Page 17 of Omega's Triplets

The bikes faced a dirt road, and Maddy decided, on a whim, to take it. She didn’t know where she was going, but anywhere would be better than here. She didn’t dare glance over her shoulder—she would lose her balance, she was sure, if she didn’t keep her gaze on the road straight ahead of her. Already, the bike was wobbling dangerously.

Maybe it would be better once she got off this dirt path and onto a real road. She was pretty sure the highway lay somewhere ahead. Riding the bike on the highway would come with challenges of its own, of course, but at least the ride would be smoother.

Was anyone following her? Had they noticed yet that she was gone? She could only hope not. She was too afraid to look back.

There was a break in the trees up ahead.It’s the highway, Maddy thought, weak with relief. It seemed, somehow, that reaching the highway would be significant, a milestone. It seemed that when she reached the highway her escape would be real. At that point, they wouldn’t be able to find her. They wouldn’t be able to drag her back.They won’t know which way I went.

Branches whipped her face and arms as she went by. On some level, she was aware of their sting, but there was too much adrenaline coursing through her body for her to care very much. She would feel it later, no doubt, but with a little bit of luck, she’d be far from here by then, able to nurse her wounds privately. The Death Fangs had given her far worse than a few scratches in the time she’d been with them.

Maddy broke through the last few branches and onto the paved road, feeling as though she was going very fast. Which way to go now? She had no idea which way they had come from. If she’d known that, she would have gone the opposite way. But all she could do was guess.

Her bike was leaning left. She took it as a sign and turned left.

But it was difficult to make the turn. The bike wobbled beneath her, its weight drifting back and forth. She couldn’t seem to pull it back under control. She tried squeezing the brake, but that made the wobbling worse, so she released it and accelerated instead.

For a moment, the wobble steadied.

And then, it overwhelmed her. She couldn’t control the bike. It was too big for her, too heavy. She forgot her fear of the Death Fangs, forgot about the auction that was even now taking place. She forgot her worry that, at any moment, they would realize she’d run and come bursting out of the woods after her to carry her back, to punish her and put her up on that stage.

In that moment, all she could think of was the massive bike slipping out from under her and the asphalt rushing up to meet her face.

The last thought that occurred to Maddy as she fell was that she had no regrets. Whatever pain this might bring, she had tried to escape. She had done her very best to win her freedom. That mattered. And even though her escape had failed, she clung to a fierce feeling of pride as the bike tipped over on her.

Then there was pain, scraping and raw, and a blunt blow to her head, and Maddy’s world faded around her.

Chapter Five

They arrived late tothe auction, and out of sorts. Mark, in particular, was in a foul mood. He had been up with the dawn, ready to lead his brothers to the auction site so that they could do what needed to be done. He had fully expected them to have come around to his way of thinking during the night, to understand that taking the omega they needed so badly was the only realistic way to proceed.

But it hadn’t gone that way at all.

Jamie hadn’t spoken a word to him as they’d gotten ready. Even when Mark had asked Jamie whether he was planning to come along today or not, he’d gotten no answer. His brother had simply dressed and followed them out to where their bikes were parked. Mark suspected that Jamie couldn’t bear to let him and Harley go into danger by themselves. He would have felt the same way.

But it was Harley who had made them late. He’d come out to the bikes easily enough, but there, he’d stopped. “I don’t know if we should be doing this,” he’d said, looking from Jamie to Mark as though waiting for one of them to provide him with some kind of answer.

They didn’t have time for this, Mark had thought irritably. “I told you,” he’d snapped, “this is the only way we can get an omega. I’m going through with it.”

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