Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
DANE
T he door to my bedroom remains open as my gaze locks onto the little Omega. Closing it feels like an invitation to something more than just tending to her cuts.
She’s huddled slightly, arms wrapped protectively around herself like armor, but it’s the defiance blazing in those ocean-blue eyes that commands my attention. No fear, just a challenge.
“Come here,” I say gently, my voice a low rumble. “Let me take a look at those injuries.” I gesture toward the bed where a medkit lies open, its contents spilled out from earlier today. I open one of the packs, and the sharp scent of antiseptic cuts through the musky tension hanging between us.
She moves with cautious steps, each carefully measured, her chin jutting out stubbornly as dark blonde waves fall across her face like a curtain of secrecy. I can sense it all—the restless energy vibrating beneath her skin, the guarded tilt to her jaw, the distrustful crease between her brows.
“Alright.” She lowers herself gingerly onto the edge of the mattress, her posture strained.
Part of me aches to reach out and smooth away the worry lines with a gentle touch, but I quell the urge, reminding myself that she’s not mine. She’s already been bought, and I need to focus on the task at hand.
“Let me see,” I say, my voice calm. I don’t miss her instinctive flinch as I move closer, the reaction a pang in my gut. In this cruel world, her fear is understandable—but I swear, I’m not the enemy here. We do our best to find Omegas Alphas who will take care of them and cherish them, which is more than I can say for Nexus.
“Easy,” I force out, frustration simmering beneath the surface. “I’m just gonna clean you up again, alright? This will hold you over until the morning when we can get you some fresh medicine.”
Her breath hitches, and her body tenses like a coiled spring.
“Why should I trust you?” she asks, a tremor in her voice betraying the defiance in her words.
“I know you have no reason to,” I reply gently. “But I promise, I’m not here to cause you more harm.”
Grabbing the gauze, I work with deliberate movements. Unshakable, dependable... that’s how they see me. But this Omega... she’s a storm brewing beneath the surface, messing with me in ways I can’t understand.
“Look,” I start, my tone unexpectedly softening, “I know you have no reason to trust me.” The bitter truth hangs heavy in the air. “But I’m not the one you should be afraid of, Kayla.”
For a long moment, silence stretches between us. Her lips part, as if she’s on the verge of arguing, but then they clamp shut, and she simply watches me with guarded eyes. Until finally, almost inaudibly, she says, “Okay.”
It’s a mere breath of sound, but that sliver of trust still manages to slice straight through me. As I rub the antibiotic ointment on the wound on her cheek, my fingertips brush her skin, sending tiny jolts racing up my arms. She jumps slightly, the reaction mirroring mine.
“Sorry,” I mutter, surprised by the apology. “The ointment can sting a little.”
“Doesn’t hurt,” she replies, but her voice trembles. She’s got fire and fight, but right now, all I see is a scared animal, caught and vulnerable.
“Good.” It takes everything in me to focus on the task at hand. “I’ll just wrap this up, keep it clean.” My fingers work deftly, securing the bandage with the practiced ease of years spent patching up wounds, but tending to a wounded Omega in my bedroom is a far cry from the battlefield.
She flinches again as I secure the bandage, and the frustration boils within me. I hate that she fears me, despise that I’m lumped in with the ones who’ve hurt her before.
“Kayla,” I say, my voice low and rough, the frustration bleeding through. “You need to understand… I’m trying to help you.”
“Help?” Her laugh is a hollow, bitter sound. “Is that what you call it? You’re going to sell me off.”
As bounty hunters, we take all kinds of jobs—finding Omegas who fled corporate reassignments, Alphas who disobeyed mating contracts, you name it. This isn’t our first rodeo locating missing Omegas.
“No. There’s a bounty out for you and the other Omegas who were on the bus to Nexus. We were hired to locate you and any other missing Omegas and bring you in.”
She snorts.
I don’t push the issue. Let her think what she wants. Liam has asked Ryker for a week and so far, I think he’s going to honor it. This little Omega is already getting under my skin, and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Ryker is just as smitten as Liam.
“Can we talk about something else?” She picks at the empty package of the gauze. “Like where you learned how to do this?”
“I was in the army. A medic.”
Her eyes widen. “That must have been scary. What was it like?”
“Back in Kandahar, there was this kid, barely older than you are now. He got hit with shrapnel during a firefight. We thought we’d lose him.”
Kayla’s posture shifts, her wounded body leaning toward me.
“Did he make it?”
