“Jake? We haven’t seen that little scoundrel since you carried him out of here. I can’t say we’re looking to have him back. We take contract breaking very seriously. It hurts our reputation.”
“Jake never signed any contract.”
“Are you so sure of that?” Antoine asked, raising one perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “I can show you a copy.”
Will just glared, glued to the spot by Chris’ warm hand on his shoulder, reminding him to keep his cool.
“And what about Lyle Beck? He’s an employee, yes?”
Antoine’s smiled faltered, but only momentarily. “He’s freelance. We contract him now and again to do some work for us. I’d hardly call him an employee.”
“And Hank Petyr?”
“Another contractor. He doesn’t work on site. I believe he does some transportation for us, when the need arises.”
“Are either of them here right now?”
“Oh, no. I haven’t seen either man in quite some time. Was there a particular reason you wished to speak with them?”
Will ignored the question. “When did you last speak or meet with either of them?”
Antoine hummed and hawed. “I’m not certain. I don’t always handle the contractors personally. One of my assistants may be better placed to answer these questions.”
Will turned back to Chris, trying to decide whether there was something worth pursuing, or if this was just a waste of everyone's time. They stepped outside into the corridor, away from anyone who might overhear.
Tim jogged up. “Local police just stopped a truck a few blocks from here. The ID of the driver matches one of our guys, Hank Petyr. They’d holding him and another man.”
“Were they coming or going from Fruits?” Chris asked.
“Coming back, they said.”
“Have they checked the truck?”
“Every inch. There’s evidence they had someone in a crate in the back, but it’s empty now, and neither man is talking.”
Will tried not to think about what that might mean but Colin’s words came back to him. About how Antoine wanted Jake back right away. He already had a buyer for him and, after the last time, wanted a quick turnaround.
“He’s gone,” he said to Chris, noting the dark look on his friend’s face.
“Don’t give up hope yet, Will. Even if it was Jake they were transporting, which we don’t know for certain, we still have the men to interrogate and can try to track where they took him.”
There was a burst of calls on the radio, and their conversation ceased as they listened.
“Hell, that’s where the local police stopped Hank and Lyle.”
Chris grabbed the radio, barking orders into it while sprinting for the door. Will followed, feeling his heart grow darker.
Lyle was dead. Shot by the police. And Hank was gone, having killed one officer, and injured two others, one critical. The humans were oddly grateful for their arrival and willingness to take over the scene. Will stayed long enough to confirm the identities of the two shifters and to ID Jake’s scent in the back of the truck. He’d been there, recently enough that the smell brought to the fore the memory of their night together.
They had hit a dead end, with no way to know where the truck had taken him and no leverage to use against Antoine, the only person who might know where Jake had ended up. Knowledge which was fast becoming outdated, from what Chris had told him. This Alpha ring was sophisticated. They moved their quarry frequently and knew how not to get caught.
“Look, Will. Go home, get some sleep. We’ll start fresh in the morning. There’s nothing to be done now.”
Will gave in to Chris' insistence but declined a ride home, opting instead to walk to clear his head. The evening was rapidly cooling from the heat of the day and he was glad of his jacket. Glad, too, of the weight of the gun Chris hadn’t asked him to return.
Reaching Snakes at long last, he let himself in the back entrance and made his way along the corridor. Dave accosted him before he’d made it as far as his room.
“Why the hell aren’t you answering your phone?” he demanded.
Will held up his cell, with its cracked and useless screen.
“It didn’t survive the second raid.”
With a sigh he delivered the bad news, conscious that Celine, Micah, and a few of the others were within earshot.
“We hit a dead end, Dave. No sign of Jake. One of the men transporting him is dead, the other missing, and the human police have orders to shoot him on sight. Jake’s gone and I don’t know how I’m going to find him.”
Dave stared at him for a long moment, not reacting to his words. “You should go to bed, get some sleep. You’ll see things clearer in the morning.”
