Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

DAMON

T he omega is feistier than I thought she’d be. As her father’s perfect, pampered princess, I thought she’d roll over and beg for our mercy. Not that we’d give it to her.

There’s something else too that I don’t get…

“She shrugged off your bark,” I say softly to Jed, leaning forward to talk to him in the car. The omega hasn’t said a word since we closed the doors a few minutes ago.

We’re missing my psycho older brother, who is slinking off to wire the house for explosives. No one will ever live here again, we’ll make sure of it.

“It didn’t escape my attention,” Jed mutters, eyes flicking to the rearview mirror, in the direction of the little omega from where he sits in the passenger seat. His shoulders shift as he stretches his neck, a clear sign he’s feeling a bit stressed.

No shit, we have a rogue omega captured, which spells trouble.

“I’ve never heard of an omega who could refuse to obey an alpha bark,” he says, then sighs. “Jeremiah was pretty worried about her before we killed him, but I thought that was typical bullshit behavior. They all beg before they die.”

“They beg for themselves,” our beta and best friend corrects, inclining his head respectfully, his locs slipping over his shoulder. Morris isn’t typically respectful, except on a mission. He runs the optics from the car, ensuring we don’t miss anything.

He’s right though, most of the bastards we kill beg for themselves. Pursing his lips, Jed thinks as we hear the omega whimper. I don’t know why, but the sound makes my brows crinkle in concern.

“Do I need to stuff your mouth with something to shut you up, little omega?” I growl. Jed smirks, and I realize how sexual that sounded. That’s not what I meant, I usually leave the dirty talk to Kane.

Speaking of…

“Incoming,” I grunt as my brother races for the car. Mask missing, wild red hair flying back as he runs full out toward us. His black eyes are sparkling like diamonds as he jumps into the SUV, his strawberry scent reminding me of shortcake.

Damn, he’s going to make me hungry, and I’m not eating the omega.

“She’s gonna blow,” Kane laughs maniacally. “Morris, let’s move!”

Morris stoically throws the car into drive, slamming his foot on the gas, which slams Kane’s still open door, closed behind him. Our little omega yells out questions, but I can’t hear her words over my pounding heart beat and my middle brother’s whooping.

The car is expertly maneuvered as it flies backwards down the driveway. I love the rush of adrenaline as Morris turns the wheel at just the right moment before switching gears to outrun the explosives. It would be perfect except for the burnt snickerdoodle cookie smell in the car.

The four of us are ignoring the pissed off omega, especially as the big car is shaken and picked up off the ground, as the house explodes. A tree branch bounces off the roof of the car, making my lips twitch in amusement. Kane is such a crazy fucker.

“Oh shit,” Jed mutters, though he doesn’t flinch.

“It wasn’t even close enough to be an issue.” Kane shrugs. “I would say I’m sorry about your house, but I’m really not, little omega.”

“I have a name,” Adira screams at him. There’s a hint of tears in her voice, but I can hear the gritting of her teeth.

“Maybe, I don’t feel like using it though. Why do you run so fast, little rabbit? There are so many delicious things I can think of doing to you, when I think about how hard your little legs ran,” Kane purrs.

Crazy fucker. I can think of our chase going differently, the omega running until her lungs were about to burst, and then pouncing and fucking her into the ground, instead of just catching her. Fuck, I bet her pussy would slick, and she’d taste real sweet…

What am I doing?

I never daydream over fucking anyone, and I’ve never been with an omega. Jed and Kane enjoy fucking betas, including Morris.

Our beta sneezes, making me realize that I’m pumping out serious cedar scented alpha pheromones. The omega makes a noise, but I ignore her yet again as I adjust my dick in the middle seat.

Maybe I’m just too close to her, but I swear her scent turns just a little sweeter.

“Cool it over there, little brother,” Kane teases me. “I can see your knot from over here. Do you need to play with the little rabbit to help ease your pain?”

I swear I can feel the shiver behind me. What the fuck is happening? The sooner we get rid of this troublesome omega, the better.

“I wouldn’t touch her with your dick,” I deny, my stomach bottoming out at the lie. I don’t care what anyone thinks of me typically, except for my pack. They’re the only ones who matter.

