Page 104 of Shared Omega

He nods toward his companion, who jogs over to join us.

I lead them around to the rear of the truck.

“Just wait til you see this.”

As soon as I swing the hatch open, two pairs of arms dart out and seize the petrified guards, dragging them into the back of the vehicle before the men have a chance to react—before they even have a chance to make so much as a peep.

Truk gives his guard a swift right cross that drops the man to the floor of the vehicle. The guard is knocked out instantly. He doesn’t even feel a thing.

Kane’s quarry, on the other hand, doesn’t have it quite so easy.

The bearded Alpha has the security officer pinned against the interior wall of the transport, both fists clasped tightly around the man’s throat. As I watch, the man’s face goes through a rapid succession of colors, from red, to plum purple, to a shocking shade of blue. His eyes are shot with veins and seem to be on the verge of popping out of their sockets. Wet sounds are burbling past his swollen tongue.

“Kane,” Sloane hisses. “You don’t have to kill him.”

The Alpha ignores her. The muscles of his forearms ripple as he squeezes his victim’s throat. The man’s boots scrabble frantically at the floor of the vehicle.

“He’s a human being,” Sloane persists. “He could have a wife and kids.” When that doesn’t work, she adds. “He could have a sister.”

Something softens briefly in Kane’s face, then it hardens again. He snarls angrily, loosens his grip, and strikes the guard across the chin, knocking him out but not killing him.

“Happy?” he rasps at Sloane.

Sloane doesn’t answer, but I see her shoulders sag as she exhales a sigh of relief.

“Come on,” I say as I hop into the back of the vehicle. “Let’s get these guys restrained. Their access cards will get us inside the building.”

CHAPTER 33: SLOANE

I peer around the corner of the alcove, watching the backs of the squad of patrolling guards as they make their way down the sterile, brightly lit corridor and finally disappear around a corner. The sound of their boots ringing on the linoleum floor gradually fades away into the distance.

The only other noises are the fluorescent buzzing of the panels overhead flooding the hallway with light and the soft sound of the three enormous Alphas breathing behind me.

“OK, coast is clear.”

I motion my mates forward and we stride down the corridor in the direction of the central communication hub where we will transmit Lily’s message out to the rest of the city hive.

Assuming, of course, that I can figure out how the hell to do that.

Dog walks alongside me, barefoot and unclothed except for his usual form-fitting black shorts and the dog tags jangling on his chest.

Kane and Truk, meanwhile, have taken up position behind us. They are both in disguise, dressed in security guard uniforms. The outfits are way too small for them, and the fabric is pulled so taut around their oversized Alpha physiques that little ovals of skin are showing through between buttons that are hanging on for dear life.

In Kane’s case, the seams along his shoulders have even begun to split, and he has to walk with stiff, awkward movements to keep from completely shredding his uniform. Truk’s long hair is piled up beneath his black uniform cap. Neither one of them is wearing boots.

In short, they look frigging ridiculous.

Should we happen upon any actual guards or scientists in this corridor, they would see through the flimsy disguises in an instant.

But that’s not what we’re going for.

All we need is enough of a disguise to throw off the idiots watching the security cameras lining the hallways, and that shouldn’t be too tough. I’ve been inside the security room before, and I know how the slackers in there operate.

It’s a joke. A multi-million dollar security setup rendered basically pointless because the dopes who are supposed to be watching the screens are barely paying attention, dozing in and out of a carb-induced coma from all of the donuts they’ve been stuffing into their faces.

So far, the plan has worked.

It seems nobody has taken notice, and we’ve managed to avoid running into any other squads of real security.