Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

JED

I ’m staring at the mansion with pretty sparkling Christmas lights. It looks idyllic with the large willow trees that line the driveway, making me feel out of place in my black tactical clothing and mask sitting up on my forehead.

The clothes are lined with weapons of every kind, and my brothers Kane and Damon stand nearby, waiting for instructions.

The house would be a fairytale place if I didn’t know the truth about the man who lives here.

Jeremiah Firestone is a bad man who sells guns for my boss. He also owes him over a hundred thousand dollars for stealing an arms shipment. Jeremiah had a sweet deal as the head arms distributor for Missouri and our territory, and he was really good at it until he fucked it all up.

He squealed like a sweaty pig, instead of a beta, when we tortured the information from him, begging us to leave his precious baby girl alone. It was almost sweet. I could almost imagine that he actually loved someone other than himself. It’s too bad he’s dead now, leaving his pretty little omega daughter alone in the world.

I’m surprised he could love anything with a greed as large as his.

Signaling for my brothers to follow my lead, I lower the mask down my face and begin to creep across the lawn silently. The masks hide our identities completely, and should also scare the pretty, innocent omega inside of the house. Though, I don’t think she could possibly be all that untouched by her father’s evil. She is, after all, his spawn.

There should be guards crawling the property to protect Jeremiah’s most precious asset, but they’re either dead now or have been cut loose with the news of their employer's death in the last few hours.

Mercenaries are usually only as loyal as the money lining their pockets. They can easily be bought, or they turn tail when the money runs dry.

Jeremiah was never a leader, but rather a sniveling boot licking beta. It was a mistake for my father to put any confidence in him. Now I’m cleaning up his mess.

Fucking fantastic.

As I get closer to the house, a dark smile crawls over my face as I see Adira Firestone curled up in the corner of the couch in the living room. She believes she’s safe, that there are people outside protecting her, but she’s dead wrong. The wolves are outside of her home, and we definitely bite.

“I’ll take the back door,” Kane purrs softly under his breath in my ear-com, and I grunt in response. The man has a dirty mind and a dark soul, but as his older brother, I love him anyway. I usually keep my eye on him though, because of his love of explosives.

Since I know he won’t blow us up while inside of the house, we’ll be fine for now. Later? All bets are off.

Kane moves quietly toward the back of the house, and I know that even if there was any security left on the property, they’d be dead men soon enough.

Not much gets around my middle brother or his dagger.

“Do you want me to come in the kitchen window on the side, Jed?” Damon murmurs, staring at the tender morsel inside. I would love to play with her, fuck with her a little, but?—

Wait, there’s no but, I’m the boss here. All my dad said was to make sure she is at the auction in four days. A pretty little omega like her will go for big money, and since he works closely with Ophelia, they’ll simply split the profits 80/20.

Ophelia is a hard, tough omega, but that doesn’t mean she’s willing to tango with my father. She’d much rather take the smaller percentage and live to see another day. Omegas without a pack rarely live to see old age, but Ophelia is smarter than most and has a crack team of security guards that are loyal only to her.

Turning my mind away from the auction organizer, I hum into the com. I don’t purr, but it’s as close as I ever will come. We’re all alphas, and our best friend is a beta, keeping watch and stashing the car until we’re ready to leave.

But for now?

We have a little time to play before the snowstorm is supposed to come in.

“Take the kitchen window, surround her, and see if the princess will run, or show us her throat like a good girl. Either way, let’s get her to scream for us,” I growl.

“Yes, brother,” Damon murmurs, melting into the shadows. Most people call him Demon, because of his love of knives in the torture chamber and his obsession with guns. He’s a crazy, unhinged fucker, and is older than his twenty-four years.

I’m alone now in front of this expansive home, but there are times I prefer it that way. While my brothers infiltrate Adira’s coveted space, I’m going to fuck shit up.

Don't get too comfortable, little girl, we’re coming.

ADIRA

There’s a smash as the door splinters. How is that possible? Dad always told me the house was impenetrable. It sounds like someone is kicking their way in though.

“Hello little omega, we’re coming!” a deep, deranged voice yells. “Daddy’s dead, your protectors are gone, and it’s time to pay.”

“Pay for what?” I yelp, jumping up onto the couch. There’s so much to process from what he said, and my eyes want to tear up at the thought that my dad might be dead. I can’t do that though. I need to figure out what the hell I’m going to do. I need to survive, anything else will keep until later.

