Текст книги "Jace"

Автор книги: Hall Sam

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This was a mess. Jesus, save me from myself and my own demons.

My eyes went to the door again.

“So we keep her safe until dickhead here works through his ‘issues,’” Dane said.

“You’re right. Of course, you’re right—I have to mark her.” I looked down at my hands, flexing my fingers, feeling the need to form fists and fight what ailed me, but there was no fighting this. “She just needs time,” I said. “She needs time to work out how this goes. I’m not the right man for her, but I’ll do it to keep her safe.

“Hate to break it to you,” Ryder said, “but even omegas have a certain free will. What if she wants one of us to do it?” He finished up with a casual shrug.

And didn’t that really wind me up? My teeth ground hard. If Sloane was going to be attached to anyone, that someone would be me.

“And the way she was gazing up at you,” Ryder continued, “I’d say she’s imprinted on you pretty heavily. You might not get away with just a chomp on her wrist.”

Right then, I could picture it, feel it, how it would really go. Slamming her up against the side of the shower stall and fucking her like a savage. Watching her put her clothes on, my blood thudding when I just wanted to peel her out of every single piece as it went on. She was classy. She came from money, prim little schoolmarm, but elegant, same with her jewellery.

So yeah, she was out of my league, a rough alpha from the fucking slums. Nothing about my upbringing made me suitable for Sloane, but I still wanted her. I would be lying to myself if I said otherwise. Still, I could do this. I could be rational, give her time to get used to who she was and what she was and all the emotions coursing through her.

Then I would mark her.

“So what’s the plan while we’re all waiting on you to find your balls?” Dane persisted, a belligerent set to his jaw. Only Dane could get away with that. “She can’t leave the place.”

“I get that,” I said.

“And we need to be careful about who comes in and out,” Dane continued. “If we don’t, then somebody’s gonna tell. It’s gonna be a case of damage mitigation while you find your nuts. Anything out of the ordinary, and the workers here will start to talk. It’s not like we hire people who are in Snake’s back pocket. Most normal people hate the bastard. They want a job here because it’s a decent establishment, and we pay the fucking wages without harassing them at the same time. But you know, people talk. They tell a friend who tells his friend that security is suddenly beefed at our bar. Then that person tells another person who they trust, and they tell another person. Before you know it, Snake knows all about it. How long do you think it’s gonna take before he realises something’s going on?”

“I need some fucking time,” I rumbled.

“Well, then we’re going to have to go with plan B,” Ryder said.

“And what’s plan B?” I asked, surprised that he had anything sensible to add.

“Plan B is full-scale anarchy. Let the chaos begin.” Ryder chuckled, the arsehole.

I rolled my fucking eyes.

A great screech came from the room next door, and everything within me went rigid. I was up out of my seat and running for the door, eyes skimming the occupants. Ma had just dropped a tray of drinks over the floor. The omegas were all cowering on the other side of the table, clinging to one another, eyes wide, like they were all fucking terrified. Omegas… I passed over them one, two, three…What?

“Where the fuck is she?” I rumbled.

Baby Doll pointed a trembling finger towards the door.

“She left,” Baby said. “She didn’t want to be part of…whatever the hell this is. I wish I’d left with her.”

I just stared at her for a minute, looking into those pretty blue eyes, but rather than seeing someone I’d thought was part of our weird family, I saw a stranger. That same feeling of alienation, I got it from all the omegas sitting there, but as I grit my teeth, I knew I didn’t have time to deal with that now. Sloane was gone, but where?

“How long ago?” I asked. Behind me, Ryder was running towards the door, punching the button for the elevator. Which I should have already fucking done.

“Five minutes maybe,” one girl said.

“She won’t have gotten outside yet,” Ma said. “Everyone, calm down.”

I looked toward Dane on his mobile talking to someone, muttering, “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

“What,” I demanded. “What the fuck happened?”

The elevator arrived with a ding.

“Outside the zone,” he said. “Out the back and through the fucking gate. There’s a fucking riot down there.”

The elevator journey was an exercise in patience that I hadn’t known I possessed. We exited at the bottom into a wall of four men loading up with weapons.

“Stand down, guys,” Dane said before pulling his cell away from his ear. “She’s left the zone. Got into a car. Someone picked her up at the gates before Snake’s crew could get through.”

He flipped his cell sideways and hit play on a recording. It was grainy as fuck, but it showed the gate slamming shut, a beta with her, pulling a chain around the closed gate just as a fuck ton of alphas collided with it, nearly buckling the whole structure. A car pulled up, arms waving frantically to Sloane, then she climbed straight in. Her sister, maybe?

