Page 107 of His Stolen Omega

Had that been self-defense?

Why hadn’t he thought to use his dominant pheromones to take the alpha down instead?

Why—

“Zan,” Levi’s voice through the walkie snapped Elm out of it, “report. Now.”

He couldn’t afford to stay here, even more so after stupidly murdering one of the Leviathan’s soldiers.

Elm tore his gaze off the dead man—the man he’d just killed—and set it back on the cabin. He had to move.

Before it was too late.

Chapter 25:

Heat blasted him as soon as Elm stumbled into the cabin. A fire was roaring in the hearth across from the entrance, but his gaze passed over it, looking for—

There.

A laptop was left open on a desk by the window.

Elm ran for it, shoving the chair aside when he got there, fingers flying across the keys. He pulled up a chatting app he often used, and was in the process of signing in when pheromones licked against his skin.

Weak ones.

Elm spun on his heals and called on his own before bothering to see who was behind him, releasing them in a sharp whip of power that had an alpha he’d never seen before hissing and slamming into the wall.

The alpha had just exited from a side room, and did not seem happy to see Elm standing there.

“I—” Elm didn’t get the chance to finish.

The man moved faster than he could blink, lifting a blaster Elm hadn’t noticed he was holding. He fired off a single shot, but that was all it took.

The pain was instantaneous, the sensation like getting decked in the gut with a sledge hammer. Elm crumpled to the ground, automatically clutching his side protectively. The bullet had hit him somewhere on the left side, but there was already too much blood, and his mind was struggling to sort through the shock.

The alpha took a step closer, the gun still aimed.

Levi must have ordered them to shoot on sight.

The fact the guy outside had only been holding a walkie talkie had extended Elm’s life for a few more minutes.

His hand pressed against the wound, but his vision was already starting to blur. His side throbbed, and blood gushed from between his fingers, spurting all over his lap and onto the floorboards.

Karma must be working fast today.

In a minute, he’d look no better than the man with the arrow sticking out of his chest.

Adrenaline kicked in, Elm’s instincts taking control of his system, pumping the room with aggressive pheromones meant to hurt. He pulled his teeth back and snarled like a feral animal, feet struggling to find purchase beneath him so he could stand, or at least get into a less compromising position and attempt to toss himself behind the nearby couch or something.

The alpha struggled against the pheromones, but he wasn’t as weak as Elm had first assumed. He hit the floor on his knees, teeth rattling, but managed to lift the gun. Another shot went off.

Elm jerked as it grazed his right arm. The burn still sucked even if the bullet lodged itself in the wood behind him instead of in him like the first one had.

He continued to shove his pheromones forward, knowing that if he faltered for even a second, the alpha would take the chance to deliver a killing blow.

But it was getting more and more difficult with each passing second. He could practically feel the energy zapping out of him.

The third gunshot had him wincing and curling in on himself, eyes squeezed shut. He expected the worst, so it took him a second to realize he hadn’t been hit again and lift his head. Elm gasped when he saw the soldier lying on the ground, blood pouring out of a hole straight through the side of his skull.