Page 5 of Untamed Omega (One Wild Alpha #2)
Markus
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay with Elise?” I asked Kellan then immediately stepped back. His squint made me rethink speaking at all. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
Reggie came out, and he and Locke spoke off to the side. Kellan and I were the first of our sleuth inside.
I barely held in my gasp at the skeleton covered in skin.
His face was pale, almost to the point of lucidity with the exception of plum and moss-green bruises in various stages of healing and impact.
Besides being starved to the bone, his scent was off.
Usually, with humans, that would mean sickness or infection, but on this shifter, well, he was teetering on the cliff between life and death.
Not to mention, the blood, caked and dried, that covered a good bit of his body.
Or the parts I could see with the borrowed clothes that he wore.
Reggie and his pack at least tried.
I could only pray the Goddess spared his life. My bear wanted to bond with him. Not uncommon, since he wanted to bond with everyone in order to help them, but this was different, on the verge of compulsion.
Interesting.
Kellan approached him first. His eyes were closed, but his heart rate indicated he was awake. Keeping his eyes open might be too great an effort.
I loathed most of human kind.
Locke’s mate rested a hand on his arm. “My name is Kellan. I’m an omega. We’re here to help you. I-I was in the labs too.”
The man’s eyes flew open at Kellan’s admission. “Are you going to bring me back?”
“No. Never. You are safe here. We’d like to clean you up and have our healer check you over. I know how scary it can be after what you’ve been through, but we swear, we are here to help you. If you feel uncomfortable with anything, he will stop.”
“Who?” the omega asked. His eyes widened and the air around us grew sharp with his fear kicking up.
I walked over slowly. The last thing he needed was to be frightened. A jump scare could be the end of him.
“I’m the healer here. Can we begin with taking those clothes off so that I can get an idea of your injuries?”
The omega’s stare slid from Kellan to me. “Yes,” barely left his mouth before he passed out cold. His head lolled to the side.
“Would you like to assist, or would you prefer Locke?” I asked Kellan. Seeing this omega in this state would remind him of what he’d been through. I never wanted to cause anyone more trauma.
“I want to help.”
Carefully, we removed the omega’s loose shorts.
I tried like hell to keep my gaze clinical in nature, but Kellan and I both teared up at the way this person had been abused.
Alpha. Omega. Human—because they weren’t all evil.
Shifter. Demon. No one deserved the abuse this omega had endured.
If he made it through, he would be the strongest person I knew.
“Where do you even start?” Kellan asked.
“First, let’s wash him and clean the blood off his feet. After that, we can assess. He needs to be hydrated, so as soon as we get him cleaned, I’ll put an IV in.”
“Yes. I…” Kellan’s face turned paler by the second.
“Go on,” I coaxed. “I can handle it.”
Locke chose that moment to walk in. Locke often came off as cold or aloof, but he was intuitive. He reached for Kellan’s hand and drew him away from the table. “Omega mine, come on now. Let’s get out of our healer’s hair so he can help this man.”
Kellan cast me an apologetic look, but I offered him a sympathetic smile and they left without another word.
Dipping a soft cloth in warm water and antibacterial soap, I cleaned the omega head to toe.
Scars that resembled cuts and burns turned up everywhere, and his feet were damaged badly.
He’d likely been barefoot in the facility, and the forest floor and whatever roadways he’d been on hadn’t done them any favors.
He needed nutrition and fluids, but he might not be able to hold down solid food.
I needed to get a better selection of items in the vehicles that might pick up escapees to help them start to rehydrate.
What they liked to snack on during their vigils did not suit someone like this omega.
He’d been hurt too badly, half starved. Kellan told me he’d had adequate water in his captivity, but it didn’t seem as if this one had.
My bear roared inside me. He was angry. We were all angry. How dare they. How fucking dare they.
The omega didn’t even flinch as I inserted an IV line into the curve of his inner elbow.
I added a small bit of pain medicine. It wouldn’t take much to help him with his lack of weight.
When he woke up, we would have to make sure he ate.
Otherwise, a feeding tube might be in order.
I didn’t want to do that to him, but I had to make him well.
After setting up the IV, I covered him with a warm blanket. In this state, even his animal could do little to keep up his temperature. I added a heating pad for good measure. Then I pulled up a chair beside him and held his hand for the rest of the night.