39. Chapter 37
CHAPTER 37
Wren
A s my system came back online, it was in small increments. Unfortunately, the first thing to really come to life was my damn nerve endings, meaning the pain in my head made coherent thought damned near impossible.
My ears rang, I was cold, and I was lying on something hard.
Scents. The scents were wrong. Yet familiar. Terrifyingly familiar.
It was a battle to get my eyes to open, but after a few blinks I was able to look around the room…
And released a terrified whimper.
I knew this room. I’d been a prisoner in this room more times than I would like to remember.
Then everything began to float back – more like slam back – into my brain.
Suggestion: Removal from pack. Omega requires further training.
My pack had been ordered – as had all other packs who’d acquired an omega through this fucked up Center – to bring me in for testing. Under the guise of complaints from alphas claiming they’d been sold an infertile omega.
Had there even been any complaints? I wasn’t a fool – I knew there were plenty of alphas out there whose sole desire was to have a family, to have an heir, to have pups. And since it was rare for a beta to get pregnant…
But my pack didn’t care about that. They had tried to come up with plans that involved me getting pregnant, even running away with me.
I would never be the reason any member of my pack was hurt or imprisoned. And if we’d run, and we were caught, all five of my loves would have been imprisoned.
How long had I been here? Had my pack noticed? Were they looking for me?
I knew that was a stupid question. The moment my alphas and my betas either heard me calling out for them or noticed how long I’d been gone, they would have plowed through anyone and anything to get to me.
Yet…
I’m still here.
A pain unlike any I’d ever experienced clenched my heart at the possibility they’d been hurt, imprisoned…killed.
Until I searched through our bonds.
I could feel them. I could feel all five of them, though Doran and Dean were more of an echo, slightly muted. But I felt them through our bonds with our alphas.
I felt Winter, Mateo, Raece. Could feel the absolute devastation and red-hot rage.
I might still be here, but they were alive. And from the warmth, comfort, and love they sent me, along with a sense of determination, I knew they would come.
I had to believe they would come.
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind my pack would never stop. They wouldn’t simply forget about me and find another omega.
“Should I readminister the sedative? She’s awake,” someone said from across the room.
I jerked at the sound then winced when I realized I was restrained. There were cuffs around my wrists and ankles, and a thick band held me down by the waist.
Even though I knew it was futile, I bucked and thrashed, especially as a beta nurse moved closer and glowered down at me.
“You’re going to hurt yourself. We’ve been through this, omega. You need to calm down or Dr. Creise will insist on keeping you under until you can be moved to a long stay room.”
I recognized this nurse. She’d been present at a majority of my exams. She wasn’t exactly what I would have called cruel, but she’d also never tried to help me leave this fucking place. Or, you know, maybe let the outside world know the Center wasn’t exactly what society thought it was.
“My pack. I have a pack, Mag…Nurse Maggie.” Shit. Got to stay on her good side. Be respectful.
Her eyes sliced to me then away and she pretended to focus on the bag hanging on the wall before checking the needle in the crook of my arm.
“They’ve been escorted from the property,” she muttered so low I almost missed it.
However, I didn’t miss the way she glanced in the corner where the camera watched every inch of this room, then over her shoulder where Dr. Creise was dealing with a sobbing omega on another gurney.
Yep, she was restrained in the exact same way I was.
And by dealing with, I didn’t mean he was being kind or consoling. Nope. He was injecting something into the IV in her arm.
Okay. I had to keep my wits about me, keep my mouth shut, and figure out what the hell was going on or I was in for the same fate. If I was out cold, there was a good chance I could end up being moved to another location.
At least if I was awake and they attempted to move me, I could fight. Maybe find a way to leave breadcrumbs for my pack to locate me. Not that I had a clue how I could go about something like that, but I had to try something, damn it.
Risking a glance at Dr. Creep, I turned back to Nurse Maggie. “Do they know what happened? Do they know the Center is trying to dissolve our bond?”
Her head shook twice. So my pack hadn’t been told shit.
I never did learn exactly how much Raece had paid the Center for me, but surely, if other packs were paying tens of thousands of dollars, then having the omegas ripped out of their lives, there would be some kind of uproar.
Or at the very least, a shit load of media coverage.
Media coverage was good. That would absolutely shine some light on the not so legal aspects of this place. Maybe those of us who’d gotten dragged back to this fucking place would get lucky and a few omegas had been able to stay off the radar and could report on the conditions so many of us suffered.
That was only if they were brave enough to go public, though.
