A growl tore through Cam’s chest.
I just stood in paralyzed silence.
Josie was being dragged between Glen Jacoby and some motherfucker in a lab coat—dragged because she couldn’t stand upright. They each had a tight grip on her arms, their expressions gleeful. Josie’s eyes were glazed and unfocused as she tried to hold her head up.
Her fucking sweater was on backwards.
“What did you do to her?” Cam roared, moving towards our omega, his body vibrating with rage.
Amirah’s warning ran through my head. She knew what they were doing to Josie and told us not to react. The precariousness of our situation gripped me. We needed to get our omega to safety. Ben and I kept pace with Cam until we’d crossed the room to reach our mate. Ben had a restraining hand on Cam’s arm, and I knew I should do something—take charge, get us out of here, but I was frozen.
Then Josie whined my name and reached her arms out to me. My vision narrowed to just her, all other sounds falling away. I caught her, lifting her with one arm under her backside and the other banded tightly around her back.
“Ow,” she whimpered, and I loosened my hold.
“Where are you hurt?” I growled.
Tears built in her eyes, and her lip trembled. She didn’t meet my gaze.
I wanted to rage, to roar, to attack. But instead, I tucked her head into my neck and breathed in deeply. A certain peace came with breathing in her vanilla notes, even though the suffocating scent of fear covered her usual sweetness.
“—bill passed this morning,” I caught Glen telling Cam. Ben was still restraining him, both of them looking at the two alphas with pure hatred. The guards around the perimeter of the room moved closer, weapons in hand. Shit, we needed to get out of here.
“They’re standard issue for all omegas now. Your pack just has the privilege of benefitting early,” the other alpha said, his name tag identifying him as Dr. Bishop.
Fucking hell.
A red haze settled over my gaze, and only Josie’s weight in my arms kept me from lunging at him.
Dr. Bishop. That was the doctor who had put the first device in Josie, who had sliced her open when she was at the DA.
Ben glanced over at me, clearly feeling my spike of fury through the bond. I forced myself to take a few slow breaths. If Cam recognized the doctor’s name, there would be no holding him back. I could see it now—him lunging at the doctor, ripping him limb from limb as the guards moved in and filled him with bullets. I caught the gleam in Glen Jacoby’s eyes and knew I was right—we’d be playing right into their hands.
“We did you a favor. We have granted you every alpha’s dream—the power to command absolute obedience from your omega,” Glen said, his slimy gaze on Josie. I shifted so I was behind Ben and Cam, hiding her from his sight.
“We didn’t ask for this,” Ben hissed, still holding Cam back.
Tears welled in Josie’s eyes. “Theo, my sweater ripped,” she sniffled, pointing to a small hole in the arm of the sweater.
“That’s okay, angel,” I said softly. “We can get you a new one.”
“But you got it for me,” she said. Tears streamed down her face now. “I’m sorry I let it get ruined.”
I didn’t know my heart could hurt like this, like someone had torn it from my chest and stabbed it repeatedly.
“It’s not ruined, love. Never ruined. And it’s not your fault,” I murmured, kissing her forehead.
I glanced up, noticing Glen and Dr. Bishop’s eyes on us.Fuck. We needed to get out of here.
“Cam, Ben,” I gritted out.
The moment Cam saw her tears, he came over to her side. He ran his hand down her arm in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture, but Josie flinched. A spot of blood seeped through her sleeve.
Cam let out a vicious snarl, but Ben grasped his arm before he could do anything.
“She needs you here right now,” he said, refusing to back down.
“I want to go home,” Josie whimpered, and that did it. Cam’s eyes focused on her, softening with love.
