Page 16 of Pack Rivals: Part Two
I remember snippets of conversations now. There had been so much information I’d had to absorb all at once. Learning about suppressants and heats, knots and scents. At times it had been overwhelming. And then there was all the politics, understanding how the world of alphas and omegas works, learning it was totally different to how I had imagined.
But in between, I remember now, talk about betas who wanted to become omegas. About the experiments taking place to make it possible.
I peer over to my bag of blood. I think of the blurry words of the first doctor, insisting I must have taken something.
Am I guinea pig here? An experiment?
My head spins all the faster.
No one knows where I am. No one will even know I’m missing until Courtney wonders why I haven’t come home. And that won’t be for another four days.
No one is coming to rescue me. I need to escape.
My eyes land on the buzzer and I formulate a plan.
* * *
My heart thumps,as well as everything between my legs. Whatever they gave me to lessen the effects of my heat are wearing off. My skin feels like a furnace, sweat slides down my neck and the pain in my gut is building.
I pray there isn’t a hidden camera in this room as I steady my breathing and take a hold of the buzzer.
I’ll have one chance. One chance and one chance only.
I jam my thumb down hard on the buzzer before I can chicken out. Hopefully Dr. Hannah will answer and not the other man. But either way, I’m ready.
I hobble to the door, wishing my heart wasn’t beating so damn loud, and wait. I hear footsteps in the corridor and then a shadow against the misted-out glass. Several loud beeps sound as someone inputs the code and the lock clunks open. The door handle turns. The door swings open.
I launch myself forward, gripping the needle that had been in my arm between my fingers, and stab.
4
Hardy
Our phones all ping simultaneously,and we peer at each other bemused before pulling our devices out of our pockets.
Someone has created a group chat – me, Silver, Connor, Nate and both the Stormgate brothers.
“What the fuck?” I mutter.
That someone was Axel.
“Have we dived into some alternative reality here?” Nate mutters, and I snort. The kid could always make me laugh. I glance up from my phone at him. Not that he’s a kid anymore.
Our phones ping a second time. This time with a message. Two names for us to check out.
I’m out the door in the next moment, yelling at Silver to send me the addresses when he has them.
I’m at the stairwell when I realize Nate’s right behind me.
“I don’t need any help,” I tell him.
“Coming all the same,” Nate says.
I hesitate, debating whether to argue the toss. I don’t need some asshole from Pack York breathing down my neck. But one thing I remember about Nate, I could never get him to back down. I’m not going to try now. I can’t afford to waste the precious seconds.
We jog down the steps, our legs moving faster and faster, neither of us wants to be beaten by the other, neither wants to hit the ground floor last.
When we crash through the doorway three minutes later, we’re breathing hard.
