AN OMEGA'S CYCLE: TRAPPED IN HEAT WITH MY FOUR STEPBROTHERS.

NICHOLAS’S POV

I lifted my head when I heard the voice, and for a moment, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Elijah was standing several feet away, breathing heavily as though he had been running for a long time, and his eyes were fixed directly on me.

The relief that hit me was like a breath of fresh air. After everything that had happened, after spending so much time wondering whether anyone would actually find me, seeing a familiar face made my chest feel looser for the first time in what felt like forever. I almost called his name, but Jayden reacted before I could.

His arm came around me, pulling me backward, and suddenly the gun was against my head again.

"Don’t move," Jayden warned Elijah, his breathing uneven as he tightened his hold on me. "I swear, if you take another step toward us, I’ll do something neither of you will be able to take back. You’ve followed me all the way here, you’ve brought people looking for me, and now you think you’re going to walk in and take him away as though everything I’ve done means nothing. Stay exactly where you are and keep your hands where I can see them."

Elijah stopped immediately. His expression changed the moment he saw the gun pressed against me, and although he tried to remain calm, I could see the anger and fear fighting across his face. "Jayden, listen to me carefully," he said, keeping his voice low while slowly raising his hands. "You don’t have to do this anymore. Whatever you think you’re going to accomplish by holding that gun against Nicholas isn’t going to work. He’s already been through enough, and if you let him go right now, you can still walk away from this without making the situation worse. Put the gun down, step away from him, and I’ll make sure nobody makes a sudden move."

Jayden laughed, but there was nothing amused about it. "You really think I’m going to believe that? You came all the way out here with your brothers and the police because you wanted to rescue him, and now you’re standing there talking about walking away. You don’t get to decide what happens to me. I spent weeks cleaning up after everyone else’s mistakes, moving him from one place to another, dealing with people searching for me, and now you finally find me because I made one mistake. You think I’m just going to hand him over and let you take him home? No. You’re not taking Nicholas anywhere."

The word home caught my attention.

I looked at Elijah and he looked at me too.

Neither of us said anything, but I understood what he was trying to communicate. He wanted me to stay calm. He wanted me to wait for an opening. His eyes shifted briefly toward Jayden’s arm before returning to mine, and I realized he was watching for the same thing I was. Jayden was distracted by his own anger. He was talking too much, holding me too tightly, and focusing entirely on Elijah.

Jayden continued ranting, barely noticing that the two of us had stopped paying attention to his words. "You don’t understand what you’re dealing with, Elijah. You think because you’re a Blackthorne that everyone has to fall in line when you walk into a room, but that doesn’t work here. You don’t control this situation. I do. Nicholas stays with me, and you’re going to leave before I decide that keeping him alive isn’t worth the trouble anymore. You should have stayed away from me from the beginning because now you’ve made this personal."

Elijah’s eyes moved toward mine again.

This time, I knew what he wanted and I waited.

Jayden shifted his grip for barely a second, distracted by something Elijah said, and I moved before I could think about what might happen. I drove my shoulder backward into him and twisted away as hard as I could. His grip broke, and the gun slipped from his hand.

It hit the ground and Elijah moved instantly.

He crossed the distance between us, kicked the gun away from Jayden and grabbed it before Jayden could reach for it. I stumbled backward, almost falling, but Elijah caught my arm and pulled me behind him.

"Stay behind me," he said, keeping his attention on Jayden while positioning himself between us. "Don’t worry about anything else right now. Just stay with me and keep your distance from him."

Jayden lunged and Elijah reacted immediately.

Two shots rang through the woods and I flinched and covered my ears.

Jayden dropped, clutching his legs as the weapon fell from Elijah’s hand. He tried to push himself upright, but he couldn’t stand. Elijah didn’t move toward him. He remained where he was, watching him carefully before turning back to me.

"Nicholas, look at me," he said, stepping closer while keeping his voice steady. "I need to know whether you’re hurt anywhere badly. Don’t worry about explaining anything to me yet. Just tell me if you’re bleeding, if you can’t stand properly, or if there’s anything that’s making you feel like you’re about to collapse."

