Chapter 4

Chapter Four

AUGUSTINE

I t's two in the morning as I get closer to home, but I haven't heard from Cere at all. Frowning, I try calling her for the third time. My spidey sense is going off as I drive, and my anxiety is pushing at me.

"Hey, did your phone die? You're probably sleeping and are going to think I'm being neurotic," I admit as I leave another voice message. "I'm going to be at the apartment soon, I wish I knew if you were home yet."

Blowing out a sigh, I slow down as I get to a red light. It's the way Cerenity would go to grab Chinese food before she gets home, which just makes me miss her more. I'll probably end up waking her up when I get in, because it's hard to be quiet with this giant cooler, but I can't help that.

It takes me a second to understand what my headlights are picking up as I stare out my windshield. There's usually high powered street lights at this intersection, but it's pitch black right now. The electricity is clearly running in this part of town, though, because the traffic lights are working.

That's not what is off, though. There's glass all over the intersection, and Cere's cute bright blue sports car is upside down in the road. Shoving my truck into park, I scramble out of the vehicle.

This area has an abandoned feel to it, giving me the heebie jeebies.

Running toward the car, I already can tell there's no one in it.

"Cere!" I yell regardless, turning on the flashlight on my phone as I walk around the car.

Why hasn't a cop found her car? Why hasn't anyone else been by here?

"Baby, where are you?" I rasp, getting on my hands and knees to look into the flipped car. I can see her purse, her phone tossed aside with a cracked screen, and no sign of robbery. Her seatbelt is cut in two places, reminiscent of her knife.

Looking around, I can't find her knife, and the glass is displaced as if she dragged herself out. A couple of red droplets of blood glitter on the glass, making me swallow hard. There's no one here, and I swallow hard as I call the emergency police line.

Fuck, I shouldn't have left. The air smells faintly of apple pie, terror, and iron, making my blood run cold.

" Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?" the dispatcher asks in a calm voice.

"Hi, I'm on the corner of Eighth and Vincent, driving on my way home. My best friend's car crashed in the intersection and flipped over. It appears someone hit her," I say hurriedly, standing to look around.

"Is your friend injured ?" she asks, making me feel dumb because I forgot to mention that part.

"She's not here," I explain. "There's blood on the glass in the car, and I can see where she cut her seat belt with her knife. I'm really worried."

" I understand, Sir. I'll send someone out now," she says calmly.

Unfortunately, I'm frustrated as I hang up, because I have a feeling they won't be able to help at all. Is it even worth waiting around?

My next call is to Gabriel as I put it on speaker and look around with my flashlight on as I walk around the car. There are tire tracks on the ground, and it appears a few people have done this same walk because the glass is displaced.

Shaking my head when the call goes to voicemail, I call again. And again.

" Fuck, are you home yet, Auggie? What's wrong that you've called… four times?" Gabriel asks sleepily. I can hear the blankets shift as he gets up, and I take a shaky breath.

"There's been an accident," I begin. "I was on my way home, and I'm standing in the middle of the intersection, next to Cerenity's car. It's flipped over, glass is fucking everywhere. Gabriel, she's not here. Where the hell is she?!"

I'm screaming and panicking by the end of the last sentence, and Gabriel inhales sharply.

"Fuck. I'm going to call David ," he says softly. " The only person who would do this to her is Arthur. I don't have Tommy's personal number, or I'd take this straight to him. Is there anything else that looks weird?"

"Whoever this was, made sure her car wouldn't be found," I grunt. "Cops haven't come through here, there's no one walking, no homeless people. This area is a ghost town. Does Arthur have the power to do that?"

" I mean, yeah ," Gabriel says softly. " Corbin Murphy allows some of Tommy's men to do business in Minneapolis, though they're careful not to bring any heat over that way. It would mean Arthur would have to have some of the police force in his back pocket."

I'm panting as I start to hear sirens, and I shake myself as I run back to my car. The door is still hanging open the way I left it. I don't have time to spend here asking mindless questions that won't help Cere.

" What are you doing right now? Augustine?" Gabriel asks.

"I called the emergency service line before I called you, but I can't help them with their questions, because they're the same ones I have," I grunt, getting into the truck. My vehicle is still running, so I listen for the direction the police sirens are coming from and then slam my car into drive to do a U-turn.

"I'm headed back to you, where I can find some answers."

Blowing out a breath, I hear Gabriel moving around. "Fuck, alright. There are only so many places he can take her," he mutters. "I'll meet you at the gym when you're closer to Chicago. It'll be late, but I have a feeling Tommy will want to meet to talk once he finds out about this. Let me go call David."

