Chapter Ten

Between the sex and a good night’s sleep, Kara felt more like herself the next morning. She wouldn’t say everything was fixed by any means, but the wounds reopened the day before had managed to heal a bit.

Or maybe the bout with Damon had slapped a bandage on them. Same difference, right?

She stole the cup from Cullen’s grasp and sipped the hot liquid inside. She’d have expected him to have ordered a black coffee from the small cafe they’d picked up breakfast at, since he struck her as a rather regimented person.

Instead, the sweetness of chocolate hit her tongue, and she almost moaned at the decadent taste.

“You should have ordered one of your own, thief,” he said before taking back the cup.

“Then I couldn’t steal yours. Don’t you know things are always better when they belong to someone else?”

Damon broke into the conversation before they could keep arguing. “Are you going to tell us where we’re going yet?”

Kara nodded at the motel across the street, a burnt-out M on the sign. “There.”

“And why are we going to some rundown motel?” Reese blew the tendrils of steam from his cup—tea, which was yet another surprise—as he regarded the shady building.

“Because I was thinking last night. Grace went to the lab, right? I doubt she walked in as soon as she got to town. She’d have needed a place to stay, and what better place than one where she could do surveillance?”

Cullen nodded at the other buildings. “There are eight hotels in the area that overlook the lab. Why would she pick that one?”

“Because it’s the only one in the area where someone could pay with cash and not be noticed.” Kara gave him a grin, one that was meant to mock him for thinking she couldn’t figure this out.

Whether anyone wanted to admit it or not, she was capable. She’d survived a world that hadn’t ever been kind, and she’d done it by being smarter and faster than anything else. More vicious, too.

The alphas followed her across the street, toward the dingy little motel she knew all too well. The beta who ran it was the sort Kara would never turn her back on, who would betray his own mother for the right price.

Kara ensured she was his best price and always kept him on a short leash.

The motel never stank of sweat, body odor, or anything but bleach. It was like they hosed the whole place down in a bath of chemicals after each day. Though, given how many by-the-hour rooms they rented, she couldn’t blame them for that.

Kara had used those by-the-hour rooms herself when the need hit her, when her body cramped as though her insides were ripping themselves apart. She never took men back to her apartment, both because of the safety risks and because the idea of those one-night stands in her personal space made her want to retch. Usually she could find a dark corner, or occasionally go to their place if they were local, but some of the time?

A room at a no-questions-asked motel was the best option.

Brendon, the beta who ran the place, had a smile that went past suggestive and into creepy and lecherous as Kara walked in. “Well, if it ain’t my favorite little omega.” His gaze moved past he, to the three alphas as they followed her in. He huffed a small laugh. “So, just one ain’t doing it for you anymore, huh?”

Cullen’s reaction lacked subtlety as he let out a low and dangerous growl. It was the sort of sound that warned people off, that sane people backed away from.

Kara kicked Cullen’s shin to shut him up. She didn’t need anyone causing problems, not in places she had to deal with after the three of them moved on.

She rested her elbows on the counter that sat between her and Brendon, who didn’t appear the least bit concerned about Cullen’s reaction. “I need a room key.”

“Course you do.” Brendon winked, then leaned in, his breath reeking of cigarettes. “You know, I wouldn’t mind a round or two, cupcake. Who knows, maybe I’ll give you what you’ve been needing, huh? What you can’t seem to find.”

Her stomach rolled. Not because of how disgusting it was, but because she knew damned well that if she ever got really desperate, she might just take him up on it.

Broken.

Anger sat with her better than pity or sadness, though, so Kara flashed her teeth. “I’m looking for a room a girl would have rented here a week or two ago. She would have paid in all cash and wanted to be on the street side.”

Brendon tapped his finger on the counter. “Rings a bell, I think. Awfully hard to remember with so many comings and goings.”

Kara reached into her bag and pulled out a folded fifty. She slid it across the counter.

Brendon took the money and tucked it into his pocket. “Third floor, room 312. She paid for a month up front. Hasn’t returned the key yet, but I doubt that’s a problem for you.”

Kara nodded, then moved away from the counter.

As they hit the stairs—the elevator never worked and even if it did, she wouldn’t trust it in a place like this—Reese questioned her. “Why would you pay him? I bet he’d have told us what we wanted to know.” Jealousy seethed in his tone.

“This is how it works in this world. Could I have threatened him into helping? Sure, but then the next time I need a favor, he won’t be eager to help me out.”

“And you often need help from him?” Ah, it seemed Cullen had that same jealousy.

Kara might have enjoyed it if it didn’t rankle her so much, if she didn’t hate the idea of being the sort of woman who needed to use a place like this. She took the steps with quick hops, enjoying the way it worked her thighs, and stayed on topic. “This place is a common stop for the sort of people I deal with. Besides, I gave him a fake fifty.”

“You what?” Damon sounded absolutely scandalized.

“What? He will probably be able to pass it off without a problem, but it’ll be hilarious if he can’t.” She grinned at the way he’d glare at her later if he were caught with the fake money. The way their lives went, he wouldn’t do anything directly to her, because if he was stupid enough to be taken in by a scam like that, he deserved whatever happened.

