Page 82 of Bubblegum Pop

“Apollo! For fuck’s sake!” Zeus struggled against me as I tried to get to the alpha. Kicking out, chucking my head back, scratching at his arms as I snapped at him.

The alpha’s chest was rising and falling. My job wasn’t done.

Still shaking, still roaring, my senses blasted, my need to kill dominating me.

Candy was right there. I knew she was safe. But it just wasn’t registering.

Other team members were filtering into the room, starting to wrap up the scene as if nothing had happened.

My harsh breaths were consuming me. My throat tight, my lungs burning, the blood rushed through my veins faster than I could take. My rogue state dominated any sense of reason.

There was no hope for me. I could feel Odin and Zeus trying to break through. My full alpha instincts had been unleashed, and it was like they were banging on one-way glass. I could hear them, but I had no way to see or find them.

My attention was fixed on Candy as she rose, trembling as Odin gripped her, pulling her up. But she only had eyes for me.

She stumbled towards me, naked, red marks riding her wrists and ankles, the bloody slash on her neck running a crimson path to her collarbone, unleashing a new wave of fury that he dared hurt her.

I couldn’t tell who was who. Even Candy, so close to me, was something I needed to annihilate. I had to kill. I had to stop everything in my path so I was the only one left alive.

I was the true alpha, and I would kill anyone who got in my way.

“Apollo!” my omega gasped, reaching for me. “Apollo! Please! I’m right here!”

She stood, composed as she turned her palms to me, her lids fluttering closed, and she perfumed.

It took seconds, her bubblegum surrounding me, binding me, blinding me, absorbing itself into my lungs.

My omega. My sweetheart. The woman I loved.

I choked as my head began to clear, but it didn’t stop. I had to dominate everyone. I was the pack lead, and I hadn’t protected her, or Zeus, or Odin.

She pushed through, past my writhing arms and the moment she touched me, the second her aura surrounded me, my senses collapsed and my body gave way.

“I’m right here,” she whispered as she wrapped her arms around me, nudging Zeus away. But he held firm, knowing firsthand how out of control I was.

Candy was ours. And her scent already pumped in my veins, a summer breeze to my blazing light. “I’m here. Apollo. Look at me.” She cupped my cheeks, pulling me down, forcing my lips to hers.

Waves of heat crashed through me as her taste filled me. She swept her tongue across mine, her breath filling my lungs. Every part of her essence captured me as her arms pressed around my back with her naked body on me.

I groaned in return, red sparks flashing at the sides of my eyes, quickly replaced by wisps of sweet pink. Candy moaned, rubbing herself up against me, marking me, the scent of her heat calling me through the red haze.

She was heaven. Her scent melded with mine, her soft skin pressed against my cheeks as her tongue swept around my mouth, and I wheezed. It was so hard to breathe, to talk, to think.

Zeus held me, Odin stroked Candy’s back, and I melted under the force of the three of them.

Our scents. Our aura. Our love.

It wasn’t enough to bring me back.

I was too far gone. I had broken, and I couldn’t settle. My mind was too shattered.

When Zeus snapped and killed three alphas, I wasn’t enough to pull him back.

And they couldn’t do it. I loved them both, but no matter how hard Odin and Zeus tried to reach me through the bond, they couldn’t keep me grounded.

I was meant to be the calm one. I was meant to be the one that kept us safe.

I fell forward, yelling out as the agony of my ruined mind scoured my body.