Track 30 Hold on I’m Coming

It takes too long to reach the facility where Apex took Sorrel and her friends. Even though we did the interview at a location not far away, it still takes twenty minutes to get through the police line and the people. All the fucking people that I want to roar at to get out of my fucking way.

The hardest thing I've ever done is sit back and let the Falcone and Werth packs get our girls out. I'm trained for that, trained to protect the people I love and instead of going to Sorrel, I went to a fucking interview. I sat in one of those stupid director's chairs and faced a camera and didn't say a goddamn word, because I was too focused on where I wasn't.

There are a million fucking things that could go wrong in an extraction. A million ways for the hostages to get hurt, and I couldn't focus. Thank god, Gray and Liam were with me because if it had been my job to reveal the dirty shit Apex has been up to, we never would have gotten anywhere.

Gage was about as useful as I was, grunting out answers and tapping his fingers on his knees, glaring at everyone and eyeing the door like he was considering just running for it.

Just about the only thing I got right was when the woman across from us asked if there was anything I wanted to add, and I'd looked right at the camera with my voice cracking and said, " Lo siento, conejita. Lo siento mucho. Ya vamos ."

As soon as the light on the camera turned off, we were moving. No time for pleasantries.

Gage sprinted toward the door, and I was right on his fucking heels.

And then the drive and the police blockades and the vehicles.

Everything is making my alpha furious.

Logically, I know if Sorrel was hurt, or worse —God, please don't let her be hurt or worse—the Werth or Falcone pack would have called us, would have let us know. So she must be okay, right?

But my alpha is entirely illogical at the moment. I used up all my logic in deciding that the best way to make sure this shit doesn't happen again is to cut off the head of the snake. Is to support my pack in revealing what exactly Apex has been up to.

So when our car is stopped a-fucking-gain, I snarl, " fuck this ," and hop out of the vehicle, running full speed toward flashing red and blue lights. I dodge around cops who give me startled looks and then call out for me to stop. Maybe I should stop. Maybe I should listen to them, but I fucking can't. Not until I have Sorrel in my arms. Footsteps thunder behind me, and I risk a glance, only to find my pack right on my ass, arms pumping with determination just like mine are.

We burst from between buildings into the Apex Pharma parking lot to find it swarming with cops, and paramedics, and fucking news vans and cameras.

I scan the crowd, looking for a familiar tumble of dark hair and a flash of aqua eyes, but I can't find her anywhere. "Where the fuck is she?" Panic threatens to kill me. "Why isn't she here?"

"Over here," Gage says, and my heart thunders following behind him, still looking for Sorrel, but he doesn't lead me to her. Instead, we find Sylvie and her pack.

"Where's Sorrel?" Gray growls, not in the mood for pleasantries.

Sylvie's brow furrows as she scans the crowd around her and her pack bristles. "She was right here. I swear…" she looks back at us. "Did you check with the paramedics?"

"The paramedics?" I hear Liam croak, but I'm already spinning toward the ambulances. "Is she okay?"

I barely hear Sylvie's gentle response of, "she's fine."

When I get closer, the scent of lavender reaches my nose, faint and tinged with stress and fear and… heartbreak. Not as strong as it would be if those emotions were coming from my omega instead of my beta, but I can still pick them out, because Sorrel is fucking mine.

I glance at Gage, who has his nose in the air, too. He meets my gaze and we move forward as one, hunting out beta by her scent. Only we don't fucking find her.

Instead, we find a beta paramedic, stowing his gear at the back of an ambulance.

"Where the fuck is she?" I all but snarl, making the man jerk upright and spin toward us.

"I-I- who?"

"Sorrel Forbes," Grayson says smoothly, stepping in front of me and Gage. He looks calm and collected, but I know he's anything but. The pheromones he's pumping out set my teeth on edge and drive up my own. "You checked her out to make sure she's okay?"

"Yeah, I did." The guy nods, runs a hand through his hair and then his eyes snag on Liam. "Holy shit! You're Liam Cordova. You're the goddamn Cordova pack!"

