Chapter 12: Chapter Twelve

The shop grew cold and empty after Joshua had left. He’d ensured she’d eaten, had his own food then offered a kiss and left her be.

Returning to her work and her routine confused her.

She’d thought when she’d accepted the advances of the men, they’d rule her. Even if she only did so temporarily, she’d expected them to try and control her.

In fact, when Joshua had shown, she’d expected him to yell, to tell her she shouldn’t work there alone. She’d prepared for him to tear apart her life as alphas had seemed to do.

Instead, he’d fed her, listened to her, then bent her over and pleasured her until she was breathless and couldn’t move. Then, he’d left her to work. What was she supposed to think about that?

Even without knowing what she’d gotten herself involved in, they’d given her space. It was what she’d needed, a glimpse of the life she could have with them. It wouldn’t be her locked in a house all day alone, only paid attention to when played with. No, this was normal.

Nice.

And their numbers, programmed into her phone, gave her a lifeline. She could call them. She could pull her phone out if she didn’t feel well, and Kaidan would come. He’d pull her into a hug and run his fingers through her hair. Joshua would show, offer that charming smile and make her laugh.

And Bryce? Well, he’d tear apart anything that frightened her. Perhaps that was what frightened her the most about him.

The bell above the door rang, and she turned, expecting Kaidan, perhaps Bryce. Her lips had already pulled into a smile, ready to sigh that they’d showed with some flimsy excuse to see her.

Instead, a man she didn’t recognize stood in the doorway.

Her smile shifted into the casual one she gave to customers. “How can I help you?”

He stepped into the shop, a matching smile over his lips. The smile reminded her of Joshua’s, too wide and too friendly to entirely disarm her. “I was looking for a book for my sister.”

“Well, you’ve come to a good place. I can order anything I don’t have, assuming you don’t need it right away.” Guilt clawed at her for a moment. By the time the order came in, she wouldn’t be there, would she? She’d have already run.

Who would take care of ensuring his sister got her book? Who would check in on Ms. Cutwalter down the street, who insisted on watering her roses despite being ninety-two and unsteady on her feet?

The man came closer, hands in his pockets. “Romance, I think. You know, the whole millionaire secret baby novels.”

Claire brushed her hands over her pants before walking to one of the shelves. As she neared him, her steps faltered. One whiff told her. Alpha.

No matter how much progress she’d made, that scent was enough to cause her feet to stumble, for her chest to tightened and sweat to break out on her forehead.

He caught her arm when she did, releasing her the moment she’d regained her footing. “Careful.”

Claire moved away from him, not caring for his touch.

His scent upset her on some deeper level. It grated against her instincts, made her want to pull away. She’d felt it in the room with Kieran as well, had assumed it was because he was a monster, but it had happened again.

Was it her bond with the men? She couldn’t deny she’d felt a connection to them, but was this the start of a real bond? Was her body rejecting other alphas who weren’t hers?

Claire shook away the thought and reached for a book from the shelf.

Something set off alarm bells about his scent. Something about it made her uneasy, something beyond just the scent of an alpha. It was wrong. She knew the scent from somewhere, but couldn’t place it.

Maybe that was just her reaction to him because of her bond?

She took a small novel off the shelf, a bodice-ripper romance that should please any lover of such stories. She held the book out for him.

The alpha took the novel and flipped it over, gaze skimming the description. “Does this really work for women?” He huffed a soft laugh then continued in a deep voice, reading from the back. “‘Jenn doesn’t have time for a mate, or so she thinks before she meets her sexy, dangerous neighbor, Topher. Leave it to an alpha to show her the error of her ways.’” He lifted his gaze to hers. “Is that really what women want?”

Claire took a step backward, trying to get away from his smell. “Fiction isn’t what people really want.”

“No? I thought that’s what it was, wish fulfillment.”

“No.” Claire moved toward the register. “Fiction is about seeing the world differently. It isn’t that women want to meet a sexy, dangerous alpha right now so much as wishing they lived in a world where people like that existed, where it was safe to want that.”

