Chapter 8
JUDGE
Everything is warped and stuttering, like I’ve been dropped mid-dream.
My limbs are heavy as I slowly sit up, the broken handcuff dangling from the cot.
I immediately know the smell of Beast. I crane to look up at the giant, the ink of a skull and dagger around his throat, bringing immediate familiarity.
That mask of his is less than comforting, steel shaped into the mouth of a beast, metallic tubes carrying the sound of air and medicine.
Yellow, glowing vials are hooked up to the back like roots. His eyes are the same color as mine.
He nods at my leg. “I took the needle out that broke.”
I glance down. The needle’s gone. A sharp ache throbs, and I need to piss after all those fluids they gave me, but it’s not what has my attention.
That little omega… the one who sat here like prey, trying not to breathe too loudly.
Many things course through me, from thinking that attacking me like she did is how people die, all the way to wondering if she’s safe.
It’s offensive how much she’s covered in that fucking tang of suppressants, like slathering on a false veneer that’s cracked at the edges.
She was terrified of being found out.
She has no idea she’s been found.
It can’t be… And yet I can’t deny there’s something in her scent, even if covered, that I’ve not encountered before. It was soft and elusive, like the first edge of spring with something feral beneath, laced with honeysuckle.
It completely warped my mind and practically let out a dormant creature that’s finally being called to its duty. Inhaling deeper through my nose to scent the stench of disinfectant and recycled air, her already-fading, medicated scent is still lingering in trace amounts.
Lost. I need to find her.
My heart pounds as I stare at the chair she sat in, my fists clenching.
I need to smell her without all that synthetic bullshit, my mind still slowly accepting what this possible revelation means.
A few nurses enter, which ruins what was left of the omega’s scent.
One of them asks in that calm, clinical voice, “How is he? We are so sorry. We have no idea what happened. Even Maggie was attacked.”
I examine the wrist that was bound, still processing some shock that the omega got the best of me. I truly didn’t think she’d be a threat. Since when do omegas attack like she did?
I only agreed to being cuffed so she’d sit in here. Coax her into safety.
Dangerous little creature.
I ignore the question from the nurse. “Where is that omega?”
“We… can’t find her.”
I turn my gaze on the nurse, full force. Her face blanches. “What do you mean?”
“She’s missing.”
Without much prompting, I ask, “What is her name?”
“Diana.”
Diana.
My body reacts as if she’s in the room again.
A full-bodied, possessive heat surges through my veins in an overwhelming manner.
My instincts are responding to her like they have no choice but to be called forward.
The thought of any other alpha approaching Diana is enough to fill my body with rancor. And fear.
Oh, I despise that fucking emotion.
“Bring me her clothes from wherever she was staying,” I demand, needing to confirm it. “The used ones.” I need to smell any hint of her deeper scent, because if that’s true… fuck. I didn’t expect this to happen.
“What is it?” Beasts asks with that voice filtered through metal.
I don’t look at him. I can’t. My pulse pounds in my neck. “I think she’s a scent match. My scent match.”
He looks at the door like he already knows what that means. He may not say much, but even he appreciates the rarity of this. “Where is Skinner?” I ask.
“He went after her already. Tire tracks show she went south.”
“Tire?” My lips curl into something feral. “She drove?”
“She did.”
I almost laugh—a real, genuine grin tearing through my face—because that kind of reckless survivalism? That’s mine. And then the grin dies, because she’s alone, unbonded, and headed toward territory Dominion doesn’t control.
Toward fucking Titan.
Oh, he’d mate her to himself if he knew she was mine.
“Get me some torchwater.”
With a low dip of his head, Beast exits the room like a hulking shadow.
Alone with my mind, I grab the lower half of my face and pull hard, my exhale filtering through my fingers that scrape against my stubble.
I focus on nothing because until I know for certain, I cannot allow these emotions to run amok.
Beast’s return helps me prioritize Dominion, even for this moment.
I need to heal, demand allegiance from this place, fetch Diana, and get the fuck back north so the Enclave can belong to us during this winter.
Beast places the black canvas bag on the chair Diana recently sat in, then pulls out a few glowing yellow vials.
He hands me two, and I take the encapsulated liquid.
The nurse returns just as I press one of the vials to my lips, carrying a large shirt like it’s a shield.
She gasps when she sees me. “Are you drinking that? Please, that’s toxic. ”
“To you, it is.” I down the other, the glow reflecting on my rings. It burns like fire and metallic lightning. “You don’t treat echoes often, do you?”
“What? No—what does that have to do with anything?”
“We usually don’t need healing as long as we have torchwater.”
I was bred into this world in the blight, then plucked away before my body got dependent on the torchwater, unlike Beast, who lived there until he was a child. It seems to have a different effect on me, healing my body rather than being dependent on it.
