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“Can you untie me?” I gestured with my hands. “Now that it’s just the two of us?”

He snorted. “I’m not dumb. I know you don’t want me. You’ll go running back to those nasty alphas the second you get a chance.”

I bit my lip. “What if I have to use the bathroom?”

“Soon, okay?” he snapped. “I haven’t got everything prepared. But this is our chance to be together.” He paced out of the room, disappearing down a hallway.

I glanced at the door. Three massive padlocks sat above the regular doorknob. The locks were shiny and new, but the doorknob was old and a darker bronze color. So the locks were new.

My hands and feet were bound and also asleep, with barely pins and needles coming through my fingertips. If I made a break for it now, I wouldn’t be able to get the duct tape off before Greg came back into the room.

I debated, trying to remember statistics on kidnapping. It was the first twenty-four hours that were the most important, right? But if I knew the kidnapper, did that change the number?

I’d have to take a chance to escape the first time I could. We were probably still near San Francisco if this was his mother’s house. And I couldn’t have been unconscious for very long. I glanced around the small living room. A half wall separated it from the kitchen. The air seemed stale, so I didn’t think he was here very often.

A quick glance at the side tables and the coffee table didn’t provide me with a weapon. No convenient heavy vase sitting close by, just a small brown glass lamp that had a short cord.

In the kitchen I would have better luck, especially as he said he hadn’t planned on taking me this soon.

I shuddered, panic threatening to break through at the idea that he had been plotting to kidnap me all along.

I wasn’t safe; he was here, and who knew what he wanted with me. Acidic bile rose in my mouth, and I couldn’t stifle a whimper. Soft soothing pets came from the bonds, Alejandro’s touch there to anchor me. Ben’s fierce determination was so strong it felt like he was there with me, and through them, Rian echoed support and love.

I desperately wished I could feel West in the bonds, but I knew he was feeling love and murderous rage just the same.

I sucked in a breath, black lights flashing in my vision. I was going to have a panic attack and I wasn’t in a safe space. Fresh adrenaline spiked through me, my palms sweating, and I looked at the ugly brown lamp.

The ringing in my ears got louder, and I focused on each glass facet of the lamp. The dusty lampshade was covered with a layer of plastic over the cheap beige canvas. The light switch was black, the sort you pushed in to turn it on. My grandmother had a lamp similar to this one, only it wasn’t as ugly.

Focus on small details, my therapist had told me. When I felt the edges of a panic attack loom, grounding my attention helped. I looked at the coffee table. It was brown wood, the legs curling up at the bottom.

Greg reappeared and I almost lost it. He was smiling, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

He held two syringes in his hands.

“I thought you loved me.” I didn’t bother to hide my distress. My body quivered and the scent of burnt lemon cake filled the air. “What are those?”

He froze, his eyes going wide. Omegas could have that effect on everyone, not just alphas. I didn’t even have to ham it up. I was terrified, and I didn’t want him to hurt me.

“Oh, honey.” He sat down on the armrest of the chair and put his arm around me. “I’m not going to hurt you. I would never hurt you.” He sounded so sincere.

I wanted to scream; I couldn’t understand how he could possibly juggle this level of cognitive dissonance.

“This is going to help us be together. You’re my true mate. I knew that the moment I looked at you. You’ll see, in time.” He picked up one of the syringes. “Once the influence of those disgusting alphas is gone, you’ll understand.”

I shook my head. “What is that?”

He gave me a bashful smile. “Something that will clear away the bonds.”

I jerked like I’d been shocked with electricity. “What?”

He frowned. “They just want to use you. They don’t love you like I do.”

“They respect my personal boundaries, for one,” I snapped, fear and anger twisting inside like a poison.

“I’m doing this for us.” He shifted, pinning me against the armchair, and slid the needle into the meat of my bicep.

It was instant fire and ice through my veins. I shook my head, the room spinning.