Page 27 of Captive Beta

I didn’t want to be right. I wanted to be wrong. I wanted all our anxieties and fears to be unfounded and that we were just too on edge and seeing things that weren’t there.

Mathew seems to think something over. “I think it’s easier to explain at home. We’re coming back with one extra person, found someone who didn’t belong in the lab. Let’s hope he’s got useful information for us.”

Vera lets out a laugh, a note of competitiveness in her voice. “Is your source of information at least conscious?”

“My… What?” Mathew sounds confused.

“Our two are knocked out. Haven’t woken up yet.” She looks at me sheepishly. Yeah, them being out for this long is generally not that good of a sign…

“T— Two?” This seems to confuse him even more.

“Yes, we’re bringing back two vans full of extra people. I guess it’s good timing that all the rooms are at least finished enough that people can sleep in them.” I can’t help my smile at Mathew’s confusion. “I thought that Timothy would have explained everything by now?”

Mathew lets out a frustrated sound. “No, he didn’t explain anything. He only told us you were safe and fine. He didn’t actually tell us what happened. He told me to call you so you could explain. So, what the fuck happened? You were supposed to go on a cute date, not face off against the Hearts.”

Vera’s eyes immediately drift off to Luca, her voice going quiet and low. “I caught the pheromones of a scent match. I followed the trail and found that he was taking care of some kids that the Hearts were transporting between locations. Two of the guards are unconscious, the third one is dead. The scent match is fine, though traumatised, and the kids are fine too.”

“Fuck…” Mathew’s voice seems to wander off as he takes in all the information. “Another scent match?”

“Yep.” Vera’s voice is soft.

“But he’s part of the Hearts?” Now his voice turns cold and hard.

Before either of them can say anything more, I jump in. “I don’t think it’s willingly. He became really distressed when he caught a sniff of Vera and Caleb’s pheromones. He seemed to know who they were and got really insistent that they had to get out of here, that the Hearts couldn’t catch them. I think he might be our missing link to explain what’s been happening with the Hearts and everything else lately. And I don’t think he even knows it.”

Mathew is quiet for a while. “I guess we’ve got a lot of people to question when we get home. How long until you get back?”

I look around. “I don’t know. I think we’ll be leaving soon. Your people will stay behind longer, clean up and everything, but we’ll be driving back with Eli and the kids as soon as possible. We don’t want to leave them here any longer than they have to be.” And we desperately need to get Luca to a safer location too. “What about you?”

“We’re about to leave. Most of the teams have already left, but Riley and I stayed behind with Timothy and some of the others to finish up some final things.” He lets out a long breath. “I wanted to call you first, but didn’t want to be driving while I did.”

“We’ll see you at home soon. Yeah?” My heart aches.

I want to hold Mathew so badly. So much has happened tonight, for both of us, and I really need to hold him right now. Make sure he’s really okay, make sure he’s really safe.

“See you soon.” Mathew seems to suddenly be really tired.

While I’d love to go to sleep with him in my arms as soon as we get back, I have a feeling that we won’t be going to sleep until the next time the sun goes down, or maybe even the day after that.

“Jorge?” Eli is standing not too far off. “Can I talk to you?” He nods to the side, away from the others.

“Sure.” I kiss the top of Vera’s head, pulling a face when her hair is sticky. I don’t want to think about what that could be. “I’ll be right back.”

She nods, wandering off to Caleb, who lifts her against his side and she hides her face in his neck. Caleb meets my eyes for a moment, giving me an exhausted smile. Yeah, we’re all tired and Vera is being very needy. Probably part of that is exhaustion, but the rest is because she can’t hug the one person she really wants to hold right now.

I follow Eli, not sure I want to hear what he’s got to say.

“I think it’s best if the two of us drive with Luca and some of the kids.” He glances back, not to Luca, but to Caleb and Vera, tense. “I don’t know what the Hearts did to him, but Vera and Caleb’s pheromones set off some trauma response. I would prefer not to have that happen on our way back.”

My heart tightens. Vera is already struggling because she can’t be near him right now, but to split them up for the trip back? That could lead to some bad consequences.

“Does he have something with his scent on it that we can give her until we’re home? If her exhaustion kicks in for real and she’s separated from him, I don’t know what might happen.” Separating an Omega from her scent matches, especially in stressful situations is bad enough, but while she’s pregnant? That could make things even worse.

“The blanket he’s been sitting under should work. I don’t know how he’ll react if we ask him for anything more than that.” Eli lets out a deep sigh. “With the state he’s in… Things might be tricky for a while. He’s broken in ways I’ve not seen often.”

Fuck.

Of course, between his bitter pheromones, the way he reacted when he caught Vera and Caleb’s scents and his general reaction to everything, it’s clear he’s been through hell.

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