“Let’s just get to the auction house, so we can drop her off with Ophelia. I’m sure there are things she needs to do with an evil little omega.”

“I’m not evil,” Adira snarls. Glancing over my shoulder at the girl whose wrists are tied to her ankles, I can admit how tiny she looks right now. Vulnerable even.

Should I get her out of the trunk?

“Your father was a piece of shit,” Kane says calmly, pulling out a black matte dagger. Slowly, he begins to flip the handle to tip over and over, faster and faster each time.

This is something he does to burn off steam and energy, so he’s probably running on an adrenaline high. My middle brother is an adrenaline junkie, it’s the only thing that makes him feel alive.

He can pretend otherwise, but doesn’t want to. Kane is one of the most genuine psychopaths you’ll ever meet.

“God, he really was,” Jed pipes up, hiking up a huge black boot on the dash. Morris side eyes him, but doesn’t say a word, because getting your mouth stuffed full of cock by your alpha isn’t conducive to driving. Kane and Jed enjoy dominating our beta, but it’s not my thing.

Again, sex isn’t something I typically enjoy, so why is my cock rock hard? Biology. That’s all. I may not be able to control it, but I can ignore it.

Turning away fully from the omega glaring at me from the floor of the trunk, I ignore the shiver she gives as well. It’s cold as fuck and refusing to warm up any time soon in here, even with the heater on.

Thank god for heated seats throughout the SUV, too bad she won’t be experiencing it.

“Jeremiah never cared about anything except for making money or stealing it,” I agree, refusing to acknowledge the growl behind me. If she wasn’t completely tied up, I’d worry that she’d try to strangle me. “He was not only a criminal, but a liar and a crook to our father.”

I don’t know why I’m giving Adira these small tidbits of information. I’ll look closer at it when I’m on the shooting range, where it’s just me and my thoughts.

My brothers and Morris know me too well, and I don’t want them poking areas of my mind that I don’t fully understand yet. I’m furiously blocking the bond with my oldest brother as well, so he won’t pick up anything. We’re a pack in every way possible, even without an omega.

It’s not something you see often, but we wanted to make certain we’d always be able to communicate with each other.

“I would have a hard time believing any of this, but there’s no way he would allow this to happen unless he was dead,” the little omega says softly.

“Pshh. The coward cried for mercy at the end.” Kane snorts. A part of me doesn’t want to dismantle whatever good memories she had with Jeremiah, while the other wants to throw her into the full light of his mistakes.

“Where are you taking me?” Adira asks so softly I have to strain to listen to her. She sounds as if she’s trying to gulp air right now and I stare resolutely at the back of Jed’s head as if it’s my job.

“Oooh, little omega, do we have a treat for you!” Kane crows. “The Jefferson City Auction House has only the finest omegas for the richest alphas. It's a bit of a drive, so we’ll have lots of time to get to know each other. Daddy dearest owes us a shit ton of money, and it appears you’re his only asset left in the world.”

“You blew up my house, asshole,” Adira screams at him. “How the fuck do you expect a dead man to pay you when you kill him then blow up everything he owned? Except me. No one owns me.”

I can feel darkness and danger, because my pack and I are both. I don’t much care if she hates us for it.

Adira bursts from behind my seat like a demon, my very own namesake. Her hands are untied, but the rope is tightly wrapped in her wrists and hands like a makeshift garrote as she throws her arms around Kane’s throat and pulls.

She's tiny enough that this wouldn’t be an issue, but she also drops her weight as she lifts her feet from the ground, dangling off his neck like a monkey.

Kane grunts as his fingers drop his dagger into his lap, a crazy smile gracing his lips. The entire car smells like warm snickerdoodle cookies, cedar, and strawberries. Jed just smells like burned leather as he turns, eyes wide.

“What the fuck? Kane, stop playing with her,” he barks. “Omega, let go!”

Again, she not only refuses to obey, she puts her feet on the back of the seat and pulls backward.

Kane gurgles, but it sounds like a laugh, making me roll my eyes. Crazy, fucking Adira. She doesn’t understand that this is practically foreplay for my brother.

“The snow is starting to fall, stop fucking around,” Morris warns. Glancing outside, I can see that there’s white quickly falling all around us. There’s a lot of things I’m missing, and I blame the cursed omega trying her best to remove my brother’s head from his shoulders.

