The Omega And Her Triplet Mates

Chapter 7: Found

I was homeless for a week, managing to find food with the spare change people would give. In a week, I made about five dollars, so it was mostly cheap biscuits I bought to try to last me.

On two occasions, I had come across another homeless man who had been kind enough to share any food he had to spare without me even asking.

It always amazed me how people with truly nothing had more kindness and generosity in their hearts than someone with the whole world at their fingertips.

I could have shifted to my wolf form, maybe hunted a rabbit or two, but it was painful, and I was in the city, there was nowhere for a wolf to hide here.

Not all homeless people were welcoming. Some were hostile and territorial. People were not so nice either, especially when drunk.

I Got ready under a bridge in town for what I knew would be an uncomfortable sleep. I must have drifted off.

I found myself being nudged awake. Looking up, I saw unique eyes, one piercing green and one icy blue with flecks of gold, a gold rim around them looking back at me.

Jax.

I sat up straight and asked, “what are you doing here?”

He snapped, “I could ask you the same f.ucking question. Are you an absolute f.ucking i.diot!”

I scowled at him, not answering.

Looking angry, he said, “don’t f.ucking look at me like that. We escape from a psychiatric institution and your best idea is to sit out in the streets in the same damn town where anyone could recognise you? How many of the staff do you think come down this way for their weekly f.ucking shop?”

I didn’t get a chance to answer because three drunk guys came loudly down the street.

They were singing and dancing, but when they saw me, they headed my way, sneering.

The leader of the group spat, “disgusting waste of space, how can you call yourself a woman, you bum.”

Another of the guys piped up laughing, “she’s so fat and ugly, how the f***k can you be fat living on the streets.”

Another leered, “at least she’s got big t.its.”

They hadn’t even noticed Jax standing there and when one of them grabbed me and tried to grope my b.reasts, Jax stepped towards them and snarled, “get the f***k away from her.”

The three men turned in surprise, noticing him for the first time.

“P.iss off back home, pretty boy,” the leader sneered.

I don’t know what it was, probably the pretty boy comment, but Jax lost it. He slammed his fist into the side of the leader’s head, knocking him to the floor. His other friends came to help and both jumped on Jax.

It barely looked like a fight.

Jax moved with frightening precision.

He blocked and fought back like someone who definitely knew some martial arts or defense classes.

He wasn’t using his wolf strength as they were human, which meant even lost to rage, he was still somehow in control. It was his rage, not his wolf that gave him the strength he needed, he had completely and utterly lost it.

They got some hits in and his face was a bloody mess from a cut to his cheek, his nose bleeding and a cut lip, but it was like he felt nothing.

He had them all on the floor within ten minutes and when he went to walk away the leader of the group yelled, “you f***k! Got a crush on her have you pretty boy? Want to stick your d.ick in the ugly whale?”

He was taunting Jax and knowing this, Jax turned back to him with a wicked grin and answered, “yeah, too right. I’m going to f***k her tight p*****., and while I’m doing that you can reminisce together about how a pretty boy beat your arses to the ground.” He spat in the man’s face and pulled me to my feet.

Now was definitely not the time to argue with him, so I let him pull me by the arm away from the area.

He led me to a black motorbike parked at the side of the road, and that’s when I realized what he was wearing. He was dressed in a biker’s leather outfit. It was an all-in-one suit that was black and white and he wore black boots. The bike was black and so was his helmet that he unchained from the bike and picked up.

“Get on,” He said, making it a demand. He was seriously in a rage and I did not want to test him right now, so I awkwardly climbed on the bike and waited for him.

He pulled on black leather gloves and then his helmet, pulling the shield down, so I couldn’t see his face.

I gripped on to the bike handles for dear life as he swung onto the bike behind me. His chest touched my back for a brief moment before he reached around me and gripped the controls. The engine roared to life and without warning, the bike sped forward, making me—I’m afraid to admit—scream a little.