He nodded along, even as he thought how wrong Dave was. The only thing that would be clearer in the morning was the guilt, already sharp and stabbing, and the remorse that he’d had something he wanted so badly right there in front of him, and he’d let it slip through his fingers.
“Right,” was all he said. “Sleep.”
Turning, conscious of a few pairs of eyes watching him, he trudged towards his office and his bedroom.
The door to his office was closed tightly but the door to his bedroom was ajar. That was the first sign something was amiss. The second was the unmistakable sound of breathing from within, accompanied by the softer beat of a heart. He had company.
Pushing his door open, he was hit by a scent his mind hadn’t stopped searching for. Curled up in a ball in the center of his bed, hidden under a blanket except for the top of his head, was Jake.
The creak of the door behind him had him jerking around, but it was only Dave who spoke in a whisper. “Walked in two hours ago, told me to call Chris about an Omega named Colin, wouldn’t say a word to anyone else, just came straight here. We tried calling you, then rang Chris, who said you’d left for home.”
“Heidi?”
“Out of town visiting her mother. Back first thing tomorrow and promises she’ll call over. But I think what he needs most right now, is you.”
Will nodded. “Thanks, Dave.”
He circled slowly around the bed, afraid this was an apparition, a mirage, and if he touched him, Jake might disappear before his very eyes. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he stretched out a hand, letting just the tips of his fingers brush across Jake’s hair. It felt soft, it felt real. Bolder, he pushed closer, brushing away a few strands that had stuck to Jake’s forehead. Jake woke with a jump, his eyes open and staring into Will’s.
“It’s okay—” Will started to say, only for Jake’s hand to escape the shelter of the blankets, one slender finger pressed against Will’s lips.
“This is where I feel safe. Right here.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jake subsided into silence after that poignant declaration, withdrawing his hand. Will caught it in his, lacing their fingers, his eyes drawn to the abrasions around Jake’s wrists. He’d seen enough to know the marks metal cuffs left on skin. Thinking back to the cellar of that house, the chains on the floor, the hooks on the ceiling…
“How badly are you hurt?” As he asked, he knelt up on the bed, cradling Jake’s arm between his hands.
Jake tried to pull away and Will tightened his hold just a fraction. “Easy, okay? Just take it easy.”
The Omega’s second equally raw arm pushed back the blankets, and he sighed sleepily as he sat up.
“Dave said you were looking for me.”
Letting his thumbs circle over the soft skin of Jake’s palm, avoiding the abrasions, Will tried to explain.
“Yeah. We went to find you at the safe house this morning. Or, I guess, yesterday morning.” Midnight had passed some time ago. “You were gone, Alan wasn’t talking, and he had a large amount of cash on him. Didn’t take much to put the dots together.”
“There was another Omega, Colin. Dave said he’d call Chris and tell him.”
“Colin’s safe. We found him locked in the cellar when we r
aided the farmhouse. He knew Chris’ name.”
“I told him I’d try to escape. I figured Chris might be best placed to find him.” Some anxiety bled through Jake’s expression, as if worried how Will would take that statement.
“That was a smart plan. Exactly the thought I had when Alan wouldn’t tell us where you were. I called Chris, he was the one who tracked you to the farmhouse. Great minds, huh?” He leaned closer and bumped shoulders with Jake who gave him a tired smile.
Will pulled his thoughts back to the matter at hand, his eyes drawn back to Jake’s injured wrists.
“Did they hurt you?”
Jake jerked reflexively in his grasp and Will released his grip, Jake’s arm resting on the palms of his hands. The Omega didn’t pull away, but he stopped meeting Will’s gaze.
“Hey.” Lowering Jake’s arm to the bed, he reached over with one hand, slipping a finger under his chin, and tipping his head up. “It’s okay. Whatever happened, you’re here now, and you’re safe.”
“They didn’t hurt me. Not… not like before.”
Will was relieved to hear that but also concerned at Jake’s reaction.
