“Okay, really rub those rocks in your head together for this one—then leave me out of it.”
He snarls slightly. “Your kind calms and tames the alphas.Onlywhen mated. You areessentialfor a world functioning better.”
I pace a little. “You’renotmy alpha. Stop acting like just because you smell like one, doesn’t mean you can just tellanyonewhat to do.”
“I amthealpha of Dominion. I have a say over all.” He spins his finger in the air. “And this little Enclave will form an alliance where they give me any omegas they find, or else lose everything. Omegas require a tightly controlled society to exist freely. Not because that’s what I want, but because I’ve seen how one can be torn apart. Being forced into a life one did not choose, especially when that life binds them in chains of their own will, is a special kind of cruel. The current and only solution is to put as many of these omegas under the control of someone who can protect them.”
“And that’s you?”
“That’sDominion. And in that, yes, that’s me. On the rare occasion an omega is absolutely inconsolable, she is held deep within the center of an area where only mated alphas and omegas congregate.”
I hate him. I stare at him as he breathes, and he leans his head back on the bed. His chest slowly rises and falls, and I drink in being this close to an alpha. It has an undeniable effect on me, and the medical side of my brain finds that fascinating. It’s easy to tell myself he’s dangerous, but that doesn’t sink in.
Especially when a part of my omega side finds comfort in such a capable alpha, wanting to learn more about how Dominion can keep me safe.
But who is to say they’d have any emotional capability? Judge can fit his empathy in a teaspoon. Surely, his men are no better. But he mentioned that the inconsolable ones don’t have to mate…
Fuck.
The pills are wearing off.
These thoughts are terrible, dangerous, and embarrassing. A slave to my DNA. I sit back down to be near the injection, shifting frequently in position, and his stupid head moves to watch me. My stomach cramps again.
“Uncomfortable?”
Can he smell that? “No, this is exactly how I wanted to spend my time.”
He smirks. I don’t reply.
I hate that he’s not wrong about society, and that omegas really are deep in shitty luck, and that wedoneed people protecting us. Like how Maggie protects me. We can’t help that the world pulls us apart like we’re the cure to a deadly disease. Then I hear the chains, and focus back on him. His head is facing me now, his body tenser than before. I can feel a shift in the room. This reminds me more of Judge from New Bunker. The one that precedes him.
Straightening my back is all I do as he presses against his binds, the chains going taut. He’s staring right at me, his shoulders rising before slowly dropping down.
What is he smelling? Am I related to an enemy or something? “I truly think it’s time for me to go.”
“A lot of things need to happen, but leaving is not one of them. You have no idea what that scent means,nurse.”
Act.
Now.
I flit my gaze over that injection one last time. Maybe I won’t stab it in his veins, but Icansedate him. Get out of here. “I get it, I’m an omega. Yes, I smell like hormones. Get thefuck over it,” I say, looking at his stomach, adjusting my rolling seat so I can bend over to grab the needle better. He doesn’t laugh. I look over my shoulder to gauge how far the door is, and he almost seems angry. “Stay in this fucking room.”
I then lunge down to grab the needle, flicking the tip off and shoving it in his thigh, to which he responds immediately. Even the damn bar of the bed bends when he puts pressure on it from his chain, that alpha’s grip from his free hand pulling me against his body as the needle snaps. “What thefuckdid you just put in me?”
“A sedative,” I choke out.
My body is already addicted to being touched by him, by feeling his breath on my neck andsmellinghim. His grip loosens, and I ragdoll in his hands until I’m able to squirm away from the fading hulk of a male. Once on my feet, it’s terrifying howcloseI was to him.
There’s no doubt I’m probably one of only a handful of people to ever escape him if he’s come at them withthatstrength.
To that note, I’m fucking dead if I don’t make it out of here. I grab my bag from the floor and think the plan through very carefully. I can open the door, act like it’s business as usual—I go back to the table. There are a few more sedating shots. I need to give it to Maggie, to save her, too. Otherwise, it’ll look like she let me go.
I’ll do it by force if I need to.
Opening the door, I peer down an empty hall. Oh my god, this might work. They actually emptied it to give us privacy. Some part of me immediately knows it’s because he intended for me to be there with my scent. I’m not evenhisomega, and he’s already being possessive about it like alphas always are. I meet the gaze of Maggie, the bags heavier under her eyes. “I need to do this, Maggie.”
She looks at the needle like she immediately understands. “Then do it fast.”
