Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Kara
Blood.
There was so much blood. Blood on my hands. My shirt. Gizmo.
Anya.
“Kara? Wake up.” A soft hand touched my cheek, the owner smelling like a jar of Nutella.
“Kayla?” I croaked, trying to open my eyes, but my eyelids felt like they were glued shut. Why did my body and mind feel so heavy? It felt like I hadn’t slept in days, and there was this bone-deep soreness like I’d never experienced before. “Where’s Anya?”
“She’s alive and had to have surgery. She’s probably out now, I’m not sure.” Kayla was on the bed with me, and I managed to open my eyes just as she raised the bed so we weren’t lying down. “How are you feeling?”
I lifted my left hand and it felt like a hunk of lead. There was an IV in my forearm and I was hooked up to a monitor that was on but was silent. “What happened? Surgery? Where am I?”
Kayla shimmied out of the bed and grabbed a pink cup and pitcher from a rolling table. “You’ve been asleep for at least twelve hours. Here, drink some water.”
I was still a little out of it, and I appreciated her being here. It was keeping me calm when I should have been freaking out. Why wasn’t I freaking out?
OPS, Pack Health, and law enforcement had shown up at the cabin. They knew. They knew and had tried to come and take me away from my pack.
My pack.
My stomach turned with nausea, and I took a sip of the water Kayla handed me. It tasted funny, but my throat and mouth were dry, so I drank the rest.
She went to the window and opened the curtain, revealing a morning sky. “I got here only a few hours ago and my pack is working on finding out more information. They aren’t allowed in here, though, so they’re in the waiting room on the bonded side of the floor.”
She’d come all the way from Los Angeles with her pack? I felt my head, looking for any bumps. “Did I hit my head? My brain is a little... fuzzy feeling and nothing makes sense. Where’s Anya? My pack?”
I was oddly calm and relaxed, and it almost felt like I was having some kind of out-of-body experience. It felt a little like having too much wine, but a notch past that. I’d never done drugs, so I wasn’t sure if it was what being high felt like.
Kayla came back to the bed and sat next to me. There was just enough room on it for both of us. “They have you on some medicine that stopped your heat and also something to keep you calm. You were freaking out when everything happened, and they sedated you.”
My eyes widened. “They tranquilized me, you mean.”
She rolled her eyes in true Kayla fashion, and it made me smile just a little. “They told our parents they used a syringe and didn’t shoot you with a tranq gun, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is you’re safe.”
All agents and law enforcement carried tranquilizers with them because both alphas and omegas had extreme emotions thanks to our biology.
I thought it was barbaric, especially when they used tranquilizer guns like we were animals.
I’d never heard of an omega needing it since we were kept under lock and key, but alphas? That was really why they had them.
Kayla sighed and took my hand. “We’re on the secure side of the omega floor at the hospital.
Anya was shot in the lower abdomen or stomach—it wasn’t very clear—and had surgery to remove the bullet.
That’s all I was able to find out. They called our parents, but because Mom’s heats are crazy from omegapause, they wanted to wait and see if you needed them to come or not. ”
Part of me wanted my mom and dads surrounding me for comfort, but another part of me didn’t want to see the disappointment on their faces when they found out I wasn’t following omega regulations.
“And Gizmo? My pack? What is going on? Just tell me, Kayla.” I knew she was telling me everything else first because there was only bad news where my pack was concerned.
“Gizmo is fine. You were trying to stop him from getting to the agent right as that fucking idiot sheriff tried to shoot him. Anya apparently has fast reflexes because she dived for you and the bullet hit her. I think she was in the process of falling to knock you out of the way.”
It sounded like something out of a movie, but it was starting to come back to me now.
It had happened so fast, and I’d hit the ground right as the gun was finishing going off.
It wasn’t a movie at all, it was my personal nightmare that I was going to have to live with for the rest of my life.
They had been there because of me. Anya was shot because of me.
I squeezed Kayla’s hand for comfort because everything could have been a lot worse. “I need to find out if Anya is going to be okay. She’s my beta. They should tell me, right? Or Jonathan. He’s here, isn’t he?”
“I’m sure he is.” She sighed and scooted closer to me. “They took your pack into custody, Kayla. They came... and they tried to get to you.”
Whatever shit they had me on was strong because all I could do was let tears fall down my cheeks, even though I wanted to run out and find them. “It’s not their fault, Kayla. I went on their bus.”
She handed me a tissue just as there was a knock on the door. The lock tumbled and two women in suits walked in.
Omega Protective Services.
“Good morning.” The OPS agent who had tried talking me into coming with them smiled tightly at me and then looked at Kayla. “I guess you really are identical, aren’t you?”
I didn’t say anything, because I couldn’t. There was a giant lump in my throat, and I just knew they were here to take me back to the compound; that’s why they had gone to the cabin.
Kayla put the bed up even more, so we were sitting all the way up instead of reclined. “Can we get my sister off of all this stuff messing with her emotions?”
“They’ll be in to remove the IV and monitor when we’re done here. The doctors would like to keep her a few hours after that just as a precaution.” The agent pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down. “I’m Lena Clarkson, and this is Mary Lee from Omega Protective Services.”
Kayla snorted. “Enough with the pleasantries. My sister wants to return to her pack immediately.”
