Lucky (Omega Rescue Taskforce #1)

Prologue

Early March

Lucky

Blood sprayed Lucky’s cheeks to mingle with his tears. He wanted to fall apart but wouldn’t give these bastards the satisfaction.

He’d already made one mistake. He’d been lured into a false sense of security, thinking that the east gate exit to campus, still technically on campus grounds, would be safe.

Now he was trapped, held to a strange alpha’s chest while they beat Jack so badly that he didn’t even resist. Lucky wasn’t sure if he could.

Jack had been hanging between two strong alphas when Lucky had arrived, sporting a black eye, with blood trickling from his lip. It was obvious they’d beaten him, probably to force him to send the text that had brought Lucky here.

Why? He barely knew Jack. They’d grown up on the same street, but nowadays Jack was just a druggie friend of Lincoln’s. He’d said maybe ten words to Jack in the last year.

“That’s enough.” The leader raised a hand to stop the brutal assault.

The alpha holding Lucky released him as Jack sank to the ground, unable to support himself.

Lucky should have run for help, but there were a dozen alphas and he couldn’t afford to make rash decisions.

He raced to Jack’s side, worried about the blood on his face and hands.

One eye was swollen and his knuckles were scraped with defensive wounds.

“Can you hear me?” Lucky eased his sweater sleeve over his hand and wiped Jack’s mouth, surprised he had the energy to wince.

Jack swallowed, then coughed up blood. “Lucky?” He tried to move, but screamed and held a hand to his side. “You need to go.”

Lucky shook his head, because he couldn’t see a way out. The road was blocked and it was the end of the day. Most of campus had left or were using the other exits. The east gate only led to country paths—it was a shortcut few people used to enter or leave campus. “I can’t leave you.”

“You both need to leave,” Jack bit out between clenched teeth. “Now!”

“Both?”

“Gigi,” he said, barely above a whisper.

Lucky stood, anger mixing with fear, while Jack struggled to roll onto his side.

“You have Jack’s sister?” These alphas must work for the Market, which traded in omegas—kidnapping, selling and torturing them until they became so compliant they were afraid to speak without permission. “She’s only fifteen.”

The leader cocked his head and tucked his hands into his jeans pockets. He barely looked twenty-five, dark hair peeking out from beneath a beanie hat, with intense blue eyes, his clothes two sizes too big. “Don’t fight and she can go.”

Lucky glanced at Jack dragging himself along the ground, and swallowed his fear. “Let them both go, and you have a deal.” There was no other choice. He couldn’t let a fifteen-year-old girl suffer the Market, and Jack might already be dying from internal injuries.

His choice was clear. Lucky had to be patient and remain strong.

If it was only Jack involved, he might have fought for an escape or died trying, but not with Gigi’s life on the line.

No omega deserved to experience the Market, especially at her age, and he could only imagine the unbearable guilt Jack would live with, if he survived his injuries only to realise he hadn’t saved his sister.

Lucky was strong, had been raised by a cop and a freedom-fighting protest organiser—he could last a few hours in the hands of the Market. His parents would move mountains to get him back, but he couldn’t say the same for Jack’s.

“How about we leave them here and take you?” the leader suggested, careful not to mention what condition he’d leave them in.

If he thought Lucky would fall for that, he wasn’t very smart.

“If you touch either of them, I’ll scream bloody murder and fight until you’re forced to kill me.

” That was a promise and a warning. Lucky could defend himself and wouldn’t hesitate to put these assholes in hospital if it meant escaping. But not until Gigi was safe.

“Deal.”

With a single gesture from the leader, the alphas grew restless. At the end of the lane, the back door of a truck blocking entry to the east entrance opened. A man stepped out, pulling a young girl who had been gagged and had her hands tied in front of her, tears streaming down her face.

Lucky breathed a sigh of relief that Gigi looked unscathed.

She glanced at the man from the car, who said something Lucky couldn’t hear, then Gigi made eye contact across the distance.

Lucky smiled to show her it was safe, relieved that she made the smart choice and ran for him.

He hugged Gigi and brushed the hair from her face, removing the gag from her mouth and untying the knot on the ropes around her wrists.

“They’re letting you go. Run straight to the quad and get help.” He almost said more when a moan drew her attention to Jack. Lucky held Gigi still, because she didn’t need to see the state Jack was in. “Jack needs medical attention. Get to a crowded place and scream for help.”

