by Nora Ash
But when she’d been able to, she’d tried to escape him. She hadn’t found pleasure in their bond.
Only pain.
I spared Lea a long look before I put my hands gently over the alpha’s.
“Him first,” I whispered.
The alpha slumped to the floor, trailing a smear of blood. Lea didn’t so much as blink. Jerome’s bullet bit into her skull the next second, finally ending her suffering.
Zach wrapped his arms around me as I got to my feet, lifting me up into his embrace without a word. We didn’t need any—I knew he felt my sorrow in our bond as keenly as I felt the warmth of his concern.
“We need to get rid of the bodies before we leave. There can’t be a trace of the claimed women left,” I said.
Jerome nodded, waving Eric over. “We saw an incinerator on our sweep. You find clothes for us—we’ll clean up here.” He glanced at Jarl, who nodded in return. “And then we’re done.”
“And the doctors? They’re dead?” I asked.
“They’re dead,” he confirmed. “And we’ll want to have steel doors between you and the ferals before they get tired of mauling their bodies. It’s time to leave this place.”
I’d been kept up by the cold rage, and the rush of vengeance, but as we made our way toward the exit of the compound dressed as staff members, I had nothing but sorrow and anxiety left. The horrors I’d experienced in SilverCorp’s lab would haunt me for as long as I lived, but I knew I’d get through it—because Zach was with me.
I glanced up at my mate, who silently supported me as we made our way through the long, white corridors. I hadn’t fully understood how lucky I was that he had been the one to brand his claim into my neck until tonight. How unique our bond was. I’d accepted that we belonged together, that I was no longer whole without him. But I’d thought… Some part of me had still assumed that what I felt for him, that warmth of completion in my gut when we were together, that it came from the biology of his claim. That all women felt this with their mates, even if it might take them a while to accept their lot.
If today had proven anything, it was that I’d been wrong.
The kind of bond I had with Zach—it was the real thing. There was no forcing it—and despite everything we’d gone through,… I hadn’t sacrificed my life when he marked me.
I’d come alive.
Zach looked down at me, his attention drawn by the flicker in our bond. And in his eyes, I saw the truth of our connection.
He loved me.
The drugs had taken away so much of his humanity—but they’d also taken his ability to deny his emotions like I had for so long now.
“I love you, too,” I whispered.
His expression softened, if only for a moment, as he squeezed my hand tighter. Then we arrived at reception, and his focus shifted.
“Okay, I’ve got the keys to a couple of staff members’ vehicles,” Jerome said, turning to look at us all. “It’s close to regular leaving hours, so the hope is that the soldiers won’t look too closely as they let us out the gates. Eric, Jarl, and Larry, you guys take the first car. Zach, Lillian, and I will take the second. We’ll make sure to stick close. Don’t let them close the gate between us—if we get separated, we won’t be able to regroup.
“We’ll swap cars at the meeting point. It should be dark once we get there, so we’ll head directly for the border and stay on the road until dawn. Everyone on board?”
There was an affirmative murmur from our small group, and then Jarl stepped forward, leading the way outside.
We walked toward the staff parking lot, locating the two vehicles by pressing the unlock function on the key fobs. I got into the passenger seat next to Jerome to make the arrangement look more normal than if he’d been chauffeuring us both in the back, and we rolled toward the gate after the blue Ford Jarl was driving.
“Showtime,” Jerome murmured as Jarl pulled to a stop by the gate. A soldier leaned out the small booth and Jarl rolled his window down.
“You’re the first out—is anything going on down there?” the soldier asked. “We usually see a small trickle earlier than this.”
“Fuck,” Jerome mumbled. My heart jumped into my throat, adrenaline coursing through my veins and overriding my exhaustion.
“Bit of an incident with the alpha lab,” Jarl answered. “It’s under control now, but it was all hands on deck for a while.”
“We didn’t hear anything,” the soldier said, and I didn’t miss how he peered into the car. “Usually do, when the ferals get unruly, after the shit-storm a couple of months ago. Any idea why the docs forgot the new policy?”
Jarl’s answer was too low to make out, but it seemed to have appeased the soldier, because he straightened back up and spoke into his radio for a moment before the gate opened with a clank.
“Oh, thank God,” I murmured, relaxing in the passenger seat as the wave of adrenaline eased ever so slightly.
Jerome pulled forward as the blue Ford drove out the gate, stopping next to the soldier.
“You guys have any more info on what went down in there?” the soldier said after Jerome rolled the window down.
“Oh, just the usual,” Jerome replied with a shrug. “Couple of ferals getting into a fight—one of the techs forgot to keep two of the more combative ones away from each other. They smashed up some lab equipment. Nothing worth calling you guys over, but a mighty big mess to clean up.”
The soldier frowned. “Really? That guy just said it was about a female.”
“Oh, yeah—might’ve been that too. We’re just the guys who scrub the floors,” Jerome said.
“And you’re the first to leave?”
Shit.
