Page 56 of Omega Alliance

"I know the way out." I motion over my shoulder back in the direction of the broken window. "But Dani's still inside. Levi too, I think. Maybe."

"Cindy?" the woman croaks again and raises a shaking hand to my cheek. She appears to be crying, but it's hard to say for sure because no tears leave her dry, red eyes.

Jax stirs uncomfortably. I can tell he's eager for action but hesitant to tell me something. "Sin," he says at last. "This is—"

And then it hits me like a runaway train. "Mom?" I gasp.

She smiles, then closes her eyes, her form going limp from exhaustion. "Mom?" I try again, but she doesn't respond.

"Jax, is this my mother?" I look to my alpha, and he nods before repositioning his grip on his cargo, on my mother. She looks so different than I remember. It's as if everything that made her herself has been stripped away. Has she been here in the same complex as me for the past seven years? Oh, God.

Jax motions with his head in the direction I indicated earlier. "She's fine. She's just tired. I'll explain everything later, but right now we have to get out of here before someone catches up to us."

That's when the door to the storage room bursts open, and a tall, shadowy figure steps out into the hall. His gaze is cruel and marred by a dark eyepatch on one side. "Yes, Sin. Your alpha is right. It would be a shame if someone were to catch up to you. Especially after I told you what would happen if you didn't make yourself scarce."

Jax whirls around, but his movements are encumbered by my mother's slumbering body. He can't fight this man off while holding onto my mother, but he still looks as if he's going to try.

"Where's Dani?" I demand.

He chuckles. Always fucking chuckling, this one. "You'll see her soon enough. On the Alliance broadcast, that is. But you'd better be going. In fact, I'll give you a thirty-second head start before I send the guards after you. And if they catch you, option three will be off the table. Option one will be fun to implement at least."

Jax stares at us both in confusion, clearly struggling as he thinks of what to do next. But I don't have time to explain. There is no time to think.

Because option one is the outcome where this director kills me and then tells the entire Omega Alliance Dani did it out of jealousy and kills her too. I don't like option one very much.

"You forgot about option four," I manage between clenched teeth, refusing to run.

He tilts his head and offers a half-cocked grin. "Oh? I don't remember there being a fourth option. By the way, time is tick—"

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

I pull Levi's gun from where I've tucked it into my waistband and unload each remaining bullet into his pompous face. Well, I aim for his face, but mostly hit him in the chest region.

"Option four is where we win and you fucking die," I rasp, resisting the urge to race forward and spit on his corpse.

"Jax, get Mom out of here and find Levi. I'm going for Dani."

KIERAN

A siren blares through the complex, so loud I can hear it from my hiding place outside.

Suddenly I'm no longer content to wait, and so I run toward the source of the sound. Just as I reach the window that Levi broke to force his way inside, I find Jax emerging, a large bundle in his arms.

"Oh, Kieran. Thank God. Take her." He hands me the package, and as I take it into my arms, I realize it is a woman. She is mangled and bruised, but she is breathing. She's also not either of the girls we came for.

"Where are Sin and Dani?"

"I don't know where Dani is, but Sin is still in there looking for her."

"You let her go!" I explode. I'm happy Jax is alive and well, but seriously, what the fuck?

"I kind of had my hands full," he says, taking the woman back from me and nodding toward the window. "You go get her. Hurry. She shot one of the officials, and they're not going to be too happy when they figure that out. She's not safe."

"Jesus fuck, she was never safe," I growl even as I'm jumping through the window. A shard of glass snags my upper arm, and a terrible pain rips through me. Rather than stopping to fuss with it, I use it as fuel to motivate me.

I sprint down the halls, knowing we're short on time but refusing to give up. I take a sharp turn and run into Levi who's also moving swiftly through the halls.

I grab him by both shoulders. "Where are the girls?"

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