I put my head on Kayla’s shoulder. There was nothing worse than feeling helpless, and that was exactly how I felt all drugged up. What would I have done if Kayla hadn’t come to be by my side?
Lena pulled out a tape recorder and pressed a button. “Right now, we need to follow protocol and that includes recording all conversations from this point forward.”
Kayla and I both knew the drill when it came to OPS. Everything was documented to make it easier for their agency and us. I knew they were just doing their jobs, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.
“Do I have to go back to the compound I was at? Can I move to the one in Los Angeles so I’m closer to my sister?” I somehow managed to string those two questions together, but it felt like I’d written an essay.
“That wouldn’t be a good idea.” Mary paced at the end of the bed. This whole thing made her nervous, probably because she was a bonded omega. I could see the silver scars of her claiming bites peeking out from the collar of her shirt. “If the Estrada pack is released and knows you are there...”
“But the match is soon, and when I match to them...” I didn’t finish because the looks on their faces told me everything I needed to know.
“As you know, and have been taught, one of the many reasons Omega Match is in place is so that omegas can be free to make their own decisions without their hormones or other people making the decision for them.” Lena was a beta, so she just didn’t understand.
“It is my decision. What does it matter if we’re together now or during an authorized matching time? We’re only going to put each other on our match lists. They’re mine and I’m theirs.” I was starting to become a little more focused, but I already felt like I could sleep another twelve hours.
Mary stopped at the end of the bed, concern written in her eyes. “They were practically feral a few months ago. Pack Health was ready to put chips in them to monitor their every move and keep any and all omegas away from them. Two in particular would have needed time in a facility.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Kayla couldn’t sit still next to me any longer and stood on the opposite side of the bed from the agents. “They were around me and I was unbonded! They were perfect gentlemen. So what if they have an alpha reaction to scents? They don’t act on them!”
“You put yourself at great risk. Anything could have happened. All it takes is one hit of an appealing scent and they could have attacked you and gone into a rut without consent.” Lena looked at my sister like she was insane for putting herself in that situation.
“But nothing happened because they’re amazing alphas! Nothing happened to my sister either, and trust me, they were into her scent.” Kayla crossed her arms defiantly. “Kara is a four-time Omega of the Year award winner. Do you really think she’d pick a pack that was bad for her?”
Lena kept her eyes on me the entire time my sister was fighting my battle for me. “There’s a reason they aren’t in Omega Match.”
“I know why. It’s such a ridiculous reason.
It’s not their fault an omega couldn’t handle the situation a little better.
How many times do children get lost in the store and there are no consequences?
She could have just gone in after them.” I put my head back against the bed and wondered if the girl regretted acting irrationally.
“She didn’t feel safe, and maybe things would have been different had they noticed she was missing sooner.
She wouldn’t have been able to get into that club as crazy as it was.
They should have never made the decision to take her there when they had no connection with her yet.
” Lena glanced at Mary and then back at me. “Did you mate with them?”
My cheeks heated, and I looked down at my hands clasped in my lap. “I think you know the answer to that question. Just seeing them step on stage after building a connection with them over the last few months sent me into a breakthrough heat.”
My sister was back on the bed, patting my arm to comfort me. If it had been any other omega, I would have smacked her away. What I needed was the comfort of my alphas’ purrs.
“How did you meet them? Through Kayla?” Mary asked, genuine curiosity and support in her voice. She wanted me to have my pack. The problem was convincing those that didn’t understand.
“No. Well, sort of. I... I borrowed someone’s car and went to visit my sister. The first night I was there I went back out to the car, which I’d parked down the street, and...”
I told them everything. From being chased by Gizmo, to falling into the pool, to how they took care of me. One of the hardest parts to share was how we made the decision to do the match the right way and we were separated for months.
“You can’t blame them for this. I was the one that went to their bus. I wanted them for my heat. I was selfish and now-” I took a sharp breath to stop the sob welling in my chest. “Now, they might never be happy or have the love they deserve.”
The room was quiet besides sniffling from me and my sister. I had to give the two agents credit for keeping their composure because they both looked ready to cry too. Even Lena, who I had pegged for a hard ass with no heart.
“I think we’ve heard enough for now.” Lena turned off the tape recorder and leaned forward in her chair to put her hand over mine. “I know I come off as uncaring and detached, but my job is to make sure all omegas are safe with or without a pack.”
“I’m safe with them,” I whispered, my eyes burning as new tears continued to well up. “They’re going to take time off once we match. I know exactly what I’ll be facing with a famous pack, so please just... fight for me.”
Kayla sighed. “It would be an absolute shame if everyone found out about the dangers of Omega Match and how they are keeping an omega apart from her pack.”
Lena finally looked over at my sister with raised eyebrows. “If Omega Match fails, then we go back to arranged matches or something even worse. Is that what you want?”
“We know Omega Match isn’t ideal for everyone, but it’s the safest and easiest way for omegas to find a pack right now.
There are some things that need to be fixed, and maybe with all the technology there is now, there can be a little bit more to it than meet and greets or speed dating.
” Mary looked at her watch. “We’ll be back in a few hours to take you back to the compound. ”
What she really meant was she’d take me back to my prison.