Chapter 34 Jo
thirty-four
Jo
My eyes crack open, fluorescent lights nearly blinding me. I groan, trying to move my hands to cover my eyes, but…I can’t.
“Wha…What?” My eyes strain to focus, but when they do, my stomach drops when I see that I am yet again, strapped to a bed.
My head whips to the side, searching the walls.
My voice is a screech. “No!”
No, no, no, no. I can’t be back here. How did I get back here?
Fucking Thornfield.
Or…or was it all a dream? Maybe I never left, and the last week has all been a drug induced hallucination. Tears sting my eyes as I desperately fight back my sobs. Does this mean I never rescued Mabel? That I didn’t revive my bond with Hayden?
I don’t realize that I’m screaming until the warmth of Hayden’s love and reassurance fills my chest.
His emotions.
In my chest.
His bond is still there.
Focusing on the feelings he’s pushing my way grounds me, and I’m able to stop the devastated cries tearing out of my throat.
“...Jo? Jo, answer me!” Hayden’s voice is desperate, and I turn my head to the other side.
I’m in a cell.
Strapped to a bed, yellow fluorescent lights buzzing above me, but one of the walls is made completely of bars.
On the other side, also in a cell, is Hayden. His face is pressed to the bars, his arm reaching through them like he might be able to reach me.
“Hayden?” I manage to choke out, my throat sore from screaming.
“Thank gods.” He sighs, looking relieved. “Listen, I don’t know how much time until he comes back, but—”
“Who?” My voice is raspy. “Until who comes back, Hayden? Where’s Sam? And West? Kole? Turnip?”
Regret fills his face. “A car crashed into us and brought everyone back here. The guys are in the next block over. Turnip…I don’t know, Jo. She’s probably still back in the car. But Declan has a tracker on her, right? He’ll get to her. He’ll see that we’re in trouble and come here to get us.”
Turnip. She made a noise when we first crashed, so I know she isn’t terribly hurt. The fact that Declan has a tracker in her collar is the only thing that keeps me from losing it. “Where…where is here? Do you know?”
He gives me a weak smile. “Welcome to one of my father’s many vacation homes, Fireball. Looks like I’m first in the ‘pack meets the family’ race after all. I guess dear old Dad had this…dungeon built in when he was doing repairs after the fire.”
“The fire you caused.” A strong, authoritative voice rings out, and I turn my head to see an older version of Hayden unlocking the door to my cell. I’ve seen pictures of Senator Richard Pierce, of course. Always the picture of masculine authority, but in a bland, generic way.
In person though, the resemblance to Hayden is striking.
Despite my mate’s alpha-build and his father’s beta physique, they have the same sharp jawline, same golden hair, though Richard’s is more gray than gold now.
His eyes are blue instead of hazel, and I find myself relieved that this monster doesn’t share my favorite trait of his son’s.
Or his scent. While Hayden is delicious, smoky pepper, Richard is ash, long after the fire’s burned out.
He’s in a perfectly pressed suit, looking like he just came from a press conference. As you do, before sauntering down the steps to your dungeon where you’re keeping your son and his pack captive. Gods, wouldn't it be wild if we could get some reporters down here?
“You can take the cost of repairs out of my allowance,” Hayden snips.
“Sending you to that godsforsaken asylum was supposed to scare some sense into you, not make you even more insufferable than before.” Richard spits, his irritated expression making him turn ugly. What a dick.
Ha. Richard…Dick. It’s like his parents knew what a massive twat-waffle he’d be.
“You know, Pops, most fathers would send their kids to therapy. Not an insane asylum for notorious criminals.”
“You and I both know that’s not what that place is. Or was,” he sneers. “Now it’s in shambles, and it’s up to me to make things right, considering my son helped destroy all our hard work.”
“What do you mean?” I make my voice tremble, and Dick actually looks at me for the first time since walking in here.
“Declan Gallagher fried every single piece of data in the servers. Nobody can get a hold of Whitmore, Brooks is gods knows where, the omegas have been turned loose—but you.” He gives me a slimy grin.
“You were injected with the highest dose of instinct inhibitor. There may still be some in your system, and we can reverse engineer the formula from the composition of your blood. Then I can hand deliver my results to Prometheus, and he’ll give me the credit I deserve for helping eradicate our country of the demon spawn. ”
My jaw drops. This guy might be crazier than me. “Demon spawn?”