"I'll be losing my mind the whole way back," I sigh.

"I'm really sorry, Auggie. I'll help you get her back," he promises before hanging up to see what he can find.

I manage to stay under police radar as I race out of the city to drive back to Chicago, but the entire time my mind is racing with all of the awful things that could be happening to her. Cere is tough as nails, however, she's tiny. The things huge alphas could do to her potentially is terrifying.

I'm tortured by thoughts of the auctions and them hurting her in the most gruesome of ways, spending the drive screaming and punching at my steering wheel whenever I hit traffic. It's late, but there are still semis and late night drivers on the highways.

Please, please be okay, baby.

CERENITY

A large bump tosses my body around, making me whimper as I'm hauled back with rough hands.

"What?" I whisper, blinking rapidly as I see several pairs of cruel eyes gazing down at me. There are bright lights over me, and I can see Arthur's smug face. "Let me go!"

My arms are yanked over my head as I begin to struggle and kick, struggling to calm my racing heartbeat. I can't have a panic attack. I need to find a way out of this fucked up situation.

"I've never had a feisty omega before," Arthur sneers beside me as he gropes my breast and pinches my nipple so hard I scream. Several hands hold me down on the cold metal floor of the panel van.

"I usually like my women willing or crying. It's fun when their tears leak over my cock, drenching my knot. You're more trouble than you're worth. I wonder if your pussy is at least tight."

Fingers start to undo the button on my pants, and I lament over the loss of my knife that I must have lost at one point. I realize I was too quick to worry about that when one of the alphas in the van pulls my knife out of his back pocket.

"Such a little girl for a big knife like this," he grunts, beginning to cut my pants off me for shits and giggles. "You should find out exactly how tight her pussy is before you surrender her to the auction and Clara."

My mind whirls as I wonder idly who Clara is. I focus on the oddest shit, but I can't help the hyperfocus right now in an effort to disassociate enough that I won't panic.

Arthur chuckles at my face, because I feel fucking sick as I continue to struggle, even though my brain feels like it's been rattled. My head really hurts, and I can feel blood starting to dry on my skin. I don't know how anyone could want me right now. I'm sure I look like a nightmare.

I blame my injuries, certain I hit my head as the alpha's words fully register. Fuck, the auctions. It's every omega's boogeyman in the night. Ophelia must no longer be an option now.

"No!" I scream as my pants are ripped off of me and Arthur shreds my shirt as if it's paper. No matter how scrappy I may be, I'm completely outmatched as strong, hot hands spread my legs apart.

The alpha with my knife cuts off my panties, cursing when he knicks my skin, causing a thin trail of blood to flow from my thigh.

"Eh, I'll use the blood as lube if the bitch is broken and won't slick for me," Arthur grunts as he releases his cock.

The bulbous red head appears angry, but I focus on fighting instead of commenting on how I'm drier than a bone for him. I may be an omega, but my body has standards.

Arthur runs his thick fingers through my blood before pushing them inside my virgin channel, making me grit my teeth. I will not scream for him. Standing, he fists his cock as he thrusts his fingers inside of me, and the alphas urge him on as they hold me down and touch me.

"Maybe the cold fish will actually get to know what a real alpha is like before we hand her over," one of them says as he rubs my clit. It hurts because he's using it like a DJ booth, making me whimper in pain as I writhe to get away from him.

"Think that's why she's got so many anger issues?" Arthur asks as he strokes his cock. My body is exposed to him, and I notice he's favoring one of his legs as if it pains him. I hold on tightly to the fact that I hurt him, not that it makes this any easier.

"Do you just need a big fat knot?"

Forcing my voice to work despite my brain screaming at me to be quiet, I rasp, "If that was true, you still wouldn't make the cut."

Arthur rips his fingers out of my pussy, making me cry out as they drag along my walls. His hand is still lazily stroking his dick when he backhands me, unbothered by the driver who stops at a light.

"Still mouthy, I see. If I didn't think you'd bite off my cock, knot and all, I'd fuck that smartass mouth," Arthur complains. My hearing is messed up as I strain to hear him, blinking hard as everything feels too bright.

Dammit, he hit me hard.

"That's alright, boys, give me something pretty to look at. I like when you make them scream. I'll try to warn you before I cum on the little cum rag. Then, we'll see if the auction house in Chicago wants her."

