My throat thickens as I blink back tears. All I’ve brought this pack is trouble and issues to fix. Sniffing, I wipe my hand across my eyes to clear my vision.
The hair at the back of my neck stands up on end, and I slow my steps, my eyes flickering around me in the darkness. There’s that damn feeling again. Except this time, without Nate by my side, in the dark of the evening, it feels more ominous. Closer.
My senses go on high alert as I walk past an alleyway, the shadows moving in a way that isn’t normal. Glancing around, I look for possible help, but the street is deserted.
My mouth dries.Stupid, stupid Gabrielle.
I know what happens to lone omegas who don’t pay attention.
Footsteps sound quietly behind me, and I run through my limited options.
But there’s only one option. And it’s what I do best.
I run.
Shouts ring out behind me. Footsteps pound along the sidewalk, drowned out by my shaking breaths. My feet slap against the stone as I put everything I have into running as fast as I possibly can.
I don’t see the crater in the pavement until the heel of my stupid shoes catch in it, taking me down in a crash. They’re on me before I can move, my terrified screech subdued by a stinking hand slapped over my mouth.
“You,” someone snaps in my ear, “have been difficult to find, omega.”
The familiarity of the voice makes my eyebrows crease, and I crane my head back to get a look at his face.
His weaselly, pointed face.
“What’s a girl like you doing out here when you can be making money in there?”
Struggling, I try to push him off me, my bare feet scrabbling for purchase on the ground as I lose my shoes in my panic.
“I know some people who are very interested in meeting you,” Elliot grunts. “Time to go.”
“No!”
I suck in a breath to scream, but it flies out of me with a whoosh when his hand collides with my mouth.
“Mouthy bitch,” he growls. “They’ll soon train that out of you, don’t you worry.”
My vision spots, chest tightening until I’m wheezing in terror as a large van with blacked out windows reverses rapidly out of the alley in front of us. The doors slide open, revealing the dark space beyond.
If they get me in there, I’ll be better off dead.
Twisting my head, I sink my teeth into the slimy bastard’s hand. Elliot shouts, shoving me away, and I scramble to my feet, making a second run for it.
His feet pound after me, vile threats spilling out as he closes the distance between us. I try to push back my frantic sobs, pulling in the last of my breath.
And I scream with everything I have, until a hand twists into my hair, yanking me backwards so hard that my tailbone smacks into the concrete.
The beta drags me down the stones, agony radiating from my scalp as the pitch black emptiness of the van beckons.
Cade. Hudson. Axel. Nate.
They won’t know what happened to me. They’ll think I ran. That Ileftthem.
My fingers wrap around the metal foot of a trash can, and I hold on for dear life as Elliot tries to yank me off. I can feel my hair coming away, his hand digging into my shoulder with long nails, digging so deeply into my skin I know it’s cut through.
The low growl makes the beta pause.
A tiny piece of hope lights up my chest. Someone is here.
