Page 355 of Immune

The infected don’t. Beyond the door, Zeds are snarling and groaning, chains scraping against the concrete. Somewheredeeper in the building, a Runner screeches and a man screams even louder.

The leader’s breath brushes hot against my ear. “Enough.”

Fletcher lifts his gun, the barrel pointed at the leader’s face. His hands don’t shake, steady as a wall and just as strong.

The leader digs the pistol harder into my skin. “Drop it.”

Fletcher’s eyes meet mine, blue and furious and waiting.

He’ll shoot if I tell him to.

He’ll lower the gun if I tell him to.

He will stand exactly where I place him.

A shield, not a cage.

I blink once.

Not yet.

Fletcher doesn’t drop the gun but he doesn’t fire it either. Smart man.

The leader’s grip tightens. “You have no idea what she’s worth. None.”

Ewan laughs softly, but nothing about it is funny. “Swear down, if one more greasy little grave-dodger says that, I’m going to start plucking teeth out as payment.”

“Shut up.”

“Hard to do, mate. I’m Welsh.”

“Kneel,” the leader demands, the word barked with an Alpha tone that works on quite literally no one. “All of you. Now.”

No one moves and the leader drags me tighter against him.

My throat burns under his arm and the pistol scrapes my jaw harshly enough that I know it’ll leave a mark. My body trembles with exhaustion, pain, drugs, rage, and the awful pressure of NOVAC just waiting under my skin for its time to shine.

“Do you understand what she could be?” he snaps, spittle flying everywhere. Fucking gross. Say it, don’t spray it, am I right? “Do any of you? Omegas are the future. A cure. A womb. A stabilizing factor. A genetic answer. Humanity does not survive because one girl wants to belong to a pack.”

I wheeze, partly because he is squeezing too hard and partly because I can’t actually believe men like this one keep getting dumber and louder at the same time. It’s honestly baffling to me. It’s a talent. Someone should study it.

“Cargo,” he says near my ear. “Cure. Womb. Asset. Future. Pick a word. They all end the same.”

Something in me goes still. Not NOVAC. Just me this time. The bonds tighten around me in reaction, three points of warmth and wrath that keep me grounded and stable enough that I don’t lose my mind straight away.

Ewan.

Kaito.

Fletcher.

Close and mine because I chose them, not because the world chose for me.

Across the room, Xeon’s eyes lock on mine. There isn’t a bond or thread or chemical miracle between us. It’s just him, and that is more than enough. He gives the smallest nod, not permission but understanding.

He found me without the biology.

He came without needing a tether.