The cold evening air whipped through my hair, stinging my cheeks as we sped through the streets. Buildings, traffic lights, and storefronts rushed past in streaks of color before gradually giving way to quieter roads.

Soon we left the town behind entirely.

Large houses appeared on either side the road, each one more expensive-looking than the last. Their manicured lawns and iron gates flashed by in a blur.

I recognized a Walmart as we passed, but beyond that I had no idea where we were.

The farther we travelled, the fewer houses there were.

Concrete gave way to trees and greenery.

Streetlights disappeared.

Darkness closed in.

An uneasy feeling came over me. Where exactly was he taking me?

Wherever he was taking us was isolated, and finally, Jax turned down a narrow dirt path leading up to the woods, right of that was a little parking area for an abandoned building, like a warehouse or something, and he parked up behind the building out of sight.

I looked up at the abandoned warehouse. It stood in a clearing like something forgotten by the world. Its rusted metal walls were scarred with age, and several windows had been boarded shut.

He turned the engine off and climbed off the bike and waited for me to follow suit. I did and then walked up to him. “Where the hell have you taken me, and stop hiding under that helmet.” I yanked it off him and threw it to the floor.

I had a strange thing about men in masks that I found very attractive, maybe it was the whole mystery, I don’t know, but I couldn’t think straight with him looking so hot in his biker outfit. Not that it helped at all removing the mask, now I had to deal with his gorgeous model looks.

Golden blonde hair that was slightly sweaty, falling into stunning eyes, sharp, high cheekbones, and the kind of features that looked like they belonged on a magazine cover rather than standing outside an abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere.

A laugh escaped him, boyish and gorgeous. “Alright, calm down, love.”

My heart almost skipped a beat when he called me ‘love,’ but I quickly shook myself back to reality, he didn’t want me, at least not for more than friends.

I loved his British accent.

Jax had grown up in England before moving to America, and every now and then his voice seemed to get confused about which country it belonged to. Some words came out unmistakably British, rich and smooth, while others carried an American edge he must have picked up over the years. The mixture shouldn’t have worked, but somehow it did. Every time he spoke, I found myself paying more attention than I should have.

Still grinning, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather suit.

“This was my sister’s warehouse she owned before she moved on to owning a clothes store,” he explained. “Like I said, she was completely on my side for what I did to her ex. He paused. “Ok, maybe she worries a little about my mental health,” he admitted. “But she knows I would never hurt anyone without a good reason.”

So, he had a well-off family, it certainly explained a few things. The expensive bike. The confidence. The way he’d been allowed to get away with so much in the hospital.

When I didn’t answer him, the amusement slowly disappeared from his face.

“Look,” he said more seriously, running a hand through his hair. “I p.issed you off, and you have every right to be angry.”

His gaze locked onto mine.

“You can hate me all you want, but you’re staying here where it’s safe until we can sort something out with my pack.”

His jaw tightened slightly before he continued.

“My sister’s going to talk to our mum about me coming home, and I’m bringing you with me.”

He walked off, heading towards the building, confident I would follow…arrogant a.sshole, I thought, but reluctantly followed him.

When we got to the large metal doors, he unlocked a thick metal chain that was wrapped tightly around the handles.

The heavy links rattled loudly in the silence.

I frowned. “Why do you need to bother locking it up so securely, this place is isolated.”

He wouldn’t look at me and sort of mumbled, “just precaution.”

I soon found out why.

He pulled the doors open and It was pitch-black inside.

I hesitated at the entrance.

The stale air that drifted out smelled of dust, metal, and something else I couldn’t quite identify.

Something unpleasant.

Swallowing my unease, I followed him blindly down what must have been some sort of narrow hallway until we ended up in the middle of the warehouse.

My blood ran cold.

A light in the center dimly lit the place up making it look like something from the horror movie Saw.

Then I realized it wasn’t the lighting that made the place look like a horror film.

It wasn’t the stained concrete floor.

