Page 6 of Dodging Bullets

I screamed silently at the injustice of everything.

Max tightened his hold on me. “Watch your fucking tone—you’re scaring her,” he snapped back in a whisper-yell. “Seems Anthony Small wasn’t just peddling animals. He’d moved onto Omegas too.”

The burning smell surrounded me in a thick cloud, until I thought I might choke. “I’m going tokillhim,” the Alpha snarled so fiercely that I trembled harder. I listened to his footsteps as he stomped back into the building, but then Max was moving toward a vehicle. A car. That’s what they were. Cars. I’d read about them.

“Don’t worry about him, Omega. He’s mad that you’ve been treated so poorly. His anger is not for you.” He poured reassurance into his words, and I found myself believing him. “Let’s get out of here.” Opening the door to the car, he placed me gently into the back. As he slid the restraint thing across my chest, I tried not to shake too hard. “I’m going to sit up front so you don’t feel crowded.”

His eyes snapped to the front window as a huge man strode out of the building. Without even scenting him, I knew this was the Alpha from a moment ago. Even as I watched from behind the veil, he stopped outside the driver’s door and took a large breath, his barrel chest expanding, before his shoulders curled a little.

When he opened the door, his scent was less on fire—though still singed at the edges—and more citrus. Like barbequed lemons. His eyes met mine, though he couldn’t see me behind the veil. “Let’s go. We’ll get her back to Otillie-James, and they can take care of her.”

Max looked at me over his shoulder, and I couldn’t read his expression. “Okay. Hold tight, Omega. It’s almost over now.”

I didn’t know who Otillie-James was, or where they were taking me, but my gut said it had to be better than where I’d been.

Turns out, Otillie-James was an Omega. She was short, had wild blonde hair that stood up everywhere, and kind eyes. Shealso looked at me like I’d just spawned in front of her like Izuny crawling from the ground, somewhere between shock and horror.

“Human cattle? That’s what he said?” she hissed like a feral cat, and unlike the Alpha’s rage, I knew her anger was definitely on my behalf. She was hugging me tightly, and I kind of liked it.

The Omegas weren’t allowed to live in the same houses back at the Homestead, and I’d been the only one left after Omega Patricia had died three years ago. Plus, the Homestead discouraged displays of affection, though sometimes Nim and I had hugged in the closet while we read the magazines.

Maybe Nim wasn’t such an obedient Beta after all. I missed her so much.

Otillie-James—she’d said to call her OJ if I liked—looked at the big, scarred Beta who had kissed her like she was his only reason for living. “You burned it down, right?” she asked with such venom, I almost smiled.

Since we arrived, I’d been tucked into the corner of a sofa that felt too soft, and despite OJ trying to get conversation out of me, I couldn’t give her anything. Another Omega—a male Omega, could you imagine?—had also tried, but in the end, frustration got the better of me and I hid my face in the couch cushion. Now they were talking around me, and I was okay with that.

I didn’t understand anything. Nothing in this home made sense to me. Not the big black window on the wall. Not the white thing that was moving around the floor by itself, making a loud noise. Not the little rectangles they all looked down at occasionally, or had conversations into like the person was there. Or like the rectangles could talk back? Nothing madesense.

I jerked as a weird little dog jumped onto the couch beside me. Looking down at it out of the corner of my eye, I realizedit only had three legs. Had these people taken its fourth leg? It didn’t seem scared of them, or me. It climbed onto my lap, its two front paws on my shoulders, and started licking my face on the other side of my veil.

I lifted my hand to push it off, but instead, I buried my fingers in its wiry fur. It was both coarse and soft. I scratched at its skin, and the dog wriggled its tiny butt happily. It seemed to… like me? So I scratched some more until it flopped over, putting three legs in the air and exposing its belly.

“That’s Doodles,” OJ said softly. “He likes belly rubs.”

Doodles? What a weird name.But still, I stroked the belly of the little dog. His fur there felt far softer than that on his back, and he lay there with his mouth open, his tongue falling out the side and his eyes closed. It was fortunate that I could feel the steady thump of his tiny heart against my fingers; otherwise, I’d wonder if he was dead.

The action was comforting, giving this small creature happiness and giving me something else to focus on. I wasn’t sure how long I stroked him for, but suddenly, OJ was in front of me.

“Hey there, would you like to shower? Maybe I could lend you some clothes?”

I felt disgusting. My hair was itching stubble, and my body odor was… not great. I looked down at the dog, realizing my hand was curled in his fur. I didn’t want to leave him.

OJ seemed to sense my reluctance. “Doodles can come. In fact, I think he’d insist on it. He really likes you.” She held out a hand, and I took it, allowing her to pull me to my feet. As she predicted, Doodles the dog leapt to his feet, fell over, then got back to his feet again. He hopped down the hall behind us as OJ led me to a room that smelled a little like her, but not like Alpha.

I couldn’t work out why the scent of another Omega was making me uncomfortable, but I wanted to escape already.

“There’s a bathroom through there. I’ll find you some clothes and leave them just outside the door. Do you have any injuries?” she asked quietly, and it was hard to miss the empathy in her voice.

Taking a shuddering breath, I slid my veil from my head. Her eyes widened when she saw my head, but I assumed that was because she already had her Alphas and therefore could grow her hair out without tempting others. I pointed to the base of my throat, and she let out a hissed curse. I watched her swallow her anger, before she nodded.

“I’ll bring you some antibiotic cream to put on it. It looks quite infected. Is that a brand?”

I nodded. That had been what they called it.

“Is that the reason you can’t speak?”

I shook my head, and OJ chewed her lip. “If I got you a piece of paper and a pen, could you write out your responses?”

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