Chapter 5
FIVE
I wake up alone and cold. I should be used to it by now, but this time feels worse than it has before. I am empty. Something is missing — something important.
The side of my neck aches, and I rub my hand across it, feeling a fresh wound and trying to make sense of what happened before I passed out.
I bit Athena.
And she bit me back.
The memories assault me, leaving me gasping and panting at the visions that fill my head.
My face between her gorgeous thighs.
The way her cunt gripped my fingers as pleasure overwhelmed her.
The taste of her lips on mine.
I feel a panic that is not mine blooming in my chest, and I sit up, finally opening my eyes in search of my goddess.
But I’m back in the cage, and she’s not here.
In fact, her cage is gone.
Her cage is gone.
Fury like I’ve never felt before takes over my body, and I scream, the rage of it nearly rattling the bars of my cage. “Where the fuck is she? Where did you take her?”
Of course, no one answers me. Why did I think they would?
Her fear is coursing through me. I don’t know what they’re doing to her, but it can’t be good. She needs me. I have to get to her. I have to save her. Whatever they need from me, I’ll do it. They need to let her go. She doesn’t deserve this.
Whatever I have to do, I will do it if it means she can leave safely.
I have to get to her.
I throw myself against the wall of my cage, hoping to move it enough that I can grab something to break myself out of here. Or maybe I can roll it over and bust the door open.
Whatever it takes.
I’ll do anything to get to Athena.
Every part of me is screaming that I have to be with her, have to find her, because I am not complete without her.
No matter how loud I am, no one comes.
No one answers my pleas.
Athena’s fear and panic don’t lessen, but they don’t grow either. Maybe, like me, she woke up alone, unsure of what was happening.
And has happened.
I don’t know what they did to us, but it’s big. Life-changing big, because I can feel her in my chest. Her presence is a pleasant weight right over my heart that fills a void I didn’t know existed.
Can she feel me, too?
Whatever drug they gave us had her smelling delicious like a scent match would, but I’m a Beta.
Aren’t I?
We both proclaimed each other as our Omega. There is a bond between us now, one that isn’t possible between two Betas. But we can’t be Omegas. Ignoring that it is impossible to change a Beta into an Omega, I’ve never heard of two Omegas bonding with one another.
There is no telling what they’ve been doing to us in that lab. The things they’ve given us, and taken from us, must have had a purpose. But what was it? Was it this?
All I know is that something strange happened in that nest last night.
I try to make sense of it all. My cock was dripping with what seemed an awful lot like slick. I don’t have any experience with male Omegas, but I’ve got plenty of experience with cock, and that wasn’t a normal amount of precum. Not to mention the moisture that ran down my thighs.
All of that is not even addressing the bone-deep desire I had to be filled. I wanted nothing more than for someone to be inside me while I fucked Athena.
My voice is hoarse, and my yells are going unanswered. I’m back in a medical gown, and it’s soaked with sweat. My hands are bloody, ripped open from pulling on the bars and trying to get them to move, even though I know they won’t.
I’m worn out, and my body aches as it gives up the fight against consciousness.
The only reason why my eyelids can comfortably droop shut is that I can feel Athena in my chest. She’s okay, and I think she’s nearby. The next time I see someone, I’m going to demand they bring me to her.
It’s not right to separate us.
We’re a pair.
We’re supposed to be together.
I wake to the sound of chaos.
The door to the room slams open, and Wyatt and Harvey come barreling through.
“I fucking found him!” Wyatt shouts into a communicator on his wrist. “We’ve got him.”
They’re here? Are they really here? This isn’t a dream?
Pack Lupine came for me.
I can’t think, can’t speak. I’m so shocked to see the two Alphas that it’s as if my whole body has frozen.
It’s loud, and something major is happening outside the room, but I can’t see it to know what’s going on. Harvey works slowly, methodically, picking the locks on my cage. When the door swings open, and he reaches his hand out to me, I stare at it.
“Can you walk, Atlas?” he asks quietly.
“I…” I don’t know what to say to him. Am I dreaming? No, because if I were, Athena would be here with me.
I take the biker’s calloused hand and stumble to my feet. I haven’t walked much in the past month, except yesterday in the shower and nest. I can feel how much strength I’ve lost.
Was that yesterday? It feels like yesterday, but I do not know how much time passed while I was asleep.
We stumble out of the building, Harvey supporting one side of me and Wyatt the other. When we get out of my prison and into the early evening twilight, I scan the area feverishly.
What I don’t see makes my chest constrict with fear and worry.
“Where is she?” My voice is harsh, halfway gone from the shouting I did when I first woke up as I tried to get someone’s attention. “Where is she?”
“Who?” Wyatt asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I shrug him off. “My Omega,” I snarl. “Where is my Omega?”
Wyatt and Harvey exchange confused looks, neither of them saying a word. Why aren’t they answering me?
