He didn’t care when he shot past the invisible boundary between his land and Samson’s. Didn’t give a single shit as he pressed on into Maddox’s as well. He was too damn close.
Nothing and no one was going to stop him.
They were just over the next rise. He crested the hill and saw a steep grade leading down to the Road.
Whoever had planned this kidnapping was smart. They knew the best position to strike from. They knew that the high wall of a cliff would block most of their scent. They knew to wait until the wind shifted in from the west, letting the scent of the other team overpower their approach. They’d planned for everything.
Except him. They’d underestimated what a rage-filled alpha was capable of. But Kian couldn’t wait to show them.
The force that hit him in the side, knocking him off his feet, came out of nowhere.
Kian let out a roar that echoed through the trees as his back slammed against hollow log. What the...
Bounding back up to his feet, he saw the snarling, black-haired alpha standing a few feet away.
Maddox.
“You’re on my land.” The other alpha didn’t try to hide his disgust. It dripped from his lips. “You know what that means.”
Kian shook his head. “I don’t have time for this, Maddox.”
The alpha cocked his chin to the side. His dark eyes opened wide, showing all the crazy that swirled inside. “And I don’t have patience for trespassers.”
In a land known for aggressive loners, Maddox was extreme.
“Then you should be after the same outsiders I am.”
“I’ve been tracking them since they first set foot on my land.” Maddox’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not with them?”
“Of course not,” Kian growled, adding paranoid to the list of words to describe his reclusive brother. “They have my omega.”
Maddox’s shoulders pulled back. He tossed his head back and forth as if he were weighing the situation in his mind. “You’re still trespassing.”
Kian wanted to roar in frustration. He was losing precious seconds with this argument. “They will kill her.”
“And that’s why I forgive you this once,” Maddox said. “Do it again and you’re a dead man.”
Kian nodded. Sounded fair to him. “Will you help me stop them?”
A dark smile lifted Maddox’s lips. “I insist on it.”
Chapter Fourteen
Icy cold water splashed against Paige’s face, snapping her back into consciousness. Her eyelids fluttered as her legs kicked out, trying to find her footing on solid ground…but there was no ground.
Shaking some of her wits back into her head, she realized why. Two men on either side of her had hooked their arms around hers and were holding her a few inches off a paved road.
The Central Road.
She blinked her eyes again, desperate to focus on the blobs in front of her, but her eyes resisted. Maybe it had something to do with the throbbing pain that was drilling into her skull.
“Wake up, sweetheart.”
Paige stilled. She knew that voice.
Craig’s voice.
Suddenly, everything came back to her in a flash: Kian chasing after the men on her property, the shadows she’d spotted in the woods, the punch she’d taken to the face. All of it.
Pushing past the pain, Paige forced her chin up. A little more of her vision cleared. Now she could make out the fuzzy forms of people. There was a line of cars behind them, big and all black. She blinked again and focused her attention on the face closest to her. Close-cut blond hair and cold blue eyes slowly came into focus.
She knew those features too, but they weren’t half as handsome as she’d remembered them. Now they were marred by the shattered and swollen nose that took up most of his face.
“Remember me, love?” he asked slowly, as if his jaw still hurt to move. “Or has living as that monster’s whore for the last month scrambled your brains?”
“Fuck you, Craig,” Paige managed to spit out.
“Good. I was hoping you hadn’t completely forgotten me,” he said, pulling something out of the waist of his pants. A gun, Paige realized. “I wanted you to know who it was that killed you.”
Paige let out a dark laugh, one she didn’t even know she was capable of. “You really are an idiot, Craig. You have to know Kian’s not going to let you live.”
Craig’s brow pulled together in anger. “Is that your mongrel’s name? Kian?” He shook his head with all the confidence in the world. “Sorry to disappoint you, but he’s never going to touch me. I’ll be a hundred miles away before he finds your body.”
“Maybe,” she conceded. “But he won’t stop. He’ll hunt you down.”
“All the way to Sacramento?” he laughed. “I don’t think so. These creatures you’re so fond of might be strong, but they don’t like to crawl out of their holes and into the light.”
“You don’t know anything about him.”
Craig stepped closer, narrowing his gaze. “You’ve fallen for him, haven’t you? Here I was thinking that you were up here being used like a piece of meat, but you’ve actually fallen in love with an alpha like a pathetic slut.”
“The only pathetic thing I’ve ever done was believe your lies,” she shot back.
“We could have had a perfect life, Paige,” Craig said, shaking his head sadly. “We could have been together forever. House in the suburbs, two kids playing in the backyard. I wanted all of that with you.”
“And I wanted a mate who wasn’t a drug dealer or murderer.”
Craig grimaced, the lines bracketing his mouth pulling down hard. It was obvious he didn’t like being called out for what he was.
“You should have never come to the warehouse that day. I told you I was busy. I told you to stay home,” he said, straightening his arm and pressing the barrel of the gun against her temple. “But you wouldn’t listen, and now you have to die.”
