Theo lifted my arm to show Angie the wound. I would have yet another scar marking me as defective. Angie gave him instructions on how to clean and wrap it. It stung when he touched it, and I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out in pain.
Ben’s thumb ran along my lower lip, rescuing it. “You don’t have to keep quiet for us, precious,” he said.
But I was scared that if I let out what I was feeling, the emotions wouldn’t stop until they drowned me.
My alphas inspected my ribs, rolling me to my other side to ensure I didn’t have any other injuries.
“Josie?” Angie asked.
I didn’t respond. Guilt curled in my stomach—I wanted to say something to this omega who had done so much for me, risked so much to help me. But my brick wall soared to the sky, walling me in.
“Josie, I’m so sorry to ask this, but did they touch you anywhere else?”
All my alphas stilled and it took me a moment to piece together her question and my alphas’ reactions.
Then it clicked.
I shook my head and Ben breathed a sigh of relief and hugged me close, careful not to aggravate my side. I wasn’t sure why Glen and Dr. Bishop hadn’t done a pelvic exam… or worse… but I guessed they had other priorities today. I had the vague feeling that they had said something about Jericho, but I couldn’t remember what it was.
I reached up to touch the bandage Theo had wrapped around my arm and realized they had sealed the deviceininstead of taking itout.
“Want it out,” I whispered.
“I’m so sorry, I can’t take the device out,” Angie said, sounding pained. “It will alert Glen if we do. But I promise we’ll find a way to…”
“No,” I shrieked. “Get it out, now!”
My chest constricted and I felt like I was suffocating. I thrashed around on the bed, trying to free myself from the blankets piled on top of me. I screamed, panicked that I was trapped again.
Someone pulled the blankets off and Cam pressed me close to his chest. I fought his hold, my body unsure of whose arms were around me, until he started purring. The vibrations soothed the ache in my heart and my limbs softened. Cam ran his hand up and down my back in a rhythm too quick to be soothing while Ben pulled his shirt off and slipped it over me, enveloping me in his scent.
“How do we know it will alert him?” Theo asked. “He could just be lying to scare us.”
I forced my eyes open. Angie stood by the foot of the bed, wringing her hands. “It matches the intel the Alliance gathered a couple of weeks ago…”
Cam cut her off with a snarl. “The Alliance knew about this and did nothing?”
Angie blanched, taking a stumbling step back.
My omega whined at seeing her scared. I lifted my hand to pat Cam on the chest and he placed his hand over mine, caressing it. He tilted my chin to meet his gaze, and my breath caught at the fear and pain in the depth of his eyes.
Cam turned back to Angie.
“Sorry,” he muttered, giving my hand a small squeeze.
“I don’t think anyone knew this was going to happen today, and certainly not to Josie,” Angie said softly. “I’m sure Amirah would have tried to warn you. We got intel a few months ago that these new devices were in development. I’ve been working with an Alliance team to figure out how to combat the device technology. I didn’t realize when we first met, Josie, that you were the one who gave the Alliance the original device. We used your old device to develop the alpha tabs, but when we realized Glen’s larger plan, we started trying to develop a way to disable the technology in these new devices.”
Her words floated to me as if through a fog. I didn’t care about disabling the device.
“Please take it out,” I said, lunging forward to grip her arm. “Please, I can’t stand it.”
“We’re so close to having the serum ready to disable the device,” Angie said. “And I promise, the moment we take down this government, I will remove it for you.”
My lip trembled, and I pressed my face to Cam’s chest.
“There’s another thing,” she said hesitantly, her voice sounding like it was traveling through water. “Our research suggests that the device will interfere with the formation of a bond.”
“What?” Theo hissed.
