Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

MORRIS

I f Damon was Kane, I’d squeeze his shoulder or offer some comfort, but I don't have much of a rapport with him. Damon, or Demon, as his brother calls him, is closed off and cold. His violent emotional outbursts with the little omega are the closest I’ve ever seen him come to normal behavior.

Turning instead to follow Jed, I reflect on how he once told me that it’s his fault Damon is unattached and a darker form of insane than Kane. While Damon will dispassionately kill someone because it’s his job, Kane would rather scare and torture them.

There’s a wildness in Kane that Damon doesn’t have. I often have trouble meeting the youngest brother’s gaze, because of how dead his green eyes are. It’s uncomfortable to fall into the bottomless pit of them, even though I know he has no ill will toward me. He tolerates my ass, but that’s all.

“Why are you following me?” Jed growls, grabbing a coat as he steps out into the cold. The surly alpha wants privacy, but that’s too damn bad.

I want to know what’s said when he calls his father, because there’s no one else he’d be calling. He doesn’t get to hide from me. I don’t bother grabbing a heavier coat, since I’m wearing a sweatshirt, staying close as I catch the side door he lets close after himself.

He’s lucky I love his surly ass. Jed can and has shown me the worst parts of himself, it doesn’t change that I still come back for more.

“You know why,” I say instead to his question as I push the door open to fit my lanky six-foot-three frame. “Stop being a brat and sulking. You can’t deny that they’re connected.”

“I know,” he snarls, throwing his arms up in frustration. Realizing he hasn’t put the stupid coat on, he shoves his arms through the sleeves, yanking on it so it sits correctly. “How am I supposed to fix this, though? I don’t want to lose my brother, and I would be more than willing to throw the little omega to the wolves if I could get away with it.”

Huffing a sound of annoyance, I shut the door more firmly behind myself to ensure the sound of our voices doesn’t travel.

“Wouldn’t that be great, but it would drive him over the edge,” I grunt, walking closer to Jed. “Find a way around killing or making him lose what little mind he has left, Jed.”

“Those are such great choices,” he grumbles. “Dad will kill us if we go against him. Or, we’ll be running for our entire lives. It’s all fucked.”

“You could take her to the auction and steal her back, or even find a way to make it seem as if someone else is bidding for her,” I suggest. “Doesn’t Ophelia allow people to call in for bids?”

“Only for special occasions, and there’s a fee, not that the money is an issue,” he says. His father pays us a lot of money for our jobs, not to mention, we take side pay as well when Rock doesn’t have anything for us. “We can’t be anywhere near this for Ophelia to allow us to buy Adira.”

“Who hates us enough to be believable?” I ask, leading.

I don’t really know the answer to this, though there’s a fair amount of people who hate us due to our allegiance to Rock. I’ll leave the politics of this to Jed.

“I see what you’re saying,” he says softly. “It may work.” Pulling out his phone, he inclines it toward me. “I’m calling him now.”

Knowing he expects me to be quiet, I nod, shoving my hands into my sweatshirt for warmth. The snow continues to fall heavily all around us, refusing to let up even days later. We’re stuck here for longer than we expected, even if Damon hadn’t shot Adira. The brief respite we’d had earlier is gone now.

I can’t see for shit, and I won’t drive in this.

Jed puts the call on speaker as he calls Rock, struggling to stay still as the long rings drone on shrilly.

“ You’re late. What’s wrong?” Rock asks, his voice sounding like thick gravel.

“The omega slut ran, and managed to get herself shot,” Jed reports, not giving any other details. “She’s alive and stable, but can’t travel yet. She also managed to go into heat, which explains the days we’ve been tied up waiting for it to break. We found a house and threw her into the basement to figure her shit out.”

The line is dangerously quiet as our boss, Jed’s father, processes that. “ Did you get your dicks wet while there was a writhing omega in the basement? ” he asks, making the hair stand up on my arms and back of my neck.

I won’t posture and act as if this man isn’t fucking scary. He has a reputation that he’s earned for a reason, and three damaged sons due to his special brand of parenting to boot.

“Absolutely not,” Jed lies evenly. “I’m working, and we aren’t complete animals. We can control ourselves, even Kane. Her mind is intact enough to be sold. Her body, however, needs time. She’ll be able to travel soon.”

“ Where was she shot? ” Rock asks, sounding slightly calmer.

“She ran from us, so I did what was necessary and shot her in the back to stop her,” Jed states.