I stumble back a few paces, unsteady on my feet but needing distance from the Alphas. “Where. Is. My. Omega?” I enunciate every word because maybe they must be morons since they haven’t answered my question yet.
“Your Omega? Atlas, are you...” Wyatt reaches for me again.
I dodge his touch, racing back toward the building on trembling legs, feeling like I could fall over at any moment. I don’t make it far before the southern Alpha’s arms wrap around my waist. “Atlas, buddy, it’s okay. You’ve been through a lot. You need some rest. It’s gonna be okay.”
“It’s not okay!” I cry out, thrashing against his hold.
“It’s not okay, it’s not okay, it’s not okay!
My Omega is still in there, and you’re telling me it’s okay?
She could be hurt! They could hurt her, and I’m not there to protect her!
I need my Omega!” Tears flood my face, and my voice breaks.
“Please, please, please. I need her. I need her. They’re going to hurt her. Please.”
Wyatt’s arms slacken enough that I slip out of them, but he captures me again before I can take more than a few steps. “They’re clearing the building, Atlas, if she’s in there, they’ll find her.”
“No, she needs me! It has to be me! She’s scared. I can feel her!” I pound on my chest as I squirm, trying to escape the firm hold Wyatt has on me. “She’s scared, and she’s alone, and she needs me!”
I may be dying.
I feel like I’m dying.
Where is Athena? I need her. I need her like I need air in my lungs.
Why won’t Wyatt understand that? Why won’t he let me go to her?
I thrash against his arms, screaming until my lungs nearly give out, slapping his arms and scratching him up.
He doesn’t let me go. He’s not much bigger than me, but he has a hold on me that is unwavering.
I’ve lost so much muscle tone and strength since I’ve been in this hellhole that I’m no match for his Alpha strength, but that doesn’t stop me from trying.
I’m close to losing my mind when I finally see her.
Sebastian is on one side of her, and my friend Crystal is on the other, supporting her as she limps out of the facility.
“Atlas!” Athena screams, shaking off her escorts and taking off running toward me on unsteady feet. “Atlas!” Tears stream down her face, and she’s back to wearing one of the faded medical gowns, but she is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life.
Wyatt finally lets me go, and I run, crashing into her and taking her to the ground, holding her tightly against my chest and sobbing into her hair.
“Goddess,” I say, stroking my hand down her back. She’s trembling beneath my palm. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
She hiccups broken sobs against my chest. “No, they didn’t, they were running tests.” Her arms tighten around me. “I was so scared.”
“I know you were. I felt you. I was going crazy trying to get to you. You were all I could feel.” I pat the spot on my chest where the strange bond we’ve formed lives before I kiss the top of her head.
Her sweet pineapple scent overwhelms my senses.
I hate that she’s hurting, but I am so glad I’m the one here holding her through her sobs.
Pack Lupine, Crystal, and Puck from Pack Manson, and a couple of bikers are around us, but they’re giving us a wide berth.
Good.
I don’t want them near my Omega.
When her tears stop flowing and she looks up into my eyes, I capture her lips. She melts against me, and I don’t care that everyone is around us watching this intimate moment.
She’s mine, and they all need to know it. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Now that she is in my arms, I’m not letting her go again.
“Hey, man,” Sebastian says gently. “We need to ask you two a few questions.”
I look up and see him several feet away. I wish we could exist in a bubble, where we don’t have to relive what happened to us, but I’ve worked with Pack Lupine enough to know that that is not an option. I stroke my Omega’s face softly. “Are you alright with that, Goddess?”
She wiggles deeper into my arms. “If you’ll stay with me.”
Sebastian moves closer and kneels beside us. Immediately, a feeling of comfort and safety rushes through me at his proximity. Tension leaves my shoulders, and Athena’s body relaxes in my arms as she takes a deep, cleansing breath.
The blonde Alpha stares at me blankly, his bright blue eyes wide. “Uh,” he says, then sits back on his heels. He ruffles his hair and looks around, avoiding eye contact with me. “Huh.”
“What?” I ask, tilting my head to the side. My hair has grown long in the past month and falls into my eyes. I blow it to clear my vision.
Sebastian stiffens, his eyes whipping toward me and pinning me in place. His nostrils flare. Eventually, he swallows audibly. “What happened in there, Atlas?”
Athena sinks further into my arms but turns her head to look at the Alpha. “I think they turned us into Omegas,” she whispers.
“You’re a Beta?” he asks tightly. What’s wrong with him? I’ve never seen him so tense.
“Was,” I answer for her. “I don’t think either of us is a Beta anymore. Too many things have happened that shouldn’t have. And we’ve… we’ve bonded.”
“That explains it,” he says quietly, shaking his head. “Atlas, I don’t…” he exhales heavily, running his fingers through his shaggy hair. “Fuck. I don’t… shit.” He looks up at the sky, rubbing the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. “Atlas, buddy, I think you’re my scent match.”