Page 46 of Running on Empty

“But—” Lois went to protest.

“You think they’re going to jail.” My voice was steady and even, when I felt anything but. “You think we’re going to see justice.” Lois turned to look at me, eyes widening. “You think that four men, four alphas who fed me drugs that would imitate my heat will see jail time.” Low growls came from around the room. “Four alphas who used the state they’d put me in to force me to do whatever the hell they wanted.”

I felt cruel telling her this, like she was the child and I was the mother, but she had to know.

“They did it because they’re rich, because they’re connected and most of all, because they could and the evidence Ash collected? It makes clear they’ve done it plenty of times before and won’t stop doing it again. You know they’d get off any charge laid against them.”

“But…” Lois wanted to protest, but as she searched for words, she couldn’t come up with any. Then she sighed. “So this is how it’s to be?” She scanned the faces of each man in the room, her sons, her mates. “You’ll… what? Go on a killing spree?”

Rusty smiled slowly, that smile one the exact same as the one I saw on Ronan’s face.

“We can only hope,” he said. “Now Ashley—”

“It’s not fucking Ashley,” the man himself snapped. The dads often used the girl’s name to piss Ash off.

“You’re going to show us all of this ‘evidence’ you’ve collected and then we’re developing a battle plan. You in or you out?”

Why did I search Ash’s face right then? Why did I look for signs I so desperately needed? Why did my heart sink as his jaw muscle clenched, then cheer when he winced, the bruise Jax had given him obviously hurting? But he at least had the decency to meet my gaze then, even if his eyes narrowed slightly.

“Of course, I’m in,” Ash growled, but the sound was quickly drowned out by the growls of his dads, the men going forward and clapping him in the shoulder.

“Well,” Lois looked over at me, “I might put the kettle on and make some tea. Want to give me a hand, Stevie?”

“Not now,” I replied, moving when the men did. “Afterwards, for sure. But I want to see exactly what they’re planning. Don’t you?”

She didn’t. That’s how their relationship worked. The Kelly dads were rough men, brutal even, but they came home to their princess every night, washed off the blood and tossed aside their leather jackets, sitting down at her table to eat. But I was never one for keeping the home fires burning. I wasn’t surprised to realise I didn’t care about the blood or the violence at all.

Actually, right now I fucking craved it.

But she just nodded, following along as we all filed into a nearby room for Ash to give his presentation.

In a conference room he’d built into the bunker, figures.

I watched Ash grab the remote, turning on the data projector and everyone went to take a seat. Ronan slouched down into the one beside me, but when Lois went for the other, a masculine hand grabbed the back before her.

“Oh…” she said, seeing that Jax had claimed it. “I’ll sit over here.”

“You’ll sit here.” Donk was the biggest of the Kelly dad’s, a fucking wall of muscle and his name came from the fact it was rumoured he had a dick the size of a… Well, you get it. But he pulled her down onto his lap, the omega giving a girlish squeal, but when she sat down her cheeks flushed prettily, like she was still a girl being courted by her alphas.

“Will we be like that years from now?” I asked Ronan.

He smiled slowly.

“Yes. No.”

I frowned at that, but then Jax leaned forward, resting his weight on his elbows.

“Mum always acts like she’s kind of embarrassed about being an omega,” Jax explained. “She didn’t expect to reveal as one, and when these boys from a local street gang started sniffing around her parent’s house, our grandparents weren’t pleased. But you?” I felt like I was seeing something long hidden in Jax right now, real heat rising in his eyes. “You’ve never let it worry you.” His hand slid across the tabletop, stopping just short of mine. “We won’t be pulling you down onto our laps. You’ll be climbing on to take what’s yours.”

I caught the moment when Donk was whispering something filthy into Lois’ ear, if the deepening blush meant anything, and tried to see it, tried to see me there, not her, and Jax or Ronan where Donk was. It was as if I could see short glimpses, tiny snippets of a future before it all fell to pieces.

“You want to know what I know?” Ash used a laser pointer to identify four mug shots now projected on the wall. My legs shoved me back against my chair, Ronan’s hand slapping down on mine to hold me where I was, when Jax did the same. I was distracted by that, by the feel of him, so somehow it was easier for me to listen to this. “We were given a job by Crowe Corp. They were the ones who came up with Rush, when developing a drug to help betas mated to alphas bear children. Someone sold the formula illegally and people turned it into a street drug, able to give the user the high of a heat without actually being an omega.”

Lois let out a disapproving sound at that, forcing Donk to cuddle her closer.

“We didn’t know who at first, tracking the supply back to the Viper Club and other high-end clubs around the area. We sent operatives in.” I saw Scarlett then. “We could see plenty of evidence of people using Rush, but not who the suppliers were. The Spencer pack owns the Viper Club and lets their little boys play in it and their other properties.”

He nodded then to the four faces on the wall. Rock, Blaine, Snake, Jack… As I stared at the screen I half expected the photos to start moving, for sneers to widen, for them to—

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