They were helpless to do anything but move, grabbing their brother and dragging him away, even as he drunkenly uttered a stream of very nasal threats, blood streaming down his face.
“Jesus, Sage…”
That was the only warning I got as I was scooped up and held against his chest, then carried out of the park.
“Beau. Beau, you need to put me down.”
“I don’t need to do shit until I get you in the car,” he rumbled back, his voice vibrating all the way through me.
A rather harried-looking driver was parked illegally on the edge of the road, glancing around, obviously expecting to see a police officer appear. They didn’t. Beau gently put me in the backseat, but when I went to move, he sat down beside me.
“Give me your jacket!” he barked at the driver. The man shed it quickly, then handed it over, and Beau wrapped it around me tight, somehow anticipating what was going to happen. My skin prickled all over, and then the shivers came, racking my whole body so hard, my teeth clacked. “Turn the aircon off now.” Then those silver eyes swung back to me. “You’re OK, you’re just going into shock. I’m taking you to the hospital now, OK? OK, Sage?”
I nodded, unable to get the words out as my body was hijacked again, but by a whole other force, even if it was just as unstoppable.
Tears streamed down my face, my jaw aching with the effort of trying to stop my teeth chattering, even as I failed. My fingers gripped my biceps under the jacket, digging deeper and deeper, until he swept in. I was pulled up against that big perfect body, bundled up like I was a small child, not a full-grown woman, his sunny scent of salt water and sandalwood filling my nose.
“You’re OK,” he told me, his voice a purr of rough satin. “You’ll be OK. I’ve got you now. I’ve got you.”
The minute I got control over my body again, I was ringing Riley Taylor. Whatever the fuck was going on with me, I needed answers, because what Beau was doing… It was like he had a key to a part of me I didn’t even know was a lock and had turned it inside me, forcing me to feel better.
I needed to know what that was.
Right now, though, I nestled down against his side, prepared to take whatever comfort I could. My mind raced, replaying moments, so many moments, of this big exhausting day, just random snippets, like the feel of the hotel bed under me, or the exhilaration I’d felt as we started defining the scope of the project, the random chatter of the phlebotomist, all playing over and over in my head until my hands reached up to scratch at my scalp.
“Shh…” His hand covered mine and then gave them a gentle squeeze. “I’ve got you.”
18
“Sage, I’d like to make you an offer,” Tobias Lockwood said, standing in front of his grand desk, the light of the window behind him creating a halo.
I’d spentthe night in hospital. Beau had briefed the doctor on what had happened, mostly, then stood stolidly by my side as the poor man went to examine me. Apparently, my blood pressure was all over the place, something that had him about to say something about my weight and lack of exercise until Beau fixed him with a steely look that was only tripled at Lucien and Max’s arrived. When Lucien jerked back the blue curtain, striding into the examination space with Max hot on heels, the doctor went to protest but Beau warned him otherwise.
“My brothers are only just holding their shit back, Doc. That’s going to stop if you kick them out of here.”
“Well, I need to ask Ms Davies some questions.” I watched him swell up to his not very impressive height, then eye each alpha. “Ones she needs to be able to answer of her own free will.”
“They didn’t do this,” I told him. “I was out walking on my own, and three…” I swallowed hard, feeling a lump rise in my throat, choking off any response. Their bodies pressed against mine, their will beating down, robbing me of my own autonomy.
“It’s OK, Sage,” Lucien said, dropping down to his knees beside the bed. “You’re OK now.”
I was, and I needed to remind myself of that. I let my eyes fall closed, my body, my mind, my soul too tired for any of this.
I told the doctor, the alphas, what happened in as few words as possible, the subsequent silence once I was finished a welcome thing, but that couldn’t last.
“I need to report this to the police,” the doctor told the others.
“Already done, Doc,” Lucien said. “They’re on the way, and a contingent of the city’s finest is scouring the city centre for those little punks. Once we get some images of them from the CCTV, we’ll circulate them and bring those boys to justice.”
“There’s also the matter of letting an unmated omega roam around the city, unescorted,” the doctor continued, each word seemingly dragged out of him. “You’re obviously men of means. There’s really no excuse for an attack like this.”
My eyes flicked open then, my fingers clawing the sheets of my bed as I straightened up.
“We know,” Lucien said, staring straight at me. “We won’t be making the same mistake again.”
Which brought me to now.
We’d flown home in a private jet the company had chartered, all of the meetings abandoned, everything in tatters as I was rushed back to Adelaide, but not home. My suitcase had been carried, following me into the elevator as we rode up to the executive level. Tobias had been waiting for us, those cool brown eyes taking in each one of us before he nodded to his office.