As she leaned forward, a needle in her hand and preparing to more than likely sedate me again, I clenched her wrist and waited for her to make eye contact.
Dr. Creep was still dealing with another omega, but I wasn’t na?ve enough to think I had more than a few seconds.
“Please. Please help me. Help us. Find my pack. Tell them what’s happening.”
She barely turned her head enough to look at the doctor from her periphery before jerking her hand from my clutch.
Her hand holding the needle hesitated near the IV before she whispered. “He expects you to struggle,” she whispered. “Then close your eyes after a few seconds.”
I frowned for a beat before understanding dawned. If I understood her correctly – and could trust her – that was as close to agreeing to do something as she could without making a verbal declaration where the ever-present cameras would record everything.
Widening my eyes, I struggled against the restraints, spewing a few curses and threats as I had nearly every time I’d been strapped to one of these damn hospital beds.
Nurse Maggie leaned over, winked, then straightened.
I counted down in my head and let my body begin to slacken before closing my eyes and forcing my breaths to come in slow, steady pulls.
I could hear Dr. Creep moving around the room, could hear him talking to the other omegas, then he was beside my bed.
“This one is going to be a nightmare,” he said, and it took everything in me not to open my eyes and cuss him out.
Fuck him. He was the reason I was back in this fucking room, back in this fucking place…
And away from my pack.
“Do you really believe she should be sold to another pack? From what I’d read in the questionnaire, her pack is not only exceptionally happy with her but have begun to plan for a family.”
“Doesn’t matter. She, like them," I assumed he was talking about the other omegas in the room, “need to learn their place in society. That pack wasn’t strong enough to bring her to heel. She’ll need to be reconditioned and put with alphas who can keep her under control.”
The fuck? The news had declared packs had complained about the Center selling omegas who were infertile. Had someone actually complained that the omega they’d received hadn’t been meek and quiet?
And why the hell would that make any difference to those like my pack who didn’t want some cookie cutter mate?
All six of us had assumed the entire thing was bullshit, but we’d had no idea what, exactly, had been the end game, what the real reason behind requiring the omegas who’d been purchased through the Center to be returned for examination truly was.
It was this, to keep us on the bottom rung, to make sure we were subservient, obedient, mindless members of whatever pack we were forced to join.
Fuck. I didn’t want another pack. I wasn’t even all that scared about what I would be put through, wasn’t that scared about the reconditioning. Punishments and restrictions were nothing new to me.
What terrified me was never seeing my pack again. I needed my alphas. I needed my betas.
They were mine.
I belonged with them.
Then something else occurred to me – what if they gave up waiting for me and applied for a new omega? They needed one to keep their fake business legal so they could continue saving and liberating captive omegas.
And as much as the thought of them being with someone else made bile rise up the back of my throat, I never wanted them to stop their work. There were so many of my designation out there who needed them, needed packs like them who were willing to risk their own lives, safety, and freedom.
“I just think maybe it should be up to the packs–”
“Will there be a problem?” Dr. Creep said, interrupting whatever argument Nurse Maggie had on our behalf. “Because I’m more than happy to accept your letter of resignation if you don’t feel you can do your job properly.”
“No, sir,” she replied quickly, and I swore I could hear a slight tremble in her voice.
How could she be scared of that asshole? Yeah, he could terminate her position here, but he was just an old man with a superiority complex. Honestly, if it came down to a one-on-one fight, I was pretty sure even I could kick his ass.
But I needed her here. She might very well be the only thing standing between me and the Center.
If she could get a message to my pack, tell them what was really happening…
Then what? Surely, men like them, a pack with that kind of training, had to have some kind of network in place. They could contact someone higher up, let them know how many omegas had been ripped away from their packs, how many had been told lies to get us here.
Or…hell, maybe they could just find enough alphas in the same position, and they could come barging through the doors like the heroes in those action movies.
As I listened to the doctor moving around the room, even when I heard him standing near my bed checking over my vitals and file, I did my best to keep myself calm, keep my heartrate steady so he wouldn’t know I was faking, that Nurse Maggie hadn’t actually sedated me.
All I could do now was wait.
Wait for my alphas and my betas to come for me. Wait for my pack to get me out of here and take me home.
Because no matter how loud the insecurities might be, I knew deep in my heart they would always come for me.
Opening the bond enough for them to feel me without inundating them with emotion, I poured as much love as I could down each of those invisible threads and struggled to keep from smiling when I felt that same love returned to me…
Along with a sense of determination.
They were coming. I just had to keep my wits, keep calm, and trust in them.