Inhaling deeply, I try to parcel out what’s happening. Now isn’t the time to panic, despite the pounding heart beats demanding to burst from my chest, or my racing thoughts. I need to use the resources I have at my disposal.

I spend a lot of time fighting my designation as an omega, beating down my natural instincts, who I am. Everything I know about being an omega is from what I’ve read on chat forums or tutors because my dad didn’t want me to go to school.

He always told me that it was dangerous outside of the house for omegas, but he never bothered to tell me it could be dangerous inside either.

Dammit Dad.

Taking another deep breath, I shudder as I smell a hint of cedar, leather, and strawberries. Alphas. There’s a curl of danger in the scents, and something else that I don’t want to think about.

Something familiar lives inside of the cedar scent, but I push it away. Any other time I would want to roll over and invite them in.

I’m very good at shutting things down and boxing it up. I’m twenty-two years old and haven’t had a heat yet. Dad told me not to worry about it though, so I didn’t.

He insisted that some omegas are late bloomers. I trusted him too much. I thought I could trust someone who raised me, loved me, and cared for me.

The joke’s on me now that I can feel people coming. They’re silent, but their scents are infiltrating my space. A heavy boot isn’t slamming into the door anymore, which means time is up.

Gotta move, or they’ll catch me.

There are wide windows on the side of the house, and when I look outside of them, everything is dark. Same with the front windows. There’s usually security lurking in the shadows, not trying to hide, so I know they’re there. This means I’m royally fucked right now.

Yanking down on the handle, I shove it open, jumping out. The smells of the night fill my lungs as I push the window closed with a snick and then begin to run as if my life depends on it.

Legs pumping, I race toward the back of the property. There’s a small omega-sized hole under the fence that’ll let me crawl out on my belly. I’m not prideful, I’ll do it.

Then there’s so many things I want to do, so I’m never in this position again. I need to learn how to fight, shoot, and then I’ll find a tiny cottage where no one can find me. Yes, exactly in that order.

I fucking hate to run, but I have a treadmill that I was forced to use every day by my dad. He told me that once I ran for an hour, I was allowed to do whatever I wanted. I guess I’ll never have to run again if I don’t want to, if what the alpha said is true.

Trees whip past me as I run. I could be in better shape, but I can’t complain now. There’s too much at stake. Bad men want omegas for bad things, terrifying things. Dad always told me I was safe, but I still read about atrocities on the forums. Sometimes I even woke up in the middle of the night, sweat drenched, the acrid scent of burned cookies filling the air.

Lies. Lies. Lies.

This is what I chant as I race for the heavily wooded area. I can’t hear anything as my legs eat up the terrain. I should hear people chasing me right?

I can’t think about anything else except getting to the back fence, though I wish that I was taller. I’m five-foot-two, a typical size for an omega. We tend to be smaller than betas and alphas, and I’ve often wondered if it’s so that they’ll feel more protective toward us when we mate. This is what I’ve always been told, though it could all be a lie.

There have been less and less people presenting as omegas in the last ten years, so alphas tend to mate as a pack. You’d think that I’d already be dating at least, but my father wouldn’t allow that either.

A branch snaps behind me, and I swallow a scream. Refusing to look, I jump over a log, my feet already moving as I hit the ground.

“Little omega!” a voice I don’t know yells, his words echoing through the woods. It’s a voice that promises dark and depraved things if they catch me. The trees amplify the sound, making goosebumps that have nothing to do with the frigid cold erupt over my skin. The only reason I’m wearing shoes is because I was playing with the idea of taking some hot chocolate outside to the back porch.

It’s going to snow tonight, and I love the first snowfall. Unfortunately, it’s really going to cramp my style now since I’m not wearing enough clothing for this. Leggings, with an oversized comfy sweater, that hits my knees, but not much else.

Fuck my life.

“You run so fast for a little rabbit!” Yet another voice yells with what I could swear is a sultry voice. All I can think of is how sloppy that is, now I know there’s at least three men chasing me. Maybe it doesn’t matter, because I can hear their boots eating up the ground behind me.

I wish I had longer legs.

“Little omega, you have an appointment with the auction house. Give it up! I don’t want to fuck up that pretty face,” the alpha, that I’m pretty sure kicked my door in, roars. He could just command me to stop, but I’m immune to it. My father learned early on that I had to be talked into things. The only reason I ran every day was because he asked me to.