And the guy with her, her liberator? Art, our barman, if I recognised that mop of curly dark hair, locked the chain and then pulled a fucking gun out. He had a key for deliveries, so that part made sense.

“We had an agent for Alpha Control in our midst,” Dane snarled.

Meanwhile, inside the zone, the crowd had turned ugly, alphas driven by their animal instincts by a whiff of omega, the beta calling for backup, it appeared.

“Shit!” Ryder muttered. “That still going down?” Dane fast forwarded to the camera feed. “Nope, looks like they’ve mostly dispersed. What a fucking mess!”

My heart was pounding out of my chest. The need to fuck something or someone up battled with the calm I needed to assess the situation. “You think Snake will try to track her down?” I asked.

“Yes,” Dane said. “Fresh meat and all that. The license plates are grainy on this image, but it might’ve been clearer for anyone on the ground. If Snake had any sense during that frenzy, which he may not, he’d have clocked her plate. You need to call her and warn her.”

“Call?”

“He doesn’t have her number,” Ryder said.

“I don’t have her number,” I agreed through gritted teeth. It hadn’t been a priority when I was… “Check her ID she came in with.”

“But I’ve got something almost as good,” Ryder continued. “Her sister’s number.”

7

Sloane

“So, girlfriend, dish,” Jude said as he took a seat at our breakfast bar. “I want allll the details. Was he amazing? Like amazing, amazing? Like this amazing?” His hands went up, measuring a metaphorical Jace’s attributes in the air, but his eyebrows shot up when I didn’t reply. “More amazing than this? Girl, you can’t leave me hanging here like this!”

I couldn’t do this. I stood by the sink, fingers turning white against the cool metal, in a kitchen I’d rinsed more dishes in than I could decently remember, yet this was all so different. The stink of the sponge hit me. Yeah, that needed tossing, but the thought of touching its harsh plastic surface made me literally gag. The traces of detergent blasted me with a breezy artificial citrus scent, clogging my nose until I reached over and opened the small kitchen window. Even that was no help, the smog in the air, the many industrial stinks of city living hitting me like a ton of bricks. My sensitive stomach clenched hard, my hand going to my mouth before I felt the bile rise.

“I need to—”

I sprinted from the room, flying into the toilet and dropping to my knees, then shoving the seat up before emptying the meagre contents of my gut into it.

“Shit, Sloane…”

I waved them off. Their scents, their presence, their feelings, were all too oppressive right now, and wasn’t that a worry? This was my baby sister and my best friend. Jude and I had met early on in high school and been buds forever. There had never been a time I didn’t want him around, but the little sounds of distress and concern they made, the restive shift of their bodies, it was all like nails on a chalkboard.

“She’s hungover,” Em decided. “Sloane, I’ll get you some ibuprofen and water.”

“Great, thanks,” I croaked out, not sure I’d be able to keep them down, but I needed something. I didn’t have a headache, more a whole body ache. I’d run from the zone, the memory of those alphas making my heart begin to race again, muscles tensing, which didn’t help at all. I’d hardly put in an hour of cardio, so why was everything hurting? When the two of them left, I reached up and flushed the toilet, then leaned against the wall, just for a second, then felt a hot, hot flush wash over me.

I was on fire, and somehow, that transmuted the pain. My skin, my muscles, my body burned, sweat breaking out, making my hands slip on the floor, leaving me to bake in some kind of haze, when Em appeared.

“Here, you look terrible.” I opened my eyes a crack, the effort making me flinch, as it felt like the light stabbed into them like sharp knives. “How much did you drink last night?”

Not enough and too much, that was the correct answer, but I couldn’t voice that right now. I popped the pills, then drank the water down in greedy gulps, anything to put out the fire inside.

“You’re dehydrated,” Em said with a nod, then produced a two-litre bottle of cold water. “Come on, let’s get you into bed.”

Bed, yes, that. Instincts seemed to move my limbs when I couldn’t. My sister helped me up, but I walked to my room on wobbling legs, the heat in me flaring once I got to my bed. Em moved briskly, pulling my curtains, the room descending into darkness. Instantly, I felt a little better, the drapes reducing the room down, making it smaller, more cocoon-like.

“Sleep, Sloane,” Em said, shooting me a gentle smile. “And thanks for last night. It was…wild.”