“Get everything ready. We leave in two hours. Get your eagle on her.”
“Already flying,” he responds, leaving the room.
The nurse hands me the shirt with wide eyes, as if she can’t get away fast enough.
The room is empty except for me and this fabric.
I stand, muscles straining but knitting back together under the heat of the chemical surge.
The water is a precious source for my kind.
It needs the wells it springs from to maintain its efficacy, but we obtain ours from the Black Mirage.
If there’s anything in this world that makes me think magic exists, it’s on that fucking contraption of a city.
It crosses my mind that Titan could send Diana there to strip her of her omega identity, just to spite me.
I hold the fabric in my hand, already smelling traces of it.
It’s still laced with chemicals, but her scent is stronger.
Bringing it to my nose, the hair all along my arms raises, my eyes widening.
Powerful, damning sensations flood me. The need to protect Diana builds with incredible momentum.
I breathe it in more, memorizing the scent.
Needing to drink her in without any suppressants.
My blood runs hot knowing that she’s out there, completely unmarked in every way. She doesn’t even smell of me, and that’s utterly fucking unacceptable.
I’ll figure out what to do with her after I catch her, but there’s no question about whether she’s coming back to Dominion. At some point, the redhead named Maggie stumbles in, guilt splattered across her face. “Sir, I am so sorry about all of this,” she forces out.
I barely look at her, noticing a few strands of blonde hair on the shirt in my hands. “Are you?”
When I glance over, I see she’s taking in my wounds, furrowing her brows. “You’re healing.”
“No shit,” I say with heavy sarcasm. “I’m actually not here to be healed. My original purpose is now beside the point. Answer me, Maggie. Where is Diana going?”
Her dry lips part, a small sound escaping her, almost mirroring disappointment.
“That omega,” I press, articulating very carefully, “is mine. Think very carefully about hiding that.”
She lowers her head like she’s entering a defensive position. Two alphas quarreling never ends well, even if one is clearly inferior. “She's on suppressants, and you just received blood; how can you be sure it isn’t a mix-up? Surely she isn't yours and can be left free, sir Judge.”
I narrow my gaze. “That omega is mine.” Looking away to re-center myself, I lick my lips and swear I can taste her. “You don’t want to get involved in Dominion, Maggie,” I threaten. “Harboring her would be the worst thing you could possibly do. As soon as I get her, I’m marking her.”
“As punishment?” she chokes out.
These people seriously have no idea, do they? I face her fully. “Do you know what a scent match is?”
She scratches her neck, rolling her eyes as she finally understands. “What shit luck. Oh, Diana…”
I laugh, but also find that fucking annoying. Just because I’ve had to become the man who makes hard decisions and wears the weight of it, doesn’t mean I’d be neglectful with my own omega. My face deadpans. “Don’t hide her.”
“I don’t know for certain, but my best guess is that she’s going to Trinity,” she breathes out. “What will happen to me for keeping her here? These women need me. I will fight you for that.”
“Nothing,” I answer. “Give your allegiance to Dominion, and nothing will happen to you or this place.”
She frowns. “After harboring omegas?”
“I recognize an alpha taking care of omegas. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s what I’m doing.
And you gave a safe home for Diana, so you will not be punished.
” I stand, her shock wiping away quickly as if not to show weakness.
“For now, Dominion is what’s best for them.
If you have any omega, you will tell me. ”
She doesn’t answer as she seems to truly contemplate what I just told her. I start putting on a shirt and then my wool socks and leather boots, mentally readying myself for a hunt I will not fail. “I’ll need one of your cages.”
“We are not a facility that rents out our cars. They’re purposed just for us, and Diana already took one. You have your own.” There’s a hiss in her voice, like the patience of an alpha facing another one is running thin. I can smell the animosity.
“I’ll re-stock them, including the one she took,” I say.
Any offense Diana commits now, I’ll clean it up.
“I need something to drive Diana back in. It’s too cold for a bike.
We will return the one she took, and the one we borrow.
If it snows in the mountains, yours are outfitted for it, are they not?
” I look at her. “So you can tend to those living there? Which means I’ll want those in case the weather turns. ”
She seems to fight with her every instinct. “I will have those returned.”
I don’t answer her as I lace my boots. I can’t quite say I won’t be gentle, but the irony in this is that if there’s one person in this world that doesn’t have to worry about my violence, it will be Diana.
Can I be gentle with her, though? I’m still processing her scent and what it means.
So far, it makes my body vibrate with violence, my inner alpha ready to show the world what happens if someone touches my omega. Fuck her in public if I need to.
All I know is the longer that I’m away from her, the more out of control my body is.
The more that fear guides me.