Chapter 7 Seven
Seven
Taryn
Rotten blackberry and citrus exploded from the back of the second van as the doors flew open. I heard Caine snarling as the men around us talked.
I wanted nothing more than to run to him, to stroke his face and hold him. Let him hold me.
Stupid zip-tie binding my hands, keeping me from doing that.
The doc came back my way, grabbing my chin with an icy, firm grip and turning my face so he could see my neck. “She only has one bond bite,” he said to the others. “Only one of them is her alpha, at most.”
A hand ripped me from the van without warning. I barely landed on my feet as a security guard in a black uniform with a gun holster on his hip pulled me to stand before the doctor. Infuriatingly, my alphas were still hidden from me by the open doors of their van.
Doc Asswipe cleared his throat, clasping his hands over his clipboard in front of him.
“Ms. Maddox, I’m Dr. Prentiss Hilt, lead researcher at this facility.
Now, I know it’s been quite a fuss to get you here today, but my intention isn’t to harm you.
If you do not follow instructions, however, you will force my hand. Is that understood?”
Anger and fear were a dangerous combination. The bleach-and-ammonia of emotions. It led to doing stupid things, like gritting out “Fuck. You.” And spitting in the man’s face.
A fiery agony broke across my face, and then I was on the ground. My temple throbbed where I’d been hit, and my palms and knees scraped on the concrete as the guard pulled me roughly back to my feet. I panted, glaring at the scientist standing before me.
He sighed, noting something on his clipboard. “Take her to decon and prelim, please.”
“And the alphas?” another guard asked.
Caine’s snarls and struggles were audible, even if I couldn’t see him.
Dr. Dickwad waved a dismissive hand toward the van. “We didn’t hire you to bring us feral alphas. Dispose of them, and we’ll add another twenty to your payment for the trouble.”
“NO!” I yelled, pulling against my captor’s grip. “Don’t touch them!”
“Ms. Maddox—”
“They’re right!” I shrieked, still trying to escape. “I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll—I’ll be a model patient for you, okay? Just don’t hurt them.”
The doc raised a single brow. “Quite frankly, I don’t have the patience to tolerate alphadrenaline episodes.”
“You won’t have to,” Lin’s voice came from the back of the van, and I nearly sobbed with relief to hear it. “We’ll handle it.”
Doc hummed in disbelief as Caine continued to growl and struggle.
“Let me calm him,” I pleaded. “I can calm him down, and then—then he can maintain control. Please.”
Silence rang in the garage as Doc Dickwad debated. Finally, though, he gave a small nod, and the guard brought me to the back of the guys’ van. The second he released my arm, I jumped inside and let Caine wrap his arms around me, tugging me against his chest.
I wanted desperately to just lay there against his chest, even withdraw into the numbness of catatonia like I had once before. But I couldn’t. And I couldn’t let Caine stay in his adrenaline rage either.
I pulled back. “Come back to me, Esquire,” I whispered as I pressed my forehead to his. “You’re in control here, not your wolf. You can take the wheel back. I know you can.”
His breaths slowed and evened, his skin still warm to the touch and his grip possessive. I felt the moment he returned in full. He curled even tighter around me, something akin to a whine coming from his throat. “I’m so fucking sorry,” he breathed next to my ear.
“Hey,” I said, pulling back to look into his eyes. “No sorries here.”
Lin was there behind me, his hand on my neck and turning my head so he could plant a fierce kiss on my lips. Lin framed my face with his hands. “You keep fighting, Omega,” he whispered. “This doesn’t end here.”
I nodded. I knew it wouldn’t end here. It couldn’t.
I only had a moment or two left.
Decon and prelim.
Whatever that was sounded like I was about to be searched head to toe, inside and out.
I had to hope that the doc would keep to his word and not hurt my alphas.
I had to hope, too, that they wouldn’t be subjected to the same scrutiny as I would be, given they were an unexpected addition and not the main concern regardless.
I layered my hands over Lin’s. Meeting his gaze made my eyes burn with tears. Even more so as I pressed so gently against his finger on the tender bump behind my ear. “I love you,” I said in a broken whisper.
I pressed his finger harder and collapsed forward so my forehead kissed his. A sob broke through my lips, and I hoped the motherfuckers looking on chalked it up to raging omega post-heat hormones, and not extracting a foreign device from a still-raw incision on my scalp.
Lin’s breath hitched slightly as he felt the small square shape slip free from my hair. “You are my whole heart, Omega.”
“Wrap it up, Ms. Maddox,” came the nasally voice of Dr. Tightass.
I pulled away from Lin, trying to speak with my eyes what I couldn’t with my words. Instead, I whispered as softly as I could, “Brooks is alive.”
Utter relief made Lin’s face crumple, and Caine behind me grasped my arm. “Brea?” he asked.
I swallowed. “Don’t know.”
I don’t know was better than dead…but barely.
“Your time is up,” the doc said, and a rough grip pulled me from the van.
We stood between the open doors, my eyes dancing between my two alphas, taking in every bit of them I could before I couldn’t anymore. “Please, please don’t hurt them.”
“Well, that’s up to you now.” I shuddered at the cold indifference in his tone. Hilt grabbed my face again, tearing twin growls from the van before us. “You’re a clever girl, Ms. Maddox, so I’ll speak plainly. You misbehave, and I will bring your alphas to you. Piece. By piece.”
Ice surged through my veins.
“How many fingers and toes do they have between them? How many eyeballs? Tongues? Ears? Cocks?”
Terror and rage shook through me like an earthquake.
“Count them, and that’s how many chances you have to comply before we put what’s left of your alphas out of their misery, strap you down, and carry on our work. Do I make myself clear?”
My head bobbed in a frantic nod, terror and fury swimming through me in equal measure.
“And do you believe that I’m a man of my word?”
“Yes,” I said through a choked sob.
I wanted to tear his fucking fingers off.
“Good,” Doc said, dropping his hand from my face.
“I hope for everyone’s sake that you’re a woman of your word, as well.
” He relinquished me, only for the guard to grab my arm and frogmarch me away from the van.
When the elevator doors closed, their scents disappeared, and I knew I was finally, truly on my own.