Liam, of all people, lunges forward and fists his hand in the paramedic's uniform and shoves him against the ambulance. "In the fucking flesh. Now tell me where my fucking beta is or I'll rip you the fuck apart."

The guy swallows and shakes his head. "I don't know. I checked her out, and she was fine. A few scrapes and some bruises. But she didn't require a ride to the hospital, so I let her go. A reporter ambushed her…" He trails off as all of us snarl at him and he holds up his hands. "She handled it. Really ripped into her, but then your girl walked off."

"Where?" Gage asks, taking one step forward.

He motions to the side of the parking lot that isn't surrounded by cops and people. "I think there's like a park or something that way. She seemed like she needed some space."

Liam shoves him one more time before he releases him and we all hurry in the direction the beta pointed us in. Close. We're so fucking close to having her with us again. To holding her and never letting her go.

The park isn't very big, probably something that Apex added to give their employees a place to eat outside so they could pat themselves on the back for being such good fucking employers or something. It's maybe as big as a city block, with trees planted at intervals, picnic tables and a gazebo in the middle.

"I can smell her, but I can't see her," Gage mutters, scanning the dark area. I'm right here with him. Lavender floats on the breeze, still tinged with all those negative emotions. I never want her to feel that way ever again.

I'll make it my life's mission to make sure her scent is only tinged with joy, contentment, love, lust, pleasure. All those good feelings.

The longer we stand there, the antsy we get. Liam whimpers.

"Sorrel!" Gray tips his head back and roars. "Where are you, sweet thing?"

There's an answering sniffle that has all of us whipping our heads toward it. "Gray?" a soft voice croaks.

"Sorrel!" Liam gasps, running toward a tree. No running toward the dark shape at the base of the tree. The rest of us follow, falling to our knees half a second after Liam does. He's already got her in his arms though, bundled onto his lap, her face pressed against his neck, one of his hands buried in her hair.

Sorrel curls her fingers in his shirt, holding on, fingers trembling. "You weren't there," she chokes out. "You weren't there, and I was alone and I-"

I can't keep from touching her, my hand sliding onto her hip, feeling the heat from her body, the life in her limbs. She's here with us. Alive and seemingly uninjured. Gage's fingers grip her shoulder and Gray palms the top of her head. "We're here," Liam whispers, lips against her forehead. "We're here. All of us." And then he purrs. Right there in the dark of the park, my omega purrs for my beta to soothe her.

Typically purring doesn't have the same effect on betas as it has on alphas or omegas, but I watch as Sorrel's body relaxes in increments, body growing lax and her scent turning less bitter, softer like it should always be. She inhales deeply and lets out a shuddering breath.

"Can I-" Gage cuts off, his voice hoarse before he clears his throat and tries again. "Can I hold you for a bit, biscuit? I… my alpha needs to-"

Liam growls at him, his lip pulling back in a snarl as he tightens his grip on our beta and while it's an adorable sound—all omega—it's enough to make my alpha prickle with the need to destroy whatever has upset him.

Sorrel sniffles and lifts her head for the first time since we found her, looking at the four of us with red-rimmed eyes. Her lower lip trembles as she meets each of our gazes, before she stiffens it, and pulls away from Liam entirely. He grips her tighter for a moment, but when she continues to pull against his hold, he lets her go.

Sorrel doesn't go to Gage, though. Instead, she crawls on her hands and knees until she's clear of the four of us and pushes to her feet. We scramble to ours right after, needing to be close to her, to keep her within touching distance.

She holds up one trembling hand and gives a fake as shit smile that shakes just as much. "You didn't need to come," she whispers, so fucking softly I almost miss it. "I know you don't… I know I'm the villain of your story. And I… I'm fine, so you can go."

" Bullshit ," Gage growls bluntly. "You were never the villain. You could never be, Sor. Ever."

Her aqua eyes move from Gage to Gray and then back again. "You have to say that because you love me."

