Breaking the Bonds

  Jax stood transfixed, cock in hand, watching Parker circle Nick, looking the omega up and down with greedy eyes. Finally, the senator stopped, and his eyes met Jax’s again.

  “Tell me, Jax. Do you really want to watch me fuck this omega?” He sat down in the chair again and pulled Nick onto his lap. He played with the omega’s nipples and then pinched them hard.

  Nick moaned and arched his back. Jax was glad the omega was too far gone to know what was going on, but what about later? What about when he had to face what had been done to him? What would it be like going back to his pack after this? And what if Jax failed? He got the distinct feeling the senator already knew Jax’s reticence and was trying to trick him. Jax couldn’t afford to lose the man’s trust.

  “I told you I did, Joe.”

  “That’s right. You told me you enjoyed watching. That you specifically wanted to watch me and this omega. So, why do I get the feeling that you’re very uncomfortable with what I’m about to do?”

  Jax swallowed, struggling to remain calm and to think the situation through. The senator hadn’t trusted him for a long time. Could he suspect what was really going on? He couldn’t; he wouldn’t be anywhere near this place if he did.

  “It’s just that I know this omega,” Jax said. “It makes it different.”

  “In what way? Like this piece of trash omega is any less of a despicable creature than the others you and I have been with here?”

  Jax shrugged, unsure what to say.

  Parker leaned back, taking Nick with him, so the omega was sprawled over the senator’s lap, back to the man’s front. The senator made little humping moves against the omega’s naked ass, and Jax knew that at any moment Parker could pull out his cock and thrust it inside. Jax braced himself.

  “I’ve been looking forward to fucking this one,” Parker said, pushing Nick’s hair out of his eyes with a finger. “He has the look I like. Small, lean, with big brown eyes that beg so pretty. We have them right where we want them, Jax. And those we don’t want, well. They’ll all be gone soon enough.” Parker reached down and roughly grabbed hold of Nick’s cock, making the omega cry out with a mixture of pain and pleasure.

  Parker smiled. “Hear that? He’s a screamer. I love that.” The senator cocked his head, looking at Jax. “There’s only one thing I’d like better than having this submissive little slut begging and screaming on my cock. Do you know what that is?”

  Jax shook his head.

  Gaze locked with Jax’s, Senator Parker moved his fingers down to Nick’s balls and squeezed them. This time Nick’s cry was much louder and much more distraught.

  “Having you doing it.”

  Jax frowned, uncertain if Parker meant he wanted to see Jax fuck Nick or if he wanted to fuck Nick himself.

  “I want to fuck you, Jax. I have from the moment I met you. You can’t get what you need out of that wimp of a boy I raised. I want to ride that ass of yours and hear you scream my name.”

  “But what about—”

  “Your tail in the air is the only thing that could possibly drag me from this omega.”

  Jax blinked, struggling to digest the turn of events. The senator knew Jax wasn’t comfortable with him fucking Nick, and he was using that as leverage to get what he wanted.

  “I’m married to your son,” he said, because hell, someone needed to say it.

  The senator smiled. “That only makes me want it more.”

  Jax felt sick. He looked at Nick’s face. The omega was wriggling in the senator’s lap, crazy in heat.

  Parker petted Nick’s hair. “I won’t say I’ll never have my time with this omega, but I’ll let him be for now. If you’re willing to do what I want. If it will make you any more comfortable, we’ll keep this between the two of us. Blake never needs to know.”

  The man was despicable.

  Parker ran his hand over Nick’s bare abdomen and chest before resting it around the omega’s neck. “So, tell me, Jax. Whose ass will I be fucking tonight? Yours or Nick’s here?”

  Jax knew there was only one answer he could give.

  Chapter 22: River

  “River!”

  The pack alpha turned from where he’d been watching Sam and Briar releasing a chicken that had gotten its leg caught in the wire fence to see Kane striding toward him from the pack house.

  Josiah’s heat had ended the day before, and Josiah had gone back to the Congress to supervise some kind of club meeting for the university.