“They weren’t happy when they figured out I was pregnant. It meant less money. They strung me up by my arms and took pictures, then left me hanging there for hours with the heat turned right up. They took me down later that day and tried to drug me with water. I faked it, dumped the water, and they put me in a crate in the back of a truck. I got out when we reached Eden, ran, shifted, and came here.”
Jake held himself together while he told Will the story in terse sentences, but as soon as he reached the end, he pulled away, drawing his knees up to his chest, burying his head against them and wrapping his arms tightly around them. His body shook as he sobbed. Jake was naked, and Will could see sporadic bruising and scrapes across his skin. He eyed Jake’s feet with some concern too. How far had he run as a human in bare feet?
He fetched another blanket from the dresser, ready to wrap it around Jake, when he realized Dave was right. A blanket wasn’t what Jake needed. He was.
He moved behind Jake, settling his legs either side of the Omega so that Jake was curled between them, then he leaned forward, his chest pressed to Jake’s back, and wrapped his arms around him.
Jake froze at first, the touch unexpected, but he didn’t pull away. After a moment, his body uncurled, leaning back into Will’s embrace, letting the Alpha envelop him in warmth and protection.
“You’re safe,” he said simply, the words whisper-soft in Jake’s ear. Jake turned his head, pressing it against Will’s chest.
“I can stay?” Jake asked between sobs.
“I want you to stay,” Will corrected, trying to make it clear how much he wanted the Omega there.
Eventually, Jake’s sobs died down to hitched breaths and Will drew him backward and onto his side, so they lay stretched out on the bed, his body circling the Omega’s protectively. Jake twisted in his hold, so they were chest to chest, his stomach between them. Will slid a hand down, pressing it gently against Jake’s belly and the Omega flinched.
“Easy,” Will said again, rubbing a slow circle across the small bump. “That’s a strong heartbeat he’s got. Can you feel it?”
Taking Jake’s hand in his, he guided it so that it was pressed between Jake’s belly and his hand. The baby’s heartbeat was a little thrum to both their ears, but when he pressed his hand just right over Jake’s skin, he could feel the slightest vibration in the skin, the sound carrying through.
“The city’s no place for an unattached Omega and a baby,” Jake whispered, his eyes fixed on Will’s shoulder. “But there’s no safe haven out of Eden either. They took me from the safe house. They took Colin from a hostel. Where can I go that someone won’t decide I’m worth enough money to sell me out?”
Will let go of his hand to stroke a finger across Jake’s cheek, catching the single tear that trailed down his face.
“That’s what I came to the safe house to talk to you about.” Here and now wasn’t when he’d envisioned having this conversation but seeing Jake so scared, so hopeless, he had to do something to ease his pain.
“I didn’t feel right, leaving you there like that. I knew I’d made a mistake. From the moment you walked into my office all those months ago, I knew you were different to any Omega I’d ever met.”
Jake was shaking his head, pulling away from the circle of his arms.
“You had an Omega mate. It ended badly. You don’t want another. This is guilt, guilt and pity. I don’t want that.”
“Jake? Jake.” He caught the Omega’s face in both hands, gently framing it as he tipped Jake’s head up so they were eye to eye.
“If this was just guilt and pity, I’d be letting you stay here, stay unattached, and raise your baby in the city with us. That’s not what I’m offering. I’m offering you a mating. I want you to be my Omega.”
Jake’s eyes were suspicious, too jaded right then to be hopeful. “And the baby?”
“We’ll raise him as ours. Yours and mine. That is what we’ll tell everyone, and that’s what they’ll believe.” Because the truth was stranger than the fiction. People would more readily believe an accidental pregnancy followed by a bond to make things right than a forced pregnancy.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Will was running him a bath. Jake had wanted a shower but after the Alpha took a look at his feet, he insisted on a bath.
“Why, what’s wrong?”
He bent his knee and took a look at the sole of his foot. Ouch. That was going to hurt when he got up. “I think there might be some shards of glass,” Will explained, running a light finger across his heel. Jake twitched.