He tosses his hands up. “Alphas. Omegas. It’s unnatural.
You’re all unnatural,” he spits, pacing the room.
“Instincts and ruts and heats—you’re no more than animals, really.
” He stops, lifting a hand to stroke a finger down my cheek.
The touch makes my skin crawl as his voice goes suddenly soft.
“I’m going to save you, Josephine Harding.
Make it so you can be more than your instincts.
More than your disgusting urges. Xavier wants to build a new world.
One free of designations and laws that give alphas and omegas special treatment.
He wants to save all the omegas, Josephine. ”
My fingers itch for a knife at the use of my full name, but I do my best to ignore it. “Save omegas? Do you know what that word means, Senator? Is the irony lost on you that I am currently an omega strapped to a bed in a strange place?”
“Omegas are bought and sold every day. To packs. To individuals. Remove the commodity, remove the temptation to profit from it. Omegas cannot be sold into slavery if they don’t exist.”
Something morbid occurs to me then. Dick Pierce, New York Senator and influential politician, is just loose-lipping his way through this conversation. No secrecy.
He’s either crazy, or he’s not planning on letting us live, even if he succeeds in reverse engineering the serum. Which, he can’t possibly, because it burned out of my system the moment Hayden bit me again.
Hayden must think the same thing, because he jumps in, “Surely you can just work off the dose still at the asylum that they’re giving all the alphas, right?”
The Senator glares at him. “No, you idiot.” Red flares in my vision at his harsh words.
“Don’t you talk to him like that!” I spit, and Dick gives me a condescending grin.
“I’ll talk to him however I want, you simpering fool.
” Then he shakes out his shoulders, letting a breath loose.
“The dose was specially altered and curated for Josephine Harding. Then it was administered to the omegas in the testing facility, but now that they’re missing,” he glares at me again, “you’re the only thing we have left.
And I will make good on my promise to Prometheus. ”
“You can’t,” I shake my head wildly. “It’s not in my system anymore. Hayden’s venom burned it off. You’d just be wastin’ time.”
His expression stills. “His…venom? You bonded?”
“Guess Brooks and Whitmore left that out of their little reports,” Hayden smirks. We may not be getting out of here, but we sure as hell aren’t giving these assholes what they want either.
“We’re a true-scent match. Me, Hayden, Sam, Kole, and West.” My voice is triumphant. “It burns it straight out of the system. Even if you prick me a hundred times, they’ll just bite me again.”
Something clicks into place for him and his eyes dart down the hall. He pulls a cell phone out and dials a number before holding it to his ear. “Send the scientist down and bring the other mutts and the beta into the main holding room. There’s been a development.”
He hangs up, and gives me a pitying look. I have the distinct feeling I just fucked up.
“Listen, Josephine…once we perfect the serum, even the bite of a scent-match will be useless, because scent matches won’t exist anymore.
No more venom, no more bonding. The only thing that will happen if someone bites you…
well, it’ll probably get infected because the human mouth is a disgusting place.
My son…he’s already spoken for. He’s been engaged for the last three years, did he tell you that? ”
Acid churns in my gut. Of course I know what he’s talking about, but the thought of my Hayden being married to some woman who isn’t me makes my omega very territorial. Regardless, I glance over at my Fire Demon and shake my head so he doesn’t interject.
Dick continues, oblivious to mine and his son’s silent conversation.
“She’s fantastic breeding stock. Perfect tits and ass…
for a beta. That will be the only shame I think, in removing designations.
No more naturally curvy bodies perfect for childbearing.
You know, I’ve been milking the whole ‘single, dedicated father’ shtick for quite a few years now.
Perhaps it’s time for a new wife…” His finger strokes down my cheek again as Hayden lets out a growl of warning.
The asshole is distracted enough by the sound that he turns towards him, and my teeth snap forward, catching his finger.
“You bitch!” Dick screams as blood fills my mouth, and then my ears are ringing, my head snapping to the side as my cheek burns.
“Is that all you got?” I croak, shaking my head to try to get rid of the dizziness. “You slap like my great Aunt Dixie.”
“Don’t you fucking touch her!” Hayden screams from his cell, rattling the bars. His face is contorted in rage, and the gutting feeling of helplessness seeps into our bond.
