Page 10 of Savage Surrender

“We’re fine,” Tristan says.

“You’re not.”

Freddie grabs her hand. “Where were you? Did anyone hurt you?”

“Last-minute call,” Weller says roughly. He keeps his eyes on Bianca. Good. If he looks at me, I might put him through the wall before Hale reaches for the remote. “We took a detour to her parents’ house.”

That’s when I notice Ellis behind him. The guard’s neck is mottled red, and the look he’s drilling into the back of Weller’s head promises revenge. Her parents’ house.

For ninety minutes, I had her back in the nowhere she vanished into for five years, and Weller knew where she was.

“Right,” I say.

“Check them,” Hale orders.

He hasn’t raised his voice once since the park. He doesn’t need to. Silver buzz cut, empty eyes, collar remote hanging from his belt like a sidearm. Every threat is already there. Two guards pull on latex gloves and close in. They search Weller first, patting him down for anything that might help us escape. One checks the phone in his pocket, sees it was issued by his father, and puts it back. The thing is worse than useless.

Then the other guard puts his hands on Bianca. Her arms. Her waist. Her hips. On what’s mine. A sound starts low in my throat, and I let it grow. “Back the fuck off.”

Freddie, Tristan, and Weller’s entire bodies lock down.

Hale rests his thumb on the remote. “One more word.”

“Owen.” Bianca snaps my name and catches my gaze. “Relax. I’m fine. He’s doing his job.” She holds my stare with a little too much care. “I’m fine. Calm down. All of you.”

The guard finishes and steps away. Bianca releases a slow breath. Then Ellis shoves Weller.

With his hands tied, Weller can’t catch himself. His shoulder hits first. His bound hands scrape uselessly across the floor, and his mouth opens on a sound he refuses to make. Ellis is already crouching beside him with a collar in his fist when Bianca loses her fucking mind.

She’s on his back before I can move - small, fast, and feral. Her legs lock around his ribs, one arm closes over his throat, and her teeth sink into his ear. Ellis shrieks. Blood wells between her teeth. He spins and tries to throw her, but she clings to him like something with claws.

The other guards drag her off. Bianca twists between them, kicking hard enough to catch one in the shin. I take one step. Hale’s thumb stays on the remote, and my heel skids when I force myself to stop. The sound is fucking humiliating. If they hurt her, that remote won’t save any of them.

“You’re next, you little bitch.” Ellis cups his bleeding ear.

“Touch her, and I will kill you,” Freddie says before the rest of us can.

Another guard steps in. Brendan. Young, bored, and carrying the energy of a man who’d use a clipboard to issue a parking ticket during a murder. “No collars on the omega,” he recites. “Dr. Montgomery has given explicit instructions not to collar her. Physical restraint could be harmful while she’s being prepared for reproduction.”

Bianca rolls her eyes. “Right. Because the rest of this is so nurturing. I can feel the fertility flowing through me.”

Ellis turns back to Weller and fastens the collar around his throat. The click hits the back of my teeth like another bite. Someone finally cuts the zip ties. Weller pushes himself off the floor with one hand, keeping the other arm locked against his ribs. He swears when the shoulder shifts. Four collars now instead of three.

“We can’t collar you,” Hale tells Bianca, “but we can separate you from them. That’s well within protocol. You don’t need to be together until it’s time.”

The rage inside me turns to ice.

No. No. No.

“In fact, I’ll discuss it with Dr. Montgomery.” Hale touches two fingers to his earpiece and turns away as if the decision has already been made. “For now, enjoy the reunion.”

“You do that, asshole,” Bianca says.

Jesus, woman. I love her fire, but if they use it to keep us apart, I will lose my fucking mind.

We guide her toward our wing before she gives him another reason. Hit me, collar me, put me on the floor - I can take it. But if they move her somewhere I can’t see her, feel her, or reach her, I’m back inside the same nightmare. Years of wondering where she was. Years of nothing where the bond should have been. I’ve already lost her enough for one lifetime.

The guards leave, and we try to put ourselves back together. Bianca’s hand is clenched around something, but I don’t ask what she stole. Not with the cameras watching.