by Kathryn Moon
The alpha frowned and shifted, eyeing me and then my phone. “Schedules got switched, and boss sent me.”
Yeah fucking right. No way would the service swap drivers without telling Wes, and no way would Wes not tell me.
“Ah,” I said, forcing a smile and nodding. “Well, the other client is just about to make it downstairs. I’ll just wait—”
“Here,” he said, throwing open the door and stepping toward me.
Run. Run, Lola.
“I think I’m just going to call—” I raised my hand as I started to back away, accidentally jostling someone on the sidewalk. “Sorry, I—”
A tight grip snagged my wrist holding my phone, tugging me in. “Just get in the car, bitch,” the alpha hissed, his young face mangled with anger, sweat now clear on his pale brow.
He pulled me in toward the car and I knew, without a doubt, that there was no way Matthieu or Wes or even Danny was going to magically appear to rescue me at the moment. I dug my heels into the sidewalk, glad I was wearing some solid chunky boots, and jammed the heel of my free hand up toward the alpha. I missed his nose, but I hit his jaw hard enough to make my wrist scream and him growl.
“Let me go,” I snapped, yanking on my other hand, and kicking out with one leg.
“Fucking bitch!”
My hand slipped free with a throbbing pain, but my cell phone clattered to the ground. It didn’t matter, I had one shot to get away. I twisted on foot and took off at a run, weaving through the pedestrians on the sidewalk. How far would he follow me? Would he leave the car? I forced myself to remember to breathe and tried to move faster, nearly tripping over my own feet. There was a subway station around the block. If I could get there…but what if he did follow me and made it all the way onto the train? Could I circle back to the Stanmore to meet Matthieu, or would this alpha still be there?
I glanced over my shoulder as I rounded the corner and bit off my own curse. He was there, pushing through the crowd.
Just run.
My boots felt like anchors on my feet, and I was officially going to embrace the trend of sneakers as fashion, just as soon as I got somewhere safe. Fuck heels. Fuck boots that weighed three pounds. Also, I was going to start running in the gym because my lungs were burning.
The faster I ran, the quicker people hurried to get out of my way. When I turned the next corner, the alpha was still there but farther back, trying to run his way around a mother and a stroller.
This was Indy. Not him exactly, but one of his new cronies. First my apartment. Now where I worked. Did he know where the pack lived? I should’ve run to Wes’ office instead of the subway, and I had no way of reaching out to any of the guys without my cellphone. If anything happened…
Just run, Lola.
I all but fell down the stairs and into the subway, scrambling through receipts and chapsticks in search of my neglected subway pass. Please let there be money on it, please let there be money.
I panted and sagged as the light turned green on the turnstile, looking over my shoulder as I pushed through. No sign of him yet. What if he arrived while I was waiting for a train? What could he do in front of others?
I fought my way out of my blue coat, turning it inside out so it was mostly black lining, hoping he might miss me at first glance without it on. My hair was up, and I tugged it free of the twist, letting it fall around my face as I took another set of stairs down onto the platform that would take me toward Uptown. My heart raced at the sound of the rushing wheels on tracks at the end of the tunnel. I might make it…as long as he didn’t reach me first.
I walked as fast as I could, squeezing around the other people on the platform, refusing to look backward, just trying to put as much distance between myself and the alpha who was after me. Could I fight him again? I’d mostly caught him by surprise the first time.
Yeah, but Wes is going to be proud.
Tears stung my eyes, and I swallowed hard as the wind picked up with the arrival of the train.
You lucky bitch, I thought. I waited, rising on my aching toes and trying to spot the little alpha asshole on the platform. The doors opened in front of me, and I waited. Would he get on if he saw me come down here? I could miss him that way too.
It wasn’t until the doors were chiming and ready to close that I saw the alpha racing down the steps. I dove for the doors, halfway in when they hit my chest and made me cry out, the rest of the riders staring at the indecisive idiot who’d waited until the last second. I pushed my way in, and they slid shut behind me. A soft ding and then a moment later, a blissful jerk forward.