  “Kumar called. I’ve got the address and time.”

  River nodded and put the piece of paper Kane handed him into his pocket.

  Kane smiled. “Also, Dr. Newman called. They’ve had a breakthrough with the antidote for the drug in the dart. They want a volunteer to try it. She thought maybe Briar or Sam.”

  River looked over at the two men working with the chicken. They’d both heard what Kane had said.

  “I want to do it,” Sam said.

  “You don’t have to volunteer,” River told him.

  “I can do it, Sam,” Briar said.

  “You don’t have immediate symptoms like I do. They wouldn’t know it worked unless you got pregnant again and had a problem-free pregnancy. I want to try the antidote.”

  “You’d better discuss it with Leo first,” River said.

  The two of them hadn’t interacted a lot over the years; River had maintained the impression the omega held a grudge because Josiah had had to talk the pack alpha into taking Sam into the pack. Now, Sam looked at River with a seriousness that sobered the pack alpha.

  “Please help me make Leo understand. You can see what bad shape I’m in. I’ll never live through the birth of this child.”

  River looked more closely. Sam appeared exhausted. Dark smudges circled his eyes, and he’d lost weight. Most disturbingly, the light had nearly gone from his normally expressive brown eyes. With everything that had been going on, River hadn’t seen it. He wondered if Leo was in denial.

  “All right. I’ll tell Dr. Newman you’ll do it, and I’ll make it right with Leo.” River looked at Kane. “Tell the others we’ll be leaving in two hours.”

  River walked to the edge of the yard and stripped off his clothes before shifting and taking off toward the river. Grey had set out to take a swim a half hour earlier, and River figured this would give them an opportunity to talk in private.

  The day had been a hot one, and even now as the sun was dipping lower in the sky, a suffocating blanket of humidity still hung in the air. As a wolf, River covered the distance easily and stopped at the water’s edge to take a drink before shifting back to human form and swimming to where Grey floated on his back in a calm pool surrounded by large rocks.

  The alpha of Angel Hills had similar coloring to Briar—soot black hair and eyes like a clear summer sky—but, as an alpha, he was taller and broader and exuded power. Grey’s second-in-command, Milo, had visited River’s pack a few times in the past, but River wasn’t well acquainted with the pack alpha. He knew Grey had two mates, a beta called Ian who the alpha had been with for a long time, and an omega, Gabriel, who had made the move to Angel Hills with a few other omegas from River’s old pack.

  River greeted Grey and the two alphas swam a few laps before climbing onto a smooth rock to dry off.

  “Sorry I haven’t had much time to talk to you,” River said.

  “I understand,” Grey said. “A pack alpha never rests. He looked around at the fields surrounding the river. “This is beautiful property. I admire you for rebuilding your pack like you’ve done.”

  “I didn’t have much choice and had people depending on me. You would have done the same. But thank you for the compliment. How is Gabriel doing? And the other omegas?”

  “Gabriel’s healthy but pretty mad at me and Ian right now. We’ve sent him to the omega house for his heats. I’m afraid of him getting pregnant. It might kill him next time.” Grey glanced at River with troubled eyes. “The others are all mated and doing well. We’ve actually go
t a new omega, a young man called Emory who Gabriel found in the woods. He can’t speak, and we’re not sure why. Ian’s younger brother’s taken quite an interest in him.”

  “And Canaan?” The beta had once caused quite a bit of trouble for River, and the pack alpha had been relieved when the beta had chosen to go to Angel Hills with the omegas.

  Grey chuckled. “He’s good. A very surly alpha called Duncan has taken him in hand.”

  River would have liked to have heard more about that, but there was no time for that at present.

  “I wanted to let you know that Dr. Newman has come up with an antidote she wants to try out,” River told Grey. “She’s asking for volunteers. Would Gabriel be interested, or maybe the beta you told me about?”

  Grey looked off into the distance, deep in thought. “Christopher will probably want to do it. I don’t know about Gabriel. I supposed it isn’t known if the antidote’s safe?”