Something fragile, pleased, almost giddy crossed her face, only to be shoved away, and if I were in my right mind, I’d have questioned that, hard, but I wasn’t. I just watched her move away dully, falling onto the bed when Em left, the door closing with a snick, the sound of a phone ringing coming from deep within our place.

But not for long. I felt the wrongness as soon as the soft surface cradled my body. That was right, but the sheets? Prickly, bumpy, with little pill-like indentions I could feel all over me. I tore them off, then pawed at the satin cover of the bare mattress. Close, but not right. I threw open my closet, shoving hangers and clothes to one side in my search. Dresses, pants, shirts, anything that had the right feel was tossed on the bed, and when I turned around, I saw it.

A nest.

Not right yet. I frowned, feeling the curl inside me tighten, grow more restless. It was closer to what I needed, a low ache in my pelvis flaring hotter as my skin did. It had to be finished. It should be perfect. So I crawled onto the bed, pawing at the fabrics, shifting them around on the mattress, until finally, they felt right.

What are you doing? a shrill voice asked in my mind. You’re not a bloody animal!

No, a deeper one answered. You’re an omega.

That was all it took to set the fire that had been banked hard inside me ablaze. His voice, even just an imagined version inside my head, had me writhing on the bed, curling my body tighter within the confines of my nest when that afforded me some relief.

“Jace…” I panted, almost able to feel his hands on my body, between my legs, teasing me, pushing in and opening my arse. Slick oozed from me, coating my skin, my thighs, readying me, and my fingers played in it, trying to ease the ache inside me, but every stroke of my clit only wound me up tighter, and not in a good way. I ended up on all fours, head down, butt in the air, the angle easing some of the pressure off in my pelvis, but also it opened me up. I felt every slight breeze over my overheated folds like some kind of wisp-like caress.

Frenzy…

When a female omega meets a viable alpha mate and things start to proceed in a satisfactory way, she could tip over into frenzy. Increased sexual responsiveness and need, higher basal temperature, reduced inhibitions, it was all leading to one thing—a heat. I’d lose my fucking mind, become some animal thing, craving alpha cock, any cock, and willing to do anything to get it. When he knotted me, shoving that brutal base of his deep inside me, only then would I be able to settle, working myself over and over on his shaft, as far as that massive protuberance would allow, gushing slick and crying out for him.

For him to bite me.

Mark me like a bloody dog, ‘claiming’ me as his.

Like that was even possible. It was the subject of many overheated romance novels, but the reality? I saw those hardened faces of the girls back at Jace’s bar, the way they looked at me with a shitty mix of concern and pity. Omegas were currency in the zone, to be passed around as a form of coin, worthy only for what we could give an alpha.

Suppressants… the remains of my poor beta brain squeaked out. Dawn Agency.

An institution where omegas went in and were cared for but rarely seen. The thought of it had my fingers clawing at my nest materials, but what were my options? My new nature had plenty of answers for that.

I could almost feel him enter the room, stalking over, just staring at the position I’d put myself in, following the pearly trail of every drop of slick sliding down my thighs. His fingers, they’d collect some of it, rub it across his fingertips before those full lips would part and he’d lick them clean, greedy as a child. Then he’d go back for more.

I remembered him dragging my panties to his nose and inhaling like they were a drug. He still had my underwear somewhere in his apartment, since I hadn’t found them this morning and I’d been too embarrassed to ask.

I gushed helplessly as I pictured him bending over, sniffing the air, drawing my scent in, his tongue moving restlessly over his bottom lip because he knew what was coming—my taste, taken greedily from the source. My fingers stroked my clit anew as I saw his fingers digging into my arse, keeping me split wide as his tongue lashed everything from butt to clit, no part of me able to escape his oral inspection. He would eat me alive, sucking my slick straight out of my cunt, only for me to gush more. A high-pitched whine escaped my lips as he pulled back, face glistening, smiling down at me like some kind of savage god, while he palmed that ridiculously huge cock that I fucking craved.

Like all single women, I had a few dildos and vibes in my bedside table, but I knew none of them would be worth using anymore because they didn’t have what I ached for. I’d never been a size queen before, but now? I needed that stretch, that feel of him pushing me to my limits, just pushing himself in at first, only to withdraw, growing harder, deeper, faster with every stroke. I’d ride him, shoving myself back, chasing more, listening to his deep growls as I fought to take him, finally relenting when I wouldn’t be gentled. Then he’d stop thrusting, holding me still with iron hands as our bodies fought and his won. I’d part for him, taking that fucking knot.