By the noises he’s making and how red he is, I think she may just be tickling him. Kane gets off on pain and asphyxiation. I think he may bust a nut soon.

Strawberries and cream are one of my favorite desserts, but not because my brother had an orgasm.

“Adira,” I say, turning to the girl behind me. Mistake, mistake, so many mistakes.

Shiny chestnut hair tumbles down her back. I bet she’d taste like sugar and baked treats.

Midnight-blue eyes are wider than they should be, the pupil appearing to take over most of her eye. There’s panic in her gaze as it flits between my brother and I, as well as something I don't recognize.

Sweat beads at her forehead even though it’s colder than a witch’s tit in the trunk, and her arms tremble from the strain of holding the rope so tightly.

Everything about her is so breakable. The auctions are going to eat her up and spit her back out.

Not my problem.

“Little busy here,” she gasps, struggling to hold onto the rope. Kane never once touches the dagger, but he does palm his giant erection. Crazy fucker.

I can’t say much as I turn, hissing as my cock is introduced to zipper burn. I never bother with boxers, but it’s never been an issue when I’m rarely aroused. The only reason I’m not a virgin is because Dad took me to a whore house when I was eighteen for my birthday.

He stood there as he watched me fuck a beta. Did I want to? No. Jed slipped me a pill that would make me a rutting, fucking machine, and I almost split the beta in half. I hate losing control, so I swore I would never fuck an omega.

It turned me off sex entirely.

Adira looks really tempting though.

“Could you fucking stop her,” Jed sighs. “Kane is starting to turn purple.”

“He’s going to cum first,” I say wryly. “Adira, my brother gets off on pain.”

Caught already, Kane releases his huge cock. There’s a glint of new jewelry around the crown of the tip of his dick, surprising me. I haven’t seen my brother without his pants on in years.

Palming it, he starts to stroke it, the sweet scent of strawberry bursting into the air.

“Too many scents,” Adira wails. “This can’t be happening, just let me go. I’ll never say anything, but I can’t pay you. Everything I have in the world… is gone.”

The last is said as a grunt as she hooks her elbows behind the seat, pulling harder. “Hand off your dick.”

While Kane’s head snaps back against the headrest, his hand continues to tug the piercing and the head of his cock.

“No masturbating while I’m driving,” Morris growls. “It’s not fair.”

Why is this my life?

“Adira,” I say softly. I don’t know anything about omegas, but I need her to stop before Kane comes and then guts her in that order. I don’t expect anything less from my brother. “You need to let go. Nothing good will come of this. How the fuck did you get out of those ropes?”

The scent of copper hits me now, and I see that her wrists are bleeding. I can still smell cookies, but now that I can see the blood, it’s like my senses have come back on line.

Swallowing a sob, she drops her feet to the floor and releases one side of the rope, letting Kane go before scurrying to a corner in the trunk to cower.

Kane takes a choking breath, groaning as he comes hard, aiming for my brother. Jed is used to his antics, so he blocks the stream with a sweatshirt.

Gross.

“Oh, oh fuck yeah. Little omega, you only get to live for a bit longer because you choked me so perfectly. You’re lucky I’m not forcing you to take my knot,” Kane threatens as he shudders.

Strawberries and cream, fucking great.

Luckily, while my brother is a kinky fucker, I don’t believe he’s devolved into rape. Adira’s cunt is safe for another day. She’s still curled on the floor, eyes blown as she takes a deep breath of the scents in the car. She’s shivering, her arms wrapped around her waist as she bites her lip.

“There’s something wrong with your omega, Jed,” I tell him, brow raised. “She’s acting weird.”

Kane breathes deeply, moaning, his cock immediately starting to get hard again. “That’s interesting,” he purrs. “Does my cum get you hot, Adira? We kidnapped you, and all I can smell is your slick, little whore. We all have our own fucked-up family issues, but I believe Daddy’s little angel is thinking about fucking us.”

Intrigued, I turn to look at the little omega who is cowering as Kane tucks away his cock. The way I can smell snickerdoodle cookies with frosting right now makes me wonder if he’s right.

“I’ve never been with an omega before,” I say idly. I know my green eyes look about as interested as if I was about to squish a bug. I don’t have the best emotional responses to things, as they’ve been beaten out of me by Rock Dresmond.