“You don’t think they exist?”

The question had her hesitating. She’d have said no weeks ago. She’d have sworn alphas like that didn’t exist, that they were a fantasy fed to her by society so she’d settle down with one.

Except, when she thought about her boys, when she thought about Kaidan, about Joshua, about Bryce, she wondered if they weren’t those fantasies. Didn’t they fit into that vision? Not perfect, maybe, but didn’t they have so many of the traits she’d been promised but never found?

That wasn’t something to tell a stranger, so instead Claire rang up the book. “Five dollars forty-five.”

He reached into his wallet and handed a credit card over. Randolph Harker. “Call me Randy.”

Claire slid the book into a bag, then handed it over to him. “Nice to meet you, Randy.”

“No name, even? Ouch. Come on, have some pity on me.”

She didn’t want to give him her name, but Claire reminded herself she was being foolish. How many alphas had she dealt with over the years? Don’t engage, but don’t turn it into a chase, either. Nothing they liked more than a challenge.

“I’m Claire.”

His smile tightened, turning fake and tense. After a moment, it resumed its previous warmth. “That’s not a common name. It suits you, though. Thanks for the help and the book. I’ll see you around.”

She couldn’t shake the unease that had crept into her as he nodded, then left. Even when she stood alone in the shop, his scent infecting her space, she couldn’t help the way she wanted to shudder.

It had to be the bond. Was she really bonded, now? Could she leave them? Could she turn around and walk out on her males, could she go to sleep each night without calling out to them?

Claire went about shutting down the shop, unwilling to dwell. She’d do what she had to because she was a survivor. She always had to be.

But…she’d allow herself the chance to enjoy whatever it was until then.

* * * *

Kaidan stood by the door of Claire’s house as she gathered her things. “I did my best.”

She packed another book, then a notepad into the case she’d pulled down from a closet. “I know, but you’re not a woman. You have no idea the things I need.”

He leaned against the door frame, smiling at the way she packed her things. He’d felt a bit like smiling since he received her text, since she’d reached out and asked him to drive her to pick up things from her house.

He hadn’t been sure she’d contact them, that she’d choose to return to their house. She could have easily chosen to return to her house, decided she needed space.

Space was difficult to give her, but they’d tried.

And it had worked, if her response meant a thing. Instead of running, instead of trying to pull away, she’d wanted to gather her belongings to make herself more comfortable with them.

“So what is it you need that I forgot?” He followed her into her bedroom.

“You forgot workout clothing. I can’t run in jeans, you know. You also forgot pajamas.”

“I thought you’d sleep naked.”

The flush on her cheeks said she’d heard him, even if she didn’t respond. “You know, you only brought usable underwear.”

“Usable? As opposed to unusable?”

Claire pulled open a drawer of her dresser. “We both know Joshua would have only packed lace thongs and lingerie.”

“Joshua is a pervert. I wanted to make sure you were comfortable, and I didn’t think lace thongs would make you comfortable. Of course, if you’re packing them now, does that mean you’re more comfortable?” His gaze caught on something red, silk and small enough his cock took notice.

She quickly put the items in her luggage. “I never said that.”

“You don’t need to. Why are you so uneasy about the connection we have? The idea you might enjoy sex, that you might actually want sex shames you. Why?”

She froze, then slid the dresser shut so slowly it creaked. “Because I’ve seen too many omegas who have been hurt. It’s unfair for me to have this, to enjoy this, when so many others have suffered, are suffering. I mean, I know how terrible sex can be, what it can be like. How can I possible enjoy it?”

“So because someone else starves, someone you can’t do anything about you, you should fast? Why should you be unhappy only because someone else might be unhappy? Does your abstinence and denial help them? No? Then why?”

She crouched to zip the bag closed. “I guess guilt? I don’t deserve to be happy.”