When the leader signalled with a casual wave of his hand, two of the men behind Lucky moved aside, leaving a clear path toward campus.

Lucky swallowed his fear and stepped aside. “Go.” He could have grabbed her hand and run, but there was no way they would make it. These thugs would target Gigi, then they’d be back where they started. It was more important to get her to safety.

Gigi stepped away, clearly terrified, but hesitated when she saw Jack.

Lucky gave her a gentle shove, then watched Gigi bolt towards the gates. He didn’t breathe easy until she was out of sight.

His heart raced, terrified but relieved that she was out of harm’s way. As the leader’s men moved in to block the exit, he could only hope he lived to regret this.

* * * *

For whatever reason, Scout insisted on ‘taking care’ of Lucky personally, though he wasn’t sure if that meant kill, interrogate or confine. He didn’t even want to consider the alternatives.

Scout’s eyes were alert, intelligent and bright blue, his skin was slightly tanned and he had a hint of pale cream skin from his lower jaw to the base of his collar.

Lucky recognised the signs of vitiligo, which an old school friend had.

Like her, Scout seemed to hide behind a baggy hoodie and black jeans with high-top trainers.

“In here.” Scout opened a white door into what looked like a living room. Startlingly white, half empty, there was only a sofa at the back of the room, a small coffee table in front, and an oversized rug on the floor.

Confused, Lucky sat on the sofa, wondering why they hadn’t tied him up and he was being given a comfortable room to wait in.

He’d been blindfolded for the car ride, but there had been no violence, not even rough handling.

He’d shut his eyes just for a minute to focus, counting steps and distance, but if he wasn’t wrong, he could walk to campus within an hour, maybe two.

Scout lifted a bottle of water from the coffee table. “It’s not contaminated. I just don’t want you dying of thirst while we wait.” He unscrewed the cap to take a sip, then set the bottle onto the table, as if Lucky was gullible enough to trust him.

“Wait for what?” Lucky wasn’t touching that bottle. For all he knew, the water was drugged and Scout was resistant or could counteract the effects. He’d heard of drugs that only worked on omegas.

Scout cocked his head but didn’t answer.

“He mentioned you were traditional, but not like this. We’ll get twice as much for an omega with sigils if we get the right buyer.

” He gestured to encompass everything Lucky was, like he didn’t already know he was a traditionalist in a sea of compliant, modern omegas.

He was short, plump, wore his hair to the waist and had Omha Sigils all over his body.

In the eyes of the modern world, Lucky was an unwelcome reminder of how omegas used to be, and how he would always remain loyal to Omha, the omega Goddess.

“You’re smart, though. That’ll lower your price.

That and your big mouth. Don’t worry. Whoever buys you will break you of that bad habit.

” Scout folded his arms over his chest, smirking at the verbal torments and taunts.

If they were meant to upset and scare him, he’d need to try harder. Lucky had spent his entire life hearing about how unusual he was, that his belief in Omha was childish and he’d never find a mate who would accept him.

“Virgins are worth a fortune on the market, especially ones that look like you.”

Lucky clasped the necklace he always wore with Omha’s symbol. “Omha will protect me,” he said, for his own sake, to reaffirm his beliefs and remind this scumbag that he wouldn’t be scared of a bunch of losers who could only get their hands on an omega by kidnapping them.

“You think your precious Goddess cares about you?” Scout raised an eyebrow, as though all omegas had forsaken Her. He’d be surprised how many held Her to their hearts, even if they didn’t outwardly show it.

“Of course She does.”

“The Market will break you of that belief.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it.”

Scout stared at Lucky for what felt like hours, until a knock at the door echoed through the silence. Seconds later, Lincoln burst into the room, sparking the rage that had been simmering under the surface of Lucky’s calm facade.

The bastard rushed towards Lucky with arms outstretched, as though he was a fucking saviour.

He’d always known Lincoln was a selfish asshole who would do anything to have Lucky as his omega, but a deep well of betrayal still stabbed him in the heart.

He couldn’t believe Lincoln had hired thugs from the Market to kidnap him.

Why? To force Lucky into an ultimatum to mate with Lincoln or face the Market?

He’d rather take his chances with the Market.

Lucky lifted his leg and planted his foot in Lincoln’s balls, forcing him to stop or have them crushed. “Don’t you fucking touch me.”

“He’s feisty,” Scout said, in obvious approval.