A ghost of a smile plays on my lips. “Yeah. Tough kid. Made a full recovery.”
The memory slams into me, a heat wave rolling off the desert floor. Air thick with the metallic tang of gunpowder, a sickly-sweet undercurrent of sweat and fear clinging to my nostrils. Adrenaline pumps through my veins, every movement a frantic blur as I fight to save the kid. It’s a brutal reminder—life hangs by a thread. A single wrong move means the difference between holding on and the chilling emptiness of letting go.
Kayla’s eyes lock onto mine, and there’s a raw awe I can’t quite decipher. Then, just as quickly, her gaze darts away, seeking solace in the sliver of blue sky visible through the window.
“Guess some people are just lucky,” she mutters, the words dripping with a bitterness that twists my gut.
Silence stretches, heavy and thick. I can’t let that stand.
“Not everyone gets a medic around,” I say, my voice softer than I’m used to. “We all fight our own battles, but sometimes, a sliver of hope, a helping hand... that can make all the difference.”
Her voice, barely a whisper, breaks the quiet. “Must’ve been hard.”
There’s a shift in her, a vulnerability peeking through the cracks in her carefully constructed facade. It tugs at something deep within me, a protectiveness I can’t explain.
“War is hell,” I reply, the words heavy with unspoken experiences. “But seeing him pull through... it gave me hope. Maybe there’s hope for you too, Kayla.”
Her gaze flickers to mine, searching, and then darts away.
“I overheard you and the others talking about selling me.”
Most of our gigs involved tracking down corporate runaways or finding heirs who tried to escape arranged matings. But every now and then, the big boys sent us after a real prize—like those Omegas bound for Nexus.
“A bounty. We’re paid to bring you and any other Omegas in.” My jaw clenches. I can’t lie to her, not with that raw vulnerability etched on her face. “Liam doesn’t want to sell you off,” I admit, the words gruff. “He thinks... well, never mind what he thinks. The point is, I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.” Even if it means defying the pack.
“Then why?” she presses, a sliver of panic creeping back into her voice.
“It’s complicated, Kayla,” I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “There are forces at play bigger than us. But trust me, I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to you.”
The statement hangs heavy in the air. Is it a promise I can keep? Doubt gnaws at me, but the fierce protectiveness I feel for her is undeniable.
She falls silent, picking at the edge of the blanket Liam had draped over her.
“No, you and Ryker probably just want me healed up to do a private auction or something and sell me off to some overbearing Alpha who enjoys making Omegas miserable.”
The accusation stings.
“That’s not it,” I growl, the possessiveness in my tone surprising even me. “Look, I don’t know what the future holds, but I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“Nobody’s ever kept me safe before.” Her voice cracks, a tremor of past abuse barely disguised.
My heart clenches. She sits there, so defiant yet so heartbreakingly fragile.
“Kayla,” I say, my voice rough with emotion. “You’re not alone anymore. We’ll figure this out together.”
She looks up at me, her wary glint returning. “Shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, Alpha,” she says, a hint of defiance back in her voice.
“Maybe I can.” The thought of her with some stranger leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Protecting her... it’s a dangerous path, but for the first time, I wonder if there’s another way. Maybe Liam’s crazy fated mate idea isn’t so crazy after all.
“What is it?”
“Listen, Kayla...” I trail off, unsure where this urge to reassure her comes from. My voice drops to a gravelly whisper. “You’re not just some pawn in our game. You have my word.”
“Your word,” she echoes, lips curling around the apple’s flesh. “That supposed to mean something?”
A pang of guilt hits me. “Look, I know it’s hard to believe after what you’ve been through, but I’m different from the ones who’ve hurt you before. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
She meets my gaze, defiant, unflinching. “We’ll see about that.”
Yeah, we will. As I shoulder my med bag, a silent vow forms deep within me. No matter what Ryker says, no matter how the chips fall, I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to her. Not now. Not when something indefinable and wild has taken root inside me, wrapping around my ribs like ivy.
“Get some sleep, Omega,” I say, my voice softer now. “Tomorrow’s another day.”
“Another day in paradise.” Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes.
“Something like that.”
I turn to leave, the weight of our tangled fates heavy on my shoulders. But it’s not just the burden I feel—it’s the fire, too. A burning need to protect what might just be mine. Maybe Liam’s right. Maybe she is the fated mate we never saw coming.
“Thanks for patching me up,” she says, voice laced with an edge that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. They’re too tired, too hunted.