“Ticklish, huh?”
He grimaced. “I’d laugh, but I think it might hurt.”
“Got it, no laughing.” Will kept a straight face as he spoke but Jake could see the smile in his eyes.
“Ready for your bath?”
He was more than ready to wash away the grime from his brief time in captivity. When he went to get up, Will stopped him with a warm hand on his shoulder.
“Let’s keep you off your feet for now.”
Before he could protest, Will had slipped his hands under him and lifted him into his arms. Jake wrapped an arm around Will’s neck and held on, unwillingly reminded of the Alpha carrying him from Forbidden Fruit the first time. This time was different. A lot less pain for one thing, and Will wasn’t the stranger he had been then.
Will sat him into the bath and he hissed as the warm water contacted his abraded skin.
“The pain will ease in a few minutes. Just try to relax.”
“Easy for you to say,” he murmured, shifting with the discomfort.
“I need to get that glass out of your foot. Do you think you can bear with me for that?”
Jake wanted to say no. He was tired, sore, and the last thing he wanted was more pain. His body would deal with it if left alone, would push out the glass shards and heal the wounds left behind. But that would take time, time when he wouldn’t be able to walk or run at speed. The way his life was going these days, that wasn’t a chance he was willing to take.
“Do it. I’ll manage.”
It was an uncomfortable few minutes, but Will was quick, efficient, and skillful with the pair of tweezers he'd unearthed from somewhere.
That done, Jake let his hands and feet soak. Will took a seat next to the tub, just watching him. Unlike the last time, when he’d been excruciatingly conscious of his body and what he’d been hiding, now he didn’t flinch beneath Will’s gaze. It was hard to read the Alpha’s face. There was anger, when his eyes fell on the wounds on his wrists, but it wasn’t anger aimed at him. Aimed inward, maybe, or at the men who’d hurt him. Every time their eyes met, Will’s expression softened, a mix of relief and happiness.
Sitting up, he reached out a hand, grasping Will’s arm, smearing water along his skin. The Alpha laid a hand over his, fingers tracing a spiral across the back
of Jake’s hand.
Jake didn’t like the distance between them, it made him nervous. The tub was big enough for two.
“Join me?” he asked.
The Alpha made a choked off sound, his hand stilling.
“I’m not sure…”
“I am.” He tightened his grip on Will’s arm, looking up at Will from under his eyelashes. “Please.”
Will opened his mouth as if to speak but laughed instead. “How can I refuse those eyes, hmm?”
He stood, stripping off his t-shirt and jeans.
Jake sat back, relishing each inch of skin revealed as the Alpha undressed.
“Scoot forward,” Will said, stepping around behind him. Jake did as he was bid, sighing with relief when the Alpha climbed in behind him. Will’s hands on his shoulders guided him to lie back against the Alpha’s chest, just like Will had embraced him when he’d cried. He didn’t feel like crying now. Despite his wounds, despite his exhaustion, he felt strong.
It was easy to let his eyes close, surrounded by Will’s strength, his protection. One of the Alpha’s hands trailed across his stomach again, as if to reassure Will that all was well within.
“If you knock, do you think he’ll knock back?” he joked sleepily.
“She might,” Will replied, his fingers teasing lazily across Jake’s skin.
“Do you think it’s a girl?”
Jake hadn’t really thought about it, about later when it would go from being an idea growing within him to an actual baby. There had never been space to think that far. He wasn’t sure he trusted Will’s assertion that things were different now. What had changed, except maybe the Alpha’s mind? And what if it changed back?
The mattress sank beneath him as he was set upon it. A warm blanket followed, wrapping around him, soft against his skin. He sighed and curled up. But instead of settling down next to him, Will moved away.
More asleep than awake, he tried to sit up, finding the blankets tangled around him.
“Hey, rest now. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Will was back, his hands urging Jake to lie back down.
Falling Together (The Omega Haven Book 1) Page 13