Safe. I thought I was safe. The train headed toward the stairs and I held my breath, standing at the window. There. He was glaring at the windows, scanning them quickly, searching for me, and I whipped my back to him as the train pulled out of the station.
Matthieu is going to lose his damn mind, I thought.
Eleven
Lola
Every step I took through the neighborhood, navigating my way back to the pack’s house by walking streets I usually saw from the inside of a car, came with the sound of my own racing heart pounding in my ears. Did Indy know how to find me here too? Would I even get to make it safely inside, or would he grab me from under a shadow at the last moment?
Stupid fucking phone on the stupid fucking sidewalk. Why hadn’t I run inside the Stanmore? Except the doors were full of men and women squeezing their way out not in, and that alpha might’ve dragged me back to the car without anyone bothering to blink. Sometimes I loved the apathy of the city, but right now I was cold and anxious, and I just wanted to—
There. The house was there. My steps grew quick, and I ignored the persistent throb of my feet complaining in my boots as I picked up my pace until I was jogging up to the gate. Which was locked. Damnit.
I hit the buzzer, staring up at the house and pretending I didn’t feel the weight of imaginary eyes on my back. A figure moved on the second story, standing in the landing, tall and straight with hair at odd angles. Caleb.
I whimpered as he disappeared from view, others rushing into the window. The gate clicked, and I pushed forward, running up to the front of the house just as the doors opened and Caleb came racing down the steps.
“Lola.” One gasp of my name and then I was in the air, braced tight to Caleb’s chest. I could hear the others, Rake and Leo’s voices noisy from inside, and Caleb turned, carrying me dangling from his arms, up the rest of the steps and into the house. “Love, we’ve been mad with worry. Call the others,” he shouted past my head. He shut the door with his foot as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pressed my face firmly to his throat.
“Lola!”
Caleb didn’t seem interested in setting me down, which was fine with me because I was tired now and gasping, and I wasn’t sure if it was to fight off tears or to finally catch my breath for the first time in an hour.
Leo appeared at my back as we made it to the bottom of the stairs, his arms wrapping around Caleb and I both.
“Is Rake—”
“He’s on the phone with Matthieu now. Lola, are you all right?”
I took a deep breath, pushing on Caleb’s shoulders until he set me back on my feet and I was able to turn. Rake was at the top of the landing in front of the painting of the angel, phone to his ear and brow folded with worry. Leo’s hands swept through my sweaty strands of hair as I nodded.
“I’m okay. Just…I’m shaken is all.”
Leo raised my wrist, pushing the sleeve of my coat back to reveal the growing bruise marks, his face locked in anger.
“Hey,” I said, tipping my head to bump gently against his. “I’m here. I’m okay. I lost my phone while I was getting away.”
Leo leaned in, pressing a long, gentle kiss to my cheekbone. His struggle was palpable, tension radiating off of him in waves, and Caleb loosened his hold on me, allowing me to wrap Leo up in a tight embrace.
“I hate this,” he whispered in my ear, arms just shy of crushing as th
ey wrapped around my ribs. “Stanmore security caught the tail end of your struggle, but for an entire hour we thought he had you.”
“I couldn’t decide between focusing on getting back here or finding some way of calling you,” I said. There was no signal in the subway, and even if I had found some sympathetic fellow passenger to lend me their phone, the only number I might’ve been able to track down was Designate’s. I needed to memorize Leo or Wes’ number.
“You did the right thing, clearly. You’re here. You’re safe,” Caleb said, clearly trying to reassure us all. “Come on, let’s get upstairs.”
“They’re on their way back now,” Rake said, pulling his phone from his ear and slipping into his pocket. “Cyrus feels…a little feral,” he added softly.
Caleb and Leo ushered me between them and up the stairs, pausing to let Rake grab his own long hug from me. His arms circled my shoulders, one hand cupping the back of my head gently, fingers digging into my hair.
“I’m okay,” I said, and I realized it was true.
