Page 75 of Claimed

“How do you know that?” he asks in confusion.

“Erica told me. She said her and Lexi are the only omegas in town, well, besides me now.”

Chase glances at Bain and nods. “That makes sense. He mentioned her meeting her other mate, but I didn’t want to ask in case he didn’t know about omegas yet.”

“Is this a coincidence?” Hunter asks, looking around at the others. “Two facilities, two omegas?”

“If they knew, they never used that word around me,” I tell them.

“We can’t rule it out, but I’m not sure it helps us make a plan,” Gage says, his fingers strumming on the counter.

“So what do we do now?” I ask, scanning their faces as they exchange glances.

“Gage is going to do some research on Jovanek,” Maddox explains. “If we can find him…”

“We kill him,” Bain finishes for him. I look up at him and thread my arm around his back and press my body into his side.

“Thank you,” I tell him before making eye contact with everyone else. “All of you, thank you. You don’t have to do this. I think we’re safe from him here, but I appreciate you wanting to remove that threat.”

“It’s not just that he’s a threat,” Chase explains. “It’s the fact that he hurt you, and he’s still breathing.”

“Nobody hurts our mate and lives,” Bain grunts out, pulling me against his chest in a full hug.

“Ditto,” I whisper, knowing I’d feel the same if the situation were reversed.

Chapter 27

Hunter

“Aphone?” Cherry asks as she takes the device from me and flips it over like she doesn’t know what to do with it. She was held captive since she was fourteen, so there’s a good chance she hasn’t used one before.

“So you can call or message us whenever you want.”

She looks up at me from where she’s perched in my lap as she asks, “But can’t I just use the bond to talk to you?”

“Sure, at short distances. But if you’re at home, and I’m in town, the bond doesn’t reach that far.”

“Huh,” she says, glancing back down at the phone. “I hadn’t really considered there was a limitation on the bonds’ reach before.”

“You’ll still be able to feel anyone you’ve bonded with anywhere in the world, though,” I reassure her.

Her cheeks start to turn a little pink, and she bites her lip as she looks up at me, leaning into my chest. “You know I want to seal our bond, too, right?”

I smile down at her adorableness. She’s so fucking cute it hurts sometimes. I give her a small squeeze as I tell her, “I know, baby girl. We’ll get our chance soon.”

Her eyes shift back to the phone as she asks, “Not now?”

I groan, hugging her tightly and kissing the top of her head. “As much as I would love to throw you down on this couch, fill you with my knot, and bite you, I want to give you a little more time to recover from sealing your bonds with Maddox and Bain. We don’t know what the power dynamic is like for an omega.”

Her cheeks grow even redder and she nods. “Okay.”

I chuckle as I slowly lick my lower lip, her eyes tracking the movement as her smoky, cherry vanilla scent grows stronger. “Besides, I think Chase should be there. The two of us want to make you ours together.”

“You love your brother, don’t you?” she asks as her little hand reaches up to caress my cheek. I press my face into her touch as I nod.

“Yeah. Chase and I have been through a lot together. He stood up and protected me more times than I can remember.”

“That never bothered you?” she asks curiously.