Forget Me Knot (PoisonVerse #2), page 7
Shit. Shit. Shit.
The door thundered as if someone had just thrown their entire weight against it. I let out another whimper of terror. I should have gotten the set under my pillow… Easier to access than this. Why hadn’t I gone there first? Then I saw them, a set of brass knuckles.
No knives. That’s what Ash had warned.
In a panic, I raced to the other side of the door, slipping them onto shaking fingers. My eyes darted to my phone. Still on the kitchen counter.
Too late.
Escape: that was my priority.
Engage only if necessary. Get to the hallway. Get to people.
From here, I might be able to startle them enough to slip out.
Again, someone threw their weight against the locks and I felt the powerful aura of an alpha blast through the air. My breath caught, vision narrowing as I lifted my shaking fists. This time, with a crash, the locks splintered, and the door flew open.
Arsenal
My vision was red with rage as I loosed my aura completely and slammed my weight against the door. It burst open so hard I had to steady myself—
CRACK!
Pain split my face so hard I saw stars. I let out a growl of rage, lashing out. The fucker was here, challenging me?
I’d snap him in-fucking-two.
But then my swimming vision came back, and I realised it was Onyx, sprawled across the marble floor, scrambling away, her face a mask of terror.
Damn, I’d just—but I didn’t get a chance to think on it because her expression crumpled as she recognised me. She was on her feet in a blur of wild dark hair and glittering jewellery before she flung herself into my arms.
I held her without thought, the bloodlust pounding through my veins fighting with the urge never to let her go.
“I-I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I thought—”
“It’s okay. I’m not leaving.” I could practically sense the shift in her at those words. I’d not noticed how small she was until she was trembling in my arms with no stubborn fury making her larger than life. “The others are coming,” I murmured. Whoever was terrorising her, they could still be here.
It didn’t take long before King, Malakai, and Ice were crashing into the apartment.
Ice and King drew up at the sight of Onyx clutched in my arms, but Malakai entered without pause, barking at the other two to get moving as he began searching the place.
For a moment, I was torn, but then, wasn’t it perfectly reasonable for me to leave the searching to them in lieu of her obvious need for comfort? It was the right thing to do, and she didn’t seem likely to let go of me, anyway, so I moved to the couch as the others did a sweep.
I winced.
Alpha instincts. That’s what this was. But I wasn’t willing to give them up. She was my mate, for fuck’s sake. I would make sure she was okay.
“You alright?” I asked. She nodded slightly, face pressed into the crook of my neck. She was shaking from head to toe, her breathing short and sharp.
Definitely shock.
It might take a while for it to wear off.
“You see anyone?”
“No.” She shifted back.
“Take your time. The others are searching the place.”
She nodded, her grip digging in once more, and I could feel the metal between her fingers.
“What are you doing with a knuckleduster, Duchess?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood.
“The detective said…” She cleared her throat, drawing back a little more, chin still tilted down, her dark hair obscuring her face. “B-bring a knife and there’s a weapon in the fight. A-alphas are more likely to survive a stab wound than I am.”
Well… Not bad advice, actually. She was tiny. I couldn’t imagine feeling threatened even if she was holding a blade, not unless she knew how to use it.
“Well. You got me good.” I could feel the trickle of warm blood trailing my cheek now.
I looked up as Malakai strode from her room, expression dark.
“What?” I asked.
Onyx finally peered up, furiously wiping the tears from her face as she glanced at what Malakai was holding.
“What are these?” he demanded, waving a wilted flower in her face.
“Slow down,” I growled as Onyx tensed.
“They’re…” She cleared her throat, shifting back from me as if she was going to stand. My grip on her tightened; King and Ice weren’t back and we didn’t know if the place was fully safe yet. She glanced at me nervously. “They’re forget-me-nots. They’re left every time… every time they break in.”
Malakai’s expression twisted with rage. Then he whipped the dead flower across the room, his own aura shattering the space.
Onyx went stiff, her terror back.
“Calm the fuck down,” I snarled.
“No.” Malakai spun back to her. “You reckless idiot, not thinking for one second what you were bringing to our doorstep.”
“Mal.” My tone was a last warning. Onyx’s face was pale as she stared up at Malakai.
He slammed his boot onto the coffee table and was fumbling with the laces. What the fuck was he—? But then he ripped something dry and leaf-like from it.
He held it out for me and Onyx to see.
My blood went cold.
In his palm was the same dead flower. Onyx’s hand jumped to her mouth.
“In my boots outside our door, scattered across the entryway.”
Shit.
Her stalker had already followed her to our place?
I turned where I sat, still clutching her, but I had to know. King and Ice were entering the living room, settling the panic in my chest.
“What?” King asked.
I took a breath, trying to tear my eyes from Ice before the fucker got too smug about it.
He was safe. He was with King. Of course he was safe. I looked down to find Onyx pulling from my arms earnestly this time.
“What’s going on?” King asked again.
