Page 110 of His Stolen Omega

The second he glanced down and saw the healed marks on his wrists it all came flooding back to him.

In a frenzy, he sprung from the bed and raced into the bathroom, moving to the floor length mirror. He was naked, on full display, but that made it easier to take himself in. To track the bite marks that had already hardened and scarred.

His fingers pressed against a mark on his side, above and to the left of his navel. The scar was tiny, hardly noticeable at all.

Had the bullet been that small or…?

No.

No, it was the alpha.

Levi wouldn’t suffer an imperfection if he could help it, and since it didn’t seem like he intended to kill Elm—

The panic attack hit him unexpectedly, bringing him to his knees. Elm clutched at his chest, sucking in air as he reeled from what that truly meant.

Pieces from when he’d been unconscious returned to him, enough to know the alpha had stayed with him throughout. That he’d overseen whatever Elm had gone through personally. There was the obvious medical attention, but what else—

Something dark caught his attention on his left hand and he turned it, blinking at the tattoo on his ring finger.

The one that had most definitely never been there before.

A snowflake.

The lights went out suddenly, startling him, but Elm stilled when the design on his finger began to glow.

In the same spot where the black snowflake could be seen in the light, a cursive L glowed in neon blue.

Elm was still staring at it when the lights came back on. Even when he registered the alpha’s presence in the doorway.

“Come out, omega,” the Leviathan commanded. “There’s nowhere left where you can hide from me. Not even in the dark.”

Chapter 26:

Levi wasn’t well acquainted with fear.

But he’d felt it when he’d come downstairs and found the front door wide open.

And again, when he realized the hole in his omega’s side was worse than he’d initially believed.

Caring for someone meant giving up control, and the sense of powerlessness he’d felt while searching through the forest…when he’d been forced to stand off to the side and watch the doctor work on his mate…Levi didn’t like it. It was everything he’d always found ridiculous about others. Everything he’d always promised himself he wouldn’t subject himself to.

Initially, when he’d woken alone in bed, he’d assumed the omega was off licking his wounds somewhere. He was under no illusions that Elm would be pleased with the claiming bite, had known it was going to be an uphill battle.

It hadn’t occurred to him, however, that he’d be so upset he’d run.

On the outside, it appeared as though he’d taken great pains about it too. The thickest jacket missing from the closet. The bow and arrow gone from over the mantel.

If not for the fact he’d left the front door open—a thing Levi was fairly certain the omega had done subconsciously—Levi may not have realized in time. And if he’d been even a minute later to the cabin…

He didn’t want to think about that now. There were other things that needed his attention.

His omega had been out for a while, and Levi had spent those days close to his side, waiting. So of course, Elm had chosen to finally wake during the one time Levi had stepped away to take a call.

Stubborn.

Even without meaning to be.

Perhaps it was for the best, gave them both a chance to get ahold on their emotions. After all that he’d been through, Levi imagined there were a lot of conflicting thoughts swirling in his omega’s head.