One thing about Jed is that he is very protective of his brothers and will often throw himself into the fire for them. There are many scars and wounds that tell the tale of that bravery and idiocy along the tapestry of his skin. Fucking stubborn alpha.

This is why he’s pushing for the safest option here, and while I understand that, it’s not the one that makes the most long term sense.

“ This isn’t something I was hoping to hear, ” Rock sighs. I can only imagine what he must be thinking right now. “ Will she live? I don’t much care about scars, but the buyers may. ”

“I did the sutures myself, Dad,” Jed states. “They’re neat and small. She’ll have a tiny scar at best that her hair will cover.”

“ Good. I know your sutures are good, because you’ve had plenty of practice, boy, ” Rock says, almost sounding proud.

The reason Jed has so much practice is because when he was seventeen, Rock forced him to spend six months with the family’s doctor, who also moonlights as a surgeon at the hospital. You’d think it would be the other way around, but Dr. Tavares is paid better by Rock than the hospital. Jed was his shadow, and watched tons of surgeries both in and out of the hospital. On his downtime, Dr. Tavares had him practicing on silicone suture pads for its lifelike material.

Jed taught me so I could help him once I joined the pack, but his sutures are still better.

“Yes, sir. Can the auction date be postponed while we get her fixed up?” Jed asks. “It doesn’t help if she’s unable to stand when you show her off.”

“ You’re right, ” Rock grunts. “ It gives me time for a theatrical buildup. I can continue to plan out my revenge on her father this way. While I dislike waiting, I have to admit this isn’t the worst thing possible. ”

Pressing my lips together, I hold back every thought in my mind that’s racing through it. He can’t continue punishing a dead man, and Adira isn’t her father.

There’s an innocence inside of her that wasn’t present in Jeremiah Firestone, especially while we tortured him. There is just as much blood on my hands for his murder as there is the Dresmond brothers. I won’t deny Adira is fierce, the way she managed to get out of the knots in the ropes that Damon tied her in was impressive.

I also can still smell the way Kane exploded when he came while the little omega strangled him. There’s nothing more magnificent than when my wild eyed, red-headed alpha uses violence to fulfill one of his kinks. There isn’t anyone else like him.

“Is there anything else you need from me in the meantime?” Jed asks. He’s opening and closing his fist to handle the stress of dealing with his father, all while keeping his voice even and unbothered.

It doesn’t always work, but if Rock believes his oldest has everything under control, he’ll let Jed handle it as he sees best. For now. My boss’ moods are mercurial.

“ Is the omega sedated? ” Rock asks, making me pull one of my locs forward to rub the end between my fingers. The feeling of it on my skin helps ground myself as I focus on his words.

I don’t like his question.

“Yes, for now,” Jed murmurs. “I had to give her medication for her pain. A completely broken and wild omega won’t sell well if it’s too obvious, Dad.”

“ Too true, too true, ” Rock drawls. “ Keep her knocked out once you wean her off the pain meds, she’ll be easier to transport. How bad are the roads where you are? ”

“The snow is coming down hard here, Dad,” Jed explains. “Even without her recovering from surgery, it looks as if we’ll be snowed in.”

“ Well fuck, ” Rock sighs. “ I’ll tell Ophelia to reschedule for three weeks from today. The roads should clear, the omega should be recovered enough to give the buyers a show, and she can wrestle up an audience with deep pockets. ”

A show… My blood runs cold at what that’ll entail. It’s not that I hadn’t already thought he’d do something like this to teach Adira how powerless she is in the grand scheme of things, but the idea of people brutally fucking her for shits and giggles makes my chest cramp.

Zela’s face appears in my mind, the knowledge of how disappointed she’d be with me crippling. I also haven’t fucked a woman since before I packed up with the brothers. I wasn’t planning to join Adira’s heat, though that didn’t stop me from getting pulled into her orbit once I had the guys’ agreement that I should participate.

The truth is that I catch feelings easily. Jed and Kane don’t have any issues messing around with other betas if it’s called for. I don’t get jealous, because I know how important my place is in their lives and the pack. My mind is firmly on this little omega’s life, my words a lifeline to keep her from being another notch of ruination on Rock’s belt.

I’ve done a lot of fucked up things for the boss, but I can’t get behind this one.

Forcing myself to pay attention to Rock and Jed’s conversation, I drop my hands to my sides to keep myself from fidgeting.

“… of course,” Jed says in mid-sentence. “She’ll be drugged, calm, and ready to be fucked for the pleasure of the masses, Dad. I don’t know how much fun she’ll be if she’s passed out though.”