“Is this what I have to do to get you to listen?” Dick shouts, holding his bloody finger to his chest. “Do I need to knock the bitch around to get you to shut the fuck up?!”
The sound of a door opening has him turning, and I follow his line of sight to see West and Sam being pushed into the room, their hands cuffed in front of them, and Kole being dragged by two guards, one comically taller and thinner than the other.
Kind of reminds me of Bert and Ernie. “We had to sedate the Russian, sir.”
The sight of my guys banged up, bleeding, and bruised from the car wreck makes my insides churn, and I have to fight to keep an omega whine down.
“It’s fine. Just put them in the cell with my useless son.” I watch as Sam and West’s eyes land on me, and they both immediately start fighting against their cuffs.
“Jo!” Their voices are desperate as they call for me, but it’s no good.
“You weren’t lying, were you?” The Senator shakes his head.
“Scent matched to all of them? I bet you’ve fucked them all at the same time too, little whore that you are.
Pity. You’re not bad to look at but I don’t go for sloppy seconds.
Or…” he mentally counts, “fifths.” I snarl, but he turns to a man in a white coat and round glasses coming down the stairs.
“Oh, good, Sinclair. There she is. Take some blood samples and see what you can get.”
The beta scientist, Sinclair, eyes me with disdain as the Senator leaves, presumably going up the stairs. Bert and Ernie move to follow behind him.
“You aren’t going to just leave me in here with her, are you?” His eyes are wide as he looks back and forth between us.
“Oh, calm down, four-eyes.” Ernie scoffs. “They’re all behind bars, and the omega is strapped to a bed. You’ll be fine.”
With that, the guards follow the Senator, while the scientist walks into my cell, arranging things on a tray with shaky fingers. My eyes never leave him as he fumbles, obviously nervous. Sam, West, and Hayden also stare at him, and the attention is clearly more than a little unnerving.
When he turns to me, needle at the ready, I give him a smile.
Based on the horror in his eyes, it’s still bloody from when I bit Dick’s finger.
“If you come near me with that needle, Doc, it’s goin’ straight in your eye.
” My voice is saccharine sweet, and if I could snap a picture of the look of fear in his eyes when I say it, I would make it my phone wallpaper.
“I’d listen to her if I were you,” Hayden calls through the bars. “I’ve never seen Jo make a threat she couldn’t deliver on.”
“She’s killed fourteen alphas, you know,” Sam adds, adding Banesworth to the tally.
“Of course he knows, why do you think he’s so nervous?” West asks, talking like the scientist isn’t even here.
“F…Fourteen?” the scrawny man stutters. “I thought it was thirteen.”
“Oops.” I grin again. “Sammy forgot not everyone knows about that last one. They’ll never find his body, you know. Just like they’ll never find yours if you stick that needle anywhere near me.”
A door slams up above, making the scientist jump, and loud footsteps echo down the hall. “Holy shit, Sinclair, you haven’t done it yet?” The two guards come back into view. “Boss won’t let us order dinner until you have what you need to test her blood, so get on it.”
“She says she’ll put the needle in my eye if I come near her.” It’s official. Sinclair is a sniveling little bitch.
Bert lets out a heavy sigh. “We’ll hold her.” He nods at Ernie. “Come on, I’m starving.”
When they approach, my eyes catch on the syringe in Sinclair’s hand and my panic response kicks in. “Don’t touch me!” I snarl, thrashing so they can’t hold me. I’m sick of being a lab rat. An experiment. Less than human.
And if my blood really does have what they need to reverse-engineer the serum? I can’t let them get what they need.
Ernie approaches, moving to the bed to try to hold my shoulders still. He bends down to speak in my ear. “Oh calm down, Red—Fuck!” He stumbles, my head throbbing from where I threw it back and smashed his nose.
Bert’s eyes widen, and he rushes to grab the sides of my head to hold me still. I snap my teeth at him, and Ernie comes around the side of the bed while Sinclair cowers in the corner.
“You damn bitch.” Ernie’s voice is nasally from the blood spurting from his nose, and when his fist meets my gut, all the wind is knocked out of me.
My lungs seize, and when my eyes land on the cell opposite me, I lock eyes with Kole’s furious expression.