My body is a white hot sea of pain as the alphas take his words to heart. They pinch my nipples, bite my breasts, shove their fingers in my ass without any slick to help. I try not to scream, I don't want to give him the satisfaction, but it's just too much.

My knees and thighs are pinned to the floor of the van, putting me fully on display to these alphas. I'm so grateful for my alpha scent blocking spray, even though it's been hours since I last used it.

I still try to struggle, to shove my hips up to get away, but there's no point to it. There are six men surrounding me, holding me down, hurting me.

"Please!" I scream, not wanting to beg, but another alpha has joined the one shoving his fingers into my asshole. My body wants to help me, beginning to slick out of necessity as the alpha also shoves his fingers into my virgin asshole.

It hurts as it stretches, the first things I've ever had inside of my body there.

"Mmmm, she smells really good," Arthur grunts, his head dropping back as he inhales my scent as if it's an aphrodisiac. "Apple fucking pie. It's my favorite dessert. I knew you'd be a damn hellcat with a little motivation. Fuck, yeah. Almost there. Scream for me, baby."

My voice starts to fail me as I scream in pain, my brain trying to disassociate, but unable to.

The last thing I remember before I pass out is Arthur shouting as the men remove their hands, and ropes of warm liquid hits my naked body. I don't know how I got here, but the darkness is nice for now. It envelops me, tells me it's safer here, and even if it's a lie, I'll believe it for now.

Whether it's minutes or hours later, I can't tell you when Arthur shakes me awake.

"Let's see if Clara will take you," he growls into my ears as he shoves me into a sitting position. There's something sticky all over my body, and I gag as I realize it's his cum.

I'm still in the back of the panel van, and a beautiful woman with long blonde hair stares dispassionately at me from just outside it. My hands were bound behind me while I was unconscious at some point, and I flush with shame as I realize I'm still naked.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Clara asks. The doors to the back of the vehicle are open to the night air, making my body erupt in goosebumps as I shiver. "Arthur, you can't bring your used up whores to me."

I open my mouth to tell her she's wrong, beg for help, but Arthur covers my mouth and pinches my nose shut as he speaks. It prohibits me from saying a damn word as my body fights to breathe.

"I've seen you take worse," he says coyly. "Come on, it'll teach her a lesson. She's on a damn high horse and doesn't understand her place. Omegas are here on this earth to serve us."

Oh my God, Clara is an alpha. I've often wondered who runs these auction houses, but maybe she really thinks she's superior to omegas. At this point, I don't have any good options.

I'm damned if she takes me and triple fucked if she doesn't. My legs kick out as I run out of air. My lungs are screaming for it.

"I don't want your dirty seconds, Arthur. Get out of my parking lot," Clara says, throwing up her hands in anger as she stalks away.

Arthur's goons shrug as they shut the doors inwards, and their boss turns angrily at me. Black spots are encroaching on my vision because the idiot hasn't let me breathe. Slamming me down on the ground, my head bounces as the darkness starts to win.

"I guess we're going with Plan B," Arthur says with a smirk. "You're not going to survive Clara's rejection, little omega. I really wanted to get paid."

My body convulses hard as my lungs continue to beg for air, and I pass out again as I listen to him talk about all the things they could do to me.

A slap wakes me up, making me gasp as someone begins to pull me out of the van by my feet. I'm disoriented and confused now that we're stopped, having no idea where we could be.

"Here is your final destination, little whore!" Arthur says cheerily and he ducks his head as he follows me out. His clothes are immaculate as I twist to look at him, yelping as the alpha pulling me out bangs my head on the back of the van before he catches me in his arms.

God, I feel so nauseous, I'm pretty sure I do have a concussion at this point.

"You've been a pain in the ass, but memorable nonetheless."

The alphas walk into an alley by a building, where it's dark outside of a single bulb over a door down the ways. There's a stick by a dumpster, and Arthur saunters over to pick it up and begins to hit it.

"Dinner time!" he calls out to whatever is inside it. My chest starts to heave as I hear skittering nails inside of it. No, no, no. Those can't be…

"The rats will eat really well tonight," the alpha holding me tightly says with a mean chuckle. "Open ‘er up! Let's see what they think when they taste fresh omega."

"No!" I scream. "Please, you can't, I mean?—"

"You should have sucked my cock nicely, instead of being such a bitch," Arthur says, pushing the stick under the lid to shove it open. My eyes widen as I see he holds it there, making me wonder if he's going to let it slam shut on top of me. My arms have long gone numb from being tied so tightly behind my back, and I'm still naked.

