A metallic tang filled my mouth as panic flooded through me. I recognized the baggage tag immediately. I was the one who wrote Oliver’s name, only to scratch it out and toss the tag in the trash. The sight of the name made my head spin with anger and fear.
Escaping my pack had become increasingly more difficult every time I managed it. I had always been looking for a weakness in the pack’s defenses. Oliver had been that weakness. He had a growing fascination with me, and I had used that to escape, only to realize that trusting Oliver was a dangerous mistake.
I didn’t understand how the magical cat found a luggage tag I threw away five states ago or why he brought it to me of all things.
“Omega?”
I lifted my head to see, clear as day, Oliver Hunt standing at the end of the firehouse driveway. I wouldn’t have recognized him if I wasn’t just thinking of the man. He had a scruffy beard and his ash-blond hair was so knotted, dreads were forming. His handsome face was gaunt, and clothes hung off his massive frame.
His jaw was slack, and he looked as shocked as I felt.
Panic spiked through my system, and I turned on my heel, running for the firehouse. The crashing of boots pounded behind me, and I knew he was catching up.
“Omega!” he roared.
I flew in through the door and kicked it closed, locking the deadbolt just in time. A knock came pounding on the wood, shaking the thick frame. I leapt toward the stairway when Oliver yelled through the door.
“Let me in, Omega.”
The order stopped me in my tracks, constricting my air as I tried to push back against it. Oliver’s emotions flooded my system, longing, betrayal, seething hate. There was no resisting his will. My hands raised to let him in.
Chapter Fourteen
Oliver’s anger flooded through my chest, along with the sharp slice of betrayal. He longed for me just as his rage rose into a murderous fury.
“Let me in, Omega,” he roared, reinforcing the order.
His dominance wrapped around my chest like a steel cable, and my hand lifted. It was like I had suddenly become a puppet, and Oliver’s dominance was the hand controlling me. My fingers closed around the deadbolt.
“No!” I screamed as I started to turn the lock. There was a rush of sound, and then hands wrapped around my shoulders and yanked me back into a wet, naked chest.
Arms wrapped around me, stopping me from grabbing the lock, but Oliver’s order constricted around my neck, choking off my air. I had to obey him. I had to open the door.
I fought against the man holding me, but they held me effortlessly. A ringing grew louder in my ears, and I could hear the low murmur of voices under the ringing but, I couldn’t hear the words.
A new, stronger dominance hit me, and I gasped for air.
“Breathe,” a low male voice said, and Ace’s fear and determination flooded through my body, mingling with Oliver’s fury.
I gasped, choking on the oxygen. As soon as I had air, my body was fighting to get to the door again, but the man continued to restrain me. My vision cleared enough that I could see Ace’s face just before mine. As he leaned in, water dripped from his curly hair. Both men had clearly still been in the shower when they rushed to me.
Ace ordered me to breathe again, and air flooded my lungs.
“If I don’t open that door, it’s going to take an hour or more for his order to wear off,” I managed before I was out of oxygen again.
“Breathe,” Ace ordered, and I gasped in once more.
“One of us should go after him,” Chad said as he continued to restrain my wild movements. “If we catch him, then she can open the door safely.”
“Can you order her to take breaths and stop her from touching the door?” Ace asked before he told me to inhale once more.
“Don’t move me any further away. The further away I am, the harder the order hits,” I managed before I was out of breath.
“Breathe,” Chad ordered, but I couldn’t.
My vision tunneled, and I just managed to shake my head.
Ace commanded me to inhale, and I could finally gasp in air.
“That werewolf is more dominant than you, Chad,” I said.
Ace looked between me and the door. “Teagan, I’m not strong enough to hold you in place without risking pushing you back. What do we do?”
“Let her go,” Oliver called through the door, and I felt Chad shudder, but his arms stayed strong around me.
“Command him away,” I managed after Ace ordered me to breathe once more.
“Move out of earshot of the firehouse,” Ace ordered through the door, before he turned and ordered me to inhale again.
Ace gritted his teeth. “Fuck he’s strong. I can’t hold both of you for long.” He shuddered. “Breathe, Teagan.”
“Let me open the door, and then I’ll run upstairs,” I said as my body fought against Chad’s failing grip.
“I see. If Chad lets you go and you open the door, then you can both head upstairs while I hold the werewolf at bay.” Ace nodded and then ordered me to breathe.
Chad released me, and I grabbed for the lock, turning it and opening the door.
Hands grabbed me around my knees and back, and Chad swooped me into his arms. He thundered up the stairs as I dragged in sweet oxygen. My eyes throbbed and my whole body felt feverish as I ached and shook.
Chad took me straight back to the shower room I’d just exited from where the three showers were still spraying.
“Can you stand? I need to secure the firehouse so that dickhead doesn’t come in,” Chad said,
