Someone’s chest.
There’s a sharpoofas the air is driven out of him, followed by startled shouts.
“Shit—!”
“Tansy!”
Hands jerk away from me. The tourniquet snaps loose. I scramble backward, heart hammering, eyes flying open as I suck in a ragged breath.
The room spins. There are too many people, too close. Alphas everywhere. The beta doctor staggers back a step, one hand pressed against his chest, shock written all over his face. He swallows hard, panting hard like he’s struggling to catch his breath.
I curl in on myself, knees drawn up, eyes wild as mygaze skids across the room, cataloging every person in the room.
A young beta with dark, wavy hair is closer than the others, hovering near the wall, eyes wide with shock.
The unconscious alpha next to me hasn't moved.Good.
Warren stands near the foot of the bed, hands up, posture careful, like he’s approaching a skittish animal. His eyes are sharp with worry, and he’sshirtless.
The sight hits me hard.
Lean muscle, clean lines, and a head full of messy, blond hair. He looks nothing like the careful, put-together man in the suit at the black market.
He looks….good.
Seeing him bare and powerful and undeniably alpha, makes my whole body thrum.
Heat sparks under my skin, unwanted and impossible to ignore. My instincts surge toward him so fast I almost choke on it.
The urge to cry with frustration grips me, tight and humiliating. I don’t want this. I don’t wantanyof this.
“Tansy,” Gray’s deep voice slips through me from the door. He’s huge. Broad-shouldered. Filling the doorway like he was built to guard it. He hasn’t moved an inch, but his attention is locked on me. Protective in a way that makes something in my chest ache, even as fear claws up my spine.
They’re both watching me.
And my body is betraying me in real time.
Out of the corner of my eye, an older beta takes a single step toward me, and every nerve in my body lights up.
“Don’t touch me,” I rasp, voice shaking despite my best effort. I can only assume he’s the doctor, but I’m done being touched. “Stay back!”
Gray growls. Deep and vicious. It rips through the roomlike a warning shot, thick with possession and threat. My whole body locks up at the sound, but it isn’t aimed at me.
The beta goes pale as he freezes mid-step, throat bobbing as he swallows hard. His hands come up slowly, palms out, like he’s facing a loaded weapon instead of a man. The alpha’s growl doesn’t stop. It deepens, vibrating through the floor, through my bones.
“Oh-okay,” the doctor says, voice tight now, fear bleeding through the professional calm. He takes a careful step back. Then another. “I’m—I’m stepping away. No one’s touching her.”
Gray doesn’t move. He doesn’t blink. The growl lingers, a living thing, until the doctor is a safe distance away—until the threat is gone.
Only then does it fade.
The room exhales all at once.
“Tansy,” Warren says softly. “It’s okay. There’s no need to?—”
I don’t hear the rest of it.
Something in me snaps, instinct ripping the reins out of my hands. I can’t stay still. My body lunges across the bed, scrambling for the edge, for the door, nails digging into the blankets as I try to haul myself free.
