Page 82 of Never Tamed
Noble disappears down the tunnel with five women tight behind him, shepherded into place by the rest of our men.
Then a scream splits the space, ricocheting in my skull.
Chapter 20
Ren
Flora stumbles into my arms, and for a breath, everything else falls away. There’s only my friend and her panic.
We trip forward together, and I double down, locking my knees, keeping us both upright.
Her scent—salt and Japanese cherry blossom, threaded with sweat and exhaustion—wraps around me. She’s lighter than she should be, and her belly is swollen against mine as I grip her tighter. My throat aches with the burn of relief and the way my wolf howls inside me with triumph makes me lightheaded.
She’s okay. We weren’t too late. She’s alive.
I keep repeating it to myself to calm my frantic heart. We got to them. Maybe not in time but as soon as we could have. We did what we could.
Is it enough?
“I’ve got you,” I whisper into Flora’s hair. “I’m not letting go.”
Her knees buckle, and I think it’s just weakness at first. Until a warm wetness hits my foot.
I freeze. The scent’s unmistakeable.Blood?
Her fingers clutch my shoulders hard enough to bruise. “Ren,” she gasps, her face pale and slick with sweat. “Something’s wrong—”
It takes a heartbeat for a new sweeter scent to reach my nose, and when I look down, realization slams into me next.
Her water just broke.
The baby’s coming. There’s nothing we can do to stop it.
“Fuck.” I snarl.Not now. Not here.
I glance up at seeping stone and rusted bars. The reek of spilled gut rot and sewage threatens to blind my senses and the overwhelm of panic makes every second count. I’m wasting too many of them.
And each one I waste only heightens the panic. Adrenaline surges and my fingers tremble against Flora’s torso.
Mathis is at my side in a blink. His face goes hard as he takes in the spreading wetness beneath us. He finally blanches as realization sinks in.
Torin barks orders for the last cages to be ripped open, Noble herding the freed omegas toward the tunnels with the rest of the deltas and Dax… Dax is covered in blood, shaking, a storm of madness I can’t afford to look at right now.
“Ren,” Mathis snaps. His gaze is a mask of fierce determination. “We need to move her now. She needs help.”
Flora pants. “I don’t want to have my baby here. Please.”
She doubles forward during another swell.
“Shit.”
Curses seem to be the only things able to pass my lips at the moment. I tighten my grip around Flora and nod. Her breathing comes short and ragged and her belly jumps underneath my arms, the muscles tightening.
We manage a single step forward and she gasps as her nails dig crescents into my skin. The sound tears through me worse than her claws ever could.
Shifting my weight, I try my best to keep her standing because I know that if she goes down, there’s no way I’ll be ableto get her back up. My only hope is that that baby stays put until I can get her somewhere safer.
Adrenaline surges. This time, it isn’t enough. Mathis clamps a hand on my shoulder and squeezes before moving to Flora’s other side.