Disappointing my father was my true kryptonite. I guess I don’t have to worry about that anymore. If this alpha is threatening me with the auction house and there aren’t any security guards here, then my father has to be dead.

There’s no way this would be happening otherwise.

Wasting my breath isn’t on my bingo card tonight, and neither is being caught by overbearing alpha thugs. I haven’t seen them, but now that they aren’t cloaking their steps, I can hear every stomp of their heavy boots as they chase me.

Fuck, they’re going to catch me.

I can see the fence and put on a burst of speed, hearing them curse under their breaths.

“Omega, stop!” the one with the deep voice barks, and nope, not a twinge. Completely immune. “What the fuck?”

“Special, little bunny,” Mr. Sultry says, but I don’t think it’s a good thing. Special is bad, I've always been taught. I want to be normal, but I don’t want to be caught, either.

The conundrum is real for me. Blood roars in my ears, insisting that I move faster, run harder.

I’m so focused on my goal, vaguely tracking where the two alphas taunting and yelling at me are, that I don’t hear the third when he launches himself at me, arms wrapping around my waist.

Throwing out my arms, I prepare for my face to meet the ground, but he turns mid-air, so that he lands on his back.

I turn into a hellcat: kicking, screaming, and scratching as soon as the masked alphas stomp up to me. Grabbing dirt, one of them shoves it in my mouth, covering my lips and nose so I can’t breathe.

Struggling now to not pull the dirt down my throat and into my lungs, I kick and try to pull his fingers away from me. He smells like leather and bad decisions, filling every crevice of my senses.

Then I’m out of air and try to inhale anything I can, which is the dirt that was shoved into my mouth. Huffing in laughter, the alpha chuckles as I wretch, twisting and shuddering as much from the dirt burning my lungs as his scent choking me.

“Be a good little omega and stop fighting,” he murmurs. The alpha is huge, with forearms corded with muscles, and I swear I can see every ab muscle in his stomach as his body flexes to control my fighting.

He’s wearing black clothes that remind me of something someone in a black ops show would wear, but I can see the weapons on his belt from here. It’s all a matte black, probably so no one will see him coming from the metal glinting in the light. It’s clear he’s the leader from how everyone follows his orders.

The alpha with the sultry voice moves into place without being bid to, pulling a rope out of one of the many pockets in his pants. “Hello, little bunny, this will be much worse because you fought. It was gonna be bad anyway,” the alpha purrs.

Such a seductive voice doesn’t deserve to be on this lithe monster of a man. He’s a bit thinner than the first alpha, grabbing my arms to begin to tie me up. The alpha underneath me wraps his legs around me to pin me down, and the alpha holding my mouth and nose lets me go as soon as my hands and arms are bound.

The scent of cedar invades my senses as soon as I can breathe, even as I turn my mouth to spit and hack.

Oh shit.

“Gonna be sick,” I rasp. Cedar alpha shoves me to the side. I land on my knees, so that I can puke, then he tumbles me onto my side out of my vomit, so that they can tie my feet to my wrists.

I’m well and truly fucked, and not just because of my predicament.

As the man with the cedar scent stares at me with the mask and dead green eyes, his black hair peeking out of the bottom of the mask, my mind reels. He hums to himself as he works, tightening the knots until I can’t move.

None of these men are tiny, and he’s incredibly well built with broad shoulders, and a snake tattoo proudly showing on his upper arm. The snake moves with every tensing and release of his muscles.

All of these things should have me freaking out, my mouth feeling even more sour and I feel my stomach heave as he hauls me over his shoulder.

“Don’t puke on me,” the alpha growls.

There’s silence as they hustle through the woods, but my thoughts are loud. The alpha with the intoxicating cedar scent and the bottomless eyes is my scent match.

There will be no romance though, I don’t even think he’s realized it, and I don’t want to attract attention to it. I don’t want him to have any power over me as he carts me away to the auction block like an overpriced sow.

Heat starts to grow in my body as he finally dumps me into the back of an SUV that silently pulls into my driveway. They murmur to the driver, ignoring me completely.

My father always told me I was a late bloomer, and as the scents of the traitorous cedar, delicious strawberry, and dangerous leather meld together with the beta’s spicy flavor, I silently curse my body.

I curse my hormones and genetics, because the gig is up.

My first heat is coming like the bitch she is.