That had him frowning. She didn’t think much of herself, did she? Didn’t think she deserved happiness, didn’t think she deserved anything. He wanted to spread her out on the bed and worship every inch until she understood what he saw, what she was really worth. He wanted her to see the survivor she was, see the giving heart she had, her courage.

How she could miss it, he didn’t know. Even if he didn’t know all she’d done, it was clear she risked herself to help others. She faced off against them repeatedly. She had more strength than she knew.

Instead, her phone rang, shattering the moment. She reached into her back pocket and pulled the phone out. Her body stilled the way it did when something was wrong.

“What is it?” He straightened, instincts on alert.

Claire slipped the phone back into her pocket, then stood, face blank. “Just some unfortunate news. I’m going to go get the last couple things I need from the bathroom, okay? Then we’ll head off?”

He caught her hand to pull her to a stop. “You can tell me what it was, love. I want to help.”

Claire squeezed his hand, but the hard lines of her face said she’d tell him nothing. Secrets, like always. Each time they moved forward, they’d stumble back. “Thanks, but it’s okay. I’ll be right out. A nice quiet night sounds really good right about now.” She silenced any objection with a quick kiss, then went into the bathroom.

Kaidan took a breath and reminded himself it would take time. She was going to unwind with him, with the others, and that was progress. That said they mattered. She reached out to him when she didn’t have to, she’d decided to return to them when she could have just gone home.

He stood in her bedroom, waiting, until a familiar engine roar had him patting his jacket.

His keys were gone.

He rushed to the front door in time to see the brake lights of his sedan disappear.

Claire had not only run again, but she’d stolen his car to do it.

If the men hadn’t been ready to write Claire off before, she suspected stealing Kaidan’s car would do it. Still, she didn’t let up on the gas.

The text message had burned into her eyes.

He found me.

One of her omegas who was in hiding from her mate had sent it. Tracy was twenty-five, but she’d lived since fifteen with her mate, an alpha who had convinced her to put up with his brutality.

At least, until Claire had stepped in. She’d seen Tracy shop at a local grocery store for weeks, the same shoulders-hunched stance and flinching Claire knew well. Eventually, she’d struck up a conversation, and that had turned into Claire talking Tracy into running.

She’d rather have had Tracy run a hell of a lot farther, but if there was one thing Claire had learned, no one could save people from themselves. Tracy had a child, a daughter, and she’d been afraid to take her from the city, afraid to leave the only place she’d ever known, to leave her family. She’d been so sure she could avoid her mate, that she could manage to still have her family, her life, but not her mate.

Claire had done all she could, setting up a fake trail of travel arrangements to lead Tracy’s mate to thinking she’d left.

Four months was longer than Claire had thought to get. She’d expected to either hear Tracy had been killed, or to get a message in another year asking for her help again, asking to help her really run.

Sometimes it took more than once to break free, and Claire knew she’d be there every damned time.

Except that hadn’t happened. Instead, it seemed that Tracy’s mate had found her.

It wasn’t Bryce’s SUV, wasn’t Joshua’s sports car, was instead a more practical sedan. Safe, with room in the back seat and probably plenty of trunk space. Leave it to Kaidan to be practical.

As Claire closed in on the house she’d set Tracy up in, she let Kaidan’s scent calm her. She let it ground her, let it be the line in which she held.

She’d done scarier things in the past, had faced down plenty of things. She remembered chases with the headlights of pursuing cars in her rear-view mirror, taking a dirt road with no headlights to lose them. Remembered having hidden in the attic space when a mate had come home before they’d been able to leave.

None of it mattered except the omega who had found the strength to ask for help. Worse? Claire had talked her into this. It was all on her shoulders.

She could have called any of the men, could have brought Kaidan, only, she didn’t trust them that far. They might help, or they might stop her from helping. Maybe they’d decide it was too dangerous, or take too long before going. They’d claimed to help omegas, but she wasn’t sure she believed it. She knew she damned well didn’t believe it enough to gamble Tracy’s life on it.

