Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

Now Playing: Another Life- Motionless in White

Returning from my morning run, I open our apartment door to the sweetest sound. My mental health is much better with my mates back home. I kick my shoes off by the door, uncaring I’m still soaked in sweat, and cross to where they’re talking to Titan in our living room.

They both turn when they hear the door kick shut behind me and I’m reminded why their trip to our hometown was necessary. The stress lines around my sweet alpha mate’s eyes aren’t nearly as prominent now. I pull him against my chest so I can soak in his scent. Callisto tucks himself in against Nexus so I can hold them both.

I’ll stand right here with them in my arms for as long as they’ll let me.

All too soon they’re pulling away. My fists clench as I try to rein in my instinct to pull them back. If they need space I can’t push them when they aren’t ready.

“You stink,” Nexus jokes. He gives me a lopsided smile, relaxing my tense shoulders. I press a quick kiss to both of their lips before jogging into our master bathroom for a shower.

I’m pulling a clean shirt over my head when heart-stopping panic lances through our shared bonds. I rush back into the living room, only to jerk to a stop when I see all three of my mates watching something on the TV. Their faces etched in horror. I follow their line of sight to see a shaky image on the screen. It’s a dark room with a medical table sitting below a single light in the center. Whoever is holding the camera is being dragged toward it. Is this some new reality show they decided to try?

Rage burns in my veins when Grant Montgomery’s voice filters through the speakers. At the same time he speaks, the cameraman is thrown forward. Frail fingers grip the edge of a pew to prevent them from collapsing to the floor.

The image straightens in time for us to watch the Pastor walk into the light to stand before whoever is recording, and then the unthinkable happens. Her voice speaks, the words so full of vitriol it startles me to hear them.

“What the fuck is this?” I ask. My mind can’t seem to comprehend that Omen is the person wearing the camera. Why would she be recording a visit with her father?

None of my mates answer me. They’re so focused on the video they might not have heard me. Cal sits with one hand pressed to his lips, his dual-toned eyes wide. He lets out the most heartbreaking whimper when we hear Montgomery’s hand connect with Omen’s cheek. The sound nearly knocks my legs from beneath me with its intensity.

Growls rip from Titan and Nexus’ chests as we watch Omen’s body crash to the floor. Her father’s hit was strong enough to send her camera skidding across the floor. The screen spins as it slides before coming to a stop facing Omen’s direction.

For the first time since the video stream began, we see her. She doesn’t try to stop the flow of blood from her split lip as she forces herself to her feet. Unflinching despite the obvious pain in her battered body.

It’s at this moment Nexus’ words come back to me. From the day we learned who Omen really is. “She ran from them! Probably for good reason. We all know what happens to omega’s discovered in New Hampshire.”

He was right. Bea and Caleb too–they were all right. I‘ve been so focused on who Omen is related to I never stopped to consider what being an omega in the Montgomery family would have been like. Watching Omen face off against her father’s physical and verbal abuse without even a hint of shock or panic, it is easy to see she’s used to this treatment from him. She expects it.

Shit.

Another hit rocks Omen’s body on the screen as Pastor Montgomery continues his enraged rant. His fist collides with her stomach as he screams, blaming her for trying to ruin his plans to take control of the country and reshape it to his liking. No mention of his God or religion, just pure narcissism from a deranged man who has been given too much power. A man who is unknowingly outing his true nature on national television.

I should be elated. Elizabeth will finally get the justice she deserves after being treated like garbage by this man and his brainwashed son. But as I watch Omen’s body collapse to the floor, another kick from her father sending her skidding toward the camera, I feel nothing but dread.

He pushes her over onto her back, and we get an up-close look at her. She’s pale. The lack of color in her cheeks makes the dark circles around her eyes stand in stark contrast to her skin. Her light green eyes are lifeless. Resigned to the death she thinks is coming.

Flashes of my sister lying in her nest come back to me. Broken and barely clinging to this world. The same despondent look in her eyes, and the same sickly features. The signs of rejection are as obvious in my memories as they are on the screen.

I did this. The very thing I’ve hated her family for doing to my sister. Even without saying the words directly to her. Omen has Rejected Omega Syndrome and I’m the alpha to blame. My choice, my hatred, is killing our omega.

When the Pastor admits to using some mind control drug in Doctor Harrison’s heat and rut inducers, Omen smiles.

She fucking smiles.

“No, sweet girl, please , I promise leaving wasn’t me rejecting you” Nexus begs. His fists are clenched tight in his hair, tugging at the strands as he watches this nightmare playing out on our television screen. “I never should have left you behind. Look what I did to you.”

His bond floods with self-loathing and regret, his eyes glued to where her chest rises and falls with ragged breaths. He falls to his knees, his hands pressed to the floor and tears streaming down his face. “I’m so fucking sorry. Please fight. Get yourself out of there! Please! ”

All three of their bonds are the same. Their souls fracturing as we realize the consequences of our decision to abandon our Fate sent mate.