Malakai went off, ranting about the flower, but I was focused on her. She was staring between Malakai, King, and Ice, fear still written all over her face as she absently tugged the knuckle dusters from her fingers. Despite the faint traces of tears down her foundation, her makeup was pristine and the dark hair that now tumbled to her waist, still glossy.
“It’s not her fault—” Ice began.
“Like fuck it isn’t. She knew exactly what she was doing.”
“H-he’s right…” Onyx’s voice was faint, but she seemed to be collecting herself at last. “I shouldn’t have… I knew how dangerous this was…”
“He’s following her,” Ice spat.
“Look. I should call the police. I appreciate you coming in…” She trailed off, brows furrowed. “How did you…?”
Ice reached out and plucked the little camera from her earring and tucked it into his pocket.
Onyx stared at him, her lips parting in shock. “You bugged me?”
“Thought you were in trouble,” he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“And we were right,” I added, because I saw something indignant creeping onto her expression.
She folded her arms, eyes narrowed. The shock was clearly wearing off as she looked around at us. “Well. Thank you for checking the place. Like I said, I should—”
“Go with King and Ice,” I told her. “Pack a bag.”
“I’m sorry, what?” she asked, her eyebrows shooting up.
“You’re coming with us.” At my words, I felt a flare of rage from Malakai through the bond. His eyes flashed, but he kept his mouth shut. Onyx had a similar expression.
But this was the only solution. We had nine days to survive. If all the damned omegas in my life wanted to make that as difficult as possible, I’d be keeping them under one roof.
“She is?” Ice asked, a grin spreading across his face.
“I certainly am not.” Her voice had lost its tremor, and she was straightening her dress. She’d gone from frightened little omega to spoiled duchess in the blink of an eye.
Really?
All of this—dragging a fucking stalker to our door for protection, and now she didn’t want it?
“You want to stay here?” King asked.
“Golden Tooth has last minute rooms. I can—”
“Do absolutely nothing of the sort.” I folded my arms and leaned back on the couch, fixing her with my best ‘I’ve no patience for bullshit’ look. Because I didn’t. Mal was right. She’d brought this danger to us. To Ice. “You’ll pack a suitcase. And forget the cops. For all the fucking good they’ve done you.”
Her eyes turned dark, her nostrils flaring. “I don’t appreciate your tone.”
What the fuck had she just said to me? All that sweet, cuddly protective alpha bullshit that had been warming my chest—and making me an idiot—vanished in a second flat. I got to my feet.
But she had the gall to turn her back on me, stalking over to the kitchen island and grabbing her phone.
The last of my patience flickered out. In the absence of her magical omega tears making me soft, the stress of the night crashed back.
I was having none of it. She’d made this my pack’s problem, and that meant I called the shots. I needed only to give King one glance, and he was after her in a second.
He plucked the phone from her and tucked it in his pocket before she could do a thing, then dragged her back over to me.
“Get your hands off me!” she snarled. King didn’t flinch at her struggles, tugging her arms behind her back and forcing her to face me.
I wore a cold smile as she glared up at me. “There’s a whole pile of shit not to be appreciated tonight, Duchess. I promise my tone is the least of your worries.”
“How dare—”
I cut her off, temper still getting the better of me. “The first thing you should be worried about, if you don’t pack, is that Ice’ll do it for you. So unless you want to be tramping around our pad in nothing but lace, I suggest you do as I say.”
“You are mad.”
“And you need protection. You’re out here on your own.”
“I have people I can stay with—”
“Liar.” I snorted, cutting her off. “Or you wouldn’t be talking about staying at hotels.”
She drew back against King, affronted, but she couldn’t seem to find a response for that.
“You came to us. This is how we do things.”
“I didn’t mean for you to—”
“You still came.” I took a step closer to her. I was so high-strung, the collision of fear and anger from the last few hours setting my aura on edge. It came out now in my tone. I took her chin so she wasn’t tempted to look at any of the others for help. “You endangered my pack, Onyx, and that’s not something I appreciate.”
“I never meant to put anyone in danger.”
I believed her, truly. And it didn’t matter one bit. Plus, my cheek fucking hurt. “Perhaps, in the future, be more careful what you wish for.”
I nodded toward her bedroom door and stepped away, slumping back down on the couch as King began dragging her to her room, ignoring her indignant protests. Ice, much too gleeful, followed them. I turned to Malakai who looked like he was going to crack a tooth.
“Spit it out.”
His response was instant. “This is a shit plan.”
“All our options are shit.”
“You trust her?”
“No. But it all makes sense now, doesn’t it? She doesn’t want anything to do with us, she just needs protection. It’s simple. We give her it, sort out this fucker, and she goes away.”
“Why are you offering at all?” Malakai asked.
I stared at him, knowing there was a bitter expression twisting my face. “If it was your call, would you leave?”
Perhaps it was low to ask that. Once upon a time, it would have been his call.
“Yes.” He said it through gritted teeth. I snorted, feeling the conflict within him even as he said it.
“Right.” As if he’d not been right at Ice and King’s side charging into her apartment. “If that makes you feel better.”
“What if she fucks anything up with—?”
