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“Please—it’s okay,” I try again. I keep my voice soft and my body in an unthreatening position, but there’s only so much I can do. I’m a big guy. At six foot two and with a physique honed by years of military training, I know my appearance broadcastsalpha.
I back away even further as a whimper emerges from the back of her throat and she starts thrashing harder against her cuffs. The smell of burned fruit bursts out and assaults my nose. I almost choke at its heaviness.
“Espy, it’s all right. My name is Lincoln and I’m here with Leo. He sent me to come get you. Leo’s here—he’s waiting for you. Everything’s going to be fine. You’re safe—”
“No! Please!No me toques!”
My words don’t seem to be getting us anywhere, and I’m not even sure she understands me through her fear, pain, and adrenaline. I do a quick trade-off calculation in my head. I was hoping not to have to do this, but she may end up hurting herself if she doesn’t calm down.
I’m quick, jumping forward to grab her arms and pin her body as gently as I can against the wall. I pull a syringe from my vest and jab the auto-injector into her leg before she can even take a breath.
“I’m so sorry, little one,” I murmur softly, my words lost against her panicked shrieking.
I slowly move away from her as her eyes fall shut and her body goes limp, lowering her head gently to the floor. I allow myself a moment of weakness and run my hand carefully down her long, tangled hair. Despite the fact I just drugged a terrified omega—my packmate’s sister, no less—and knowing all the shit that’s yet to come, all I feel is relief. And gratitude.
I swear from this moment on, no harm will ever come to her under my watch.
5
Esperanza
The first things I become conscious of are the sounds.
It’s as if there’s an underlying buzz surrounding my head, though as the seconds pass the buzzing sharpens and splits into a myriad of different noises. I hear beeping, the drone of an AC unit, the sound of shuffling and clangs here and there. And are those muffled voices in the distance? The noises are foreign, and with a start I realize I’m not in my house.
Memories of the night before come flooding in with a vicious rush.
My father bringing Mr. Vessnick to the house, the beating, the ... My pulse picks up speed as flashes of the assault flood my mind. Being forced into my nest, being held down and stripped of my clothing; his disgusting smell and bruising fingers; the way he rubbed his—
Nope.
I squeeze my nails into my palms, embracing the sharp pain in exchange for temporarily wiping my brain of the memories.
It takes a few tries to get my eyes to open, and when I finally manage it I immediately regret it. The room spins around me. Before I can even make sense of my surroundings, my body lurches to the side and I throw up the contents of my stomach. The heaving feels almost violent. Tears spring to my eyes as my stomach convulses and a new batch of colorless bile joins the puddle I’ve managed to get half on the side of my bed and half on the floor.
Wait—I’m in a bed?
I’m shaking so badly I can’t even look up at the sound of someone entering the room.
“Oh, hon, let me help you.”
The voice is sympathetic and feminine, a combination I haven’t heard in longer than I care to calculate. I feel a hand run over my shoulders before my hair’s pulled back, and then a wet cloth is gently dabbed against my chapped lips.
“There now. Let’s get you sitting up and I’ll grab you some water. Just small sips for now—we don’t want to trigger your nausea again.”
I allow the woman to shift me around, groaning as despite her attempts another surge of nausea shoots through me. She appears to be in her late thirties, a beta, and she’s wearing scrubs.
“Where am I?” I ask. “Is this a hospital?”
“You’re in a private medical facility, Ms. Alvarez. I need to get your vitals here, and then we can get all your questions answered.
A private medical facility?As she’s strapping a blood pressure cuff to my arm, more memories from last night come flooding in. I was left in the basement. There was an alpha there—a stranger. Did my dad let him in?Oh Gods. My muscles seize as I recall him speaking to me. He told me he was there for me, that some other guy, Leo, had sent him. Is Leo another alpha? Did my dad give up on bringing on my heat and finally sell me off?
The woman is making notes on a chart, her gaze focused on one of the monitors near my bed. “Don’t worry about the nausea—that’s just a side effect of the drug. How do your extremities feel? Any tingling in your fingers or toes?” She looks at me expectantly, her face turning to a frown as she takes in what I’m sure is my completely panicked expression.
Drug? I’ve been drugged???
I remember a sort of stabbing feeling in my leg after the alpha tackled me. As I scramble to push the blankets off my legs so that I can inspect them I catch sight of my left arm. An IV tube protrudes from my elbow, snaking up to a bag full of clear liquid.