My sweet alpha mate is falling apart at the seams, his guilt the most powerful. I drop to the floor beside him, wrapping myself around his back and holding him as he sobs. “I shouldn’t have walked away. I shouldn’t have-” His words are swallowed by his pained cries.

I expect him to push me away. To remind me this is all my fault. I’m the one who rejected Omen so harshly. Having our phone company block her number. Demanding she stop using our Fated connection or I’d press charges. The messages–

Fuck. Those messages were brutal. If she saw them... Who am I kidding of course she saw them. I’m a goddamn bastard for saying that shit to her.

The sound of the usual morning news is jarring in the wake of the misery we’ve just witnessed. We all listen, waiting to hear news about our omega, but it never comes.

Once again we are trapped in the limbo of not knowing if Omen is alive. Seeing Nexus stare blankly at the screen, his eyes devoid of any emotion and his body slumped, I’m not sure if my mate can survive in this state for much longer.

Today I’m going to focus on taking care of my mates. Tomorrow I’m going to find out what happened to our girl, then we will start making plans to win her back.

Lex

I fucking told them this wasn’t a good idea. Dromir and the rest of these upper-tier assholes haven’t been watching Omen’s health rapidly decline over the past few weeks. They don’t recognize the resignation in her eyes. I do. And I warned them sending her in to face her father when she can barely climb down the stairs from the safe house loft wouldn’t end the way they hoped.

But they don’t care what I have to say. Omen agreed and that’s what matters to them.

I should have called Donovan the second we got back to New York. There’s no way he would have let her go through with this. Not in the state she’s in. He would’ve put a stop to this ridiculous plan and focused on keeping her alive.

My feet carry me back and forth across the back of the van where Dromir and the video technician are at the front, watching the live stream from the body cam. They’re annoyed with me. Frustrated by my pissy attitude.

They can fuck off. I’m rightfully worried about a situation they’re choosing to ignore.

Omen’s jackass father sends her flying across the floor, and I barely manage to hold myself back from rushing to extract her. He finally admits his real plan, earning a cheer from Dromir.

So lost in celebrating his success he doesn’t see Omen shutting down. I throw the van doors open, ignoring their orders to stop. There is no way in hell I’m letting this omega give up now.

Keeping my steps light, I avoid all of the Pastor’s men posted outside. Dromir’s crew can take care of them. My only concern is getting Omen out of here.

The wooden church doors splinter when my boot connects with the wood below the handles. I step inside, angling my back to the door frame so I can see anyone else who tries to enter through the front doors.

The sight awaiting me inside has my stomach rolling. Doctor Harrison, founder of one of the biggest pharmaceutical brands in the country, has Omen strapped to a surgical table. Her shirt is ripped open and a blood-soaked scalpel is held in his hand. A growl radiates up my chest, startling the doctor enough to make him jump. “Drop it,” I bark.

This asshole fucking laughs.

“Your alpha commands won’t work here, demon.” My attention turns to the Pastor when he speaks. His voice filled with the same egotistical tone he used on Omen.

I can hear his men putting up a fight outside, but I know Dromir’s men will have them covered. I shuffle forward, my gun aimed at the Doctor’s head. One step out of line and I’ll put an end to him before he can harm another hair on her body.

Footsteps pound toward me. I tense until I see Dromir and Maximiliam Porter, the head of the Federal Criminal Detection Agency, jogging toward us. Porter and the FCDA are the ones with the legal power to charge Grant Montgomery and the doctor. They can act within the judicial system in a way the DAU cannot.

“Grant Montgomery put your hands behind your head and step away from the omega,” Porter barks.

I shake my head. “They weren’t lying. They figured out a way to render our barks ineffective.” Porter and Dromir both nod, hard glints in their eyes as they focus on the Pastor.

With the two of them here to watch Montgomery and Harrison, I turn my attention to Omen. My lungs seize when my eyes find her blood-soaked neck. They’ve sliced her skin open at the back of her jaw, right where her scent gland is. The slow, uneven motion of her chest rising and falling is alarming, but what builds panic in my chest is the distant, lifeless look in her eyes.

Something crashes into the largest window, sending shards of glass flying everywhere. Fire explodes against one of the pews, easily igniting the aged wood. The chaos distracts Porter and Dromir long enough the doctor turns and flees into the back of the building.

“Fuck,” Dromir grunts, running after him.

“Go with him,” Porter commands. “I’ve got Montgomery.”

The Pastor starts laughing, drawing our attention back to him. He’s staring down at his daughter with a sinister smile stretched across his face. My eyes flick down to Omen, the air in my lungs seizing when I find her chest unmoving.

Ignoring the order from Porter I dive toward Montgomery. It’s easy to knock him aside when he’s half my size. I climb onto the table with her, my hands interlocked and pressed to her chest. The world around me blurs as I work to keep her heart pumping until one of the EMTs or a doctor arrives to take over.

“Don’t you dare give up, Omen,” I growl between compressions. “I won’t let you break my mate’s heart by leaving her this way. Fight, dammit! For your sister, your niece, your friends. Show those assholes you don’t need them to survive! Fucking fight! ”