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“Elijah?

“Hmm?

“I... I c-can’t find my pills.”

Now, the sounds coming from the front of the cabin went quiet as well.

“You don’t mean...”

More frantic clinking.

“Someone’s b-been through my things. They’re not here!”

A second set of hurried footsteps moved toward the back of the cabin.

“Are you shitting me? Someone came in here and stole your pheromone suppressors?”

A jolt kicked me in the chest. Another puzzle piece slotted into place. Emma Hope was an omega in hiding, and her uncle must know that.

“It’s worse than that!”Her voice sounded panicked now.“They took my heat blockers! Elijah, I’m d-due in less than a week!”

TWELVE

Emma

I SEARCHED FRANTICALLY through my belongings as Elijah rushed into the bathroom. Everything was ever so slightly disarranged, like I’d stepped into a parallel dimension in a sci-fi movie.

“You came out here when you’redue for a heat?” Elijah stopped in the doorway, bracing both hands against the frame as though he needed the support. “Em, for god’s sake,what were you thinking?”

My hands trembled, sending bottles and vials rattling against the marble vanity. “It shouldn’t have mattered! I d-don’t have natural heats, not ever!”

That’s what the blockers are for, I wanted to scream at him, knowing that none of this was Elijah’s fault. All of it was mine. My fault, and my fucked-up family’s.

“Dove,” Elijah said, as though speaking to a frightened wild animal, “if this is your first natural heat in however long, it’s going to be a real bitch. Suppressors can really mess you up if you take them too many times in a row.”

Panic was already thrumming along my nerves. Ididn’t do heats, damn it. My whole adult life had been one long battle against anything that ripped away my control. My stutter. Mypheromones. My family—the parts of it that had survived, anyway.

And topping the list, my omega heats.

Icould notgo into heat while trapped on this boat full of perverted old men, with Tommy and Cade stalking me like a pair of hunters on safari. My vision started to gray out at the edges, and I realized I was breathing too fast. Hyperventilating.