Page 22 of Omega's Triplets

Jamie, she reminded herself. His name was Jamie. Names had power. She knew something about him, something important and intimate. She had never known any of the Death Fangs’ names, with the exception of Isla. None of them had ever known her name either. It was a fact that had kept them isolated from each other, Maddy knew. It had reinforced the fact that she was nothing more than an object to them, something to be taken and sold.

But this man, Jamie, had cleaned the cut on her head. He had wanted to know her name, and he had told her his. And even though he was now preventing her from leaving, Maddy thought it might be possible that he was better than the Death Fangs had been. Maybe she had improved her situation after all.

She ran her fingers along the torn hem of the garment that was barely a dress at all. It was bunched around her ankles now, dirty and frayed from her ride on the motorcycle. She was grateful for the jacket she wore, although she couldn’t remember having put it on. It covered her up, so this strange man couldn’t see her body.

Maybe it was his jacket. It seemed big enough to fit him.

Maddy thought back, trying to remember what had happened. She remembered stealing the bike well enough, escaping through the woods, feeling proud and free. She remembered thinking that the going would get easier once she made it to the highway.

I guess that wasn’t true, though, she thought ruefully, touching her fingers to the scrape on her thigh.I must have crashed. She couldn’t bring the crash to mind, and she supposed she was grateful for that. It probably wouldn’t have been a pleasant memory.

The next thing she remembered was being here in this hotel room. But it was an odd sort of remembering. Her memories started here, but she had no memory of waking up. It was as though someone had turned on the lights in her brain again.

I must have hit my head.

That must have been when Jamie had found her. She must have been lying unconscious by the side of the road.

Her luck could have been worse. It would have been easy for the Death Fangs to have found her. If that had happened, Maddy knew, she wouldn’t have woken up in a warm jacket to find her head wound being tended. She probably would have woken up in a cage. Or on a stage.

But she couldn’t help wishing that she’d been found by someone other than a shifter. A regular human. Someone who wouldn’t have known she was an omega. Such a person would have no reason to keep her in captivity. She could have given the address of the home where she’d grown up, and they would have helped her get back there. Or, at the very least, to a police station.

But, of course, she’d been found by a shifter. It only made sense. That stretch of road must have been full of shifter traffic on the day of the Death Fangs’ auction.

He was going to the auction. She would have to be careful not to forget that. Whatever else this man was, no matter how kind he treated her, he had planned to buy a woman at auction. That wasn’t someone she could trust.

Jamie got to his feet very suddenly and crossed the room toward the door. “Are you going somewhere?” she asked, despite her fear.

He didn’t answer, just looked out through the peephole.

A minute later, he unbolted the door and pulled it open, and two more of him came in.

Maddy thought for a moment that she must have lost her mind. Maybe she’d hit her head harder than she’d thought. Had her vision been disturbed? Or was she simply going mad?

Then one of the newcomers spoke in a voice that sounded different from Jamie’s—similar, but tighter somehow. “Is this her?”

They’re triplets,she thought.Identical triplets.

“Of course, it’s her,” Jamie said. “Who else?”

The man with the tight voice came over and bent down beside Maddy. He examined her as if she were a piece of merchandise, and she half expected him to reach out and start squeezing, like the customers at the auction.

“I beg your pardon,” she said, scooting away from him.

The man blinked. “I’m sorry,” he said. “That was rude.”

“Yes, it was.” She was discombobulated. Were these men good people or not? How could they look at her like she was a piece of fruit in one moment and apologize to her the next?

Now, he stepped back from her and held out his hand. “My name is Mark Driscoll,” he said.

Not just a first name, but a last name! She shook his hand, more puzzled than ever.

The third man in the room was standing by the door, but now he lifted a hand in greeting. “Hey. I’m Harley.”

As though she was ever going to be able to tell them apart. “Okay. Hi.”

Jamie looked from one of them to the other. “What happened?” he asked. “Back at the farm, I mean? Have the Death Fangs missed her yet?”

“Wait a minute,” Maddy said, suddenly realizing there was something she didn’t know. “How long have I been away from them?”

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