Gage inches closer to her, one hand stretched toward her. "I do love you. So goddamn much, biscuit. I'm sorry if I made you feel otherwise. Come here." Sorrel hesitates. " Please , Sor. I need to hold you."

Another of those choked sounds comes out of her, and then she's moving toward him, her face pressing between his pecs as his arms close around her. The scent of wood smoke and vanilla whiskey gets stronger in the air, and she shudders. "I'm still mad at you," she murmurs into his chest. "So mad."

Gage kisses the top of her head, lips lingering there as he closes his eyes. "I know, baby. I deserve it. I was an ass."

"Unmitigated ass," she grumbles.

A soft chuckle falls from his lips as his cheek presses into her hair, rocking her gently. "That too."

Next to me Gray clears his throat, breaking the sweet moment. "Sorrel," he starts, but trails off like he doesn't know how to continue. How to apologize for something that's damn near unforgivable.

We will, but now is not the time to rehash our fuck up. Not when our girl has been through the fucking ringer, kidnapped and drugged and nearly blown up. She's got scrapes on her I need to see to, even if a professional already did.

My alpha is snapping at me to check every inch of her body to know that she's okay. There are any number of injuries she could have that we can't see. I mean, she was in an explosion for chrissakes.

" Conejita ," I start, and I don't trail off. "Can we check you for injuries? We-I just need to see."

She snuggles closer to Gage and shakes her head. "A paramedic already looked me over. I'm fine."

Gage pulls back and looks down at her. "Let us look, okay? And then we'll get you out of here."

Her shoulders drop at the promise and she gives a small nod of consent. My breath blows out of me. Thank god for Gage and his ability to reason with her, the trust she still has for him. I honestly think I was about a minute away from using an alpha bark on her to get her to listen.

Which would have gone over real well, I'm sure.

Liam tugs his cell phone out of his pocket and Gray does the same using the flashlight feature to illuminate our girl. The too bright light makes her flinch and turns her skin a ghostly pale color. Or maybe that's because of the trauma she's endured.

Carefully, I take stock of her body. Note each and every bruise and scrape on her skin. I growl when I find tender spots and sore muscles. There's a bandage on the back of her thigh, and a shitton of tiny cuts on her hands and wrists. But overall she's in relatively good shape. I push to my feet and carefully take her face in my hands, turning it this way and that, before sliding my hands into her hair. Another growl when she winces as I find a bump on the back of her head.

"You were checked for a concussion?" I ask, and the other men around me tense, waiting for her answer.

"Yes." She rolls her eyes. "I told you a professional checked me out. If I had a concussion, I would be strapped to a gurney right now and on my way to the hospital." She looks back toward the bustle of activity around the partially destroyed building.

"We should still take you to the hospital, lovely," Liam murmurs, reaching out to run his fingers over her arm. She flinches away from him, and then steps away from me, putting distance between us. I guess now that I've verified she is, in fact, okay, she doesn't want any of us touching her. She even sidesteps Gage when he reaches for her again.

Tucking her hands into the pockets of her ripped shorts, she looks at us with exhausted eyes. "You said you'd get me out of here. Can we do that now? Please."

Gray nods slowly while I fist my hand at my side. The urge to hit something is strong. I'm so fucking… frustrated. And angry. I'm angry that this happened to our beta, that I wasn't there to do my job and protect her. That I failed her.

I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for this.

Even though I know I'm not the one who kidnapped her, I left her vulnerable to attacks. Protecting people is my literal job. Making sure the people I care about are safe and secure, and I failed at it.

I failed her.

I failed my pack.

"Yes, of course," Gray says carefully, turning slightly to motion back toward the police line. "Let's get you out of here."

Sorrel stumbles forward, and the rest of us fall into step around her, Liam on one side, Gray on the other, Gage and I flanking her rear. I glance at him and find his eyes focused on Sorrel, like he's worried if he's not watching her, she'll slip away again.

I'm right there with him.

He must feel me looking at him, because he flicks his dark blue eyes at me and gives a nod. I nod back.

We're in agreement.

No one is getting close to our beta ever again.