Page 16 of Into the Fire: After
“Brooks…”
I pulled her close, rubbed my cheek against hers. “I like you the way I like sunsets, Omega,” I whispered in her ear. “And the way I like holding hands. I like you the way I like licking icing off a spoon. Fuck, angel, I like you the way I likeair.” I kissed her temple again as a tear streaked down my cheek. “They’re the things that make life possible. And make life worth the bullshit.”
I curled her against me, taking as much time as I could with this woman I loved so desperately I wanted to carve my heart out and hand it to her, if only it meant she’d stay next to me.
“I’m coming back,” she whispered against my neck. “I swear, all of us are coming back, and we’re gonna be okay.”
As I gave her one more lingering kiss, as she walked backward until her hand fell from mine, as I watched her grow smaller amidst the trees until I couldn’t smell the toffee of her skin anymore, I prayed with everything I had that she was right.
If she wasn’t, I didn’t know if I’d ever forgive her.
Six
Caine
AssholeOne:five-eight,maybefive-nine. Crooked nose, at least two breaks. Shit-brown eyes. Old scars pitting his face like potholes. Idiotic neck tattoo, a cartoon bird flipping the bird.
Asshole Two: closer to five-ten. Bald head, shaved. A shallow trough of a scar running down the length of one cheek. Missing half his left ring finger.
Asshole Three: not a hair taller than five-four but a sharp shot with a pistol. He was the one who’d clipped Brooks on the way out the back. Curly blond hair, shaggy, held back with dark beanie. Voice like a fucking buzzsaw.
Six assholes in all. I stared out the back window of the van, memorizing every one of their fucking faces. Every faded scar, every cawing laugh, every missing tooth and oily hairstyle and shitty tattoo. Because one day, I’d be out of these chains, and I was gonna kill them.
My feet and hands were cuffed together, looped through a chain that was bolted to the floor of the van. On the bench across from me, so was Lin. He had bruises over his face and body, and dried blood from cuts and scrapes across his torso. I probably had more than a few of my own. My left eye, at least, was swollen almost completely shut.
“He got out,” Lin muttered again. Dark strands of his straight black hair fell over his eyes, those cast downward. “That’s why we can’t feel him.”
My heart stuttered at the reminder that Brooks was too far away to feel in the bond. Hehadto be too far away. The car was gone. They’d clipped him, but he’d made it out. And made it to Brea and Taryn, and they were on their way somewhere, anywhere. They were safe.
That was all that mattered.
I nodded, sending what support I could back to Lin in the bond. “Yeah,” I replied. “He’s just too far.”
We’d been locked in this van for days. They had to be sweeping the area, looking for Taryn. They wouldn’t find her. The cave I’d sent them to was almost six miles away and fucking near impossible to find if you didn’t know it was there. So long as the women stayed out of sight, kept their scents under control, they’d be fine until Brooks found them and got them out.
And once these asshats realized they couldn’t find her, they’d either kill us, or fuck up enough so we could get free. Then I’d kill every one of them for even thinking of taking my omega.
For now, I’d observe. Memorize. Plan. Fantasize.
Iwassofuckingtired.
I leaned my head against the side of the van and shut my eyes. I thought about Taryn then. How her eyes shone, the way the corners crinkled when she was trying not to grin. How smooth her scent got when she was excited. The look on her face the first time she sank down on my cock. The way my goddamn world stopped spinning and my vision narrowed to her.
I’d enjoyed sex before. Didn’t crave it often, but still, whenever the desire to fuck arose—sporadic as it was—it had been enjoyable enough. With Brooks and Lin, even more so. I never felt the earth-shattering passion they shared between them, but it had been enough to feel the echoes of it through the bond. The closeness with them was what I craved more than physical pleasure.
Making love to Taryn, tending her through her heat…my world hadn’t shattered. Its entire orbit had shifted. It spun around Taryn. We all did. Planets around her, our sun.
Maybe I dozed. I could practically feel her hair between my fingers. I could almost smell her thick toffee and rich cream scent. Her warmth under my hand and around my cock.
“No.”
It was a whisper, a plea. A real voice, not a dreamed one. My eyes snapped open to see Lin, face fallen, staring out the back window. I followed his gaze.
Asshole Number Four was turning the corner, Taryn’s arm clutched in one hand. She was so pale, so much smaller than when we’d last seen her. Mud and bits of blood were smeared over her entire body. Hair a mess. T-shirt filthy.
He raised his hand and the guys all let out a cheer. They’d been reconvening here over the last few hours. We knew why now.
She stumbled along after him, barely keeping her feet as he sauntered closer to our van. My inner alpha, already agitated, leapt to the surface. With a snarl, I threw myself toward the backdoors, my body jolted back by the chains. Crimson bled in from the edges of my vision.