Down the street from the address, Claire stopped the car. She picked up her phone to find so many text messages she couldn’t count them. Kaidan, Joshua, Bryce. It seemed they’d talked, because each had sent messages. They reeked of barely contained frustration, as if they were furious but knew that would send her running faster.

Where are you?

Just tell me where you’ve gone.

Are you hurt?

Is someone after you?

Let me help.

Claire tucked the phone into her back pocket, then opened the glove compartment. She needed a tire iron, a stun gun—something in case things went badly.

They always went badly when involving an alpha.

A pistol caught her attention. Claire refused to unpack her feelings about Kaidan having it. She knew they carried weapons, but chose to ignore the fact. She could ignore it a little longer. While she could use the gun, knew the basics about loading and shooting, she was far from comfortable. She went for the pocket knife beside it, because a blade was easier to conceal, easier to move with.

Besides, Tracy might have only meant he’d found her and was on his way. While she hadn’t texted back, hadn’t said anything else, Claire had no idea what she’d walk in on. Maybe this would be as easy and grabbing Tracy and Karen and running. Maybe Tracy had just gotten spooked.

Right, like my luck is ever that good.

She slid from the car, crouching as she went toward the house, remembering the way Tracy’s daughter, Karen, had looked so happy when she’d seen it, when they’d painted her room an awful neon purple.

A tightening in her chest forced her feet quicker, light and rushed steps as she went toward the backyard. The wood of the fence dug into her hands as she levered herself over, landing in the muddy garden bed on the other side.

The back slider showed the interior of the house, lit up and easy to spot. Tracy sat at the table, a red mark on her cheek that would no doubt bruise. Across from her, Claire got her first look at the mate.

Male, early fifties, maybe? Seemed he’d picked a young omega. Dark hair slicked back, the sort of style that would have looked good when he’d been eighteen, but hadn’t carried forward through the decades. He stood in the kitchen, talking, pointing his finger toward Tracy then back toward the bedrooms.

Was Karen in the bedroom?

It changed things. She needed to get Karen out of the house first. The girl didn’t need to see her mother killed if things took a turn for the worst, if Claire failed.

Claire moved toward the back of the house, staying in the shadows of the yard, to the window of Karen’s room. The room was dark save for the dim shine of the moon night-light Claire had given her. A slow press and the window opened. Not locked. The only good news she’d had.

A quick climb and Claire found Karen in her bed, awake and huddled beneath a pile blankets. The girl’s eyes widened, then she broke into tears.

Claire raised her finger to her lips.

Only a crash from the kitchen and heavy footsteps said the mate had heard.

Claire rushed over and hid behind the door. It opened, nearly hitting her.

“Shut up!” The booming voice of the alpha and the command in his tone had no effect on Claire. Why? Why don’t I feel anything? “Go to sleep, Karen. We’ll leave in the morning and take you home.”

Karen stared back, blankets clutched around her. Would she tell her father? Would she tell him about Claire?

Claire wouldn’t have blamed her.

Still, Karen showed the same spark her mother had. They might have been beaten down, but neither was weak. She shook her head. “Sorry, Daddy.”

He released a quick snarl, as though he grappled with his temper, before shaking his head and softening his voice. “It’s fine. Just go to sleep, okay? This is almost over.”

The door shut, and Claire pulled in a breath. She moved back to Karen’s side when she was sure the mate had gone. She leaned in close to whisper into the girl’s ear. “Come on. We’re going to go out the window and through the backyard, okay?”

“What about Mom?”

“I’ll come right back for her.”

The girl nodded and didn’t make a sound as Claire helped her out of the window. She didn’t complain when Claire hoisted her over the fence or when she lowered her down by a tight grip around her wrist.

“There’s a black sedan just down the street. Here are the keys. Get in the back seat and lie down. Don’t come out no matter what, okay?”

“You’re leaving me? What am I supposed to do?”