My whines were loud and getting louder, a muffled sound at the door breaking my spell.

“Sloane, are you okay?”

Jace

It had been a shitty, fucked-up day all around. Despite Ryder’s declaration that he had Sloane’s sister’s number, it wasn’t doing us a whole lot of fucking good. Whoever Emma was, she wasn’t into answering calls, and even though we had Sloane’s credit card details, which you’d think would be enough, it wasn’t like we made a habit of hacking for a person’s address and phone number. So I was right back to square one—trying to track Sloane down the hard way.

On top of that, something was kicking off over on the other side of Desparion. Our sources said Snake was mobilising his forces. What I didn’t know was why.

It was late, and outside the window of my apartment, lights glistened through the darkness, the zone looking a whole lot prettier than it did during the day. Usually I stared out at it, like a warlord of old surveying his domain, but any satisfaction I might have gotten from the life I’d carved out in the zone was stolen by her.

Sloane.

She was hurting. I could feel it, like a niggling pain under my breastbone where I couldn’t scratch. It was just alpha bullshit, I knew that, but…it made it hard to sit still, to stand, to move, to fucking breathe. And what was worse was if I was aching, it had to be twice as hard for her. My hand dropped down into my lap, the heel of it rubbing against my cock. It had been semi-hard all day, which wasn’t helping me to think clearly.

For the first time since I’d discovered my alpha strength, I felt helpless. The memories of standing out the front of Ella’s door, listening to what the alphas were doing to her and not being able to do anything about that? I’d sworn I would never experience that level of powerlessness again, only here I was, right back in my own personal hell. It wasn’t my sister this time, not even someone I knew that well, so why did I fucking ache?

The same level of pain, but still, it was all different.

I needed Sloane to be safe, and even though it probably made me an arsehole, the only way she would be safe was with me.

She would be confused, and the last thing I wanted was for her to go to the Dawn Agency. Those bastards were as corrupt as they came. Half the omegas were sold off to whichever alpha had the most money in the zone, while the rest of them were experimented on, the betas looking for ways to stop alphas, control us, prevent us from being born. The thought of Sloane in their hands had me breaking out in a cold sweat.

I slugged back a gulp of the whiskey I was nursing in my hand, finishing it off and slamming the glass down on the windowsill. It burned my throat and hit my empty stomach like fire.

Then I took up pacing, staring outside, waiting for somebody to fucking call me with some answers, an address, a number, something. Nobody did, so I kept pacing. I wasn’t going to sleep tonight, and no way I’d get any rest. I needed…

Need her, he snarled. Mark, breed, claim. Never should’ve let her go.

I shoved that to one side. It wasn’t about me and my fucking instincts, it was her. I needed Sloane to be safe.

I checked my phone for the fiftieth time, my fingers tightening around it until the plastic started to creak dangerously. Like that was enough to force it to give me what I needed. No new messages, no new calls, nothing. No one I knew could tell me anything about where the omega was or what state she was in. My thighs tensed as I strode from one end of the room to the other, my heart rate speeding up faster and faster. I was an alpha. I sorted shit out, so why the fuck was I cooling my heels here?

I thought about calling Ryder or Dane, but last time I called Ryder, he’d told me to fuck off, get some rest, and not to hound him again so he could do his fucking job.

He was right. I just didn’t want him to be right.

There was little we needed from betas but their money and patronage. For the most part, we kept things legit here. It was different from the Beta Zone, but there were rules because without them, it would have been anarchy. The identity theft bullshit, that was all Snake. Which made me think about something I sure as fuck didn’t want to consider.

Betas didn’t care how things played out on our side of the fence. They were happy for the sides to mingle on their terms, let the curious betas come and play, see what it was like here, before returning home to the safety of the sterile world. They weren’t stupid, so they understood that blocking us off would only make people seek entry to the zone in less visible ways. I guessed some beta in charge had determined that limited contact was the best way to go for all.

But the systems that ran the world, they were a different ball game. Betas had locked down tight the banking systems and databases on the other side. It wasn’t easy to gain access to their world in any capacity, particularly not the data.

We weren’t uncivilised here, despite how the media depicted us. For the most part, we played the game, but now I was ready to bend any and every rule to get what I needed—namely, my little omega back where I could protect her.

Why the fuck had I hesitated to mark her?

But I knew. Everyone knew.

