Page 2 of Freed

Is that because I’m an omega? Does he know?

“For science,” Dr. J says, his shoulders squaring as he quickly glances at Blaze.

“Okay, she’s here. Can you bond us now?” Blaze asks as he steps up beside me and grabs my hand in his. I try to pull my hand away, but his grip is tight and painful. Then I realize what he just said.

Bond?

I look at the doctor, unable to hide my fear as I wait to see what he says. He presses his lips together as he glances between us. “I really need to run a full panel of tests on her first. We don’t know what’s happened to her since she’s been gone.”

“But you promised we could be together. That you can bond us together forever,” Blaze says, pouting like a toddler.

Does Blaze seriously not know how mate bonds work? He’s a wolf shifter. I can smell that on him now that his scent blocker seems to be wearing off. His burnt vanilla scent is starting to stink up the room.

He can force a bond by knotting and biting me. He doesn’t need Dr. J. Not that I’m going to be the one to tell him that. I’d rather die.

A sudden surge of fear pools in my chest. But it’s not mine. It’s my mates. Why are they so scared? Did they just realize I’ve been taken?

Slowly, I place my free hand on my chest and feel my ring hanging beneath my shirt. A spark of excitement stirs within me. I’m still wearing my tracker.

They’re coming for me.

“And I will,” Dr. J says, and I get the feeling he’s just placating Blaze. Does he even know how to force a bond? “I just need to make sure she can handle it first.”

“Of course she can,” Blaze scoffs before clutching my hand tighter, making me wince. “We’re fated mates. I was created for her, specifically.”

I need to avoid mating with Blaze at all costs. I have no idea what permanent effects that would have on me or my other bonds. Does he even know I’m bonded to them? He’s delusional enough that he might not have noticed my mate marks yet.

Deciding to try to delay anything they have planned, I turn to Dr. J as I ask, “What are you going to do to me?”

A slow smile spreads across his cruel face as he pushes his glasses up his nose. “I haven’t heard your voice in so long. It’s changed a lot. As have you,” he says, his eyes roaming over me once more.

I realize this might be my chance to get some answers. And there is one that’s been burning a hole in my mind for ten long years.

“What did you do to me?” I ask, my voice coming out shaky despite my anger.

His brows pinch ever so slightly as he asks, “Do to you?”

“To make me keep coming back? To stop me from dying,” I spit out.

His eyebrows slowly raise in surprise before he starts laughing. “My dear, I didn’t do anything to you.”

“Of course you did!” I yell angrily, hating that he can’t admit it to me now that I finally have the voice to ask.

He gives me a smile filled with pity and shakes his head. “Didn’t you ever wonder why we kept you and not your family?” I suck in a sharp breath at the mention of them. Because, of course I had. I wondered that every day I was imprisoned by him.

He just stares at me with that look of pity as I try to figure out what he’s trying to tell me. “I don’t understand,” I finally grit out.

“I did not make you immortal,” he says gently. “You were born that way.”

My mind flashes back to that dreaded day in the forest with my family ten years ago. Everything happened so fast. I remember the gunshots ringing out, the silence, a burning pain behind my ear…

My free hand reaches up to where the first of my heart marks must be. How had I forgotten about that? Is it true? Did I die that day along with my family? Except I came back to life. They didn’t.

Why?

“What is that?” Dr. J asks angrily, his eyes narrowing in on my hand that’s touching my neck. Stepping toward me, he yanks my hand toward him and stares down at my wrist where my mate mark is clearly visible.

“You idiot!” he hisses at Blaze.