Page 17 of Ruined Omega

It’s far too dangerous. I’m pretty sure my messages have been totally secure, but you never know. And if the government got their hands on this drug, who knows what they would do with it. If they could mass produce it, it would allow them to create an army immune to the Quarantine Zone mutation. They could invade. They could enslave the Alphas.

I turn the bottle, studying it in the thin beam of dim light cutting through the cracked door.

I should have destroyed these stupid pills a long time ago.

They are far too dangerous.

But something, some tingling intuition in the back of my mind, tells me that I should hang on to the pills and keep them close.

Something tells me I just might need them after all.

Carefully, quietly, I slide the pill bottle into the coat pocket alongside Tal’s own box of drugs.

I shift in the strange, smelly nest, still unable to sleep.

The coat is draped over me like a quilt. Now I slide my arms into its oversized sleeves—sleeves tailored for a giant. Clutching the coat around me, I slip out of the nest and tiptoe to the door, peering out through the thin opening.

Tal is sitting vigilantly by the window, watching the streets below. The dim light is just enough to reveal the bulging contours of his muscle-laden shoulders and back.

He is a guardian.

Maybe the first real guardian I’ve had in my whole life.

I watch him for a minute, then I crawl back into the nest, and pull the blankets snugly around me until I’m enveloped in warmth and Tal’s Alpha scent. It only takes a minute or two before I drift off into the deepest, darkest sleep I’ve experienced in a long, long time.

***

But like all good things, my peaceful sleep is short lived.

I wake up with a start and feel a massive presence rushing toward me in the dark. A hard, heavy body crushes me into the blankets of my nest. A rough, calloused hand claps over my mouth.

The scent is unmistakable.

“Quiet,” Tal hisses. “Don’t scream.”

Panic surges over me. My heart is thumping fast. I can barely see anything. Tal’s huge body is blotting out what little light filters in through the door, which is now flung wide.

I squirm underneath him, but it’s useless. He’s far too strong. His body presses harder against mine, pinning me down against the blanket-strewn floor.

“Don’t struggle,” he demands.

Oh God. He’s going to rape me.

I knew I should never have trusted him. He’s no better than that creep Martin, and he’s a thousand times more dangerous.

He’s going to take my body by force. He’s going to hurt me and use me, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

I whimper against his hand as tears spring to my eyes.

But the anticipated violation doesn’t come. Tal simply keeps me pinned down until I stop resisting.

“Shhh.” His breath tickles me. His soft lips and hard piercing brush my ear, sending goosebumps flaring across my skin.

“Hines, listen,” he whispers. “You have to be completely quiet, okay?”

His voice is urgent but not menacing. Something is wrong, but it’s not what I thought at first.

“Hines, there’s someone in your home.”