“Didn’t know there was a girl on the cleanup crew,” the soldier continued, peering into the car at me. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Vivienne Dixen,” I said, flashing him what I hoped was an easy smile. It was the name on the staff member’s badge I’d taken. “I’m in IT, though. I’m just catching a lift home.”
But the second my eyes connected with the soldier’s, his face froze. “The fuck you are!” he hissed. “You’re her! That fucking cunt responsible for the last breakout! Get out r—”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Jerome pulled his gun up and shot him point-blank between the eyes. The sound rang through the car and echoed across the compound.
“Fuck!” I screeched. In the distance, more soldiers were running toward the gate. “Drive, before they close the gate!”
“It’s no use,” Jerome hissed. “They’ll be on us before we get anywhere. We need a distraction.” He twisted around in his seat, locking his eyes with Zach. “There is no time to say everything I hoped I’d be able to tell you once your mind returns, Barnes, so I’m going to just say this: What you did for me, for all of us—you saved our fucking souls. You’ve earned your freedom, brother. And your mate’s. Stay with the others—let them help you protect her. And name your first kid Jerry, a’ight?”
And with that, he kicked the driver’s side door open and leapt out of the car, aiming his gun at the closest soldier sprinting toward the gate.
“Jerome!” I called after him, but he didn’t pay me any mind. He shot the soldier and dove for cover from the rain of bullets that followed. Then he ran back toward the building we’d escaped from, drawing the rest of the soldiers with him.
He’d sacrificed himself so we could escape.
I threw myself into the driver’s seat and slammed the car into gear, barreling out of the gate before anyone could think to check if Jerome was alone or not.
In the rearview mirror, I saw the alpha who’d taken me in when I had nothing left to live for fall to the ground, clutching his side. He twitched in the dirt until another round of bullets bit into his body.
Then the road curved, and my view of the compound was obstructed by the trees surrounding it.
Epilogue
Zach
Six Months Later
* * *
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“Fuck’s sake, why is it so fucking impossible to wipe your feet before you enter the house?”
The sound of Lillian’s sharp voice made Zach look up from the engine he was messing with, the usual pang of love vibrating through his end of their bond at the sight of her pretty face.
The two alphas she was scolding on the porch to their shared home murmured an apology, and she—apparently dissatisfied with their easy capitulation—spun around with a huff and stormed in through the door.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Larry hummed by his side as they both looked at Eric and Jarl creep off the porch, suitably chastised. “Guess your missus is a nester.”
Zach arched an eyebrow at him in question.
“Oh, come on, man. Since when has Lillian given two shits about anyone tracking dirt in? And that pile of blankets she’s been dragging around the house all day? She screeched at me when I tried to move it off the sofa this morning. Told me I’d make them stink.” Larry shook his head, re-focusing on the engine. “Don’t worry, I’ll get the guys out of your hair for a few days. We’ll go on a hunting trip or something. Need some more meat for the stores before winter hits, anyway.”
Zach frowned, getting the distinct impression he was missing something important. He stared back at the door Lillian had disappeared through. He remembered the blankets. She’d made him sleep on them, despite his complaints that he was warm enough. In the morning after they’d gotten up, she’d carefully folded them and hissed at him when he tried to help her.
She’d been very short with him all day, but he’d been too preoccupied with needing to fix the damn engine and chop enough wood to get them through the harsh Canadian winter to pause and check if something might be wrong.
A low buzzing at the base of his spine made him push off the open hood with an irritated grunt. He’d promised her he’d protect her, and while yes, that also meant providing her with shelter and heat, he’d been neglectful in not asking if she was okay.
Words still came hard. Complex thoughts and ideas came hard. Making sure his mate was happy and and well-cared for? That was not only within his capabilities—it was his primary concern in life.
She’d accepted him as her mate, nursed him back to health, and never shown him anything but love and respect despite his irreparable damage. She didn’t think less of him because he couldn’t tell her how seeing her skin glow in the morning light spilling in through their bedroom window made his insides feel weightless with happiness, didn’t lose her patience when he didn’t understand her if she used words with too many syllables. He owed her everything—his life, his strength, his protection—and most of all, his attention if she was unwell.
“Enjoy, you lucky bastard,” Larry called after him, getting a chuckle from Jarl. Zach didn’t stop to ask them what they found funny, and he didn’t care, so long as Lillian was all right. They were his friends, his brothers—the men who’d sacrificed everything to save him from hell, and his bond to them was unwavering. But nothing and no one mattered like she did.
He took the stairs to the porch in one stride, pushing open the door to the log cabin with too much force, making it bang against the wall loud enough for the glass to rattle.
“Lillian!”
She appeared from the living room, but instead of the usual joy radiating from her beautiful face at the sight of him, her lip was curled in a snarl. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, barging into my house like that? Get your shoes off before you muddy the floor! I spent all day cleaning!”
“Ours,” he said, instincts rearing at her choice of words. She was his, she belonged to him, and he would never allow her to have a home that wasn’t also his. He pushed down the rush of anger, kicked off his shoes, and crossed the floor. The second he was within reach, he grabbed her chin and tilted her head up, studying her face for signs of sickness.