We can only mate with omegas as alphas, but because they have become so difficult to find over the last ten years, my father never found a perfect match with his pack mates.

They are a pack for profit mixed with protection, which is needed when you run such a large arm of the mafia. Not one of them would dare to double cross the other, but there’s no love there. So Rock found an omega from the auction, used her as his breeding whore, and then sent her back after I was born.

Cold? Maybe, but that’s how our world works. I barely understand what love is.

“Leave me alone, oh oh shit,” she gasps, eyes rolling in pain as she throws her head back against the panel of the car.

“I love pain as much as the next person, obviously, but goddamn little omega. We need your brains inside of your skull for a bit longer,” Kane teases darkly. I didn’t think he knew how to tease.

“What the fuck is going on back there?” Jed asks mildly. I swear it feels as if our father is trying to get us back in line on a long car ride. That is, if we were normal.

Rock Dresmond has never been in the car for longer than ten minutes with his children. We always take separate vehicles in case of kidnapping schemes or snipers. The SUV also has bullet proof windows, but the trunk has always been drafty.

Why do I care if the little omega is cold?

“I’m so hot,” she whispers, shivering.

“It’s freezing though in the trunk,” I remind her, misunderstanding. There’s no reason for her to be warm, let alone hot.

“Did she say she was hot?” Morris asks, eyes wide.

“Fuck, this cannot be happening. The universe must hate me,” Jed groans.

“I don’t get it,” I say dully. I stay away from omegas at all costs. I look between my brothers, beta, and the omega, confused. The only reason I agreed to this mission is because saying no to my father is bad for one’s health.

Even if you are his son.

“Little omega, are you spiking?” Jed barks.

“Your bark doesn’t do shit to her,” Kane reminds him helpfully. He twists to stare at the omega as if she’s infinitely more interesting now. Adira writhes as she listens to us, and my heart starts to pound. My cock is fucking pulsing as a fog threatens my vision.

No, I need control.

“Break it down for me as if I’m a two-year-old,” I insist, my eyes never leaving the girl. Fuck, what am I missing? Why does she smell so good?

Her hands are clawed at the pain, twitching at whatever is happening just under her skin. Leaning over in concern, I reach out to touch her skin. It’s burning hot.

“Alpha,” she rasps, her head turning lazily to look at me. I can’t see any whites in her eyes, and all I can smell is snickerdoodle cookies with vanilla frosting. Fuck, I wonder if her pussy would taste the same. “Help.”

“Back away from the omega going into heat before you mount her,” Jed warns. “This really wasn’t what I was expecting to do on Christmas Eve.”

Letting go as if she bit me, I yank my hand back. “She can’t be in heat. Wouldn’t there be warning signs? She’d know beforehand, like a fucking schedule, right?” I yell.

My chest squeezes all of the air out of my lungs, and I wheeze. My ears ring, but somehow all I can smell is fucking snickerdoodle cookies and frosting. How is that possible? I’m so scared of losing control, turning feral, a monster who just wants to dominate and rut.

“Yo, Damon, come back to us, it’s okay! We’ll figure it out,” Jed says, leaning over the seat to get into my face. The pressure in my chest lessens as I see his big body in my view. My vision was starting to get hazy, but I’ll always recognize my big brother. “The girl is nothing. Less than nothing. The snow is getting worse, and we need to find shelter. You better fucking believe I’ll throw her in the basement and let her suffer through her damn heat alone. Who the fuck doesn’t know they’re about to become catnip for alphas?”

“I’ve never had one before,” Adira moans, pitifully.

Jed blows out a breath, yanking off his mask and mine. Gratefully, I manage to take a full breath. I didn’t want to take it off because Jed didn’t want her to see our faces. I guess that idea is fucked after Kane’s glorious masturbation performance.

“Keep breathing, you’re okay. She’s a tiny little omega and less than nothing. You’re in control,” Jed says, pressing his alpha influence through the bonds. It’s very rare that he does this, but I need the help.

My body feels lighter, and I take another deep breath.

“Got it,” I agree.

“Now how the fuck have you never had a heat before, Adira?” Jed roars, turning his attention toward her.

God, we are so fucked.