Chapter 32
Madi
My scent shifts from sweet and rich to bitter and burnt, the overpowering pheromone of my distress permeating the car.
As an omega, it is my only defense mechanism against this monster.
The scent is biologically designed to be torturous for an alpha to smell.
Jensen makes eye contact with me through the rearview mirror and breathes deeply, a twisted smile spreading.
Fuck. The sick bastard likes it.
Whatever shot that fucker next to me gave has my skin on fire. My clothes feel like sandpaper on my body, and slick pools between my legs.
“What did you do to me?” I barely manage to get out.
The asshole takes off the surgical mask. He looks nearly identical to Jensen but a few years younger. The car is inundated with Jensen’s offensive alpha scent, but the man next to me is a beta.
“A little something to jump-start your heat so we can get right to the fun. Don’t worry, my brother and I will take care of you and return you home safely at the end of this week. Back to your shitty apartment. You know, Jensen would have put you up at a nice place if you had just put out.”
I try to growl at him. It’s a pathetic sound that only makes him laugh.
Is this even possible?
“How did you know?” I rasp, my heart beating out of my chest and my breath coming in heavy pants. I’ve never been so horny in my fucking life, but I sit on my hands, refusing to touch myself in front of anyone who isn’t my pack.
From the front seat, Jensen holds up a phone, flashing me the screen.
It’s my text conversation with Abby. Betrayal is a knife in the gut.
Jensen chuckles. “Incredible things can be done with artificial intelligence. You women are too trusting of one another. AI-generated photos of omegas are so easy to make. A few prompts, a chat bot, and she’s real enough to trick you.”
I had told Abby when I was flying home, the restaurant by my house I wanted to try, and where I was going for my heat. How could I have been so fucking stupid?
Jensen makes a few sharp turns, until we’re in some sort of warehouse district, coming up to the very end of a massive metal building. The front office, though, is made of glass, a large white decal reading Jensen’s Medical Shipping Supplies.
I can’t let them get me inside or there will be no coming back out before my heat ends.
I need to escape now. My purse is next to me and I try to discreetly rifle through it to find any sort of weapon.
There’s nothing truly helpful, only an e-reader and my makeup, but my fingers brush the setting spray.
It’s going to have to work as pepper spray.
Jensen gets out of the car to go open the office door and his brother, whatever the fuck his name is, leans over. “No need to make that face. You’re about to have the time of your life. We’ll make it so good for you. I promise.”
Fucker.
I reach my hand up, spraying him as much as I can in the eyes.
He screams in pain, grabbing at his face.
Hit with adrenaline, I ball my fist up and slam it into his groin as hard as I possibly can.
He grunts and bends over in the seat. I know I have to try and get away, but Jensen’s back is turned, fiddling with the keys.
I slip out of the car and try to make a run for it on shaky legs, but my body is so damn heavy. Exhaustion covers me like a blanket.
“Dammit!” Jensen yells, taking off after me. I don’t make it far, but every second I delay going inside that office is another second I have a chance to fight.
His arms go around me, locking in and lifting me off the ground. The car keys drop to the asphalt. I hurl my head back, slamming into his nose, but it’s not enough for him to drop me. It only causes him to squeeze me so tightly it becomes hard to breathe as tears stream down my face.
I know my alphas aren’t here and they’re not coming, but I scream their names in between shouts for help anyway, begging fate to save me from the horror of what’s to come of my heat in that office.
As Jensen hauls me into the building, his brother holds the door open, glaring at me with bloodshot eyes. “Fucking bitch!”
I briefly smile at his pain. Yes, that’s exactly what I am.
My escape attempt drained too much energy and I become malleable, slumping exhaustedly in Jensen’s arms, my shoes grazing the floor as he drags me into one of the back offices. A lock clicks into place behind us.
The room is filled with blankets and pillows on a pullout couch, with cases of bottled water, boxes of ramen cups, snacks, and electrolyte sports drinks piled in a corner.
Jensen throws me down on the hard mattress and I recoil from the restraints attached to the bed, crawling as far away from him as I can and pulling my knees up to my chest. The sensation of my clothing is pure torture, but I will not strip down in front of them while I’m still in my right mind.
I swallow down the whimper caught in my throat. He doesn’t get to hear my fear, too.
The world swims, everything getting foggy as I struggle to stay coherent while my omega side screams to be fucked.
Jensen isn’t the one I want, but it hurts.
Heat burns through me, my muscles tender, like I’ve been run over by a truck.
I feel so excruciatingly empty, practically vibrating to be touched and sucked and rutted.
It’s enough to override the fact that Jensen’s scent makes me want to gag.
I’ll never forgive my body for this betrayal. My slick is already ruining the sheets. Sex is the only remedy for this agony, but here, with him? With anyone who’s not my pack? It will be a poison as much as it is a cure.
Why the fuck didn’t I stay with my pack? Why did I have to be so fucking stubborn? I could be at Zachary’s right now, on his glorious couch, having food from The Madeline delivered as one last meal before I completely lose myself to my heat with my pack.
My pack.
The sudden realization chokes me. My scent matches, my fated mates, the alphas meant for me—as I was destined for them. I want them, need them, forever. Bitten and bonded. To share my whole life with them. I love them, as a whole, and each of them, exactly as they are.
And now it’s too late.
Jensen opens a bottle of champagne, pouring a flute for himself and another for his brother. They clink their crystal glasses together. “Now we wait for her to pathetically beg for us to fuck her. That’s one of my favorite parts.”
Fucker. Fucker. Fucker.
But I know he’s right. I’m a few minutes from being beyond desperate. I won’t be able to endure the pain soon, and at a certain point my brain will shut off, consumed by lust, and I’ll plead for any alpha to rut me to make the suffering stop.
Darkness wavers at the edge of my vision. I’ve never hated being an omega as much as I do right now.