by D. J. Heart
“I can do that,” he says, voice hoarse but full of conviction.
“Good. Let’s have a look at your chart,” Peter says, taking the paper’s the nurse had dropped to the floor when she ran out of the room. He scans them quickly, dropping them back where he found them. “You’re fine. They used the standard dose of Halo. You might be a little weak for a few days, but other than that you should be okay. Let’s go.”
Chad scrambles out of the bed, a little unsteady on his feet, Peter handing him his clothes. He gets dressed in a hurry as Peter pulls out his cell and calls someone.
“What have you got for me?” Peter asks, listening intently for several minutes without interrupting. Chad pulls on his boots, leaning on the bed for support, and waits for Peter to tell him what they are doing next.
“So Merchant got nothing?” Peter asks, frowning.
“What about the CCTV footage?” Chad stills, heart pounding as he waits for Peter’s team to give them a lead.
“Keep looking,” Peter growls, hanging up. Chad wants to ask what they know, but he doesn’t want to break the silence.
“Let’s go,” Peter says, grabbing Chad’s arm and marching him out of the room. Nurses and doctors hurry out of their way as they exit the hospital, not a single person daring to object to the unauthorized discharge.
“Merchant has nothing,” Peter says when they are on the road. “None of his contacts know about anyone in the region who could pull off an abduction like this. Dawn doesn’t think it was a gang. It’s too clean. And Merchant would know if someone was smuggling omegas out of my city.”
“Does she have any idea who took him?” Chad asks after it becomes clear that Peter isn’t going to say anything else.
Peter clenches his jaw, hands gripping the wheel so tight Chad thinks it might break. “She thinks it was an omega rights group. That they found out about a job we did, and that they’re getting back at us by rescuing Evan.”
This is the last thing Chad expected to hear. “They took him because you do IT work for Richard Cruz?” he asks, incredulous. If an omega rights group is going to start rescuing omegas, there are plenty of omegas who needed it far more than Evan, with alphas who have done far worse than Peter.
“Wetwork,” Peter says, not looking at Chad. The words take a second to register.
“What?” he asks, sure he’s misheard.
“McCorkle authorized it. He thought I turned Cruz down just for appearances sake. He said he had it contained.” Peter’s voice is hard and unapologetic like he’s expecting Chad to rip into him. Chad is tempted to do just that.
“I don’t… I don’t know what to say to that,” Chad says, disappointed in Peter.
“It happened, I made sure it wouldn’t happen again. It wasn’t worth losing a client over,” Peter says, resolute like it’s the inalienable truth.
“Of course not,” Chad says, wondering what goes through Peter’s head when he makes decisions like this. Except he knows. Peter likes making money. He might be more moral than he was back when he was Chad’s age, but he still isn’t a very good person. Chad’s just never really cared.
“I’m sorry,” Peter says, gritting his teeth like he’s trying to grind them into meal.
“You’re rich,” Chad says, still not looking at him. “Even if Tank Security goes under, you’d still be rich. I don’t get why you… why you’d still…”
Peter doesn’t say anything, but his whole body is tense and angry. Chad is angry too. But that won’t help them now. They need to find Evan. Self-pity, self-recriminations, and anger can wait until Evan is back.
“It doesn’t matter,” he says, calm. “All that matters is finding Evan and getting him back. Right?”
“Right,” Peter says, turning left and driving down the street towards Tank Security headquarters. They park in the underground parking garage, jogging to the elevator and taking it up to join the team.
They’re going to do this.
***
The alpha thinks that Evan is stupid with submission. That his alpha pheromones and stern voice are working.
They’re not.
Walking down the corridor, Evan draws on his hazy memories of how he would be acting if it were Chad—fresh out of the gym—leading him through their apartment and to the bedroom to fake his behavior.
“Come here,” the alpha says, grabbing Evan’s neck and pulling him in close. The alpha’s breath smells like cigarettes and mint, and Evan hates it.
“This is scary, I know, but no one is going to fuck you until you ask for it. They’ll wait until you’re in heat and begging for it. They don’t want to fuck a scared omega. Do you understand?”
Evan nods. The relief must show on his face because the alpha rubs his head and smiles.
“Good boy. The guests probably won’t pay much attention to you, but if they do, you have to be a good boy. Good boys get treats, bad boys get punished. Now go out there, and be a good boy.”
Evan is pushed through the doorway, into a small hallway leading to a room filled with raucous laughter, soft music and the overwhelming stench of alpha. The asshole who’d shown him Bo’s shredded feet stands behind him, gesturing for him to walk into the room. Not seeing any other choice, Evan obeys.
“Fresh meat!” an alpha shouts the minute Evan comes into view. Evan jumps, the looks around the room through lowered lashes. The room is much bigger than he’d first thought, part of a larger area that has been roped off by velvet ropes with big alphas guarding the way. Behind the velvet ropes, Evan counts five alphas and six omegas, each alpha sitting with an omega draped over their lap, groping and touching them in a disturbing parody of intimacy.