Paige pressed her lips together tight. Even though she was shaking with fear, she refused to give him the satisfaction hearing her plead for her life. She lifted her chin and met his soulless gaze head-on.
“Burn in hell, Craig.”
His jaw tightened. “You first, Paige.”
Every muscle in her body tightened, waiting for the searing blast of pain that would take away her life…but it didn’t happen.
Instead, a thunderous roar filled the air. Craig’s attention jerked up for just a second, and Paige drew on all her remaining strength. Yanking her knees up to her chest, she pivoted against the men holding her and kicked her feet into Craig’s belly. The air rushed out of his lungs, and his ass hit the pavement hard.
The men holding her dropped her a second later. At first she though they might head toward the roar, trying to protect Craig from the danger, but apparently money paid for only so much courage. Both the cowards headed straight for the safety of the cars.
It didn’t do them much good, though. Paige watched in a kind of perverse awe from the ground as two alphas—Kian and another, dark and scowling—burst out of the woods and onto the Road. Together they tore through the men, shattering bones and skulls.
Paige tucked her head down as bullets flew through the air, but none came close to hitting Kian or his friend. The alphas were moving too fast, and it was obvious that the gunmen were far too frightened to take the time to aim.
It was over in a matter of seconds. With a few violent knocks and cracks, the four men who had beaten her and taken her from her home lay lifeless on the ground.
Only Craig was left.
Wiping the blood from his hands onto his jeans, Kian stalked toward the sniveling beta.
“Please,” Craig begged, as he tried to scoot away on his ass. “Please. I’ll go away and never come back. I promise. You’ll never see me again.”
“You trespassed on my land,” Kian said, his voice lower and more menacing than Paige had ever heard before.
“And mine,” the other alpha said.
&n
bsp; “You broke into my house. You touched my omega. Hurt her. Dared to threaten her life,” Kian kept going. “And now you want mercy.”
“Please,” Craig cried. “I’ll never touch Paige again.”
“You’re right, you won’t.”
Reaching down, Kian wrapped one hand around his neck and another around his leg.
“Look away,” he told Paige, hoisted Craig into the air as if he were a twig.
She didn’t have to be told twice. Shielding her eyes with her hands, she twisted away.
A terrible scream tore across the Road. The sound of ripping flesh, wet and horrible, followed. Then the dull thud of two heavy masses hitting the hard ground.
Craig’s body…and his head.
Paige peered through her fingers and saw a stream of thick blood flowing across the asphalt and into the drainage ditch on the side of the road.
A small cry—half horror, half relief—flew from her throat. Dear God.
A half second later, Kian was there, lifting her up into his arms.
“Your face,” he said, the look of concern in his eyes almost unbearable. “Did they hurt you anywhere else?”
Paige shook her head. “No. They didn’t dare. They needed to bring me to Craig. He wanted to be the one who killed me.”
Kian brushed his hand over her head, smoothing back her hair. She didn’t even care that he was still covered in blood. “He’s gone now. He’ll never touch you again.”
“I know,” she said.
And she did. He was had her now. They were together. No one would dare come after her.
Paige didn’t have to ask where Kian was taking her as he carried her back into the trees.
He was taking her home.
Back to where she belonged.
Chapter Fifteen
“You’re so big.”
Paige pressed her lips together tight in annoyance as she stepped through Gail’s doorway and into her house. She propped her hands against her back for support as she slowly shook her head.
“You know that’s not a compliment, right?”
Gail waved off her concerns. “Maybe not for a beta, but what do they know. A big pregnant omega is the most beautiful thing in the world. Isn’t that right, Kian?”
“Sure is,” Kian said, coming up behind her.
“Well, don’t just stand there.” Gail motioned them in toward the kitchen table. “Come get settled. I’ve been dying for you to get here.”
Paige raised a brow. She’d never seen Gail this excited before.
Well, maybe once before. Seven months ago, when she’d told her friend the news that she was going to have a baby. Gail had been over the moon, and hadn’t stopped talking about it since. She was going to make a great godmother.
“What’s going on?” Paige asked as carefully lowered her big belly into the chair.
“So, you don’t know.” Gail gave a sneaky smile.
“Don’t know what?” Kian asked.
“How long has it been since you’ve been to Evander’s?”
A while. It wasn’t like she kept track these days. The closer she go to her due date the less she wanted to leave the house. Kian called it nesting. She called it enjoying the peace and quiet while it still lasted.
Paige looked up at Kian with a questioning glance. “Do you remember?”
“A week at least,” Kian answered.
“Well, that would explain it,” Gail said.
“Morning,” a deep voice greeted them. Paige smiled at Randall as he stepped into the kitchen with an empty coffee mug.
Gail’s smile grew. “They don’t know yet.”
Randall shrugged as he poured another cup from the percolator. “So tell them.”
“Tell us what?” Paige demanded. She could blame the shortness in her tone on pregnancy hormones later, but the truth was she just wanted to know what the hell was going on.
