Chapter Six

Letting my mate off first, I stepped back and shifted back to my human form. We had to get out of here, but there were emergencies I had to take care of first.

I walked over to him with my hands up. The others had told me I could be scary. My height and build made others cower. Not anything I was doing on purpose. "My name is Maverick. I am with the team who rescued you and the others from that mansion—the breeding place."

Recognition sparked in his face. His eyes widened and his eyebrows lifted. My gaze slipped to his mouth. I growled, noticing his split lip. That didn't happen by any accident. "I'm Hutch. I remember the team. We were told we were going to be sent to a safe house." His response came out in soft tones. He was still breathless from the flight. My dragon preened. He'd made his omega breathless.

This beast—I swear.

"I know. I'm sorry. We thought we were sending you somewhere where they would take care of you. There's something going on. We're trying to figure it out."

He nodded. "Thanks for getting me out of there. When I walked out, I was sure that big guy was going to torch me along with the others."

A grunt came from my dragon. "He would never hurt you."

"I'm getting that impression." Hutch's searing stare took in my form from my head to my feet, pausing in all the right places. He blew out a long breath as his scent strengthened, waking up things inside my body I was sure had gone numb a long time ago. A shudder passed through him. Damn it. I needed to take care of him.

"You're cold and hungry, and your lip…"

A blush rose from his neck, branching out to his cheeks. Adorable wolf mate. "My lip?" His fingers brushed across his mouth. When they touched the cut at the side of his bottom lip, he hissed. "Oh, that."

I nodded once and walked over to the driver's side of the car. I reached inside and grabbed my clothes, forgoing the boxers. We needed to move fast. Flee the scene. I pulled on my pants and then my shirt, not missing my mate's eyes focused on me once more. Felt good to have him inspect me, and his scent told my dragon he was more than enjoying the view.

I grabbed the first aid kit and a hoodie. Hutch made no protest as I pulled the large sweatshirt over his head and pulled down the hood. "This is going to sting."

He scoffed. "Everything hurts lately. Do what you need to, Maverick."

"You can call me Mav, if you like," I said, lifting the square gauze already dabbed with rubbing alcohol to his lip, hating that I was about to hurt him. But an infection to the wound would be miles more painful.

He held back any sounds of pain as I cleaned the wound. There was no use applying any antibiotic ointment. His wolf would take care of healing it quickly, hopefully. Plus, he needed to eat.

"I have this for now but we can pick up something more on the way. Did they even feed you?" I asked, my voice raspy from the lingering anger. No, not lingering. Present and powerful.

"Thank you." Hutch accepted the bag of beef jerky from my hand and dug in with gusto.

"Let's get in the car and out of here. I don't know if they alerted anyone." I put the first aid kit back in the trunk and a handgun in the back of my pants, just in case. I took risks with myself but not with my mate.

"What about the others?" he asked. "I can't leave in good conscience without them."

I cocked my head. "What others? There are more in the cabin?"

"No. They are south about ten miles."

"How do you know? Were you there with them?"

He shook his head. "At night, when they thought I was asleep, I listened to them talk. They would get drunk at night and spill all their secrets. The walls are paper thin in that place."

"Do you know how many more?" I pressed, considering how exactly I was going to pull this off.

"I don't. I…I was told that if I messed up, I would be replaced by another. That there were many in line for my job."

I blew out a long breath. I had suspicions about who we worked for and had questioned my individual and our team orders more than I could count, but as events unfolded, I felt like we were accessories to crimes instead of saviors. And being renegades had been the only thing I breathed for before Hutch.

Saving omegas.

Stopping breeding rings.

Taking down villains.

Without those things, who in the fuck was I?

"Okay. We're going to go down there, but you have to do everything I say and nothing but, are we clear? I won't have any more harm come to you. If I think at any point you are unsafe or under threat, I will remove you by force if necessary."

He stiffened at my command, making my dragon and I bristle. We didn't want to scare him any more than we already had, but his safety trumped his fear.

I would see rather him scared of me and safe than happy with me and in danger.

"Ten miles south, right?" I asked again, clarifying.

"Yes. I listened well."

I stepped toward him, my body acting on its own. Drawn to him. "You did well. Get in. Let's see what we're up against."