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2...
“I’ve got four-twenty-five. How about four-hundred-and-seventy thousand?”
1....
The announcer’s words were cut off as an explosion rocked the building. “Holy shi—” he cursed before reverb squealed from the microphone as it was dropped. Screams filled the air, followed by a mixture of crying Omegas and cursing Alphas.
I stumbled off the pedestal and fell to my knees as the room shook. My ears rang while glass shattered all around me, pouring down like sharp, glittering rain. The leash attached to my collar went slack, and I pushed myself to my feet, wobbling on the spikes of my heels.
The world was still moving, twisting and twirling, making me sick. Were the drugs causing hallucinations? Or was this really happening?
I blinked, urging myself to wake up from this nightmare, but when my lashes lifted, the same insanity ensued. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, helping to clear some of the haze.
Chaos reigned everywhere. Smoke filled the room and infiltrated my lungs. I coughed hard, desperate for clean air.
Oh gods.The mayhem was real.
The spotlights, which had been set up on stands, had been knocked over from the force of the blast, crashing to the ground and plunging everything into darkness except for the flames that surged along the far wall. Flailing blindly, I threw my hands out, trying to find my way to an exit.
Anton was yelling and barking orders somewhere behind me. I was so intimately familiar with the tone of his voice I could pick it out in a crowd. What that said about my level of abuse, that my body was instinctively tuned to react to him, that I was primed to hear him, even amidst such a cacophony, I didn’t know. But I hated it. I hated how afraid I was of him. That no matter how angry I became, it paled to the terror that clawed through my chest at the idea of him getting his hands on me again.
I pressed on, trying to remember the layout of the stage and where the doors were. Somewhere in the muddled recesses of my mind, that small, steady voice of reasoning screamed at me to run.
I only made it a few fumbling steps when that damn guard reappeared in front of me.
“Told you it would be over soon. It’s time to go, doll,” he drawled, smacking on a piece of cinnamon gum. Pulling the pin on a smoke bomb, he tossed it into the fray with a wickedly dangerous grin. Bending at the waist, he dug his shoulder into my stomach and upended me.
The world tipped, and I cried out as the guard carried me out of the destroyed room like a sack of potatoes. He banded his arm around my legs, effectively holding me hostage while I struggled in vain.
“Put me down!” I demanded, but the slurred quality of my voice took away any sense of authority.
“No can do. I’m under strict orders to deliver you unharmed.”
Deliver me? To whom?
A second guard appeared beside us. I pushed off my captor’s back to get a better look, trying to memorize as many details as I could in case they’d be useful later. The newcomer, a blond with equally striking blue eyes, eyed me appraisingly. “You got the package?”
Another loud smack of gum. “Yep.”
A sharp slap on my ass had me growling like an angry bear. “I’m a person, not a package!”
“She’s a feisty little Omega.” The blonde grinned. “I like it.”
My captor chuckled. “Help the others grab as many of the Omegas as you can and meet us at the rendezvous point. Use the side door.”
“On it.” The blonde took off, and I craned my neck to see him bleed into the pandemonium.
All around us rose the sound of growling Alphas, their scents sharper and more pungent with their anger and trepidation. Smoke still filled the air, billowing from the fire and exacerbated by the smoke bombs. The acrid scent of it all burned my nose.
“Demi!” I could’ve sworn I heard the sharp cry of Knox’s voice. Tears came to my eyes as I hopelessly posted off the guard’s back and searched wildly for him in the foggy haze coating everything.
“Knox!” I tried to yell, but it was merely a croak of sound.
I searched wildly.
Nothing. He wasn’t there. My mind had to be playing tricks on me. I was alone, save for my new captor.
“Who the hell are you?” I asked as the floor moved beneath me again.