“She won’t.” I knew why he was on edge. Riot was about to hand us the world. As long as we got in for our check in. As long as we stayed on the right side of the law. “Look. We won’t do anything below board—nothing that could get us in trouble. Even if that means we keep her with us to make sure she’s safe, wait this fucker out, and then deal with him on the other end of it.”
“She’s going to be living with us, Arsenal. She’s a scent match. How do you see that going?”
I laughed. “Mal. Look around. There is nothing that could happen in nine days that will make a woman who comes from this—” I glanced about at the luxurious apartment sprawling around us. “—belong in a pack like ours.”
TEN
King
Onyx was clearly flustered as she rifled through her stuff and tried to pack a suitcase.
Did I feel bad? Maybe a little. But Arsenal wasn’t wrong. And… we did get to bring her home. My alpha hindbrain had no arguments about that.
Nor with the idea of the alternative, which was to leave her for this fucker alone. Arsenal’s methods were… harsh, but it wasn’t my business to question that shit.
I stood at her side in her closet as she rifled through outfits. Everything about her was fucking intoxicating. Her scent, the little concerned furrow to her brow at the treatment Arsenal and Malakai were delivering her, and fuck, she was physical. Every opportunity she had, her fingers brushed my forearm with muttered questions like “Which should I bring?”
What the fuck gave her the impression I’d know if she should pack noir or crimson silken scarves? None of us would know—
“Crimson. You’ve packed too much black already.”
Ice. Of course. I could already see the little shit sucking up to her—and getting in on her little touches.
“Black’s easy to match, though.”
“Right, but you’ll be left with a dozen different shades, and then what?”
She chewed on her lip with a nod before neatly folding the crimson scarf and placing it into the suitcase.
She was hot. Hot and totally out of our league. No. She wasn’t out of our league. She was in another stratosphere. But… I was hot, too—way more than those two other grumpy pricks, so maybe she’d overlook the whole… criminal thing? She was still wearing that shirt with a low neckline, and my eyes were constantly snagging on her cleavage or the side of her breasts.
It was a fucking scandal.
And don’t even get me started on her scent.
She was deadly.
But what Onyx didn’t know was that we were more proficient than any alpha in resisting the seduction of a sweet omega. No other alphas on the planet were forced to live with Ice’s rose fucking cookies only to get frozen out at every goddamned turn. And most often accompanied by a middle finger and a smirk as he vanished into the nest he’d banned us from. No, if that little shit had given me anything good in this world, it was ironclad self-control.
Just like Ice, if we allowed an inch, she’d take the rest of our goddamned world, and we couldn’t afford that. Not with how close we were to freedom.
Two omegas, though?
I watched her hand brush Ice’s again as she sifted through her obscenely sized wardrobe.
He caught me watching with narrowed eyes, and I realised my nose was wrinkled in a scowl. Only, Ice was fully aware of what that meant. He ran his fingers through the loose waves of his ashen blond hair, that cocky half grin on his face.
I almost bared my teeth at him, but it was an overt reaction which would tip him off to exactly how damned hot I found him. And once Ice got a tip, he stored it in his little box of pins so he could needle us with it later.
That box was full to the brim, and if he got even the slightest whiff of the fact that watching the two of them together felt like someone was injecting boiling hot water into my veins? It was game fucking over.
I tried to stop staring. Tried really hard. But they looked so goddamn good together. They were opposites, almost to a T. Onyx was elegant, dark hair, smooth and glossy, outfit deliberate, sexy and tight-fitting. She wore delicate jewellery, a thin golden necklace, a few slim rings, and two pretty dangling earrings.
Ice wore baggy jeans, tattered boots, and a wrinkled button-up with only one sleeve rolled up. His hair was messy, and the buttons on his shirt were done up wrong—also hanging open almost to his mid-chest.
Comparatively, Onyx was refined. Sure, I couldn’t stop my eyes from snagging on the low neckline of her shirt, but it had a way of pretending it was decent that made me feel like a pig every time. Ice demanded attention and he knew it too, the little slut.
How were we going to deal with two omegas? And what if their heats synced?
Well… Ice didn’t let anyone but Malakai touch him during his heats, which would leave me and Arsenal for her.
Two alphas for an omega in a pack of five?
We were screwed.
My imagination was getting ahead of me, though. We were protecting her and then dropping her off. Scent match or no, she didn’t belong with us. Even now, I couldn’t take my eyes from the golden necklace that perfectly complemented the smooth skin of her neck. She was everything an omega was supposed to be, and we were a bunch of degenerates that society had left behind. Me most of all.
She wouldn’t share her heat with us. She would never have looked twice if scent matching hadn’t left us her only option.
The quicker we dealt with the stalker the better.
Ice turned up at the door with a fluffy dressing gown.
“Won’t fit,” I grunted.
“Well make it. It’s important.”
“It’s what?” I scoffed, but then I realised he was right. Her scent, lavender and warm brownies, was everywhere in here, but the dressing gown was the closest thing to scent marked I’d come across.
She glanced between me and him and there was a guilty look on her face. “I would…” She swallowed. “Prefer if we could bring it.”