White hot anger fills my veins at how nonchalant he is, but I pull air silently through my nostrils as I listen to him. Most of it is an act, though to Jed, the omega is the pack’s enemy. She threatens the safety of his brothers and myself.

Rock hasn’t punished us in at least a year, and even that was due to a minor fuck up that wasn’t our fault. Our boss doesn’t care who pays for shit that goes wrong, as long as someone does. This is why he blew up Adira’s family home and everything that could have been used to pay her father’s debt.

He wants the debt paid in sorrow, blood, and tears. Nothing else will do.

“ Ophelia has ways of making naughty omegas do what they’re told, ” Rock rumbles, chuckling under his breath. The sound reminds me of the devil sharing a joke only he understands. “ Don’t worry about the details there, I’ve got it covered. Simply deliver the package to Jefferson City Auction House on January nineteenth. You can choose to stay and watch, or leave to celebrate another job well done. ”

Rock hangs up without another word and I gag, feeling the urge to retch.

“Woah, breathe,” Jed says, shoving his phone away and grabbing my shoulders.

“Can’t,” I rasp, shaking my head. “He can’t do… that. Jed, no.”

Turning my head, I choke on bile, not having eaten much over the last few days. Spitting it out, I continue to shake my head.

“Do you realize what he’s proposing?” I ask, heart pounding as I gasp in a breath. Fuck, I hate puking. My throat is on fire from the acid of the bile, making me cough.

“Yeah,” he mutters. “Ophelia has some sort of forced arousal drug. It’s been a long standing rumor, but Dad just confirmed it.”

“Are you seriously going to let this happen?” I ask, wide eyed with horror. “Even if this omega was no one, would you?—”

“I would,” he grunts. “However, you told me yourself that she’s not simply ‘no one’ anymore. There are a lot of people I would sacrifice for my pack. It’s possible I still would if the omega and Damon hadn’t bonded. As it is, with how deep the little rabbit is burrowed in his psyche, I’m going to have to reevaluate. Understand, though, Adira will still need to be given to Ophelia.”

“The show will go on,” I mutter, shuddering. We may not be able to stop this, but just maybe… An idea begins to form, and I struggle to hold onto it. Everything about this is horrifying. “Would she take me as a beta to help her manage Adira?”

“What?” Jed asks, brows drawn in concern. “You want to infiltrate her guards?”

“Yeah,” I grunt. “Find a way for me to be able to be with her at all times. I don’t know if it’ll help?—”

“Fuck, you like her,” Jed groans. “Everything is going to shit, Morris. Kane is two steps away from throwing himself at the little omega. What the fuck is so special about her anyway?”

Stepping away from me, he runs his fingers through his dark curls, making them even more unruly.

“When an omega is scent matched to an alpha, there’s a high probability that she’ll bond quickly with the other pack members. Even if she isn’t a match with the others,” I tell him. “Omega 101 has been drilled into my brain, even if I don’t understand all of the specifics until my sister hits me over the head with them.”

“Your sister,” Jed sighs. “I know you deal with a lot of bullshit with her because of us.”

“You’re stuck with me,” I say, shrugging. My mouth tastes like ass, and I grimace. I need a toothbrush and paste immediately. Maybe some mouthwash for good measure. “Are we going to tell them?”

“No,” Jed says, the concern on his face transforming to grim determination. “We won’t tell Adira either. The plan still stands. I have some calls to make. I have an idea of who hates omega auctions with every fiber of their beings. They may be willing to act in our stead as buyers. I’ll find a way for you to join Ophelia’s team as well, explain it’s a favor to my father.”

“If she says something to him, how will you cover yourself?” I ask. As strongly as I feel, I still feel pulled to keep him safe. No matter what, there are many ways this could blow up in our faces.

“I’ll tell him I wanted a full report of her humiliation and abuse,” Jed says flatly. “Dad will believe that.”

“Yeah, he will,” I sigh. “Fuck, this just went from bad to worse in the blink of an eye.”

“It always does,” Jed reminds me, moving around me to open the door. “Go clean up and maybe catch some shut eye now that we aren’t going to be leaving anytime soon. I’ll keep an eye on the patient.”

Shaking my head, I follow him in, my mind filled with doubts and concern. This isn’t going to be any easier today than it will be in a few weeks when we drop her off at the auction house. It’ll be worse being around her, even if we keep her sedated for a lot of it.

However, the proper care and feeding of an omega tells me she’ll have to eat, use the restroom, things that will mean she has to be pulled out of sedation. It isn’t as easy as Rock is making it out to seem to his oldest son.