I nod, knowing I should go and leave her to rest, but my feet root to the floor, betraying me. I’m a fucking Alpha; control is second nature. Yet here I am, bound by invisible chains of concern—no, not just concern. Protectiveness.
What the hell is happening to me? Since when do I side with Liam’s soft-hearted views? Ryker would have my head for even thinking about it. But as I look at her, something fierce claws at my insides. I’m siding with Liam, against better judgment, against years of hardened resolve against criminals and others we’ve brought in on bounties who pleaded with us, tried to bribe us. None of them got to me the way this Omega is without even trying.
I shake my head. The rational side of me knows I should listen to Ryker and turn her in like any other bounty, business as usual. Another part of me, an undeniable part, is sick of self-preservation. As I look at Kayla, so defiant yet vulnerable, something primal and protective claws at my insides.
Can I really abandon her to some unknown Alpha?
Since when did I let instinct overrule cold logic? Maybe since the moment I looked into those haunted blue eyes and saw a reflection of the person I used to be—before the wars.
Her scent, vanilla and jasmine, wraps around me, and I fight the urge to take her into my arms and tell her I’ll never let her go.
“Kayla,” I start, voice low. “Nexus... how are they any different from what we do?”
She pales again, and it’s like watching a ghost settle into her skin.
“They’re not like you,” she whispers, voice trembling like a leaf in the wind. “They don’t steal Omegas.”
Bullshit. I know it. She knows it, deep down. And it guts me that she believes otherwise.
“You need to understand?—”
“Understand what? That I’m just merchandise?” Her voice cracks, and it’s like I can hear the splintering of whatever defenses she has left.
“Damn it, that’s not what I meant.” Frustration boils over, but there’s something else, too. A pull. An urge to shield her from the shitstorm outside these walls.
“Look, I...” Words fail me. How do you explain a connection that shouldn’t exist? How do you justify an instinct that defies everything you’ve built your life around?
“Never mind.” I shake my head, feeling the weight of centuries-old laws and modern survival tangling up inside me.
“Fine. But if you think I’ll just roll over and accept whatever fate you guys decide for me, then you’re mistaken.”
I step into the shadow-soiled corridor, the door snicking shut behind me like a judgment. The thrum of my pulse is deafening, hammering against my temples as if trying to break free.
I shouldn’t have said that about Nexus. Damn it. I raked up the past, maybe hers, maybe something worse. My gut tightens, and I shove a hand through my hair, fighting back the sour twist of guilt gnawing at me.
“Fuck!”
I lean against the cool wall, feeling its chill seep through the thin material of my shirt. It’s a fleeting distraction from the heat roiling in my chest, the anger at myself, the system, the whole fucked-up situation.
“Get a grip, Dane,” I scold myself. Though I want to go find her stepfather and beat the ever-loving shit out of him.
The urge to go back, to offer some kind of comfort or reassurance, claws at me with relentless insistence. But what the hell could I say? That it’ll all be okay? That’d be the biggest load of bullshit, and she’d see right through it. She’s no fool; she’s a fighter, I can tell.
I push off the wall with more force than necessary and start down the hall, each step heavier than the last. I’m an Alpha, a protector by nature, but this… this feeling is different. It’s personal, and it goes against every rule, every business deal Ryker and I ever shook on.
“Shit!”
My mind reels between the need to shield her and the knowledge that I’m part of the very thing she needs protection from. The irony isn’t lost on me—it’s a blade twisting in my side.
She deserves better than this, deserves a life without cages—literal or figurative. But here I am, keyholder to one and enforcer of the other. How can I stand there and promise safety when I’m surrounded by walls built on danger and despair?
“Think,” I command myself, even as my instincts scream to turn back, to make sure she’s really alright.
But she’s not, and it’s partly my fault.
“Fuck this,” I growl, the words echoing off the walls, carrying all the weight of a vow. With every step I take away from the door, the harder it becomes to leave her behind. To abandon her to a fate I helped create.
No. That life ends now for both of us. I’ll go to Liam, and together we’ll find a way out of this, even if it means pissing Ryker off and making more enemies.
Kayla deserves a free life, and I... I deserve a second chance to be the man I once was. To protect instead of endangering those who can’t protect themselves.
My fists clench, my resolve hardening. I don’t know how, but I’ll make things right. She’ll never be a captive again.
I pivot on my heel, retracing my steps with a newfound purpose thrumming through my veins. Leaving her was never an option. I just didn’t realize it until now.