It wasn’t the chains hanging from the ceiling rafters.

It was the person attached to one of those chains, and another mangled mess of a human being strapped down to a metal table, unconscious and covered in blood and things I didn’t even want to guess at.

Blood stained the floor beneath them.

I turned away, staggering, and threw up in the corner of the room.

My entire body shook.

When I had finished, I yelled, “what the hell is this, Jax!”

Turning to face me, he shrugged his shoulders, taking off his black leather gloves and throwing them onto the desk in the corner.

“You know what I do, Rose.”

His voice was quiet.

Dangerously quiet.

“It’s not something I’m going to stop doing. Because if I do, then these sick f.ucks carry on doing the awful things that they do. We were given the gift of transforming into a wolf and having the strengths and perks that come with it. I choose to use my gift to help innocents stay safe from f.ucks like these.”

I stared at him.

Then at the prisoners.

Then back at him.

“So what?” I asked sarcastically. “You’re some kind of werewolf superhero?”

He grinned and only shrugged.

I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing, and I had to tear my gaze away to focus on Jax.

“What could they possibly have done so terrible that requires being t.ortured to death?”

For the first time, his smile disappeared completely.

He unzipped his leather biker suit and pushed it down around his waist and started pulling it off as he spoke, his face cold.

“Well, miss pretty blonde here,” he said, nodding toward the woman hanging from the chains. “Likes to eat young humans, she’s a lone wolf who likes to stalk her prey for weeks at a time first.”

My stomach dropped.

He pointed toward the man strapped to the table.

“And dear old Jack over there likes them even younger, much younger, actually. I can show you the pictures if you need proof. He likes to touch before eating them if you know what I mean.”

I shook my head violently. “That isn’t necessary.”

The smell made me gag again, but I managed to keep it down this time.

The warehouse suddenly felt too small.

Too hot.

The smell of blood seemed stronger now that I knew why they were here.

I couldn’t stop staring at the woman hanging from the chains.

She looked barely conscious.

Blood matted her blonde hair and down her face in dried crimson rivers. Her head hung forward, her body swaying slightly whenever the chains moved.

She looked broken.

But then I remembered what Jax had said.

Children.

The thought made my stomach twist for an entirely different reason.

I dragged my gaze away from her and looked back at him.

“Why not let the law punish them?”

He sneered at my comment and answered, “are you f.ucking kidding me! Where do you think I got the files on these sick f.ucks from?”

He reached over to a nearby desk and picked up a folder before tossing it towards me.

I barely caught it.

Inside were photographs, police reports, witness statements, and pages of notes.

I only looked at a few before snapping the folder shut again.

It was enough.

Far more than enough.

Jax watched me carefully.

“The police gave miss pretty blonde a s.lap on the wrist for stalking.”

I stared at him. “Stalking?”

“Yep, apparently several missing children and a f.ucking mountain of circumstantial evidence wasn’t enough to prove anything else.”

His jaw clenched.

“So yeah, a s.lap on the wrist and she got to walk away.”

My eyes drifted unwillingly toward the woman.

She didn’t look dangerous anymore.

She looked pathetic.

Yet somewhere out there were families who had probably spent years wondering what happened to their children.

I shivered.

“And him?” I asked quietly.

Jax sneered at the man. “Pedo here? He got two years for indecent images and a lack of evidence for any bodies.”

God.

I didn’t want to know how Jax knew that, he had probably been stalking these supernaturals during the last week.

When I looked up at Jax, he was watching me.

Waiting.

Judging.

Maybe wondering if I would condemn him.

Maybe hoping I wouldn’t.

“What makes you any better if you’re going to murder them?”

The question slipped out before I could stop it. Probably not the wisest thing to do, judging a killer while you were trapped alone with him in his kill den.

For a moment neither of us spoke.

Then, sounding annoyed, he said, “I’m doing God’s work and if I’m wrong, well then I don’t give a s.hit, someone has to make them pay.”

