Linus stumbled back. When he looked up, he saw the man who had haunted his nightmares for years.
“You.” Dert sneered at Storm. “I realized why you looked so familiar. You were here trying to throw me off his scent.”
“Back off. He’s mine,” Storm snarled.
“He was mine first. He still wears my bonding marks.”
“Only because they can’t be removed.” Storm scoffed, straightening himself to his full height. “Linus asked me to mark him. Your marks are no longer valid.”
Dert stepped closer, sneering back. “Omegas have no say in these things. They exist to serve.”
“Then get it through your thick skull that he wants to serveme.”
Linus couldn’t think. Cold panic had gripped his insides; his whole body hurt with memories of Dert striking him with different things—his fists, umbrellas, Linus’ textbooks. He had thrown Linus into walls and kicked him in the stomach, and Linus had been naïve enough to think Dert would change his ways if Linus begged him enough.
It had gone on for six months during Linus’ post grad years. Then Linus had pulled himself together and fled in the middle of the night; Mom had left town along with him, both of them coming to Meadowfall to start a new life.
I need to move,Linus’ brain said sluggishly.Storm said to get out of the way.
But his feet had rooted themselves to the floor, and black spots danced across his vision.
“He’s not leaving.” Dert smirked. “I think he wants a taste of the past.”
Storm grabbed the front of Dert’s shirt.
What happened next was almost too fast to follow. One moment, the alphas were facing off against each other. The next moment, they were throwing punches, Storm pummeling Dert onto the floor.
Dert was taller than Storm, bigger and broader. Linus could only inch closer, his pulse thundering in his ears.
“Sweetheart, get out of here,” Storm growled.
“Him? He doesn’t deserve a name like that,” Dert said, lunging at Storm. “He’s a fucking whore.”
Storm punched him hard in the face. Dert roared and threw his own punch; Storm dodged it.
The thing was, there were only a few ways this could play out.
Storm had hit Dert without a justifiable reason. He didn’t have the law on his side right now.
Much less if he killed Dert somehow.
But if Dert threatened Linus, if Dert hurt Linus... then Storm had every right to hurt Dert back. No one would bat an eyelid if Dert died.
Maybe it wasn’t fair to think about it this way.
Then again, none of what Dert had done to him was fair at all.
What should I do?Linus crept closer to the fighting alphas, trying to think.
His fingers clenched around Storm’s phone. Backup. Backup would be good.
He opened Storm’s chat with the Danger Alphas.
Storm
Hi, this is Linus. My ex got into our apt. Storm is fighting him. Storm says he can handle it but to call Hades or Fury for backup.
His hands shook as he typed the message. Linus had to correct some typos because he was shaking so hard. Then the message took forever to send.
