“No,” Ben gasped, his eyes wide.
A growl tore through Cam’s chest.
I just stood in paralyzed silence.
Josie was being dragged between Glen Jacoby and some motherfucker in a lab coat—dragged because she couldn’t stand upright. They each had a tight grip on her arms, their expressions gleeful. Josie’s eyes were glazed and unfocused as she tried to hold her head up.
Her fucking sweater was on backwards.
“What did you do to her?” Cam roared, moving towards our omega, his body vibrating with rage.
Amirah’s warning ran through my head. She knew what they were doing to Josie and told us not to react. The precariousness of our situation gripped me. We needed to get our omega to safety. Ben and I kept pace with Cam until we’d crossed the room to reach our mate. Ben had a restraining hand on Cam’s arm, and I knew I should do something—take charge, get us out of here, but I was frozen.
Then Josie whined my name and reached her arms out to me. My vision narrowed to just her, all other sounds falling away. I caught her, lifting her with one arm under her backside and the other banded tightly around her back.
“Ow,” she whimpered, and I loosened my hold.
“Where are you hurt?” I growled.
Tears built in her eyes, and her lip trembled. She didn’t meet my gaze.
I wanted to rage, to roar, to attack. But instead, I tucked her head into my neck and breathed in deeply. A certain peace came with breathing in her vanilla notes, even though the suffocating scent of fear covered her usual sweetness.
“—bill passed this morning,” I caught Glen telling Cam. Ben was still restraining him, both of them looking at the two alphas with pure hatred. The guards around the perimeter of the room moved closer, weapons in hand. Shit, we needed to get out of here.
“They’re standard issue for all omegas now. Your pack just has the privilege of benefitting early,” the other alpha said, his name tag identifying him as Dr. Bishop.
Fucking hell.
A red haze settled over my gaze, and only Josie’s weight in my arms kept me from lunging at him.
Dr. Bishop. That was the doctor who had put the first device in Josie, who had sliced her open when she was at the DA.
Ben glanced over at me, clearly feeling my spike of fury through the bond. I forced myself to take a few slow breaths. If Cam recognized the doctor’s name, there would be no holding him back. I could see it now—him lunging at the doctor, ripping him limb from limb as the guards moved in and filled him with bullets. I caught the gleam in Glen Jacoby’s eyes and knew I was right—we’d be playing right into their hands.
“We did you a favor. We have granted you every alpha’s dream—the power to command absolute obedience from your omega,” Glen said, his slimy gaze on Josie. I shifted so I was behind Ben and Cam, hiding her from his sight.
“We didn’t ask for this,” Ben hissed, still holding Cam back.
Tears welled in Josie’s eyes. “Theo, my sweater ripped,” she sniffled, pointing to a small hole in the arm of the sweater.
“That’s okay, angel,” I said softly. “We can get you a new one.”
“But you got it for me,” she said. Tears streamed down her face now. “I’m sorry I let it get ruined.”
I didn’t know my heart could hurt like this, like someone had torn it from my chest and stabbed it repeatedly.
“It’s not ruined, love. Never ruined. And it’s not your fault,” I murmured, kissing her forehead.
I glanced up, noticing Glen and Dr. Bishop’s eyes on us. Fuck. We needed to get out of here.
“Cam, Ben,” I gritted out.
The moment Cam saw her tears, he came over to her side. He ran his hand down her arm in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture, but Josie flinched. A spot of blood seeped through her sleeve.
Cam let out a vicious snarl, but Ben grasped his arm before he could do anything.
“She needs you here right now,” he said, refusing to back down.
“I want to go home,” Josie whimpered, and that did it. Cam’s eyes focused on her, softening with love.
“Of course, baby girl,” he murmured, running his thumb across Josie’s trembling lower lip.
I kept Josie firmly against my chest, letting out a soft purr to try and soothe her. I met Glen and Dr. Bishop’s stares one last time before turning away. Every cell in my body protested leaving them unharmed, but Josie was my priority. A time would come when they would be without their guards serving as shields, and then we would get our revenge. I would do anything to make this right, to earn my omega’s forgiveness for failing to protect her.
My mind was a blur as Ben ushered us out of the god-forsaken building. I walked as carefully as I could, not wanting to jostle Josie and cause her more pain. She just tucked her face into my neck and breathed in. She kept saying, “I’m sorry.”
I wanted to erase that word from her lips.
We got to the car, and Cam gestured for me to hand her to him. I shook my head. “Not fucking letting her go.”
Cam snarled and turned, punching the car. Josie let out a startled cry at the noise, fresh tears streaming down her face. Cam looked devastated when he realized what he’d done.
“Both of you in the back,” Ben snapped, throwing the car door open.
I started at Ben’s unexpectedly sharp tone and followed his orders without thinking. Cam got in first and held his arms out. This time, I placed Josie in them before sliding across the seat. He held our mate with a tenderness that made my heart ache. Ben started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, muttering curses under his breath.
I ran my hand through Josie’s tangled hair, caressing her soft skin and running my thumb under her puffy red eyes.
“Can I take a look at your arm, love?” The red spot on her sweater was growing larger, and I had to breathe through my panic to stop myself from ripping the sleeve off to see what they’d done.
Josie whimpered, her eyes closed tight.
“Please, angel,” I whispered. “I’ll look real quick. I just need to see if you need medical care.”
After a few long torturous moments, Josie nodded. I tried to push her sweater sleeve up her arm but couldn’t get it high enough.
“I need to pull your arm out,” I said. When I went to remove the sweater, I saw she was naked underneath.
“Where’s your bra, love?” I asked, my voice strangled.
Ben inhaled sharply as he swerved. Cam growled and pressed Josie closer, holding her face to his neck. Her cries were small whimpers as she dug her nails into her palms. I slid my hands into hers, trying to protect her from this small pain.
“It’s okay, you’re okay. We’ve got you,” Cam murmured.
I hated having to do it, but I stripped off one sleeve of the sweater, revealing her arm. The bastards hadn’t even bandaged the wound. Blood was dried against the sloppy stitches along the incision, which looked red and jagged. I brushed my finger against the wound and felt something round and hard underneath the skin.
God fucking dammit.
My mind couldn’t comprehend what they’d done to her again.
“We just need to get it cleaned and bandaged, angel,” I said, trying to keep my voice soothing. I lifted the sweater just enough to see her ribs. There was a bruise blooming on her side.
“Is your side hurting?” I asked.
“Not too bad,” Josie whispered.
I tucked the sweater back around her, leaning forward to kiss her cheek. “I think we should call Angie to check you over.”
Josie shook her head, her lip quivering. “No doctors.”
I met Cam’s eyes and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. How could we take care of her while respecting her wishes?
Ben stopped at a red light and twisted around in the driver’s seat, reaching back to offer Josie his hand. She took it, pulling it in towards her chest.
“Angie’s an omega, remember? We’ll make sure she doesn’t touch you if you don’t want her to,” Ben said, squeezing our mate’s hand.
“You won’t leave?” she asked in a small voice that broke my fucking heart all over again.
“Never,” Ben said, his voice low and fierce.
A car honked behind us and I wanted to scream. How could people continue living as if everything was normal when my world had fallen apart?
Ben reluctantly pulled his hand out of Josie’s grasp and turned back around.
“Okay,” Josie relented, her voice wooden.
I exhaled with relief and quickly pulled out my phone to dial Angie’s number through our encrypted app. Josie curled her body into a tight ball on Cam’s lap. She remained there, unresponsive, for the rest of the ride home.