Not one of them is having sex, though, from the looks of it, the omegas all want to.
“Hey, omega! Get over here,” the same alpha shouts. Evan looks up, studying the alpha as he walks closer at the slowest pace he can manage without appearing disobedient. The alpha is sitting on a sofa with two other alphas, the three of them each holding an omega in their laps.
The alpha calling him is young, early twenties at most, and very handsome. He’s slimmer than Peter or Chad, trim and lithe, but there’s obvious strength in his body. He’s an alpha through and through. Evan studies the omega in the alpha’s lap, the poor boy trembling and sweating, his heat a punishing thing that obviously has him half out of his mind.
“Sit,” the alpha commands, nodding to the sofa next to him, leaning forward and grabbing his drink and lifting it to his lips.
Evan sits down, the other alphas ignoring him.
“So you’re new, huh?” the alpha asks, studying him. Evan nods, then mumbles, “Yes, sir.”
“Cute, too. Do you like it here?” the alpha asks, but before Evan can answer the alpha on his other side interrupts.
“For fuck’s sake, John. Don’t be an asshole. You know what they’re like until they get their heats.”
The alpha, John, laughs. “I know. It’s just so funny, though. I mean… look at his little face! He’s so cute and scared. I’m just showing him that there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
The alpha on John’s other side snorts. “You’re just a dick,” he says. John scowls.
After that, pretty much nothing happens. Evan keeps his eyes open, scanning the room, noticing the hungry looks of the alphas milling around on the other side of the rope.
“This is the VIP section. They have to pay if they want an omega, and they only get them for an hour. We have you all night,” John says, leaning down when he sees Evan staring. Flushing at having been so obvious in his reconnaissance, Evan ducks his head and hopes he’s not in trouble. John laughs.
“It’s better for you to be in here,” he says. “They’ll start selling you to the plebs when your heat makes you too unstable for the VIP area.”
“God, you’re such an asshole,” the alpha on Evan’s right says, pausing his exploration of the inside of his omega’s pants.
“It’s true,” John laughs, going back to his
own omega. Evan tries to block out the sound of their whimpering, reminded of his own heat. Of how awful it was, and he only had to suffer it a few hours before his mate came and made it go away.
The thought of Chad and Peter has him missing them so much he wants to cry. But he doesn’t. He holds it together, trying not to draw attention to himself, and looks for any avenue of escape he can find. The image of Bo’s feet haunts him, but he’s not going to let it stop him. He’s getting out of this place, even if it kills him.
***
Peter tries not to feel hopeless, but with each piece of bad news it gets more and more difficult. He tries not to think about Chad, or about how much he’s disappointed him. Dawn is busy hacking the fringe omega rights groups, looking for anything related to Peter, but so far she hasn’t found anything.
Peter hopes her theory is right. The omega rights activists wouldn’t hurt Evan, and though it would mean that this was all Peter’s fault, it would still be better than the alternative.
Peter’s phone rings. Aiden’s picture flashing on the screen. Moving towards the back of the room where it’s quiet, nothing else to do, Peter answers.
“Hey, Aiden. Right now isn’t a good time,” he says, his voice sounding tired to his own ears.
“Oh, sorry. I was just… do you want me to call you back later?”
“No, it’s fine. I’m just dealing with… Someone took Evan. We’re trying to track him down. It’s a mess,” Peter says, Aiden not saying anything for a minute.
“Someone took your omega? How? Was he out by himself?” Aiden asked, sounding incredulous.
“No. He was out with Chad, Christmas shopping. Cowards got him from behind,” Peter growls. Aiden doesn’t say anything. Peter waits, Aiden’s breathing letting him know he’s still on the other end of the line.
“Chad lost Evan?” Aiden asks after a while, Peter frowning at the scorn in his voice.
“No, some sniveling coward got him from behind and took Evan. This wasn’t Chad’s fault.” Peter isn’t in the mood to deal with Aiden’s shitty attitude about his mate. Not today. It doesn’t matter how long they’ve been friends; Peter won’t have it.
“Come on, Peter. If he’d been with you, would you have let them take—"
“Finish that sentence and we’re through,” Peter growls, cutting Aiden off. Holding Chad to the same standard as they would themselves is ridiculous. They’re prime-alphas with years of special ops training.
“I’m going back to Topgrunder,” Aiden says after another few beats of silence, sounding strange. He never did like being reprimanded. “They offered me the top job in South Africa. I was just calling to tell you I’m leaving.”
“Congratulations,” Peter says, meaning it. This is a big step up for Aiden.
“Thanks. Good luck with, you know,” Aiden says, hanging up before Peter has a chance to reply. Putting the phone down, Peter frowns. Aiden has been weird ever since he tried to get back together with him, and Peter can’t help but think that moving away will be good for his old friend. For a while, he’d worried that Aiden would obsess, but if he’s taking a job so far away… things must be good.