I’d fought back. I’d gotten away. I’d made it back here to my…my guys.
Rake nodded, and together we sighed, all three men staying close as we walked up the stairs to wait for the others.
When the elevator dinged on the family floor, I untangled myself from three pairs of arms, almost anxious to see the others.
“Lola, wait. Cyrus is still kind of… And I don’t know about the others,” Rake murmured, but I was already up off the couch, my bare feet running me to the hall.
I was prepared for Wes or Matthieu to be growly and grabby, and I knew I needed that moment of connection every bit as much as they probably did. What I wasn’t expecting was for it to be Cyrus charging out of the elevator, his expression livid and his back hunched with anger. My steps halted and I leaned back on instinct, a flinch of terror in my chest. I might’ve run if I’d hadn’t already been so close and Cyrus moving so fast.
His growl was thunderous, bouncing off the bright walls of the hall, and his arms banded around me, lifting me from the floor and holding me to his shuddering chest. There was no taste of champagne on his skin, but a dark and low warning like steel.
“Cyrus!” Matthieu barked, exiting the elevator. His hair was a mess, like he hadn’t stopped running his fingers through it for the past hour. Behind him, Wes was twice as broad as usual.
I was stiff in Cyrus’ hold, unable to pick out my friend from this dangerous man, and I held still as Cyrus’ face pressed to my throat. The growl cracked and then softened, Cyrus gentling, and just like that, I was at ease again. I leaned my head into his and smiled at Matthieu over Cyrus’ shoulder until he reached my side. Cyrus’ tensed briefly and then forced himself to relax as Matthieu nuzzled into me on the other side.
“Sorry,” Cyrus rasped, gradually releasing me, Matthieu eager to take his place.
I arched my neck to let Matthieu press kisses over my temple and down my jaw, his mouth hovering over my throat.
“It’s fine,” I said, squeezing Cyrus’ hand before he stepped back. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to let you all know where I was.”
Wes took Cyrus’s place and my hand, holding it tightly between his own as Matthieu kept a firm grip on me. I wanted to pull Wes in, press myself to his chest, but I was aware that there was some kind of alpha positioning involved in the pack. Matthieu was head of the family, and Wes wasn’t going to overstep like Cyrus apparently had. I turned my head, catching a firm stamp of Matthieu’s lips to mine, and then he sighed and reluctantly let me go.
I made to jump to Wes and frowned as he stepped back, still holding my hand and guiding me back to the living room. With everyone gathered there, I understood Rake’s desire to be square-shaped. Except I wanted to be a hexagon. Whatever secret pack dynamics there were, I ended up settled on the couch between Leo and Matthieu with Caleb and Rake close at hand. Wes perched carefully on the coffee table in front of me as if he wasn’t completely confident it could hold his weight.
“I need you to tell me everything you can about what happened. Do you mind if I record it? I’ll go over it with my guys later.”
“That’s fine,” I said, nodding to Wes and waiting for him to set his phone up on his knee. I started with the car, noticing it was a little run down and ran through every detail—with a few helpful coaches from Wes—of the alpha who’d tried to grab me and what he’d said. I even told Wes about the hits I’d managed to land to get myself out of his grip, hoping it might make him proud of me.
“I should’ve tried to get back into the Stanmore,” I said, shaking my head. “Or made it to your office.”
“Hey. Hey, no,” Wes said, sliding forward and scooping up my hands into his vast warm palms. “You did the only thing that mattered, which was get away from that guy. Idiot left the car in front of the Stanmore, so we have that. But I think you’re right and he probably has your cell phone.”
I bit back my moan, and my head drooped on my shoulders.
“It’s okay. Did you have it passcode protected?” Wes asked, and I nodded. “Good. If you’ll share your cloud information with me, we might be able to slip in and clear it all out, move everything to a new account for you.”
“Lolotte, I don’t want you to feel like we’re putting you on lockdown but…I need you to have one of us with you anytime you’re out of the house or the office,” Matthieu said, gentling the tone of his order with long strokes of his hand over my back.
