Page 62 of Omega's Triplets

“We’re not going to let that happen,” Harley said. “I promise.”

She eased down into the warm water and allowed him to wash her hair, the swell of her stomach and twin hills of her breasts rising above the water’s surface. He scrubbed gently, massaging her scalp, and she closed her eyes and smiled.

When the bathing was done, he helped her up out of the tub and wrapped her in a bathrobe he’d found in the hotel closet. As he did so, he heard the sound of the hotel room door opening.

“Stay put,” he said. “That’s probably Jamie coming back, but I want to be sure the coast is clear. Lock this door behind me.”

She looked frightened. “Okay.”

“I’m overreacting,” he said. “Nothing to worry about. But I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

She nodded.

He kissed her and headed out into the main room.

Sure enough, Jamie had returned. But he hadn’t brought food, and the look on his face was like nothing Harley had ever seen there before. “What’s up?” he asked.

“Death Fangs in the lobby.”

“Shit. How did they find us?”

“I don’t know if they did. Not for sure. They didn’t see me just now. But we can’t stay here.”

“We have to wait for Mark,” Harley said.

Jamie shook his head. “We can’t afford to. We can come back to meet up with him later, but right now, we need to get the kids and Maddy out of here while we still can.”

***

MARK LED AMY ON A MOREroundabout path through the woods to the highway, hoping to obscure the trail the others might have left. Likely as not, it wouldn’t make any difference—if the Death Fangs caught any one of these trails, they’d eventually find their way to the highway—but following Mark and Amy’s path would take just a little bit longer, and any time Mark could buy his family was worth the effort.

Amy kept up perfectly, nose to the ground, trotting along behind him as though she’d done this a hundred times. He had kept her back for the last round because she’d always performed well in stealth exercises, better than either of the other kids, and because he had no idea how Maddy would do in the woods. He hadn’t been able to hear her leaving, which was probably a good sign. He did detect her scent in a few places in the woods, but maybe that was just because he knew her so well. He probably would have recognized the smell of her anywhere. Maybe the Death Fangs wouldn’t be so in tune.

He could hope, at any rate.

He stopped behind the tree line at the highway and lurked. Cars were passing. He felt more than saw Amy pull up beside him, waiting for his signal to move, to do something.

And then, he heard an unmistakable click.

A weapon being cocked.

His hackles rose. A growl escaped Amy’s mouth, and he wondered whether she was responding to the sound of the gun or the sudden fear in the air she felt coming from him. There was no way to know, and it didn’t matter. All that mattered now was that they’d been caught.

Which meant two things.

It meant they were in very bad trouble, of course. The Death Fangs were no trifling matter, and for all Mark knew, he and Amy were about to be shot where they stood.

But it also meant that the others might just have gotten away unnoticed.

He felt a grim sense of satisfaction.

A man stepped out of the woods, his gun held level with Mark’s head. “Don’t even think about moving,” he warned. “We’ve got you on all sides. I’ve got three different guns on your girl there, and we’re not afraid to shoot if you make us.”

Mark didn’t move.

“All we want is the omega back,” the man said. “This doesn’t need to go any farther than that. We don’t need to get violent. We just want our omega, and then you can go your way.” He gestured with the gun. “Send her over, and we’ll leave you alone.”

Send her over?It was just him and Amy here. Did they think he had Maddy hidden away somewhere in the woods?

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