Page 137 of Retribution

“With good reason,” he reassures me. “I’m just losing my mind doing nothing.”

“Go ahead,” I say, nodding. “Show me what you got. I’ll keep looking for chatter on a pretty, new red-haired omega.”

“Fuck this world,” Alesso grumbles. “I hate it here.”

You and me both, baby. Without Isolde, it can go to hell in a handbag and I’ll hold the match.

Isolde

My head hurts as I slit open my eyes. I don’t want anyone else to know that I’m awake yet. There may be benefits to still being unconscious, and I need to lean into that if there are.

My ears are clogged, and the air feels filtered if that makes sense. Continuing to breathe evenly, I find I’m laying on the ground and my wrists are tied to my ankles so that my body is contorted into a U-shape. I can see chairs in front of me that remind me of airplanes, and I realize I’m in the air.

Fuck.

When someone makes a realization like this, it’s natural for the body to inhale sharply. I deny myself that reaction because it would be loud and I can see men’s feet in front of me as well.

Outside of short periods of consciousness when I was in the back of a van, and later a trunk of a sedan, I’ve been in a cocoon of darkness.

My skin feels too tight as I force myself to stay calm. At this time, there’s nothing I can do except receive more pain if they believe I’m awake.

I can vaguely feel my alphas through the bond, but it’s almost as if there’s static in the connection. Distance can affect the way the bond feels from what I’ve heard.

Something changes in the air and I close my eyes as someone approaches me. I’m sensitive to the displacement of airflow when I’m on edge and seconds later I feel a foot nudge me.

“Little whore, are you awake yet?” The beta who tased me until I passed out asks.

“Don’t fucking kick her, Larry,” the other beta groans. “There’s already blood crusted all over her from when you dragged her across the ground.”

“She got blood on me,” Larry snarls, kicking me anyway. I let my body jolt from the impact as it would naturally and whine. “This is a lot of work for such an ugly omega.”

That’s a new one. I’ve never been called that before.At least, and not had someone mean it. If anything, I get annoyed at the curious looks I get.

Unique doesn’t mean ugly. I often wish that I was more normal. Then I wouldn’t have so many issues in my life.

“I don’t ask questions and neither should you. If the boss wants her, then we deliver the package with as few dents as possible,” the other man says. “Get away from her, I think she’s waking up.”

I want to scream as I continue the slow, even breathing. I’ve heard that it’s really difficult to fake sleeping, and when I feel the prick of a needle sliding into the skin of my neck, my eyes begin to tear up in frustration.

“Sleep,” the beta growls under his breath. “We aren’t at our destination yet. Shit is going to get really bad for you, Little Omega. May as well sleep until we’re there.”

The darkness moves over my mind like sludge, scary and uncomfortable as it fills every crevice. I could tell the beta that I definitely didn’t think it would be a picnic, but my tongue feels thick as well. Coughing, I begin to seize as I have an intense reaction to whatever he just gave me.

My eyes snap open unseeing as my bindings are cut off and I feel the cool fingers of another man.

“Are you trying to fucking kill her?” he asks.

Everything hurts as my body snaps and jerks, and I drift into unconsciousness yet again. I’m unsure if I want to live or die at this point.

Maybe my alphas would be better without me. They’re strong, they’d survive my death. My bites haven’t even healed completely yet, and Oliver and I haven’t bonded.

The thought of it fucking burns. My screams follow me into the darkness even as I continue to convulse.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Grant

The drive home was the longest of my life. We had to stop three times to calm Leila down, feed her, and change three poopy diapers. I’m willing to bet that her stomach is upset due to her emotions as much as our grumpiness.