Page 34 of Collateral Omega

Dammit.

“I’m going to find my brother. I’ll take you home afterwards, okay?” Jamue said a few seconds later, making him feel worse.

“Fine,” Holi said, looking out the window.

“Do you need anything?”

Holi slowly turned to stare at him. “No.”

“Okay,” Jamue raised his hands in surrender and turned to the other window.Holi looked away, wishing he was home already. He was done with the outside world for a while.

Thirty minutes later, they drifted into the health centre’s parking dome.

“I’ll be right back,” Jamue said. Holi made an incoherent sound which Jamue took to mean yes, since he got out of the pod and walked to the double doors.

Fuck, what a night, Holi thought as he sank into the plush seat and closed his eyes, but they popped open minutes later when he heard sirens. The parking dome suddenly went dark. A few seconds later, red lights came on.

“What the hell?” Holi asked as he got out of the pod.

“Maybe you should stay put,” the pod operator said. “We don’t know what happened.”

“My cousin is in there,” Holi said, running to the double doors. They slid open, and he ran through not really sure where he was going. He asked a few nurses he came across where Jamue or Sirhe were.

“In the VIP section. But you can’t go there,” one of them told him. He tried to stop him, but Holi slipped away. “Hey! It’s too dangerous. You can’t go in there.”

Holi ran faster down the hallway worried about Jamue. He opened the door to the VIP section and stopped in his tracks at the sight that met him. Jamue was enveloped in some alpha’s arms, pressed into the wall.

“I’ll sedate him while Jamue has him distracted,” Sirhe was saying, just as he turned towards Holi. The alpha’s eyes widened. "Holi? What are you doing here?"

“What’s going on? I heard sirens. Jamue…” Holi tried to go to Jamue, but Sirhe gripped his arm to stop him.

An awkward silence ensued as everyone stared at each other. Holi stared at Jamue confused. The alpha who had his arms wrapped around him looked hurt and deranged. Why was Sirhe not doing anything to get his brother away from the alpha?

Holi opened his mouth to ask him that, but a massive alpha stepped forward, blocking his view. He listened to the alpha argue with Sirhe. They wanted Jamue to do what?

For an omega to share his first heat with an alpha…a strange alpha at that was asking for too much.

Holi tried to move forward, but Sirhe’s grip tightened around his arm. And Holi took that as a sign to keep his mouth shut. Whatever was happening was none of his business anyway. Jamue didn’t look like he minded being in the alpha’s arms. Turns out the alpha was his true mate. No wonder the alpha clung to him for dear life. Holi stared at them fascinated.

He wondered if his true mate was out there somewhere. He’d tried everything to find him, with no luck.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” Sirhe turned to him. “Both of you.”

I didn’t do anything, Holi wanted to tell him, but Sirhe’s stare brooked no argument.

Sirhe wasn’t an aggressive alpha, but he demanded obedience just the same. Holi dropped his gaze to his feet and breathed out a sigh of relief when Sirhe’s focus turned to Jamue again. He went back and forth with the other alpha before he dragged Holi away.

Holi followed him down the hallway, not saying a word. When he noticed that he was walking him out of the centre, Holi touched his arm to stop him.

“You don’t have to escort me, Sirhe. I know my way out,” Holi snapped. It felt too much like he was dismissing him.

“That’s not…” he sighed, rubbing his face. “I wanted to make sure that you got out here safely and…”

“And what?”

Sirhe looked troubled. Holi wished he could pull him close and tell him everything was going to be alright. Jamue was with his mate. What was the worst that could happen? But they didn’t know each other like that. They were not close.

“Don’t tell anyone what happened tonight,” Sirhe said.

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