Her skin was flushed and warm to the touch, her pupils dilated, and the buzz at the base of his spine was just starting to tip into full-blown panic when she wrested her chin out of his grasp—and bit him!
Zach yanked his hand back with a growl, an unexpected pain blooming in his index finger.
“Stop manhandling me!” she snapped, her outraged expression twisting to discomfort as she put a hand to her lower belly. “God, I feel shit enough without you rolling up and getting all handsy on me.”
It was then as he stared at her rubbing her abdomen, face scrunched up in a cute scowl, that he finally realized what was happening with his mate.
The smell of soap had been too overwhelming to pick up those first delicate traces in the air. She’d cleaned, all right, despite Eric washing the floors just two days prior, and when he glanced into the living room he could see she’d washed all textiles she could get her hands on as well, including the curtains, and placed them all around the living room in neat stacks and piles.
Ridding what she planned to be her nest of all scents of the alphas they shared their home with.
His lips quirked up in a pleased smile, the throb in his finger numbed by the rush of hormones flooding his blood.
“What are you grinning at?” she asked, once more aiming her fury at him. “Is it f—oh!”
Her voice died on a whimper when he closed the rest of the distance between them, forcing his body flush with hers as he bent his head to sniff her neck.
Yes. There it was—her scent flowered against him, filling his nostrils as he drew in greedy lungfuls of her beginning heat. Pure and full, it rolled through his veins and filled his mind. She’d been in heat the first time he mounted her, but it hadn’t been right. Her smell, powerful as it’d been, had been laced with chemicals. The doctors had injected her like they had injected him, forcing her into heat.
This time, there was nothing but her natural, all-consuming, intoxicating scent.
He growled against her neck, licking at her skin to taste her. His cock throbbed hard and urgently in his pants, more than ready to sate her—
His thoughts cut off when another pinching pain bloomed from his chest where she’d bitten him—again.
“I said, stop manhandling me!” she growled, pushing at him to try and put space between them, but this time, Zach wasn’t caught by surprise.
There were many things he would never be able to give his mate, many things she did or said he would never understand without her help. This—this was not one of them.
Lillian screeched when he hauled her over his shoulder, her small fists pummeling his back as he carried her into the living room in a few strides, inspecting her piles of fabric. Without putting her down, he grabbed several of the soft piles, including the blankets she’d demanded he sleep in last night, bundled them under one arm, and headed for the stairs.
“What are you doing?!” she howled, trying to rip the cloth from his grip. “Stop touching them, you’re gonna mess them up! Give them to me!”
Zach ignored her until they got to the bedroom. There, he placed her back on her feet and threw the bundle of cloth on the bed. “Stay,” he said before he left the room again to get the rest of her fabrics.
When he came back, so loaded with cloth he had to twist to see around it, she’d started arranging the previous load in an oval shape on the bed.
She was so absorbed in her task she didn’t even look up when he returned, nor did she acknowledge him when he deposited the rest of her fabrics in the yet unused pile.
She muttered to herself as she worked, her jerking movements displaying her irritation when something didn’t come out just right. More and more frequently, she’d pause to wipe sweat off her forehead, the rich scent of her heat only enriching with each passing minute.
Zach watched her quietly, knowing she needed this time. He hadn’t been through this stage before. The many females he’d rutted through their heats in the laboratory were only in his presence when they were past ready for penetration, but his instincts guided him now.
Finally, some long minutes later, Lillian stepped back from the bed,
staring at the misshapen oval she’d created out of an uneven mix of blankets, pillows, cushions, and curtains.
A faint memory made him bite down on a smile. An old, mated sergeant had taken it upon himself to explain to the younger alphas in their team what mated life was like. They’d all been young and stupid and pretended like they knew everything there was to know about females, but his words had stirred up urges that had little to do with knotting a freshly fucked pussy.
Zach remembered when the sergeant had explained about a woman’s first heat and how it would usually take her a few times before she would know what to do. How it was her alpha’s job to see her through, reining in his own instincts to mount her before she’d been allowed to prepare.
Looking at the floral curtain fabric sticking out of the wall she’d created, it was plenty obvious that his mate wasn’t great at this. Yet. She would go into heat plenty more times, and every time, he’d be there to see her through.
“What the hell am I doing?” Lillian’s confused whisper made him close the distance he’d been keeping, soothing her with a hand on the small of her back. She didn’t try to squirm away this time.
“Nest,” he rumbled.
“What?” She finally turned to look at him, brows knitted in confusion.
“Heat,” he explained, running his free hand over her damp forehead, wiping the sweat away.
Understanding broke behind her blue eyes, but instead of relief, terror stirred in their bond and flashed across her face. “Oh, no! No, it can’t be! W-What are we gonna do? I… Fuck!”
Gently, he pulled her in against his chest, placing her cheek where his bond hooked. The purr flowed easily from his chest, rumbling into her in powerful waves until she slowly began to relax. He knew why she was scared, knew into his bones why the word heat brought nothing but terror for her.
All she’d experienced was the twisted version the doctors had put her through, and all the pain, humiliation, and fear that came with it.