He kisses my forehead, my nose, and each of my cheeks. “Go. Be safe.”
We get to the cell block to find it empty aside from Graeme, Jack, a few downed resistance members, and a single omega.
“The others?” I ask as I skid into the room.
“Free. All free,” Graeme says. “But I refuse to leave this omega behind.”
“Tiny problem,” Jack grunts with a grimace. He throws an arm out, blocking me from the omega. “Her touch is worse than the strongestagoniaspell I’ve ever been hit with. And, let me tell you, I’ve been hit with some doozies.”
“Can’t you stun her?” Cassian asks, and a second later, he’s writhing on the floor in agony.
“Did I mention she’s freaky fast?”
Cassian flips him off as he curls in on himself on the concrete floor. I drop to a crouch by my mate’s side, rubbing his back. Simon kneels beside me and nods to the omega. I squeeze his hands in thanks and turn to Graeme. “Saints, she did that? She was able to touch him that quickly? She couldn’t possibly have two affinities, could she?”
“No idea,” Graeme says lightly. “But she’s already given us both a magical kick in the bollocks, and to be perfectly frank, I just want to get the hell out of here. But we can’t just leave her here.”
I cast my men a quick look because I know they won’t like what I’m about to do. I raise my hands in surrender and take a small step toward the girl. “We’re here to help you,” I tell her gently. “These alphas are good men. They’re going to get you to safety.”
She raises her hand menacingly and glares at me.
I back up half a step. “I’m like you,” I tell her.
I hear Cassian protest weakly just as Jack says, “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Look, I can prove it. Can you speak?”
She shakes her head slowly, the sigils on the collar glowing.
“Can you do something for me?” I ask, trying not to scare her. “Can you think of your name really hard?”
She frowns at me, but I know the moment she thinks of her name because I hear it, loud and clear, in my mind.
Cora.
“Cora,” I say with a small smile. “I’m Juniper, and I have an affinity, like you. I can read minds. I’m with a group of people trying to get you out of here. To safety.”
Nowhere with alphas is safe.
Saints, I can’t imagine what she’s been through if she thinks that. I offer her my left palm, showing her the scars of Luca’s bite, then tuck my hair away from my neck to show her Cassian’s. “Luca and Cassian are my mates, and Jack and Graeme are our friends. You can trust us.”
She shoots a mulish look at Marcus.
“He used to be my honor guard. He still protects me because the man who hurt you wants to hurt me, too.”
An image of Rad flashes through her mind, and I can’t help the way I recoil.
“He’s a very, very bad alpha,” I agree. “Which is why we have to get you out of here. Once we do, we’ll get that collar off of you. And when it’s safe, we’ll get you back to your family.”
She hangs her head and a series of memories flash through her mind. Her furious mother, locking her in her room after she came into her magic and hurt her little brother. Her father, his hand raised to hit her again. The bitter, inhospitable streets of New York City during a record cold snap. The inside of one cell—an Omega Rehabilitation Center—and then the inside of another, the very cell she’s in now.
“She… she has no one,” I tell the men with me, my voice hoarse.
“All the more reason why we can’t leave her here,” Graeme says quietly.
Alena’s voice comes in over our earpieces. “Bad news, chickadees. Five thousand collars have already shipped. The storeroom was cleared out. Graeme, where are you?”
“Be there in a moment, Alena. Take your folks and start getting the omegas out of here. Take them to the safe houses we talked about.”