I turned to blink at him, and his face winced like he was waiting for me to get angry or refuse.
“Okay,” I said, shrugging. “Deal. I probably would’ve come up with excuses to wait for one of you anyway.”
Matthieu exhaled in a rush, a soft smile splitting the worry on his face. “Right. Well, merci beaucoup, I suppose.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to my forehead.
“When you’re ready, we’ll take care of it,” Wes said with a nod.
“Now,” I said. “We know what resources we have, but we don’t know what Indy has. I’d rather not let him have access to your phone numbers or any of my accounts linked to my phone.” I sat up straighter, and Leo and Matthieu gave me room to scoot forward.
Something was going on with Wes, some internal struggle. Was he holding back what Cyrus had let out, some alpha impulse to grab me up to reassure himself? Or was it more than that? Either way, he looked like he was swallowing rocks at the suggestion that we deal with my data cloud right away.
“Okay,” he said slowly, still holding my hands as he helped me up from the couch.
“We’ll have dinner ready when you’re done,” Caleb said, his hand brushing against the back of my leg as I passed him.
I kept a tight grip on Wes as we left the room, intensely relieved as he let me lean into his side.
“Are you okay?” I asked as we took the stairs up to his office.
“Am I—” His steps faltered. “Am I okay? Yeah, I…shit. That scared the crap out of me, sweetheart. And it wasn’t the best day to start with. But yeah, I’m okay. Are you okay?”
I hummed and frowned. “Is it odd to say that I feel…I mean, not good, but like I’m just glad to know that it happened and I got away and I made it back here? I didn’t freeze and let him throw me in the car and cower, you know?”
Wes growled at the back of his throat and ushered me into his office. “You have no idea how fucking proud I am of you.”
I paused in the middle of the cluttered room, and Wes paused at my side too. “Show me,” I said, looking up at him. Surprise froze his face and I tugged on his hand, turning to face him. “I mean…I could use a hug, maybe?”
“Fuck.” Wes hunched, and I looped my arms around his neck as he lifted me off my feet in the world's sexiest smelling bear hug. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’ve been using my professional brain to try and keep my shit under control.”
“You’re forgiven. I really respect your professional brain and its determination to keep me safe. But I also just need you right now.�
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Wes purred like a chainsaw starting up, and if he weren’t such a sturdy dude, I would’ve accused him of swooning into his armchair, taking me down with him over his lap.
“I’m a lot of trouble.”
“You aren’t. You just look really tempting to trouble. But I’m gonna chase this asshole off, right into jail,” Wes said, adjusting me into a closer cuddle. “Hang on, let’s see if we can do this from my phone. I suppose we could’ve stayed downstairs.”
“Not if you were gonna sit across from me and not do this,” I said, closing my eyes and fisting one of my hands around the open collar of Wes’ black button-down.
“Didn’t wanna get in the way.”
“I know I’m just one girl and there’s six of you, and we’re all kind of…at different places together. But if there’s one thing I’ve figured out in the past few weeks, it’s that when shit goes down, I need all of you. Even just for a quick cuddle,” I said, raising my head to look Wes in those pretty blue-green eyes of his.
He looked… Wes looked exhausted. He looked like me from months ago, a little haunted and like he was holding something ugly and festering inside of his chest. This hadn’t even been there this morning, but I had a hard time after what we’d just been talking about believing that this was all from my being missing for an hour.
He raised his phone between us, and I took it automatically. “Go ahead and write out your account info. Do you know your password?”
I nodded and typed out my info into the boxes for Wes, passing it back to him and studying him once more.
“Anything shitty from today you need to share? Or anyway I can help?” I asked, reaching a hand up to rub the rough whisper of a shadow on his jaw.
If anything, my questions just made Wes look wearier, his eyes refusing to rise to meet my own.
“I… It might be better if we talk about it another day,” Wes said. “Enough has already happened for one evening.”
Frost ran up my spine, and I straightened on Wes’ lap.