The question haunted Claire. What if things went badly? What if she and Tracy were killed? Who would help Karen?

Claire might not trust the men to protect her, but she didn’t have many options. “I’m going to send my friends a message. They’re going to come get you in just a few minutes. Just get into the back seat of the car and stay down, okay?”

Karen nodded, keys clutched in her hands before she ran off.

Claire pulled the phone from her pocket, then sent a message to Bryce. Why she sent it to him, she wasn’t sure. She put the address and a short note.

There’s a little girl in the back seat of Kaidan’s car, please come and get her.

She held the phone, fingers sliding along the side of the phone with all the things she wanted to send. She settled on, I’m sorry.

As she crossed the backyard again, Tracy’s gaze found hers. Some of the tension eased from the other woman. Did she know Karen had been gotten out, or was she just thankful for not being alone? Even if someone was in hell, knowing they weren’t the only one there helped.

Tracy turned back to her mate and said something.

Her mate threw a vase against the wall just to Tracy’s left, then shook his head. He snarled, lip lifting, but pointed toward the bathroom.

Smart girl.

Claire hurried toward that bathroom, and the window slid open a moment later.

“Where’s Karen?”

“Already out. She’s in a car down the street. Come on.”

“I can’t get out of the window,” she whispered. “My leg…”

Claire got on her toes to see Tracy’s leg wrapped, her ankle twisted. She refused to let her temper get the better of her as she thought about what that alpha must have done to her. She could rage later. Claire refused to admit defeat. She pulled herself into the window, then helped Tracy up, taking most of her weight herself.

It took more time than she’d have liked, and they probably hurt her leg worse, but she got Tracy out of the window.

Something banged against the door. “Open this fucking door, Tracy!”

Claire threw herself against the door, her weight holding it closed, and mouthed, “Go,” to Tracy.

The other omega hesitated, but Claire planted a foot against the sink as his body hit the door. She waved Tracy off again, then mouthed her daughter’s name. A reminder. She had someone else to think about, someone other than Claire, someone more important.

Tracy nodded and turned, leaving Claire alone to face a furious alpha all on her own.

* * * *

Bryce was going to kill her. Okay, maybe not kill her, but damn it, he was going to fuck her until the girl learned some sense. The idea of her out there alone, facing who knew what, had his temper slipping.

He had no idea what could have happened to her. She could be hurt, terrified, alone, and instead of having him there, instead of having them to help her, she faced whatever it was by herself.

Kaidan remained at her house, waiting in case she showed back up. Joshua sat beside Bryce in the SUV as he headed toward the address she’d given them, his lips pressed together in an unusually grim look.

“She’s impossible,” Joshua muttered. “Can’t you drive any faster?”

“I’m going seventy. And yeah, she’s pretty fucking stubborn.”

“Why didn’t she just tell us? Any one of us would have gone with her on whatever the hell she’s doing. Instead, she rushes in without us? What the hell was she thinking?”

Bryce’s fingers tightened around the wheel, his knuckles aching. “She doesn’t trust us, not yet. I think she still wants to prove she can do shit on her own, that she doesn’t need us. She’s been on her own a long time and it seems she’s not quite ready to let that go.”

Joshua turned a glare on him, the hard look uncommon on his most cheerful friend. “You’re going to sit there and try to tell me you’re just fine with this? That you don’t care she’s put herself in danger, that she’s run off again?”

Bryce released a growl that should have answered the question all on its own. Still, he followed it up. “No, not even close. The moment I find her, I’m putting her over my knee and spanking her ass until she understands not to do something this stupid again. That girl needs to learn that she isn’t alone, and if it takes a sore ass for her to get it? Fine by me.”

“Oh, that’s something I’d like to see.” He pointed toward a dark car parked on the side of the street. “But that’ll have to wait. There’s Kaidan’s car.”

Bryce nodded and pulled up behind the car, ready to deal with an omega who had tested his last nerve.