  “I don’t know the risks yet, but I trust Dr. Newman.”

  “I don’t know if I want my omega mate to be a guinea pig.”

  “I understand completely. I’d feel the same way.”

  “I’ll ask Christopher as soon as we get back to the compound, but for now I say no to Gabriel participating. As long as we don’t impregnate him, he should be safe for the time being.”

  River got to his feet. “We’ll be leaving to meet the FBI agents in about an hour.”

  “I’ll tell Joel, and we’ll have our men ready.”

  On the bank, the two alphas shifted and took off across the field toward the pack house.

  * * * *

  “I appreciate your willingness to help out in this matter,” River told Joel as they rode downtown in the Spartan Pack SUV. A brilliant sunset lit the horizon to the west. David and Grey were driving other vehicles full of men. Tension and unease filled the air, and River wished his mate was safe at the pack house instead of at the Congress overseeing a benefit.

  “You saved our pack last year,” Joel said. “How could we turn you down?”

  “That was Mark and Jax, not me,” River said. Jax had learned that Blake Parker and his father had planned to destroy Spartan Point pack and had stopped it from happening just in time.

  “Jax. He’s the one who’s inside this Omega Oasis tonight?”

  “Yeah. He’s been undercover the better part of two years. He volunteered to take the fall with the others who planned the attack on your pack and be thrown out of the Congress. With the trust Jax obtained by doing that, he was able to marry the son of Senator Joseph Parker, the man who runs the faction that’s attempting to eradicate shifters. He’s our inside man.”

  “I’m sure he’s more than ready to get out of there,” Joel said, and River grunted agreement.

  The GPS signaled a turn, and Joel pulled up at the end of an abandoned road.

  “This the place?” Kane leaned forward from where he sat in the back with five guys from Joel’s pack.

  “Yeah, the mouth of the tunnel’s supposed to be that way.” River pointed to a pathway leading into the trees. “We’re going to walk from here.”

  Joel parked the SUV in an alley and the five men climbed out of the vehicle just as David pulled River’s black Mustang to a stop behind the SUV. A minute later, Grey parked the Nissan Frontier behind the mustang. Doors opened, and shifters spilled out of the vehicles. At the signal from River, they started toward the copse of trees.

  About a mile into the woods, River spotted Agent Kumar a short distance away, and as they grew closer, he saw the agent stood beside a man-made opening in the ground. Beside it lay a large number of tree limbs and piles of grass most likely used to hide the aperture when necessary. At a gesture from Kumar, the group ducked into the entrance to the tunnel, walking at least another half mile before coming to a group of men, one of them wearing headphones and seated on a box with an expensive-looking laptop open on top of another.

  “Do we need to be silent?” River whispered when everyone had settled down to wait. He had no intention of joining the men lining the walls; he wanted to be completely informed of what was happening.

  “We’re far enough away, still. Besides, this rock is thick and solid,” Oaks replied.

  “Any word yet?”

  “They got started a little early, so good thing we set up way in advance,” Kumar said. The man was sweating, and lines of stress marred his face. “The omega appears very out of it. He didn’t look like he recognized Jax at all. We’ve got some good footage, but the whole thing’s suddenly taken an odd turn. We don’t know what to make of it.”

  “What do you mean, it’s taken an odd turn?” River asked, hackles rising. “You promised this would go smoothly.”

  The agent glanced at the pack alpha. “It’ll be fine. We’ve almost got enough to go in.”

  River glanced at David. The second alpha looked as though he was having a difficult time keeping his cool. River had a sudden feeling David was not going to like what Kumar had to say. From his place sitting along the wall, Austin leaned forward.

  “Has Nick been hurt?”

  “No, your mate is fine, and Agent Den has confirmed he’s been untouched these past few days.” Kumar glanced at his partner for confirmation, and Oaks nodded.

  “Are you getting the information you need without letting that asshole touch my mate?” Austin demanded, and River held up a hand to indicate the alpha should settle down. He understood Austin’s concern and planned to get his questions answered.