“But they will pay in hell.”

He looked coldly at me. “Yes, they will, but in the meantime I’m here to get things started and to put a stop to what they’re doing. It’s either them or those innocents that suffer… I know which one I prefer.”

He had a point, and I couldn’t find an answer as good as the one he had just given.

I turned to leave, but he put a hand on my shoulder. “Please, just stay. I’ll get rid of them.”

I looked up as the lady pulled on her chains upon hearing his words. She was covered in blood and so pale I wasn’t sure she would survive the night from blood loss.

He saw me trying to figure out why she was so quiet and said, “she would scream, but I removed her tongue when she kept cursing me. It was kind of distracting.”

I looked at him with wide eyes. I knew in the hospital that he was very dangerous, but it was something entirely different seeing him in action and talking about a person as though they were a simple inconvenience and not a chained up t.ortured victim.

That was the most terrifying part about Jax. How casually he talked about it.

As if he’d removed a faulty car part.

As if m.utiliating someone was an inconvenience rather than a nightmare.

The man I’d been secretly falling for suddenly felt like a complete stranger.

Maybe he saw it in my face.

Maybe he realized he’d pushed too far, because his expression softened.

Sighing, he turned me around and led me back outside.

Cool evening air helped my nausea.

He picked me up as though I weighed nothing and sat me on his bike.

Leaning his hands on the bike either side of my waist he met my eyes. “Wait here.”

His voice was softer now.

“I’ll come get you when they’re gone.”

As an afterthought, he added, “please.”

I watched him turn and head back inside and waited. I was horrified, confused and helpless about what to do.

My mind kept replaying what I’d seen inside.

The chains. The blood. The look in Jax’s eyes when he’d talked about it.

Part of me wanted to run.

I had just seen two t.ortured victims and done nothing, but I reminded myself they were disgusting creatures who preyed on young children.

Jax must have a soft spot for pups, so I had a hard time feeling too sorry for them knowing the confusion and pain they must have caused those children.

Even though I was afraid, the other part of me remembered the terror I’d felt in that alley.

Remembered his arms pulling me to safety.

Remembered the genuine concern in his voice whenever he thought I was in danger.

I wrapped my arms around myself.

Nothing about him made sense.

How could someone be capable of such horrifying things and still be the same person who worried whether I’d eaten or slept properly?

How could someone be both my safest place and my biggest reason to be afraid?

I shook the thoughts away before I drove myself mad.

I didn’t hear a thing inside the warehouse, I didn’t know whether the place was sound-proof or if they were simply too weak to respond. I knew the lady couldn’t scream without her tongue, but the man should have, I didn’t think he had removed his tongue, and I wasn’t planning on asking any time soon, but then again, I wasn’t even sure looking at the mess of him whether he had even still been alive.

I don’t know how long I had been sat there when Jax finally returned. I glanced toward the warehouse then back at him, I didn’t ask why he wasn’t covered in blood or anything that might suggest what he had been up to.

And he didn’t offer an explanation.

Some things were better left unsaid.

“Come on,” he said quietly.

I slid off the bike and he led me back inside. I froze. There was absolutely no trace that anyone had ever been here beside himself. The warehouse was spotless. The chains were gone, the blood was gone, even the smell was gone.

He cleaned up terrifyingly well, making me believe this wasn’t his first time, nothing except the smell of dust and bleach, although even the bleach wasn’t overpoweringly strong.

I didn’t want to know whether he had killed them off and ditched them somewhere or let them go, I had a pretty good idea which one was more likely.

I tried to turn things back to a more normal topic and asked, “why do you care if I stay here? I can move somewhere besides the city if you’re worried about me getting you caught.”

He looked at me where I had made myself comfortable on the floor leaning against the wall.

Dragging out the chair that was tucked under the desk, he pulled it up in front of me and straddled it.

