Thedoorslamsandlocks with a heavy thud as the nurses finally leave me the fuck alone. I’ve found my way to one of the higher security areas in this hellhole, which suits me just fine for the moment. I make a quick scan of the room and, when I don’t spy any obvious cameras, I shuffle my way to the tiny, attached en suite bath.
It takes a little manoeuvring but I’m able to extract the small baggie I’d glued to the underside of my balls, and with minimal hair-pluckage to boot.
The pack thought I was crazy for going to this “extreme”, but this isn’t my first rodeo with this type of facility. Once they got me doped up, everything I had was stripped away and searched. My clothes, my jewelry, my shoes, andmy body were examined with a fine-tooth comb, and not in the fun way. But thankfully my little piece of contraband made it through.
Once I’ve gotten the bag free, I rip open the plastic and insert the tiny earpiece, wiggling it to get it to sit just right so it can’t be seen from the outside.
“Check, check. Can you hear me?” I mutter into the silence.
“Took you long enough.”
A shiver runs down my spine at the sound of my prime alpha’s rough growl, a languid smile pulling up at the corners of my lips.
“Did ya miss me, Bones? Maybe I should have kept you waiting even longer,” I sass back, unable to help myself.
“Focus, Joker. What have you learned?”
Another voice, yet just as familiar. Our beta, Cross.
“That the staff here are bloody horrible,” I grumble, rubbing away the lingering hurt from the earlier injection.
Bones’s sigh of impatience turns my smirk into a soft smile. Not that he can see it, but it does warm the cold, dead parts of my heart to hear his non-verbal agitation. He never likes me to be far from his side, so I know this is killing him. But there isn’t another way to get what we need.
“Have you found the records room?” Cross asks, keeping me on task.
“They didn’t give me the grand tour or anything. Not that I did myself any favours to earn their hospitality.”
I chuckle to myself as I pace the room, inspecting everything closely for signs of monitoring equipment.
“What the hell did you do?” Bones snarls.
I flex my fingers, the pain centering me. Damn, it felt good to punch that nurse. Might have to do it more often if he keeps trying my patience.
“Nothing you wouldn’t have done if you’d been in my position,” I reply.
“That’s not as comforting as you think it is,” Cross adds, barely contained laughter in his voice.
I laugh out loud, finishing my inspection. As expected, it’s the usual layout. A bed with no sharp corners and bolted to the floor. A dresser with drawers that can’t be fully removed. A plastic mirror over the fully rounded sink. Nothing that I could use to hurt myself or others.
“How many…patientsare there?” Cross asks, hesitating to use the clinic’s terminology even if we both know what he wants to say.
I suck my teeth, trying to force my brain to focus for a moment. Not that there’s much to distract me in here. But if there’s a will, my brain will find a way.
“I didn’t get to see a ton when they brought me in. There were a dozen or so in the front room; all omegas,” I report.
My mind wanders back to one omega in particular, the pale wisp of a woman by the window. I’d noticed her almost immediately, though I’m sure everyone does. Her hair is the color of bitter, dark chocolate, long enough to reach her elbows, and just begs to be wrapped around a fist and pulled. And her eyes…God, I could get lost in those pewter grey pools all too easily.
“Joker! Do you read?”
Bones’s harsh snap brings me back to reality, and I jump, looking around as if he’ll appear out of thin air.
“Sorry, was too busy looking at the handsome devil in the mirror,” I reply, deflecting with a joke.
There’s a pause, and I grin to myself. The urge to talk back rises even higher, especially since he’s not here to dish out punishments for my sass. Not that there won’t be consequences later. But that’s a problem for future Joker. For now, I keep finding my thoughts bouncing between memories of deliciously painful aches and achingly pained grey eyes.
“Did you find anything related to their…secondary line of business?” Cross asks again, possessing infinitely more patience than our prime alpha.
“Nah, nothing sighted yet. There was another set of doors in the lobby, though. Could be down that way,” I comment, dropping onto my bed.
