Page 145 of Unhinged Omega

"They're under orders not to kill me, you insufferable prick." I grab a piece of pipe from a nearby maintenance cart and hurl it at another approaching guard. It catches him in the throat, sending him sprawling. "Unlikeyours, who'd shoot their own mothers for a pat on the head."

"Some people value loyalty," he shoots back. "And once upon a time, you put a high premium on my approval. Does that grumpy old bastard know you're going to turn on him eventually, too?"

"Shut up," I snarl, my fingers itching to wrap around his throat. Or maybe just shoot him. Starting to think Geo had the right idea about that all along. "You don't get to talk about him."

But Nikolai, being the insufferable bastard he is, just smirks. "Then again, he betrayed you first, didn't he?" His voice drips with mock sympathy that makes my blood boil. "Locked you up and even collared you. Just like old times, wasn't it?"

I whirl on him, shoving him against the wall hard enough to make his wounds bleed through his shirt. "Geo is trying to protect me in his own obnoxious way," I snap, getting right in his face. "At least he doesn't use his bark to control me."

Something dangerously close to guilt flickers in his eye, but I know better than to think he's capable of that. It's gone in an instant, anyway. "You made your choice," he says bitterly. "I just helped you along. Face it, little bird. You traded one cage for another."

My fist connects with his jaw before I can stop myself. The impact sends pain shooting through my knuckles, but it's worth it for the way his head snaps back. Blood trickles from his split lip and I feel a surge of savage satisfaction.

"Don't you fucking dare call me that," I seethe. "And you don't get to compare yourself to him. Not when he's the one whohelped put the piecesyouleft me in back together. If Geo wanted to control me, he wouldn't have trained me to resist other alphas' commands."

"Did he?" His eyes glitter viciously. "Then why did you drop like a good little omega when I commanded you at the airfield? Seems like all thattraininghe gave you didn't take."

His words are like a slap across my face. Because he's right. All those years spent building up resistance, all Geo's careful work... and I still folded like wet paper the moment Nikolai used his bark.

I thought I had backslid completely, but I was able to withstand the doctor's command easily enough.

So why the fuck is Nikolai the exception?

But before I can respond, gunfire erupts from the end of the tunnel. We both dive for cover behind a stack of crates as bullets pepper the wall where we were standing.

"We don't have time for this shit," I growl, checking my ammunition.

Three rounds left.

Fucking fantastic.

Nikolai peers around the corner, returning fire with his stolen gun. "For once, we agree on something."

We agree on more than that.

Omegas, too, apparently.

Because fate isn't done fucking with me.

More guards pour into the tunnel, their boots thundering against the concrete. I risk a glance and count at least six of them. Not great odds, even for us.

"There's a maintenance shaft two corridors over," I tell him, already plotting our escape route. "It leads straight to the upper levels."

"After you," he says with mock courtesy.

I flip him off before darting out from cover, laying down suppressing fire with my last few rounds as I sprint for the next tunnel. I'm better at killing people than intentionally trying not to hit them, but the last thing I need is to hear Geo bitching for the next ten years that I took out a favorite guard.

I'm pissed, but not quite that pissed.

Nikolai follows close behind, his presence at my back both familiar and unsettling.

Just like old times.

And that's the problem, isn't it?

Everything about this feels like stepping back in time. Running through hostile territory with him at my side, trading barbs and bullets in equal measure. It would be so easy to fall back into old patterns.

But I'm not that person anymore.

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