Leaning his chin on his folded arms over the back of the chair, he muttered, “f.ucking hell Rose, you are one of the most insecure people I have ever met. I care about you, obviously. You almost got yourself r.aped out there.” He went quiet and thoughtful.

Looking down at the floor, he murmured quietly, “I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn’t been there.”

I went quiet too, remembering how they had tried groping me, how afraid I’d felt. I shivered at the thought of what would have taken place next if Jax hadn’t come along and found me.

I stayed with him in the end.

Not because I trusted him completely.

I wasn’t sure anyone in their right mind could.

But because, well, I didn’t have anywhere else to go anyway, and even if he didn’t feel the same way about me as I did him, I knew I would be safe with him because he at least cared about me as a friend.

Despite everything I’d seen, and for all his flaws and the terrifying things he’d done, Jax protected the people he cared about. Somehow, I seemed to be one of those people.

I had always wanted to belong to a pack, if what he said about bringing me to his was true.

I pushed the lump down my throat and went to lay down on the cold concrete floor.

I looked over at a single mattress with a pillow and quilt on top of a faded rug.

“My sister brought those over,” Jax said, noticing where I was looking.

I nodded, and slowly laid down on the cold floor.

Lying on top of the covers on the mattress with his arms behind his head, Jax raised his head to look at me and laughed when he saw me lay down. “What the f***k are you doing, you nutter?”

I raised my eyebrows at that and exclaimed, “yes, because I’m the nutter here.”

He laughed harder. “Fair enough, but honestly, dude, what are you doing? You’re not sleeping there, it will kill your back. Stop being a p*****. and get on the mattress.”

I scowled at him and would have argued, but it would only have made me look more childish and petty and, to be honest, I was exhausted having not slept properly after a whole week on the streets.

I got up and dropped onto the mattress hard, making it jiggle and Jax lose balance. I secretly grinned when he almost rolled off, but he ruined my joy of tormenting him by laughing, “s.hit!”

He found something to laugh at in every situation. I grumbled and climbing under the quilt, lay down on the opposite side of him, so we were top and tail.

It was silent for a while, and I was almost feeling sleepy when Jax softly spoke into the silence, “you know, I don’t regret what we did, I lied when I made out I was just using you…I do like you.”

I blushed hotly at the memory and hope filled my heart. I quickly shoved it back down and answered, “I know you like me, you’ve been a good friend.”

I felt him shift on the bed and looked over to see him sitting up and resting an arm on one knee that was propped up.

He let out a quiet laugh, and rubbed a hand over his face. “Christ, Rose.”

“What?”

For a moment he just stared at the floor as though trying to figure out how to explain something.

It was strangely endearing.

Jax always seemed to have something smart to say.

Some joke.

Some sarcastic comment.

Seeing him struggle for words felt unusual.

Almost vulnerable.

“I’m sorry.”

The sincerity in those two words caught me completely off guard.

“For what?” I frowned.

He gave me a look.

“You know exactly what for.”

Unfortunately I did. Heat crept into my cheeks. The memory of that night flashed through my mind before I could stop it.

His hands.

His mouth.

The way I’d stupidly believed it meant something.

I looked away.

Jax sighed.

“You didn’t deserve me messing you about like that, I probably could have just asked and you would have helped me. I’m not really the romantic type and I know that’s what you want, I can’t offer you that, but I can offer you friendship and promise to never hurt you like that again.”

I ignored the sinking feeling in my chest and said, “How do I know you’re not just saying that to make the situation less awkward here.”

He got up and crawled over to my side of the bed and lay on his side, leaning on his forearm to look down into my eyes.

My heart hammered violently in my chest having him this close to me.

“Trust me, friend or not, It’s not really in my nature to make someone feel better, especially over some makeout session.”

He kissed my forehead and I whispered, “uh, uh, Mr, you can’t do that, that’s not fair.”

“Sorry,” he whispered back and went and lay back his end of the mattress.

My forehead still tingled where he’d kissed it, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop smiling.