Pack Darling, Part One by Lola Rock
Twenty-Four
LILAH
I spotthe shooter half a breath before the first scream.
“Down!” Before I can think, I react, dragging Orion from the bullet aimed at his back.
The shot echoes in my ears, a world-ending snap that sounds ten times louder outside the firing range.
A line of fire cuts my arm.
Then it’s fucking bedlam.
The room erupts.
A dozen shots pepper the ballroom, and I don’t have to look to know the guy who just tried to assassinate Orion is meat paste. But are there more shooters? I keep low, looking for cover to duck behind, somewhere safe to drag Orion.
“Lilah. Your arm.” He holds me against his chest where he caught me, his scent thin and sharp.
A wave of nausea rolls through when I spot the blood gushing from my bullet hole.
It’s not a graze.
It goes all the way through my arm. I clap a hand over the hole. Hot blood flows between my fingers, spattering Orion’s white collar, but I can’t feel pain. Yet. “We need to get out of here.”
“Hunter! Finn!” Orion shouts over the chaos.
The alphas barrel to us.
“Babydoll.” Finn plucks me off Orion, covering my bloody wound with a broad palm. When he lifts me into his arms, bridal-style, my legs are jelly.
Finn holds me to his rumbling chest. He and Hunter sandwich Orion between them. Together, they push through the crowd, snarling at anyone who comes too close to our tight group.
I relax in Finn’s hold. I should be on guard when another assassin could pop out from anywhere to finish what he started. Maybe blood loss is already settling in because I know the guys won’t let that happen.
I know they’ve got me.
They beeline to Jett, who stands in the foyer with a handgun cocked. His gaze snaps to my bloody arm, and his lips pull back, flashing teeth. “What happened?”
“He was aiming for Orion,” I say.
“So you took a bullet for him?” Jett snarls.
Why the hell is he mad at me?
“Pretty much.” I tuck myself tighter against Finn. As my adrenaline drains, my veins fill with pain. “Do we have to talk to the police or…?”
“Fuck the police.” Finn hugs me, covering my bullet hole with surprising gentleness. “Wyvern Clinic. Now.”
“Atlas is with Dom.” Jett falls into formation, all of them making a square around me. “Fucking bastard.”
“He’ll pay,” Hunter growls, promising murder.
If I were less light-headed, I’d be a lot more worried about the guys surrounding me like I belong to them.
Knowing how soon that’ll change, I close my eyes and listen to the calming thump of Finn’s heart.
The thumping soundthat lulled me to sleep bleeds into a beep. My face scrunches up as I’m pulled from a deep, deep dream.
“Lilah?” asks the honey-voiced prince.
I blink open heavy eyes to find Orion hovering over me, his golden hair glowing like a halo in the low light of a hospital room.
“What happened?” I start to sit, wincing when an IV wire pulls against my hand. I’m in a hospital gown instead of a ball gown, and I pray that nurses made the switch. I wriggle, lifting my blanket higher because it’s freaking weird wearing a paper towel in front of Orion.
“The bullet passed through your arm,” he says. “We called in the best plastic surgeon to stitch you up, so there won’t even be a scar. The doctors…”
“What?” My heart lurches. The way he pales, I expect to look down and find a stump. My arm barely stings.
Why is he acting like I died?
“You had a lot of old injuries.” Orion grips the bed rail until his knuckles whiten, looking anywhere but my eyes. “The doctors put you on a nutrient drip. They said you need it to heal. You already slept for twenty-four hours.”
I hate the idea of him—or any of the Wyverns—seeing my bruises and scars. And still, Orion hasn’t relaxed. He’s coiled. Tense in a way that has my heartbeat shuddering like a swamped engine.
“What else?” I ask.
“They said it could affect your hormones. Maybe bring on your heat.”
I suck in a breath.
No.
No, no, no.
“I sent the alphas away. You haven’t perfumed.”
“Why would you let them do that?” I’d rather be a shriveled husk, pitted, scarred, and weak than ever awaken.
“You saved me,” Orion’s voice catches.
