Whatever effect the designated nice guy was having on me was beginning to wear off, and I rolled off his lap and onto the seat beside him. Unfortunately, that put me nearly in the lap of another giant. How the holy hell did they all fit in this freaking van?
He smiled down at me happily, his head brushing the roof. “Hi. I’m Ellar.”
“I don’t care.”
His face fell, and I tried not to feel bad. Step one of feminism: you did not have to be polite to people who were trying to abduct you in nothing but a thong. Maybe that should be steps one through five. There was a lot there to unpack.
The nice guy—the one who made me feel like he could cure all my problems—grabbed for me again but I shuffled closer to Ellar. At least I could think around him. I toed off my stupid shoes, just in case I got a chance to run.
“It will be fine, Omega. Once we get you up the mountain, we can take care of you how you deserve.” It sounded wonderful when he said it but in reality, it was creepy as fuck. Pretty sure that’s what someone would say before they wore your skin as a suit.
Then his words began to sink in. Back up the mountain. No. We couldn’t.
Panic raced down my spine and I launched myself into the front of the car, grabbing at the wheel.
“No!”
The driver swore as he swerved all over the road. We were lucky it was reasonably late so there was no oncoming traffic, but still, I kept trying to drag us off the road and onto the shoulder. If I could get out of the car, I could run.
I’d always been fast. I just had to get out of the car.
Strong arms grabbed me and dragged me to the passenger side, arms like steel vices. “Omega! Calm!” a voice commanded, and my body reacted of its own accord. I went entirely limp like a rag doll.
The fuck? I inhaled, though my senses were weak for a shifter. But what I scented was definitely Alpha.
“What our Omega said was true. No injury will come to you while you are with us; I swear this to you on my life.” The pledge was murmured softly beside my ear, his tone calm.
“Can’t guarantee that if you are trying to crash us into a fucking tree though,” the driver snarled, obviously a little rattled.
The Alpha who currently had me clutched to his chest let out a rumbling growl. “Finlo…”
The guy huffed. “Apologies, Omega.”
I looked at the guy, Finlo, with his strawberry blond hair and sharp jaw, and decided he was actually sorry. Also, they still actually thought I was an Omega.
I looked up at the Alpha holding me, at the small dimple in his chin and soft gray eyes staring back at me. I had a feeling they weren’t always soft though, because there was something about the lines of his face that spoke of bitterness.
“Look, I meant what I said. You guys have snatched the wrong girl. I’m a half-breed tiger shifter. We don’t even have Omegas. I can’t even shift forms, for fuck’s sake. I just wanna go home, and I promise to forget this ever happened.” The guy just shook his head, so I went to Plan B. “I have a kid. You can’t steal me. Who will look after her?”
Well, that got their attention. The whole car went dead silent. I mean, there wasn’t a single rustle or exhaled breath or anything.
The guy driving looked at me. “You already have a mate?” There was an actual whine in his voice, like he felt pained by the thought. “How did Seven’s nose miss a mate?”
I interrupted the other guy before he could speak. “Yep, I do, and he’s a Navy Seal. Real badass. I’ve watched him kill a man with nothing more than a yellow pencil.” I blurted out the lie. “He’ll look for me, with all his buddies. They’re wolf shifters, good noses. They’ll definitely rescue me. Better you let me out here and go and find your Omega. I promise I won’t tell a soul.”
I silently apologized to the unknown Omega.
All eyes turned to the guy in the back, who just scoffed. “There’s nothing wrong with my nose. She’s definitely an Omega, and I don’t smell any other supernatural scents on her. She is days from her heat. We can all scent that. If she had a mate, he wouldn’t have let her leave the house.”
I gasped. “Excuse me? I don’t need a mate who tells me what to do. Uh, Frank lets me do what I want. He respects my choices, and doesn’t try and kidnap me.”
The guy in the back with the nose—Seven, I think they said his name was—scoffed. “Uh, Frank doesn’t exist.”
I gritted my teeth and tears burned my eyes. “Okay, so no mate. But I do have a kid. Luisa. She needs me.” I implored the Alpha who was still holding me tightly, but it had started to feel more reassuring than restraining.
The guy with the Xanny essence cleared his throat. “I believe her. We cannot steal her from her young.”
The whole car was silent and the guy holding me was stiff. “Fine, we will return to her home. She would be more comfortable there during the heat anyway.”