***
Aiden hangs up the phone, standing in the middle of his kitchen without moving for about ten minutes, furious.
Peter was supposed to see what a useless idiot Chad is, not defend him. Not call Aiden a coward. The insult burns, and it’s all Chad’s fault. That Peter has to twist things around to the extent that he sees Aiden’s actions as cowardly…? Well, that just goes to show how deep Chad has wormed his way into Peter’s brain.
It’s like Peter has been infected, and Aiden needs to help him. Needs to cure him by cutting away the infection. By killing it.
Phone cracking, Aiden jerks out of his murderous rage with one clear thought. He has to kill Chad.
***
Without any pattern that Evan can see, the alphas get up one by one, taking their omegas with them off to a private room and coming back half an hour later with satisfied grins on their faces.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be you soon enough,” John says, pushing off the sofa with his omega clinging to his neck like a limpet. Evan nods, not meeting his eyes. He’s afraid that if he looks up the alpha will see the hatred shining in his eyes.
John comes back forty minutes later; shirt untucked, the bulge in his black dress pants a little smaller than when he left. He drops down next to Evan, pushing the omega he’s just fucked off his lap, dragging Evan in under his arm.
“I fucking love omegas,” John says, nudging the omega he’d knotted away with his foot, the poor boy’s heat still as strong as it was before he got fucked. Evan wonders how alphas like John can be so cruel. It’s obvious the omega is in pain, that his heat is an agony that needs quenching. To ignore that—to take pleasure in it—is an evil Evan doesn’t understand. The omega whimpers but stays away, his instincts telling him he needs his alpha's knot. Without his alpha present, he’s obviously hoping for the next best thing.
That Chad has been to places like this makes Evan cringe.
The poor boy on the floor lets out a whine, his whole body shaking. Evan knows what he’s feeling, or at least a lesser version of it. How he’s longing for the knot of his alpha, but willing to take any substitute in the meantime.
“You see that? Pretty soon you’ll be just like him, begging for my knot,” John says, leering down at the boy at their feet. Evan shudders, John laughing as the movement translates up to his body.
“You don’t like that idea?” John asks, laughing like an asshole. Evan shakes his head no before he can think better of it.
“Tough luck,” John says, a hard edge to his voice.
After a few more minutes, John grows bored of tormenting Evan, pulling away and walking over to talk to an alpha across the room. Evan pulls his legs up, hugging them to his chest as he scans the room. There has to be a way out. An escape.
The VIP section of the room is guarded by a handful of brawny alphas, the lot of them dressed in black jeans and tight, black tees. So far no one has tried messing with them or pushing past them, and Evan doubts he’d be able to sneak under the rope without one of them noticing.
Not that he’d want to. On the other side of the rope, alphas dance and congregate, laughing and getting drunk as they drink in the scent of omega in heat. If Evan were to go out there, they’d descend like a pack of ravenous wolves.
By the end of the night, John winking as he leaves, Evan’s plans of escape are no further along than they were when the night started. The asshole in charge comes to collect Evan last, making sure the less coherent omegas are led back to the room where they are all kept before coming back for Evan.
“So that wasn’t so bad, was it?” the alpha says, taking Evan’s wrist and leading him back towards the room they came from. Evan shakes his head no, the alpha laughing and ruffling his hair. “Told you.”
The alpha is silent until they reach the room where Evan and the other omegas will be locked away for the night, stopping without opening the door.
“Do you think you’ll be able to sleep without your alpha?” the man asks, reaching out and stroking Evan’s cheek with the back of his hand. Evan shudders in revulsion, but the alpha takes it for arousal and grins.
Evan wonders if this is his chance, or if he’s digging his early grave. Either way, he shakes his head forlornly.
“That’s understandable. How about you come up to my office for a nice cuddle, huh? Would that help, do you think?”
Evan nods. The alpha thinks he’s submissive and docile, which is Evan’s only advantage. He needs to use it before his heat starts setting in, which might be any minute given the amount of stress he’s been under.
Sometimes Evan really hates his biology,
“Yeah, your alphas have you trained right,” the alpha says, pulling Evan in close. He presses Evan to his chest, large hand roaming over Evan’s back, his big bulge pressing into Evan’s stomach. He pushes Evan away, still holdin
g his wrist and leading him further down the corridor and up a set of stairs. They pass a door that’s locked from the outside, and Evan’s heart thunders as he wonders how many more doors like that he has to get through.
The alpha’s office is small, just a desk and a chair, with various implements hanging on the wall that Evan recognizes from Peter’s collection of toys. Somehow he doesn’t think that an omega has ever enjoyed these tools the way Chad enjoys Peter’s.
“Come on, let’s sit here,” the alpha says, sliding his chair away from the desk, sitting down and pulling Evan into his lap. Evan goes without complaint, leaning against the alpha’s broad chest as the man hugs him close. He’s sitting on the alpha’s fat cock, the length hard and pushing into the cheeks of his ass, but the alpha makes no move to take his cock out.
