Page 154 of Pack Rivals: Part Two
Dr. Hannah lifts her glasses to look at me, amusement dancing in her eyes. “Oh no, I wanted him too. You wait until you see him.” Her eyes flick towards the house. “He’ll be here soon enough, with Antonio and Leo.” She laughs. “And my brother. They’d like a word before we proceed.”
“Proceed with what?”
“You still haven’t figured that out? And yet my brother says you’ve had your pack sniffing about for answers. Two of them even broke into my old house, did you know that?”
“I don’t know anything,” I say, swinging my legs down to the floor, ignoring the building pain in my gut, the burning of my skin, the spinning of my vision.
“The blood we collected last time you were in heat contained some unique alterations to normal omega hormones. Seems they had quite an effect on our little beta guinea pigs. Not that I think they’ll actually change them into omegas but they’ll be enough to convince our customers. Enough to convince our investors.”
“You’ve already got my blood. What do you need me for?”
“For more, of course. Eventually we’ll work out how to synthesize those hormones ourselves, but until then we’re going to need a supply.” She places her bottle on the ground. “In case you haven’t worked it out, that’s you. You’re the supply.”
“I want to go home.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be possible. Wouldn’t want you blabbing everywhere now, would we?”
“People are going to come looking for me.”
“Omegas go missing every day, darling. No one goes looking for them. Trust me.”
“My pack will. My pack will come looking.”
“Isn’t their mother sick? Such a shame. But I think they have more important things to worry about than a girl like you. I don’t think anyone’s even going to notice that you’re gone.”
“My pack will,” I snort in disbelief. “My mom and my dad. My cousin and my aunt.”
“Another girl who turns up in the city, gets mixed up in some bad business, and, poof, is never seen of again. Happens all the time. So common the cops don’t even care.”
“My pack will. You know they’ll kill every single one of you for this.” I don’t doubt that for a minute. I’ve never asked any questions but I’m pretty certain my alphas are not the types to have kept their hands entirely clean over the years. If there’s dirty business to be done, they’ll do it.
Grinding metal sounds out behind our heads, and when I look towards the house, I see the huge glass doors sliding back and three men stepping out into the sunshine. They are all dressed in dark suits with dark shirts, tattoos crawling up their necks. On one man the ink spills from his neck up his jaw and onto his cheek. Another owns a scar that slices his face in two. The third, the oldest and the biggest, wears a thick gold chain around his neck and his fingers are covered in heavy rings.
They stride towards the two of us, their eyes locked on me with curiosity. A fourth man steps outside as they do; he’s dressed more casually: jeans and a corduroy shirt. Over his right eye he wears a plain black patch. His other dark eye finds me, and hatred burns in it.
As the first three alphas draw closer, I catch a hint of their scents. Acidic, rancid, making me want to gag. I’ve never tasted anything so rotten in my life.
When they reach the sun-loungers, the man with the chain bends down to kiss Dr. Hannah on the mouth, his hand curling around her throat as he does. He keeps it there, as he pulls away.
“Your delivery worked out this time then, sugar?”
“Yes, Daddy. Thank you.”
His eyes dart to me. “When are you going to start work? She smells pretty ripe to me.”
His nostrils flare and the tip of his tongue darts out of his mouth, tasting the air.
I cower away but out of the corner of my eye, I look desperately for some way to escape. A weapon? A cellphone? Something? Anything?
There’s nothing.
“Just waiting for you to help me move her inside. I wanted a little chat with her first.”
“And are you done now, sugar?”
She nods, and the man with the scar sneers at me. “Peter, she’s all yours.”
The man with the eyepatch prowls closer and I try not to scream.
