39. Erin

Chapter thirty-nine

Erin

“How far are you going to go, Erin? What are you prepared to do?”

The questions keep replaying in my head, over and over. Delilah stares up at me through the water. I don’t see her.

I see Locke, frantic against the bedroom wall. I see him crying and begging me to save him. Locke throwing himself over a bridge and into icy water.

My patience wears thin as I wait until there’s no chance she can come back. Until it’s just me in the dark with a corpse.

“Now, you’ll never hurt him again,” I say to her. “He was never yours. He was always mine, and no one hurts what’s mine.”

I turn towards town.

While we searched, I’d put a few things together in my head. A couple of vital clues that I’d missed. My blood simmers with such a deep rage that I’ve gone cold.

My feet are freezing, and the bottom of my dress is muddy and wet, but I don’t let it stop me.

I make it back to town and head for the hotel. I slip inside and immediately get grabbed by Alma and Eustice.

“Oh, it’s just terrible, terrible. You’ll want to see him. He’s in room 12. Just head up there, now.”

“Give those poor boys big kisses from us.”

“I need something else first,” I say and try to put some warmth in my voice.

“Oh, what do you need?”

“I need to see the sign-in book for the hotel.”

Alma frowns and exchanges a look with Eustice.

The younger woman walks around the desk, grabs a big, thick book, and puts it in front of me. I open it and start from the back.

I flip through the pages, dismissing names until I find the one that stands out in that it’s perfectly ordinary in every single way.

Room 9. Paige Wiles.

“Thank you, ladies. Can you keep everyone down here?”

Alma reaches out and squeezes my hand. “Do what you have to do, Alpha. Twin Rivers looks after its own.”

“Thank you,” I say softly and walk up the stairs.

On the first floor, I get off, passing room twelve, where my unconscious omega lays.

Wait, Alma said they?

Anxiety spikes, but I slow my thoughts, focusing instead on room 9.

What’s behind door 9?

Nothing that belongs in this town.

I stop and bang on it.

There’s a rush, and then the door opens just a little bit. I shove it hard and suddenly, barging my way into the room. It’s small with floral wallpaper and two double beds in a dimly lit room.

“Why, hello,” I purr in pure spite and vitriol.

The man stumbles back, cursing, but when he sees me, his face goes white. Wiley Franks is not a good-looking guy. But he’s got a nice body, or so the magazines claim. To me, he looks haggard and washed up.

The omega sits on the bed, her scent so deadened I can’t figure out what it is. Her blond hair curtains her face, and I wonder if she knows what she’s done. The other is a beta, and she’s shivering, her eyes huge as she stares at me in horror. Her brown hair is curly ringlets. She’s cute, or she would be if she wasn’t terrified.

“I’m going to ask some questions, and you, Pack Derision, are going to answer them.”

They all flinch.

“It’s Pack May,” the omega, Paige, says sadly. “We’re Pack May.”

I growl. “I keep asking myself the same thing. What am I prepared to do to protect my omega? To protect my pack? And I think anything. So in a way, I can empathize with how you ended up in this decision.”

The alpha looks up, his grief-filled eyes hopeful.

“But I can’t ever forgive you. People hurt him, and you let that happen. You took advantage, and you protected yourselves over him. You are my enemy,” I snarl. “Why did you come here?”

“She didn’t give us a choice,” Wiley says bitterly. “We do as she says.”

“Why?” I almost shout. “What could she possibly have over you that would stop you from behaving like a decent person?”

“She drugged us, forced bonds on us, and found out enough about us to have us over a barrel. Emma would have ended up in prison.”

I’m not impressed.

“I’d have done anything to protect Paige and Emma,” Wiley says. “Locke was strong. He could take it.”

I step forward and slap him as hard as I can. He flies backwards and hits the floor. “Derision is done. This is over-”

“But what about Delilah?” I shove the beta, and she trips over the alpha and falls to the floor.

“You don’t speak unless I tell you that you can! She’s not an issue anymore. But the three of you still are.”

“No, we’re Locke’s-”

“You’re his nothing!” I snarl. “You will pack your bags and leave. Now. Tonight. You’re not welcome in this town. You’re not welcome anywhere near him.”

The omega starts to cry. “We’re sorry.”

“I don’t care how sorry you are. I am the alpha of Pack Bradley. Locke is under my care, for now and forever. Leave. Stay away from him. Or I will show you how far I’m prepared to go. Your days of spying and hurting people in this town are over, and this is your one and only chance. If you come back, if you appear in headlines saying anything about Locke, if you go to the police or the media, I will take every ounce of suffering you caused every person in this town, and then I will end your lives.”

The three of them huddle together.

“Consider this your last chance. Now, get the fuck out of my town.”

I turn on my heel and walk downstairs.

“Your guests from room 9 have half an hour to leave. If they aren’t gone, come get me, and I’ll take care of it.”

Doctor James, Alma, Eustice, Willie, and Holly exchange looks.

“That won’t be necessary, Alpha. We’ll take care of it.”

I study their kind and determined faces before I focus on the doctor.

“How is Locke?”

“Locke is exhausted and hypothermic. He needs to be monitored carefully. I would have taken him to a hospital, but the roads are flooded.”

“Wouldn’t that be more dangerous, to keep him here, I mean? What if he gets worse?”

“I think being separated from his pack would be more dangerous, but we’ll monitor it. Hour by hour, if something happens, or it gets worse, I’ll call a helicopter.”

James takes his glasses off and sighs.

“That’s not all.”

I turn to face him full on. “Finn collapsed as well.”

I freeze. “Finn?”

“Yes.”

