Knot So Perfect Omega (Omega Match #1)(49)

“Then what? They cart her off to the hospital where we can’t protect her? She’s probably sleeping or left her phone somewhere.” I was sure of one thing, no one was touching our girl but us. “Her heat just started today, or maybe last night. She isn’t going to die.”

I didn’t think.

I blocked out all the emotions coming through the pack bond we shared, unable to handle them any longer along with my own.

The SUV pulled into the parking lot of the private jet terminal of the airport and we piled out, grabbed our bags from the back, and rushed inside. Once we got on a plane, it would take about two hours to get to L.A. and then another twenty or thirty minutes to get to our house if we landed in Burbank.

It was nine o’clock, so the terminal was empty besides us. I marched right up to the counter and waited patiently for the man to look up from his computer, but I only had so much patience. And that patience was two seconds.

“Excuse me. I’m Beckett Thomas.”

The guy finally looked up and glanced over at the rest of my pack, who had moved into the waiting area. “That was fast. I have some good news and some bad news.”

I couldn’t stop the growl from coming out. “What’s the bad news?”

He didn’t seem put off at all by my growl. “The good news is there’s a plane landing in an hour.

The bad news is it needs fuel and some minor maintenance before it can take off again, so the best we can do on such short notice is a departure time of eleven-thirty.”

“What about this plane that’s right outside? It looks like they are getting ready to leave. We can pay whatever is necessary.” Rio came to stand next to me at the counter and I was grateful because I was about to bite the guy’s head off.

“I’m afraid that’s a private plane that isn’t part of our fleet. We have coffee, water, and snacks while you wait.”

Rio tugged me away as my fist curled around the handle of my suitcase. “We can have Omega Protective Services check in on her. It’s going to be fine.”

I sat down heavily next to Kane and put my head in my hands, feeling defeated. My job was to protect my pack, and right then, I was doing a shit job of it. Maybe we should call OPS to check on Kayla. But then what? They take her away because we couldn’t take care of her?

Honking came from the parking lot and a party bus pulled up outside the door. Four women came down the steps dressed to the nines in minidresses and high heels that would break a neck.

They stood off to the side giggling and squealing, and then I saw why. Payne, Alvaro, Cal, and Tate of N’Pact came down the steps.

I personally didn’t see their appeal, but women and a lot of men went nuts over them and they ate it up like it was a feast laid before them. We’d met them a few times when they’d invited us to parties at their house, but none of us were into dealing with the type of betas that followed them around.

“I am not in the mood to deal with a bunch of knottyboppers right now.” Rylan slumped further in his seat. “Maybe they won’t notice us.”

“Oh my God! It’s the Killer Gnomes!” one of the women shrieked as soon as they walked in the door.

“My ears are bleeding,” Kane muttered. “Shoot me now.”

“Do you think they just picked those chicks up from the stadium?” Rio crossed his arms and watched them all gather around the checkin desk with the band.

“Probably.” I stood to pace, unable to sit still, and tried calling Kayla again. It went straight to voicemail. What did that mean? Had she turned it off? Did the battery die?

“All right, ladies, take a seat in the beta area. We’ll board in ten minutes.” Alvaro, the leader of their pack, gestured to the other side of the waiting room.

There wasn’t a beta area in this small terminal.

I shook my head as they came and sat in the seats across from where we were sitting, eyeing us with curiosity. We should have been over the moon at our win, but we looked like a bunch of depressed assholes ready to snap at any moment.

My phone rang and Brian’s name flashed on the screen. I wanted to decline his call but also wanted him to leave us alone for the foreseeable future. “What?”

“You’re canceling all of your media for tomorrow?” He was pissed and not a single ounce of me cared. “You have contractual obligations to uphold. What about the photoshoot for Alpha Heat Magazine? It’s for the cover!”

“If they can’t understand that we need to get home to our omega, they can fuck off. We’re also canceling our practices.”

“You barely won your games today. We need to be on the practice field every day until the championship game.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth. Do you want us to lose? We need rest, and we also need to be with our omega.”

“Oh, so now you want her. Is that why you’ve run off? What did she do? Spread her legs and now all of a sudden you love her?”

I growled, the chatter from the band and the girls they brought going silent. “You don’t get to talk about her like that.”

“Why? She’s affecting something we’ve worked hard for all season! Is she in heat? Is that what this is?”

“That’s none of your fucking business. The championship doesn’t matter if she needs us!” I was clutching the phone so tight I swear I heard a crack. “We’ll forfeit if we need to.”