I lean in without meaning to. My body seeks him out, remembering exactly how good it feels to be held by this Alpha.
He blinks once. Then all warmth drains from his eyes, and a mask slides back into place.
He clears his throat.
“Follow my finger with your eyes,” he says, moving it side to side.
I try to follow his instructions, I do, but I fail because I can’t stop looking at him.
It’s the same Viper. The same broad features with a heavy brow and pillowy lips. Yet, there’s something that’s changed. He has a coldness that was never there before.
“Focus, Omega.”
I don’t know what stings more, the hollowness in his voice, or the note of betrayal barely veiled beneath it.
He’s angry with me.
Behind him, Knox slumps against the wall of the truck bed, blood oozing from his wounds. His eyes are glassy, but he hasn't looked away from me once. There’s so much unsaid, and it throbs in the space between our heartbeats.
I try to speak, to say anything to cut the tension, but the words never make it out. My teeth chatter violently.
“You’re in shock, but not concussed,” Viper says in his deep, rumbling tone. “And your thigh wound needs…”
He trails off.
My thigh wound needs nothing. At this rate, it’ll be completely healed in an hour.
The truck lurches over a pothole, the suspension whining with the weight of it.
Knox shifts.
His hand twitches toward me as his body rocks with the motion, as if he can steady me. Because in his delirious state, he’s still in the fight, keeping me safe from threats.
He’s pale, slick with sweat, his shirt clinging to the mess of dried and fresh blood.
“Knox needs you.”
Viper hesitates, looking at Knox, then to the front of the cab, questioningly.
Knox is the one who gives orders in Scorch Squad, but he’s currently fighting consciousness. As the lieutenant, he’s the next in the chain of command. He shouldn’t need Shade to give him the go-ahead… and yet, he asks for it.
Something has changed in the squad dynamics since I’ve been gone; that much is clear.
Shade catches the unspoken question in the rearview mirror and jerks his head in affirmation. “Do it, LT.”
Viper frowns and exhales sharply through his nose. His hand slips from my leg, slowly, like it’s painful for him to let me go, and moves to Knox’s side. A pleasant warmth still lingers on my thigh, a ghost of his touch causing a tingling sensation.
The Prime Alpha hisses and attempts to kick him away, baring his teeth. “Omega. Look after… Omega.”
“I’m fine,” I lie, my voice sounding steadier than I feel. Truthfully, I think I’m in shock. My body won’t stop trembling, and flushes of both hot and cold rip through me. I feel undone on a cellular level. Using my Omega Command has wreaked havoc on my body. Add in the bullet wound, reconnecting with my ex’s,stress from surviving an active war zone, and I’m one wrung-out Omega.
Viper rips open his Knox shirt, revealing the extent of the damage. Most of the bullet holes are already healed with shiny pink new skin, but there is one in his chest and another in his stomach that are still spilling blood.
Viper snarls, pressing gauze to the wounds, and Knox grunts.
It sends my Omega instincts haywire.
Protect. Nurture. Soothe.