I lose my shit, unable to hold my dignity right now as I try to twist enough so the alpha squeezing me to death may drop me. Unfortunately, it just makes him amused as he rolls his eyes, compressing my limbs so hard, I swear something may snap.

"Toss her in then," Arthur says with a nod, making a hurrying motion as he looks over his shoulder. I wonder what he's worried about as he shoves the top of the dumpster even higher.

The squeals of rats get louder, and my screams turn to wails as the asshole holding me throws me in, banging my body against the lid before I fall into the dumpster. Any ambient light outside is extinguished when Arthur smirks and drops the lid. I swear I can feel little feet on my body as I kick and scream, my head shaking from side to side.

"Oh my God! Please help! Someone!" I yell. I don't know if rats will eat human flesh, or if they're scared of the insane omega thrashing around in their home, but I've watched too many horror shows with Auggie to be able to do anything but scream.

I haven't eaten in I don't know how many hours, and my body is tired from the stress and misery of tonight. Fuck, I don't know if I'm going to survive this one.

Please, someone hear me.

JASPER

It's been a long damn day, and I'm here late with Tommy going over a new business idea I have for the fights. It's a little before one in the morning, and I'm about ready to call it with him when I hear banging and screaming outside in the alley.

"Do you hear that?" I ask, surprised.

We haven't had a break in at the gym in years, and the only mafia family we have an issue with lives on the south side of Chicago. The damn Italians don't like us right now, because they want our gun contacts. Too bad they'll never get them.

Tommy doesn't run guns often, but only because the fights and illegal drugs keep us busy. There are unhappy people looking to lose themselves in drugs, and we supply it for them. Frowning as Tommy pulls a gun from his desk as he nods, we stand quickly together as we walk out of the office toward the back door.

I'm always armed, so I pull my firearm from my holster as I slowly open the door into the alley. The rats are screaming in the dumpster, and I almost relax as I hear them banging around inside it until I realize that's not the rats.

"Tommy, there's someone in the dumpster," I grunt, looking around to see if there's anyone around who would have done this. The night is fucking quiet outside of the normal city sounds, so I return my gun to the holster at my back as I stride quickly to help whoever is inside the dumpster.

My boss looks concerned as he puts away his gun, helping me shove the dumpster open. Peering in, I see a girl writhing as she screams, unable to get out. It appears her arms are also tied behind her back, and the rats are climbing all over her.

"Hey! Get away from her!" I yell, kicking at the metal.

Pushing the door until it'll stay open against the wall, I jump up as I grab hold of the lip of the dumpster bin to pull myself up to get her.

"Tommy, get ready to help me out. Fuck, let's hope you're not fishing both of us out of here," I mutter. My boss' lips press together as he grabs my legs as I drop the top of my body into the dumpster, quickly grabbing the girl in my arms. "Get us up!"

My ab muscles scream as I try to lift my body as Tommy pulls us out, struggling to keep the girl from falling again. She can't see me, trapped in the horror of the dumpster still as she kicks out and struggles in my arms.

She's naked except for some dirt and trash that sticks to her body, the rats deciding she was too damn loud to nibble on. I can see teeth marks on her skin, but they appear human, making my blood boil.

It'll have to wait for now, because we're not in the clear yet.

"Shhh, we're getting you out," I tell her, trying to be gentle. Unfortunately, I don't understand what that word is, and I snap at her. "Yo! You're safe! Stop fucking moving before I drop you!"

Tommy snorts as he continues to pull me up, and I feel a small twinge of remorse. She's tiny, smells awful from the garbage, still locked in a nightmare in her mind. I don't blame her in any way, because the damn rats were going crazy, and God only knows what else happened to her tonight before she was dumped.

Did whoever did this think she was dead? I don't think so, because she was screaming too damn loudly for that.

Twisting my body until I can sit on the lid of the dumpster, I jump down as I hold her tightly to give her a quick cursory look.

"Hey, hey come on. Look around, no more rats!" I call out to her, seeing how bruised her face is, and the cuts all over her curvy body. "You look like you're having a shit day. Come on, let us help you."

"I'm out?" she whispers, looking around before she looks up at Tommy and I. Cringing, she shakes her head. "Please don't send me to the auctions. I don't deserve to go there. He tried to take me…"

It's obvious this girl has had a really rough fucking day when her eyes roll in the back of her head and she faints dead away in my arms.

"Jesus," Tommy whispers. "Let's get her inside. What the fuck kind of shit did this girl get into? We don't deal with the auctions."

