the same old excuses, aren’t you? Trying to protect her from you?” I shake my head as the elevator comes to a stop. “Self-sacrificing won’t save her; it’s only going to hurt you both. Go to therapy, Lex. The DAU pays for gold-tier health insurance for a reason. Learn to cope with your trauma and stop believing the worst of yourself.”
Putting one hand on the door frame, I pause and look back at him, ignoring the piercing glare he has leveled at me. “That voice in your head isn’t yours. It’s your father’s.”
I leave him to ruminate on his determination to self-destruct and head outside. The FCDA and DAU have set up a temporary headquarters nearby. After the raid on the breeding camp the night before last, both agencies compiled the evidence they gathered and presented it to a judge. As soon as a warrant was granted, subsequent raids hit the Wexern anti-designation compound and Senator Brown’s properties. It’s been nearly forty-eight-hours of nonstop movement to dismantle this ring.