“Why do you even have counterfeit bills?” Cullen lowered his voice as if someone else in the completely vacant stairwell might hear.

“I have a buddy who pays me double by paying me with fake bills. They’re easy to pass off in small denominations. With the way you guys act, you’d think I was screwing in public or something.”

Which she’d done in the past, to be fair, though she wouldn’t be mentioning that.

When they reached the landing for the third floor, Cullen pushed past her, going through the door first as if checking for danger.

Right, because I need a big strong alpha to watch out for me.

After a quick look down the empty, stained hallway, Cullen nodded, some tension easing from him. Hell, even though it annoyed her, he almost looked cute like that, chest puffed out like a proud puppy.

Which was the last thing Kara needed to think of him as. Instead, she patted his chest and walked toward the door at the end of the hallway, the one marked 312. “You worry too much. If anyone else had come looking for this place, the information would have cost way more than fifty bucks.” She slid her picks from her bag and popped the cheap lock open without a hitch.

Then again, that was why she never trusted these locks. A strong push could open most of them. When she stayed, she used the metal latch at the top, bolted into the door frame. The cheap, hollow door would crack with a few good kicks, but that wouldn’t happened without her noticing, and she never let her guard down when there.

The inside of the room looked like they all did—brown. Dingy carpet covered the floor, a dark beige with hints of orange and enough stains that it almost looked like the mix of colors was intended. An unmade bed sat with the covers twisted over it, and a bag lay open, clothing half hanging out, near the wall.

The room was messy, but not in a rifled-through sort of way.

Which was good. It meant they were probably the first to get there.

“So, you come here a lot?” Reese asked.

“That sounds like a cheesy pick-up line.”

“You just pick up random men and take them to motels?” The censure in his tone was meant to wound.

She wouldn’t let it, or at least she wouldn’t let it show. “Sometimes. Are you telling me you’re a virgin, now? Because I’m pretty damned sure you aren’t, seeing as I’ve played in that particular playground with you.” She crouched beside the bag, pulling the clothing out and setting it on the bed, looking for anything useful.

“No, but the local motels don’t know me on sight.”

“Oh, my,” she whined theatrically, setting a hand against her chest. “You’ve put me in my place. I feel so terrible for doing exactly what men have been doing forever. My vagina and I have been properly shamed.”

Reese rolled his eyes—an honest-to-god roll that made him look like a pre-teen girl—before going into the bathroom to search.

Cullen remained near the door, like some guard watching over them. Then again, the more time she spent with them, the more she understood their individual roles. Cullen was the military man, something that showed in the way he moved, the way he surveyed a room. Reese was the detective, the one who put all the pieces together. Damon was their tech guy, and also the one who kept them organized and on a schedule.

Still, Cullen’s hard gaze didn’t move from her, and she could hear his disapproval.

“Okay, out with it.”

He lifted an eyebrow.

“You’re over there pouting, so just say whatever it is so we can get over it.”

Cullen shook his head, causing his hair to shift, though the gel kept it mostly back. “If you were happy with your choices, you wouldn’t be so defensive.”

“I’m not defensive.” She winced at the venom in her voice. Not playing it cool, are we?

Cullen leaned back against the wall, crossing his feet at the ankles. “Is it because of what the doctor said?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kara checked the zippered pouches of the bag, finding nothing useful, nothing they didn’t already know. Her identification, some cash, personal items. It was definitely Grace’s room, and given that everything was still there, it seemed even more likely that the lab had already gotten to her.

“You could get hurt,” he pressed, “going home with males you don’t know anything about.”

“I’m going with them to fuck them. What are they going to do, rape me?” She spoke as she traced her fingers along the lining of the bag, searching for any clues. The conversation unnerved her, but that was why she kept her back to him, why she tried to toss out the snarky, outlandish comments, to kill the conversation by either pissing him off or making it clear they weren’t going to get anything from her.

“That’s one risk. They could get rough with you, abduct you, even kill you.”

“Rough doesn’t bother me,” Kara snapped.

His sigh was long, drawn-out and less annoyed than it should have been. Am I losing my touch? “Just because you’re—”

Kara’s restraint snapped. She twisted and jammed a finger in his direction. “Don’t you dare say it. Just because some idiot doctor blurted out my personal information doesn’t mean you get to say a word about it. That isn’t your business, and neither is who I fuck, how or where. The only reason I’m even here is because your job fucked me over and put me in someone’s crosshairs, and now I’m trying to clean up your mess. What makes you think you get to tell me shit?”

Cullen’s face was hard, the lines carved in as though he struggled to keep his mouth shut.

“It’s not about judging you,” Damon offered. He’d been so quiet she’d nearly forgotten he was there. Somehow, his voice lacked the edge of Cullen’s. She didn’t feel quite the same explosive anger at it. “We just don’t want to see you hurt.”

“I’ve taken care of myself for a long time, pup. Trust me when I say I don’t need any of you to teach me how to do it.”

The conversation might have continued, because neither Kara nor the alphas seemed particularly willing to let it go, but the door to the motel room opened and all of them turned in surprise.

In walked the pretty blonde omega they’d been chasing.