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And I sure as fuck wanted.
“Rhett went in the first chopper with Jude,” Silas added. “Kellan took the other with the omega.”
I pulled up short, freezing with the door open. “She was hurt?”
“Debris from the explosion cut her up, and it looked like she might’ve been clipped by a bullet,” he replied, his face grim. “That doesn’t explain all the other bruises, though.”
It was all I could do not to roar in fury. The weight of her abuse rested on me. Both omegas had been hurt at my call to hold off. I should’ve pulled the plug the moment I learned there was a single omega at risk.
The haunted faces of dozens of nameless people still huddled together in that room a hundred yards away flashed through my mind.
I’d failed them all.
14
Hazel
Everything was wrong.
I’d woken up to Kellan shouting at someone as I was wheeled away on a gurney. When another one of those weird, needy sounds slipped from my lips, I’d seen a glimpse of him about to rage-out to get to me as a wave of hospital guards swept in to keep their staff safe.
Confused and a little freaked out that I’d slept through an entire helicopter ride and landing, I started to struggle, magically settling right around the time I felt a pinch in my upper arm. I wasn’t sure what they’d dosed me with, but suddenly things didn’t seem quite so worthy of a level ten panic attack.
Things got a little blurry as I was brought up to a different floor. The lights were dimmer. There was an antiseptic tickle of scent blockers that constantly made me feel like I needed to sneeze. But it was the quiet hum of machines that was slowly driving me crazy.
A doctor and nurses had wheeled me to a private room and started gently cataloging and treating my injuries. I was numb, and it felt like something was missing. Something vital.
“She’s in shock, Dr. Labine,” a low voice murmured.
The man in a white coat near my head gave a soft sigh as he finished examining my arm. “Not surprising. Let’s get her into a gown.”
I blinked up at him, my brow crinkling with a frown as he gave me a warm smile, his presence and touch non-threatening. His eyes were kind.
A beta.
“We’ll get you fixed up,” he assured me, stepping back so the nurses could move in to do as he’d requested.
One touched the edge of my shirt. “Okay, sweetheart, let’s?—”
“No.” The word croaked out of my dry lips.
She startled, shooting a glance at the other nurse, who tried a new approach. “We need to remove your top. Don’t worry. We’ll make sure no one sees. You’re safe now.”
Gripping the edges of the shirt, I whimpered and tried to make myself smaller. It made zero sense, but the idea of being parted from this shirt was more than I could handle.
Tie me up during my first heat? Fine.
Force me to marry a sadistic asshole? Whatever.
Be sexually assaulted in front of a few hundred people? Okay.
But I drew the line at them stripping away this shirt that somehow reminded me of Christmas and summer at the same time. It was soft and smelled… right. My omega needed it.
I needed it.
“No,” I repeated the word, this time begging. I had nothing left. Not my pride, my innocence. All I had was this shirt, given to me by a stranger, that I couldn’t lose. Not tonight.
The first nurse studied me, her expression melting from frustrated concern to empathy. She patted the back of my hand. “Okay, sweetie. What if we take your shirt off, but you can keep holding onto it?”