  “Tell me what’s going on, Kumar.”

  “We want a confession, but Moreau hasn’t gotten it yet. He seems to be offering himself to Parker in place of the omega,” Oaks said.

  “What?” David stepped forward, trying to see the screen, but Leo and Liam held him back. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Parker seems to be very interested in Moreau,” Oaks said. “And in an honorable move that could very well fuck up this investigation, Moreau has agreed to take the omega’s place tonight.”

  David broke away from the two alphas holding him and knocked an agent backward, so he could get a look at the computer screen. His face paled. “No, no.” He looked at Kumar. “We have to go in. You’ve got enough evidence by now.”

  The agents began discussing what they did and did not have, while David looked ready to tear into them if they didn’t do something fast.

  “Fuck you!” David growled. “You don’t give a shit about any of us as long as you get what you want. Well, I’ve got news for you; I’m not waiting any longer.”

  Two agents grabbed the alpha as he started down the tunnel, but David easily broke away.

  “River,” he looked to the pack alpha, an obvious plea for permission in his voice, and River sighed. Enough was enough.

  “Let’s go,” he said to his men. “Do not shift unless you have to.”

  River was certain the federal agents were following him, but he didn’t care at this point. They raced down the tunnel, following its twists and turns. The shifters could see in the dark much more easily than the agents. River could see their flashlights casting narrow columns of light over the dark walls.

  When they finally neared the end of the tunnel and a door, River could make out a swarm of dark-clad agents waiting for the signal.

  River turned to Kumar. “We’ll follow your lead as long as things are going smoothly.” He looked at the shifters. “No killing. Just knock ‘em out and grab the omegas.” River shifted into his wolf and the others followed suit. Oaks spoke into something on his wrist, and a few seconds later, the door slid open. River allowed the agents to go first. He caught sight of a Chinese-American man directing the agents down the hall and followed. Just as the group got close to the door at the end, another door opened, and a huge dark-skinned man walked out followed by a man with a buzz cut and goatee.

  The two men were so stunned by the sight of armed agents flanked by a pack of snarling wolves, they didn’t put up a fight when they were handcuffed and draw
n aside.

  At the sound of a crash, River’s attention was drawn to David’s white wolf leaping through the now broken door. The pack alpha followed in time to see the snarling wolf jump on a man and begin ripping into him.

  Screams filled the room as the man tried to fight back against the wolf. River shifted to human form and called to Joel and Kane to help him pull David off Senator Parker.

  “Get him off the guy!” Oaks yelled, pushing his way forward.

  River wanted to yell that he was fucking trying but had to expend all his energy on pulling the enraged white wolf off the man bleeding on the floor.

  “Shift,” River ordered David, and the next moment he had an armful of his naked, panting second-in-command. Jax, shirt off, stood up from the floor. Looking around, River spotted Nick on the bed, trembling and staring blankly into space, and the moment he did, the omega’s heat enveloped the alpha like a cloud. River covered his nose with his hand and backed away, as most of the other alphas in the room had already done.

  “Austin! Get Nick into the hall,” River yelled, but the alpha already had his mate in his arms, carrying the omega away from the others.

  David stood and grabbed hold of Jax, wrapping the man in his arms.

  “We’ve got the son and fifteen others,” a static-laced voice materialized from the watch on Kumar’s wrist. “We count eleven omegas.”

  “Affirmative, number matches our intel,” Kumar replied back.

  Looking over his shoulder to the broken doorway, River saw at least two dozen men handcuffed and lined along the wall of the hallway.

  “FBI! This is a bust!” River could still hear the phrase yelled over and over again throughout various parts of the building. A crash and tumbling noises sounded overhead before more yelling and silence.

  Senator Parker lay cursing and half-sobbing on the floor, his chest and arms bloody, and Oaks barked an order for the medics.

  Someone pushed a lanky man in handcuffs into the room, and Jax barely managed to grab hold of David before the second alpha could lunge at the guy.

  The man only glanced at David, eyes settling on Jax.