Page 145 of Ember

Greg’s face clouded in fury, but my parents looked at me with love. He left the room, or at least, I could no longer see him.My head felt too heavy to lift, so I stayed curled in a ball on the armchair.

“It’s okay to move on, pumpkin,” Dad said. “We want you to be happy.”

“I know that. I know that,” I muttered, feeling guilty. “But I should have stayed with you.”

“No, you go on.” Pops touched my cheek. “Love your cousins. Love your sister and brothers. We’re here waiting for you when it’s time, but you have a pack to get back to.”

Greg reappeared with two more syringes.

“No.” I jerked. “No, no more.”

“It’s only another dose.” He leaned over, and I squirmed. Everything lurched sickeningly to the left.

I hit the floor. He held me down, and I whimpered, feeling the bite of the needle. I tried to rip out of my restraints. My shoulder ached, but I didn’t care. He wanted to take my pack away from me. I wouldn’t let him. They were mine, my pack, forever.

Darkness swallowed me, and for a moment it was just like being in the plane crash, utterly broken and alone. But the pack bonds pulsed inside me, and I remembered I would never be alone again. My pack was there. I could almost hear them telling me they were coming, to be strong.

I snarled, trying to jerk my elbow up. My hands were asleep, but I had to fight. I twisted and jerked and bucked, snarling the entire time. Higher thought went away. All I knew was he hurt me, pinned me down, tried to take me away from my pack.

A loud boom came at the door, and I shrieked, bracing myself for more pain.

But nothing came. Men rushed into the house. They looked like a nightmare, their scent heavy with gunpower and plastic. I whined, crying, unable to process what was happening. It was too bright, too loud, too many smells.

One of the men grabbed Greg, lifting him away from me. I wondered if I was hallucinating again. I had to be. My vision swam in and out.

It was still too bright and loud. I whimpered, trying to move back. One of the nightmare men tried to reach for me, but I cried out. He stopped and moved away from my vision.

I blinked, blackness swallowing my vision. I opened my eyes and West hovered over me.

“West,” I said, my tongue heavy. I smelled the rest of our pack around me.

“It’s okay,” Alejandro said, his hand patting my side. “We’ve got you.”

Ben and Rian knelt next to me. Their mouths were moving but the roaring in my ears was so loud, I couldn’t make it out.

I closed my eyes. If I was dreaming, I didn’t want to wake up anyway.

Blackness swallowed me.

Chapter 57

Rian

We had found her. West was right, and that fucking asshole had stashed her in his mother’s house. She was curled in a ball, her hands and feet tied up, when the SWAT team let us in.

She was burning up with a fever, and the urge to hunt Greg down and accidentally stab him a few times was so high, we all took a step toward him as a pack.

The SWAT team dragged him out, and the paramedics moved in.

Ember was out of it, whimpering and whining. We rode to the hospital with her, letting her family know to meet us there. I tried to focus on what they were saying, but all I could think about was how I’d almost lost her. Her hair was disheveled, and she was too pale, but she was here in front of me, and I almost wept from the joy of it.

They admitted our omega quickly. Ember stayed in and out of consciousness, and we crowded her hospital bed.

Ember’s family arrived and settled into her room.

The bastard had doped her up with black market drugs and they were doing blood work to see what they could do to counter it.

A portly doctor came back a few hours later, his face a grim line. “We’re not sure of the effects of the drugs.”

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