“Well, I hope. You like company, Paige, because I think we’re going to be welcoming a third to our teatime soon.”
Paige’s brows pulled together. “What are you talking about?”
“It happened four nights ago out on ,” Gail said, leaning back in her chair. “Ty’s found his omega.”
Welcome to The Boundarylands Omegaverse!
Thank you for reading KIAN, Book 1 in the series. There’s so many more hot alphas from the Boundarylands waiting to meet you.
Keep reading for a sneak peek of Ty’s book, available here: TY (The Boundarylands Omegaverse)
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TY: The Boundarylands Omegaverse
“Dustin, this isn’t funny.”
Panic constricted Mia Baird's throat. Her voice came out so high and shrill she barely recognized the sound. “You have to stop this. Tell Josh to turn the car around. Now.”
Her lanky, blond boyfriend didn't react to her words. No surprise. Dustin's expression and posture hadn't changed in the last forty minutes. No matter how she screamed and pleaded, he stayed silent, his mouth slack, his body loosely draped against the backseat of his best friend's BMW, staring vacantly out the window.
Mia had to find a way to get through to him. This stupid joke had gone way too far. She grabbed on to his shoulders and shook him hard.
"Dustin!”
Thankfully, the violent physical contact broke through Dustin’s stupor. His glassy eyes shifted away from the dark landscape blurring past his window and over to her face. Mia's stomach twisted as he let out a breath that reeked of tequila and stale cigarettes.
Dear God, how much did he drink tonight? What other substances had he taken when she wasn’t looking?
“Dustin, please,” Mia tried again, hoping more than believing that she was getting through to her boyfriend.
Well, her ex-boyfriend now, because you better believe the first thing she was going to do once she was back in safe territory was dump his sorry ass.
Of course, she'd have to live that long first.
“Shut her up, man,” a slurred voice shouted from the front seat.
Mia swiveled her head to glare at the driver. The bastard's reflection shot her a cruel smile back in the rearview mirror.
She didn't need to waste her time with him. He was past redemption. Her only chance at this point lay with Dustin.
And, it looked like she was finally getting through to him.
Hope bloomed in her chest when the blurry look in his eyes started to clear. She prayed that meant he was coming out of his drugged haze.
Unfortunately, that hope didn't last long.
Dustin grabbed her arm, his fingernails biting brutally into her skin. “You heard Josh,” he snarled, the words tangling together in his mouth. “Shut up.”
Mia tried her best to shake free from his grasp, but Dustin held tight. He might have been high as hell, but he was still strong.
“Dustin, you don't have to this,” Mia tried again. Maybe now that he was looking into her eyes, he could see reason. "It’s crazy. Don't you know what will happen once my father—”
A loud smack resounded through the car. Mia registered the sound before she felt the pain. A second later, a familiar stinging burn spread across her cheek. She clasped her hand over her face to cover the mark she knew Dustin’s palm had left behind.
Holy shit.
He’d hit her. She'd been hit plenty of times before, but never by Dustin. They'd only been a couple for five months, but she wanted to believe he was different.
Stupid her.
Mia knew only too well that if he was angry enough to slap her, then he was also willing to do a whole lot worse.
New fear swept through Mia, harsh and biting like a winter wind. Deep down, she’d b
een holding out hope that this was all a big joke. A cruel and terrible one, sure, but she had convinced herself that at some point Dustin and Josh were going to decide they'd proved their point and turn the car around.
Now, Mia knew for certain that wasn't going to happen.
“This is what you get.” Josh chuckled gleefully behind the wheel. “You should have thought about the consequences before you started kissing random guys like a little slut.”
“Lil' slut,” Dustin repeated, his drunken mouth hopelessly slurring the words.
But Mia hadn’t kissed anyone. The guy in the concert crowd had grabbed her. He’d kissed her. Assaulted her, really. Mia had squirmed and flailed and tried to get away—but apparently not hard enough to satisfy Dustin.
Not that any of this was Dustin’s idea. Her shithead of a boyfriend was far too drug-addled to put together a coherent plan right now.
This was all Josh.
Even now, she could see the anger in his eyes in the rear-view mirror, his burning need for revenge.
Mia closed her eyes. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t be trapped in the backseat of a car while two drunk frat boys drove her deep into the heart of the Boundarylands.
She wasn’t even supposed to be here. She should have been back in her dorm, studying for midterms. That was where everyone thought she was—her parents, her professors, her friends.
But instead she’d let Dustin talk her into driving all the way up the California coast with him and Josh to go to Frontier Fest, the biggest off-the-grid concert festival in the west.
Her father would kill her if he found out where she’d gone. The festival was held in the furthest northern reaches of California civilization, only five miles from the Boundrylands border. It was billed as a three-day party where anything could happen, where you could cast off the beta world’s worries and expectations for a while.
And for the first day, that’s exactly what it was.
Kian: The Boundarylands Omegaverse: M/F Alpha Omega Romance Page 12