Fucking hell.

KANE

I’m sitting on the ground next to the little rabbit when my brother stomps back into the room. Morris doesn’t glance into the living room as he continues toward the stairs to climb them. Noting the odd behavior objectively, I decide I’m going to corner and interrogate Morris when I can get him alone later.

Not a lot happens without my finding out, and Jed is acting cagey as hell.

Lazily, I prop my foot up on the ottoman while extending the other past it. My boots are by the wall, taken off when I knew we were staying put. I’m near Adira’s stomach, clear of the tubing for the infusion or her arm propped up by the chair. Leaning my head back until it’s propped on the softness of her body, I make myself look as lazy as possible, the power of my body hidden.

Jed looks at me unimpressed as he strides to the freezer to pull out a pork shoulder.

“Cut the shit, Kane. You are not a lazy house cat in any sense of the imagination,” he sighs.

I still watch with my eyes at half mast as he begins to pull together a meal. It’s well into the afternoon at this point, and my stomach is beginning to complain after three days of fucking and rutting my little rabbit.

“Where’s Damon?” Jed asks disinterestedly, but I know he’s listening to every creak in the house to find him.

He left the living room once I got comfortable on the ground next to Adira. I know he wanted to be where I am, but I’m an asshole. I won’t mince words, I enjoy pushing my brothers to the edge of their patience and then shoving them off the cliff. Especially Demon.

Except, I watched him go downstairs to the makeshift nest we made for her, though for what purpose is beyond me.

“Don’t know,” I grunt, turning my face to bury my nose against the little rabbit’s upper thigh. Demon’s shirt is riding up now that she’s turned onto her side unconsciously, perfect for catching her scent instead of his. Just because she’s drugged and unaware, doesn’t mean she’s comatose and unable to move.

Adira smells like crack that’s been specially made for the Dresmond brothers. I fucking need more.

“She’s unconscious, brother, really?” Jed asks exasperated as he turns the slow cooker on. Without realizing it, I’ve been purring this entire time.

Huh. I didn’t know I was capable of the noise. I can feel Adira relaxing as I do it though, the underlying tension bleeding away. I like the power it gives me, and want to do it again. Especially since I know it’ll piss off Jed.

It probably would surprise people that my older brother is our caretaker. He’s taught us anything worth learning. We all know how to cook, keep house, and cleanly skin a human from their toes up while they’re alive. It’s amazing what kind of answers you can get if you’re careful, and how little matters when you’re not.

Torture is a balancing act of pain and suffering. Those are just a few of our life lessons.

“She smells good,” I mutter. In a way, it reminds me that she’s still here. Demon didn’t kill her when he tripped and accidentally shot her. Fuck, the way my black heart stopped.

I honestly don’t think it’s completely restarted. It feels… odd. Almost as if I give a shit.

“Stop being creepy. Food will be ready in a few hours. Do you want to see if I can scrounge up deli meat for a sandwich? I haven’t fully investigated what’s available yet.”

“Is any of it still good with Morris’ sister being gone?” I ask. I’m killing time before Jed decides to hit me with information I’m not ready to hear.

“They had housekeepers come in to clean. There’s a lot of shit in the freezer, let me look,” Jed mutters, opening it. After a few seconds, he pulls out bread, cheese, and deli meat. “It won’t be fancy, but it’ll be something.”

Nodding, I watch as he opens and defrosts the food. Either Zela or the housekeeper froze it individually, so that they could be used and nothing spoiled. It feels like something a mother would do. Not that I know, Jed and I practically raised ourselves.

“Now, mind telling me why you’re acting more unhinged than usual?” Jed asks as I gaze at him with dead eyes.

Bleeding our gaze of all warmth is a talent we all have. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have any effect on him.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I mutter. “Can we keep her?”

“She’s not a pet,” Jed growls.

“No, she’s a person, and you’re planning on dropping her at the auction house to be sold as if she’s not,” I say mildly, boxing him in using his own logic. “Where did Morris go?”

Maybe he’ll trip himself up at some point if I continue to serve him up questions like a tennis match. Not that I watch that shit, but that’s what this reminds me of.

“He’s taking a nap upstairs,” Jed murmurs, unfazed. “We need him for the drive when we are ready to get out of here, so he needs the rest. I’ll ask again, where is our brother?”

The bread Jed put in the toaster pops up, and he pulls mayonnaise out of the fridge, making sure to check the expiration date. Nodding, he retrieves the bread, putting it onto a plate, and constructs a quick sandwich. Even without lettuce and tomato, it’ll taste delicious, because it’s the first thing I’m eating in days.