"You better believe we don't," I growl as I stalk after my boss. He unlocks the back door, pulling off his shirt as he goes to attempt to cover the girl in my arms as we walk inside. I shift her in my grasp to untie her limbs, grunting in thanks when Tommy turns to help me, so I won't drop her. He even rubs her arms a bit before placing them in front of her to help with circulation before glancing away in embarrassment.

My boss is a hard man, but I've known him a long damn time. I met him while I was fighting in the illegal fighting circuits, as a punk kid for extra money as I supported my siblings, and he was learning the ropes to take over for his father.

The glimpses of the man who is underneath the hardened criminal only tend to shine through when I'm around, because he's seen me at my worst, while I was looking for my sister.

Ever since I lost her to the sex trafficking industry, I can't imagine being any part of that business. Now that I have her back in my life and know some of the horror she faced, I still refuse to go near it. Tommy won't touch it either for his own reasons, though I know not everyone is happy with that decision.

Too damn bad. What the fuck are we going to do with her?

"She's obviously an omega since she mentioned the auctions, I can't smell anything but the scent of garbage on her," Tommy muses. "Let's close up here and see if we can get her cleaned up, and then we'll figure out what kind of shit may be coming our way."

"She looks like hell," I mutter unhelpfully. "There's dried blood and other shit on her. You don't think…"

"Someone raped her?" Tommy asks, anger filling his eyes as he forwards any calls to the gym to his cell phone before locking up his office. "The way she reacted when you touched her, it's not out of the question. She looks like she was in an accident, too. I can see the glass still in her skin, scratches, and dried blood from here. I'm going to call my sister to help us with her, since she's a nurse. Let's get her to my place, while we figure out what the fuck is happening and who I'm adding to my kill list."

"Marie is going to love that," I sigh, ignoring my boss and friend's bloodthirsty words. I don't blame him, though, and want in on that action. "Can you imagine if we weren't working late tonight?"

"Nope, we aren't going to go there," he says, shaking his head as we walk through the darkened gym to head out to one of our cars. "I'm already going to have nightmares about rats eating her body. The bastards who did this to her better sleep with one eye open. I don't know her or her story, but I feel responsible somehow. My dumpster, my problem now."

Nodding as he opens the door for me so he can lock up behind us, I sigh as I stare down at her matted dark blue hair. I can't tell if she's pretty or not because her face is puffy, and her eye is swelling shut, but the small glimpse I got of her body spoke volumes.

Tommy is right, but I feel this inexplicable pull toward her that I don't understand. There's a puzzle to untangle, and lucky for her, I'm great at those. I'm tenacious as fuck, and something inside of me is screaming ‘mine'.

"Since we're leaving the scene of a crime because we're assholes like that, we wouldn't be above kidnapping too, right?" I ask hopefully as we stride quickly across the parking lot.

I'm not ready to let her go back to whatever life she was leading before she found her way here.

Tommy gives me a sidelong glance as he opens up his truck, allowing me to get into the back seat with the troublemaking omega in my arms. My boss is quiet as he closes the door behind me and gets in the front seat.

"I'd prefer the phrase mafia ward," he says with a snort, knowing how ridiculous that is when I snicker. "Fuck, yeah, I guess we're kidnapping the girl. Screw it. I don't want the person who tried to kill her trying again. She's officially under our protection and house arrest."

Quickly whooping to the self-suffering sigh of my boss, I get comfortable in the vehicle as Tommy starts it up. Sighing, he rubs at his tawny beard as he stares down at the steering wheel, his once perfectly groomed man bun now coming apart from the tussle with the dumpster.

"There's something about this girl," he mutters as he shifts the truck into drive. "Am I fucking crazy here?"

"Nope," I say, looking down at the chick in my arms. Tommy is still shirtless since he gave it to her to cover her up, his bright tattoos in stark contrast to his tan skin. "I feel it too, which confuses me even more. There's too much we don't know about her. It's smarter if we just keep her."

Beginning to drive, Tommy meets my gaze in the mirror as if he's fighting his own instincts before he nods.

"Well, if it's the smart thing to do, I guess we just gained ourselves an omega. No one has ever accused me of being dumb, after all. We'll figure shit out as we go," he says with a calculating smile as his eyes move back to the road.

My fingers trace over the bruises on the girl's skin as I swallow hard, and I realize I may be making a lot of dumb decisions and calling them the smarter choice for her.

I don't fucking care though.