Page 120 of His Stolen Omega

The vegetable was crunchy with a hint of salt, and the more he chewed, the more hunger hit him.

He was starving.

Levi danced his fingers through the short hairs at Elm’s nape and selected a dumpling at the same time, feeding it to him slowly.

“Can I take the headband off at least?” Elm dared to ask after he’d eaten everything offered to him, even though he didn’t expect him to agree. “This thing itches.”

“All right.” Levi set the chopsticks down and gently removed the bunny ears. Setting them aside, the alpha rounded the island once more, finally taking his spot across from Elm. He picked up his own utensils and ate a bit of rice from the bowl in front of him.

Carefully, not wanting to make any sudden movements and potentially set Levi off again, Elm picked up his chopsticks. When he wasn’t stopped, he went back to filling his stomach. The food had already been ready when they’d come down, which must have meant the alpha had spent all morning in the kitchen preparing.

He’d somehow known Elm would wake today.

“How long was I out this time?” he questioned.

“A few days,” Levi responded.

“Oh.” Elm pressed a palm against the fading bullet wound. “And I healed this much already?”

“Advanced nano-tech. I had the best surgeons flown in.”

He’d also apparently killed one of them.

But Elm didn’t have the energy to worry about anyone else at the moment.

Levi unstrapped his multi-slate from around his wrist, clicked a few buttons, and then slid it over so Elm could view the screen. There were a bunch of numbers and a heartrate indicator, the line constantly moving.

“What’s this?” He didn’t understand why it was being shown to him.

“Your vitals.”

“From during the surgery?” That didn’t seem right. They appeared far too stable. Not that he knew much about this sort of thing.

“No,” Levi corrected. “They’re your current vitals.”

Elm frowned and touched the collar around his neck.

“Not there.” The Alpha left the multi-slate on the table and ate a piece of bok choy.

“Then…where?” Elm had the sinking suspicion he was going to hate the answer. He’d already put together that his earlier recollections after the shooting must have been him on the medical table, and later, the buzzing he’d heard was the tattoo gun. But there was still a gap between the two events.

“I had you fitted with a tracking device and vitals monitor,” Levi stated, in a tone far too casual for a reveal that extreme. “Two, actually. It’s always wise to have a backup.”

Elm stared at him, momentarily at a loss for words before he managed to find his voice again. “You…what?”

“Don’t ask me where they’re located on your person, I won’t tell you. Just know they’re imbedded deep enough it would require a skilled hand to cut them out.” Levi met his gaze. “You won’t be removing them.”

“That’s psychotic.” He dropped his chopsticks with a clatter and got to his feet. “You had me tagged like an actual pet?”

“I had you tagged like an unruly mate,” Levi corrected, then shrugged a single shoulder. “Since you can’t be trusted to stay put on your own, you left me no choice.”

“That’s bullshit! You can’t just fit people with tracking devices on a whim, Leviathan!”

“Firstly, I have no interest in any others. I’m monitoring my dominant omega. Secondly, this was not an impulsive decision.”

Elm took a moment to sort through that and came to yet another uncomfortable conclusion. “You made it sound like it was a punishment for escaping, but you were already planning on doing it, weren’t you?”

“For a while now,” Levi didn’t even try to deny it, “yes.”