I rush up the stairs and burst through the hotel room door until I can see it for myself. On a double bed, made of two single beds pushed together, I can just make out the pale faces of Locke and Finn laying side by side.

Shane gets up when he sees me. “Erin?”

I rush into his arms.

He hisses. “You’re freezing.”

I shake my head, and then Bray is hugging me from behind.

“Did you take care of it?”

“I did.”

“Good. Go get in the shower, and when you’re dressed and warm, we can sit out here and talk about what we want to do.”

I grip his arm. “Bray, I need you to go do something for me.”

“Whatever you need, Erin.”

I lean in and whisper into his ear. When I pull back, he nods and runs to the window, slipping out.

Shane starts peeling my dress off me. “In the shower, Erin. Your omega and beta need you.”

“You did real good, Bray,” Shane says really quietly when it’s just the three of us. I sip the cocoa Alma brought up and try to smother a yawn. “When I heard you dove off that bridge, I thought my heart might burst. When I think I might have lost you both…”

Brayson looks down at his mug, his expression so deeply distraught that it hurts me. I wish I could take his pain away.

“I couldn’t get there in time,” Bray whispers. “I tried, I tried so hard.”

“You got there. You tried. It’s okay, he’s going to be okay,” I say over and over.

Shane gets up and kneels beside Bray, stroking his thigh.

“You were amazing, Bray. I’ve never seen anything so frightening and brave as seeing you throw yourself head first over that bridge,” I say. “Fuck, I thought I’d lost you both.”

I reach across, lacing my fingers in Bray’s and wiping tears from my eyes with the other.

“Thought we were all over,” Bray says with a pained groan.

“I’m still here,” I whisper. “He’s alive.”

Bray smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. I don’t think anything will make us happy right now.

“Who is going to try to sleep?” Shane asks. “We’re going to have to do shifts.”

I nod and reluctantly step back from him. “I won’t be able to sleep.”

Shane ends up crawling into bed beside Locke. While Bray sits beside me, our hands clinging to each other.

I check the time.

Almost.

I point out the car windscreen and watch as Bray silently pulls over. No one saw us leave, and no one will see us return. Shane is awake watching over Finn and Locke. But this needs to be done.

For Locke.

We get out and walk towards the car, shoulder to shoulder. When I asked Bray to do this for me, to cause an accident no one could trace and to put a tracker on the car, I knew it was a lot. However, when I explained that Delilah wanted Locke alive and it made no sense, Bray had listened intently, his eyes turning stormy. A fire at his mansion, an accidental overdose, an accident on stage, more and more stories that Locke spilled that made my eye twitch and all of it pointing at three people. Who had access, who had motive, who had means. Who thought they were going to get away with it. It’s amazing what clarity you can get from a walk in the cold while you’re desperately searching for everything that gives your life meaning. How far would I go?

This far.

The car is a mangled wreck and is lying on its roof. I can smell petrol so strongly that I can’t smell anything else. It’s close to 3am, and the night is bitterly cold and silent.

I crouch down and look in the car.

Bray does the same from the other side.

“You tried to murder my omega,” Bray growls.

“No!” Wiley shouts, his eyes widening in real terror. “Please-”

“Stage lights. The overdose. The fire at his mansion.”

Paige the omega howls, she’s got blood running down the side of her head. “He ruined everything. He’s selfish, he ruined it all.”

“Paige!” Wiley shouts in despair. “Shut up!”

“No! I’m done. I’m so done. She’s our scent match, and she was so focused on him and others. If we could just get him out of the way, then maybe-”

“Maybe you could have her to yourself? She’d see the errors of her ways? That rapist, piece of shit was going to suddenly see the light? Really?” I ask in a croon that makes Wiley shudder.

Paige starts to cry. “We need help.”

“You hurt the people in this town, my family,” Bray growls.

“No! Stop! Please!”

Bray rubs his chin. “My omega almost died.”

“PLEASE!” Wiley screams.

“I told you. I warned you,” I say coldly.

“You said we had a second chance!” Wiley shouts.

Bray looks at me and smiles. “She lied.”

He lights a match and looks back at the pack who tried to destroy Locke. In the firelight, I see his savage satisfaction, and it mirrors my own. “No one hurts our omega.”

I step back, watching him as he flicks the match at the car.

He wanders back to my side and takes my hand. “What a tragic accident.”

“Yes. So sad they died too young.”

I turn in his arms. “Let's go and look after our pack.”

Bray kisses my forehead. “I love you, Erin.”

I grab his palm, kiss his hand, and tug him back to the car.

“Love you, too. Let's go home.”

Through the night, we doze off and on. Locke doesn’t wake, but at some point, Finn does. I carefully help him sit up and give him hot honey water to drink. Doctor James comes in and checks him and makes a sound of approval before slipping out again.

Finn looks at me in exhaustion and cups my cheek.

“I’m sorry for everything. All these years. Tell Bray and Shane. I should have come and looked for you.”

His incoherence alarms me more than anything else.

“Shh, Finn, it’s fine. You need to sleep.”

He coughs and then shivers, lays back down, and falls into a deep sleep.

By morning, they’re both coughing. Giant hacking, wet sounds that get more and more frequent.

By midday, they’re feverish, and the fight to keep them alive really begins.

We stay up, changing bedding, pouring medicines and fluids into them when they wake, and bathing their heads with cool clothes.

Seven days after that horrible night, Finn opens his eyes, coherent and present at last. He’s weak, but Doctor James says he’s past the danger zone.

I spoon feed him a cup of soup before he passes out in exhaustion. But when I look at Bray, he smiles. It’s a small bone of hope.

Finn’s okay. Now, we’re waiting for Locke.

I’d wait forever…but I hope it’s not too long.