I couldn’t answer. My mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Elijah looked at me for another second before reaching out slowly, giving me enough time to move away if I wanted. When I didn’t, he placed a hand on my shoulder.. "It’s me," he said quietly. "You’re safe."

I wanted to believe him. I really did.

But before I could respond, I heard several sets of footsteps approaching through the trees.

Cassian appeared first, followed by Adrian and Roman, and all three of them stopped the moment they saw me. Their expressions changed immediately. They had clearly been running, and their clothes were disheveled from moving through the woods, but none of that seemed to matter once they saw me standing there.

"Nicholas," Cassian said, approaching carefully. "We’re here. We finally found you."

Adrian came closer, his eyes moving over me as though he was trying to determine whether I had been seriously injured. "Are you hurt? You don’t have to tell us everything right now, but please tell me whether you need a doctor immediately. We’ve been looking everywhere for you, and we didn’t know whether we were going to find you alive."

Roman stepped forward as well. "I’m sorry," he said, his voice strained. "We should have found you sooner."

I couldn’t process any of it. I looked at them, and suddenly everything I’d been trying to hold together broke apart and I started crying.

I didn’t even realize it at first. My face tightened, my breathing became uneven, and then the tears came so quickly that I couldn’t stop them. I covered my face, turning away because I didn’t want them to see me like that, but there was no controlling it anymore. My whole body shook, and the more I tried to calm myself down, the worse it became.

Elijah moved closer.

"Nicholas, you don’t have to talk," he said, keeping one hand near my shoulder without forcing me to accept it. "Nobody is going to make you explain anything right now. You’ve been through something horrible, and you’re exhausted. Just breathe and let us get you somewhere safe."

I shook my head and he frowned. "What’s wrong?"

I still couldn’t answer.

Cassian looked toward Adrian and then back at me. "We’re taking you home," he said gently. "You’ll be able to rest there, and we’ll deal with everything else afterward. Nobody is asking you to make decisions tonight. We’re just getting you out of here."

Again, that word. Home.

My breathing stopped for a second. Home. The place where I’d lived with the brothers.

The place where I’d spent months trying to convince myself that I belonged. The place where I had been touched, used and confused about what I was supposed to feel. The place where I had trusted people without understanding what they wanted from me.

And now Jayden had taken that trust and twisted it into something I couldn’t separate from everything else that had happened.

I looked toward the brothers and they were waiting for me.

Cassian was speaking again, telling me we would leave immediately and that I didn’t have to worry about Jayden anymore. Adrian was already looking toward Jayden, his expression hardening as he approached the injured man.

"He’s coming with us," Adrian said, looking toward Cassian. "After everything he’s done, he’s going to answer for it. I’m not letting him disappear again, and I’m certainly not letting him walk away from what he did to Nicholas."

Cassian nodded. "I’ll deal with him."

Adrian’s expression remained cold. "No. I’ll take him. After what he did, I’m not leaving his interrogation to anyone else."

I barely heard them. My attention was fixed on the path through the trees.

I couldn’t go home. I couldn’t.

I stepped backward and Elijah noticed immediately. "Nicholas?"

I took another step.

His eyes widened. "Nicholas, wait."

I turned and ran.

"Nicholas!" He yelled.

I didn’t stop. I pushed through the trees without knowing where I was going, branches catching against my clothes as I ran. I heard footsteps behind me, but I didn’t turn around. I didn’t want anyone catching me. I didn’t want anyone touching me. I didn’t want to hear another apology or another promise that everything would be okay.

I couldn’t go back.

I didn’t know who Jayden’s brother was. I didn’t know who had ordered him to kill me. I didn’t know how long the people behind everything had been watching me, or whether they were still looking for me. All I knew was that I’d spent months letting people get close to me because I thought they cared, and then I’d ended up tied to a chair in a warehouse while another person decided what would happen to me.

The thought of returning to the house made my chest tighten so I kept running.

I didn’t know where I was going. But I couldn’t go back.

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