“It was just a reflex.” I was facing the shooter. I saw him draw his weapon, pointed straight at Orion. There wasn’t time to think, but even if I had, I would’ve done the same.
“I owe you my life.”
“No.” I draw the blanket higher, wishing I could claw underneath and stay hidden in the dark forever. But the time to hide is over. I’m out. I’m exposed. And I have to start attacking. “We’re even. I’m the one who came into your pack.”
“Not because you wanted to,” he insists.
My mouth drops.
Orion’s defending me? “Did you hit your head?”
He laughs, high and sparkling. “The guys are outside. Are you okay if I call them in? They’ve been waiting to check on you.”
“If you’re okay with it.” Lifting the blanket over my nose, I give myself a sniff. All I smell is the plasticy, dry scent of hospital linens. No perfume, thank fuck.
When Orion hops up, I scan the room. With a couch near the big window and warm furnishings, the suite is nothing like TV, where someone slips into a coma and has to share their space with three psych patients and a team of neurotic doctors.
The accountant in me starts calculating how much it costs. The fresh flowers on my side table. The bag of IV fluid. Will the Wyverns ask me to pay it back? Or does it go on my OCC tab like all my other expenses?
I want to saliva vomit.
“Babydoll.” Finn rushes to my bedside, followed close by Hunter.
Atlas and Jett follow more sedately, with Orion trailing behind after shutting the door.
Hunter wrenches Finn back before he can dive on me, and the five of them surround my bed. They’re so big and tall it’s like being surrounded by statues—only they’re flesh and blood, and their pheromones flood with emotions.
Stress. Worry. Lust.
Lust?
I swallow, worming deeper under my blanket.
“Thank you.” Atlas dips his head.
A weird, hazy feeling squirms inside me. The pack leader cannot submit to me. My blanket drops to my hips. “Don’t. It’s not—”
“We owe you,” Atlas insists, hugging Orion against his side. “Losing him would destroy us.”
They all dip their heads.
I’m fraying, caught under attention that pulls the cord on my heart and leaves me vibrating. I still feel the instinct to hide, but I’ve already been seen.
The deepest part of me has to admit we like their attention.
We want more of it.
Even if Orion is their special one.
I want them to be mine.
That’s why I know what has to happen next. “I’ll leave the pack. I can’t be near you if the doctors screwed up my hormones.”
If I awaken, I’ll destroy them…and myself when they reject me.
“No,” Atlas growls.
I whip to him, shocked that he’s the one objecting, and even more shocked when Jett speaks up. “Dom has seen you with us, and he thinks you’re ours. We have to keep you under our protection until he’s neutralized.”
Finn licks his lips. “Fucker put a hit on our omegas. I’m not neutralizing shit. Going to flay him the fuck open.”
I shiver at the dark promise in his voice.
“You’re stuck with us, Killer,” Hunter says.
Clutching the blanket, the only thing keeping me grounded, I look to Orion. “You’re okay with this?”
Leaning against his pack leader, he looks cozy and safe, with a smug, masculine smile that shouldn’t make me quake. “You remember the part where you saved my life, right? I’m pretty sure that cleared up the territorial jealously bullshit. Besides. You never did anything wrong.”
“I…” My throat closes.
You never did anything wrong.
It’s just a phrase, but I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear it. From Orion, it’s magic.
You never did anything wrong.
It soothes the years and years of being hated for existing. The beatings and scorn.
You never did anything wrong.
I crack, pulling the blanket over my face so they don’t see my eyes turning glassy with the tears I can barely choke back.
“Let us take responsibility for your safety,” Atlas says softly. “You can stay with us as long as you want, or until you awaken and find your real pack.”
My face twists.
My real pack.
Shit.
One whiff of my perfume is all it’ll take to break our truce. Who cares about a scent match when Orion’s already bitten, already theirs? They’ll have to send me packing, send me far, far away from their real omega, who won’t give a shit that I saved him when my scent hits his mates like cocaine.
Maybe I can’t have them as mine, but if I can stay with them, it’ll be enough.
As long as I don’t awaken.
I can never, ever let them know if I awaken.