Biting omegas, tearing their delicate skin with fangs that ached to mark them, scarring them forever, declaring to the world who they belonged to… I heard my heart thud, deep and loud in my chest. I’d seen marks plenty, littering my sister’s lily white flesh. Marks she didn’t ask for. That was what alphas did. Half out of their fucking minds with potent hormones, they took and they took and they took, and fuck what anyone else had to say about that.

Fuck, this was a mess. I felt dirty, grubby, and out of sorts, like there were ants under my skin. I could take five minutes to shower and put some fresh clothes on.

I stalked toward the bathroom, but the moment I stepped inside, I was bombarded by fantasies of her in the shower, plump arse just visible through the steamy stall door.

After I had fucked her all night, I’d figured she needed a rest, figured I needed to feed her, my alpha instincts clamouring for me to pamper and coddle my charge as much as the rutting. Besides, I’d planned on bringing her right back here and indulging in some of the sexual relief.

What I wasn’t expecting was for her to hightail it and run. She had taken her bag too, so I couldn’t even rifle through it for information. With a frustrated growl, I began stripping out of my clothes, T-shirt, pants, shoes, kicking them off, tossing them towards the hamper.

Then I stopped dead. There, hanging over the side of the basket, was yesterday’s pants, the ones that I’d been wearing when I found my Sloane, and poking out the pocket was her panties. I walked over like a man on dead feet, reaching the hamper, and carefully pulled them out.

The scent hit me immediately, not as strong as yesterday, nor anywhere near as potent as it had been from the source when I’d had my head buried between the thighs, lapping up her sweet slick. Jesus, my mouth watered for the taste of her again. An alpha was ever addicted to eating omega pussy.

My hand shook as I lifted her panties to my nose and drew in a deep, ragged breath. My cock instantly hardened, pumping full of blood, engorging with the need to serve my omega—an omega who wasn’t here where she belonged.

I closed my fist around my dick as I drew another deep, shaky breath in. Fuck that felt so good. My fingers worked up and down the shaft, pre-cum already making it sticky as I readied myself for her. Only she wasn’t fucking here.

That thought should have cooled my heated blood, but it didn’t. It just made my frenzy even worse. My fist made wet sticky noises as I pumped up and down roughly, imagining Sloane on her hands and knees, ready for me to take her from behind the way omegas instinctively needed when they were in heat. So I’d heard, anyway. I’d never rutted an omega through her heat. I’d never tasted an omega pussy, nor felt the hot clenching sheath before either, and now, there was only one that I wanted ever again.

The scrap of lace under my nose, I breathed deeply, filling my lungs, even as my fingers gripped and jacked my cock wetly. I tipped straight over the edge, coming in great jets all over the tiled floor and the bathroom cabinet, too far gone to give a fuck.

I growled, then my growl turned into a roar. The raised ridge where my knot would swell ached like a bastard. It needed her cunt squeezing me to completion. Mark, breed, claim, my beast said ominously, a threat as much as a promise.

This was the last time we did this, spilling our seed alone in the bathroom. It was for her now, all of it, all that we were.

I breathed deeply, letting my hand lower from my nose. I felt empty, but not in a good way, and my cock hadn’t softened much. I shuddered. I’d made a nice mess, but a part of me hated it, that it was on the floor and the cabinet, wasted, when it belonged to Sloane and should’ve been inside her. I didn’t care about where—her pussy, her arse, or deep down her throat maybe. She would be greedy for it. I wanted it in every way. I wanted her spread out so I could eat her up. I wanted her to beg.

She’d begged so sweetly yesterday.

Was it only yesterday she’d crashed into my life?

I hadn’t bitten her, she wasn’t yet marked, but there are already connections being made between us.

Maybe it was all in my head? Maybe I wanted this to mean something. Maybe I should have fucked an omega once in my damn life so I wouldn’t be fucking unhinged.

Instinctively, I knew she would be hurting like I was hurting, and the thought of her being alone and… Or some other bastard tending to her. No.

I sucked in air, my hands planted against the side of the basin, leaning over it, gripping until my fingers ached and my knuckles turned white. My damn cock was still bobbing hopefully, and it stirred a rough chuckle that died as swiftly as it arrived.

She wasn’t here. I didn’t know where the fuck she was.

I took my shower fast and efficiently, cell phone sitting on the side ready, in case there was a call. No one called or messaged. I threw on some sweatpants and a clean T-shirt, then returned to my bedroom. Here, I resumed my pacing.

If I had to rip the city apart to find her, that was what I was gonna do.