Page 22 of Claimed Omega

“We leave now,” I ordered as I went to the driver’s seat, where my gorgeous Omega sat curled up, hugging her knees. Relief pulsed through me that she wasn’t hurt.

Blue eyes flooded with tears and fright. She looked scared out of her mind, but she wasn’t screaming in panic. She just stared at me with those big eyes. Vulnerable. Beautiful. Heart clenched at her fright, I leaned forward while tucking my gun away.

“You’re safe now, gorgeous.”

Quickly, I collected her in my arms and carried her out of the car. She curled in against me, and an ache flared across my chest at the wound. I swallowed past my pain, focusing on my girl. Blue eyes crowned with long lashes clumped with tears, she clung to me, her touch soft.

“I can’t live in this world if I lose you three,” she whispered.

Hearing the ache in her voice shattered me. It was becoming impossible to calm my erratic pulse.

“They’re not going to hurt you or us. I would sell my soul to keep you safe.” Drawing her closer, I inhaled her delicious scent, embraced her warmth. She was my everything, so strong from everything she’d endured and so exposed in a world where Omegas were mistreated.

Holding her, I drew hard breaths, well aware our enemies were multiplying, and knowing they had their eyes on Trinity was a brutal ache to carry. Pain pulsed through me, thundered at the possibility they’d win and take her from us.

Every inch of her beauty was seared into my mind. Her scent filled my senses, her body traced on my hands.

“Can we leave? I really hate how trapped I feel in here,” she murmured, dragging me from my dark thoughts. Her huge eyes were flicking to the roller doors and back.

Anticipation of another attack welled in my mind. Steadying my breaths, attempting not to show her my worry, I murmur, “Yes, of course.”

“I’ve got her,” Aspen stated, coming to collect her from my arms. He took her into the back of the Impala while I jumped into the passenger’s seat, Viper coming in on the driver’s side.

We drove off, my heart in my throat the whole time the roller doors went up. Aspen had Trinity lying low across the back seat while he gripped his gun, his window down. I had mine in my hand, my heart in my throat, expecting the worst. Inching out past the gate, I leaned forward, left and right, seeing no one there. Taking that as our cue, Viper hit the gas, and we flew down the back street.

“Fucking assholes,” Viper growled, and I tucked his gun away. “Axel needs to die horribly.” He kept ranting while I glanced back to where Trinity was sitting back up, encased in Aspen’s arms. As much as I wished it could be me holding her, I had to get her to safety. At the same time, I leaned back into my seat, the ache of my bullet wound smarting from all my movement. Worst damned time to get injured.

“I just can’t get the two families working together out of my mind. What’s Axel’s plan? Merge the families and have monopoly power over the city?” I asked.

Viper was going left and right along suburban sections to avoid the main streets for as long as possible. No one would be searching for this car, but we weren’t going to risk being spotted either.

“It’s fucked up,” Aspen rasped from the back seat.

I met Trinity’s gaze, her eyes wild, constantly scanning our surroundings. It irked me to see her so terrified when I should have kept her safe, but she wasn’t hurt. That was my priority.

“We need to make a detour,” I announced.

Viper turned the car down a side street, past small homes with broken fences and overgrown lawns where the poor lived in the city of Liberty.

“What sort of detour?” Trinity asked, her voice fragile.

“I have to see Rusty and let him know about Axel’s working with their enemy. It may give us a quick solution to this shithole situation we’ve landed in.”

“How much sway do you think Rusty even has?” Aspen asked, stroking Trinity’s hair, holding her so close, it left me envious.

“I suspect he’s in charge of the guards, so he’d have influence over them.” Back at the mansion, he was genuinely distraught at Don’s death, and the tension between him and Axel was palpable.

“Are you sure it’s a smart move?” Viper slapped the steering wheel hard with his turns. “If Axel had those guys come after us, he’d have more.”

“Yeah, I know, but I’m going back to the drinking hole where I met up with Rusty last. Taking me down there would declare in front of everyone that they broke the twenty-four-hour truce. We have until tonight, so I’ll be fast.”

No one spoke, and I got they weren’t fans of my decision, but they had to admit if I got Rusty to help us get out of his fucking death target on our backs, we’d be idiots not to try it.

Viper parked in a dingy alley like the last time we were in the downtown part of the city, right near an oversized trash can. I got out, glancing back, meeting Trinity’s terrified gaze.

“I won’t be long. Aspen, Viper, you know the drill. Give me fifteen.”

She gave me a slight nod, and I tore my gaze away, not wanting to do this, but for them, I’d face Satan himself.

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