We were woefully unprepared for a heat. Demon and I still don’t know what to do with the little rabbit, and now he’s bonded to her. Fuck, a little green-eyed monster perks up within me, taunting me, reminding me that she’s not truly mine.

Shut up. I often fight with myself. There’s nothing to see here. I won’t be jealous of my baby brother. There are too few things that are truly his in this world, thanks to our father and this life.

“He left the living room shortly after I came to sit with the little rabbit,” I tell him. “What are you hiding from us? You could have taken a call with our father in the kitchen.”

“I needed to collect my thoughts,” he says, walking over to give me my sandwich.

“Thank you,” I murmur, taking a big bite and moaning happily.

“Please don’t come in your pants again,” Jed says, lips twitching in amusement as he moves back to the kitchen and begins to clean up. He seems unmoved by my pestering questions, and it’s annoying.

I need to get under his skin.

“That was one time,” I complain, covering my mouth as I chew. “Okay, maybe more than that.”

Jed barks out a laugh, and I notice that he didn’t make himself a sandwich.

“You’re not eating?” I ask after I swallow.

“Nah,” he says. “I see a few protein bars. I’ll eat one of those and wait for the pulled pork to be ready. There’s a timer set to tell me when it’s done. I also found frozen hamburger buns. We’re going to be here for a while, so I need to do a full inventory later. The snow is still coming down pretty hard.”

Watching him as he finds the protein bar in the pantry and rips it open, I get the feeling that he’s filling his pie hole to keep from telling me anything. Eyes slitting, I push again as we both eat.

“You didn’t answer my question,” I remind him. “I’m waiting.”

“You can keep waiting,” Jed says with a shrug. Insufferable prick. “Dad wants the omega at the auction house, so that’s what’s happening. We’ll get her upright and a bit more healed, head down to the second safe house closer to Minnesota, and dump her ass on Ophelia’s doorstep, because that’s what we’re being told to do. It's really that simple.”

Jed inhales his bar in two bites, while I eat at a more leisurely pace. I don’t plan to save him if he chokes. I’ll let him struggle for a while until he gets someone else’s attention. Besides, it’s just a protein bar. He’ll live. Being related to me can be bad for their health sometimes.

I enjoy pushing the envelope of their sanity.

“What about Demon?” I ask, finishing up my sandwich as he prepares to leave the room. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s headed up to catch some shut eye with Morris.

Fuck, just the thought makes me want to wrap my arms around the little rabbit’s body and use her as my pillow.

“He’ll figure out how to shut down the bond,” Jed states, finding a bottle of water to shotgun. Fuck, I don’t know how he manages to drink chilled water like that.

It makes my throat cramp and constrict in sympathy. I’m by no means a delicate flower, but my older brother is a fucking monster.

“Good luck with that,” I grunt. “I see him slitting his own throat or putting a bullet in his brain in an effort to give them both relief shortly after her sale. As you saw, if one dies, they both will. The bond is too tightly tied. I didn’t even know that was possible. The little rabbit managed to metaphorically knot punch him.”

“I still don’t believe it,” Jed says stubbornly, disposing of the bottle in the recycling bin before leaving me alone with the little rabbit. Fuck, the man is unfuckable with right now.

Blowing out a breath of frustration, I turn to face her and kneel at her side. Somehow, Jed had the foresight to put Demon’s shirt on backward so that his material is open where the buttons lie. The stark white bandage covers the wound, and I touch it gingerly. The darkest part of me wants to sink my fingers into it, prodding until she wakes up.

Shaking my head, I yank my hand away to keep myself from giving in to the intrusive thoughts, and allow myself to enjoy how pretty and peaceful she looks. Her chestnut hair twists and relaxes in waves down her back, her curves perfect enough to wrap myself around. The little rabbit is barely five-foot-two I realize as I gaze down at her.

So delicate and breakable. Is that why Jed wants to shatter her mind and body without a thought? Or is there something going on that I’m unable to see yet?

Shaking my head, I settle back on the floor and use Adira’s thigh as a pillow, allowing her sweet scent to pull me into a dreamless sleep. I never see anything other than darkness when I shut my eyes, and thought everyone was the same until Morris told me once about a dream he had.

Now, I’m both jealous and fascinated by the concept. I hope Adira is having enough good dreams in her drugged state for the both of us. It’s only fair if she’s the only one who can have them.