Zoe looks back over her shoulder. “Lane? What’s up? Are you okay?” She frowns and hurries back to me. “Sit down. You look like you’re going to pass out or something.”
“I’m not going to pass out.” But I hear how faint my voice sounds, so maybe she’s right. I allow her to help me ease down onto a tree stump.
“What’s going on?” she asks. “Should I get someone?”
“No, I’ll be all right.” I take a deep breath and try to steady myself. “Zoe, I think I’m pregnant.”
Zoe laughs.
I look up at her.
“Well, are you surprised?” she asks. “You’ve barely had your clothes on for three hours straight since I’ve known you!”
“That’s not true.”
“Okay, fine, it’s not, I’m being hyperbolic, but Lane, seriously. You’ve been with those guys enough that even a beta would probably be pregnant by now. For a hyper-fertile omega like you? No question. This is what all that sexual energy you have is for, Lane.”
“I wonder who the father is?” I think back over the past week, trying to work out who I had the most sex with. It’s a tossup.
“It’s probably all of them.” Zoe looks down at me with something like pity. “You really have no idea how this works, do you?”
“I was raised by humans,” I remind her. “I didn’t know anything at all until about a month ago.”
“Well, when an omega is mated to multiple people, her litter can contain cubs from multiple fathers. And you’ve been pretty active with all of them, so I’d be they all got their say in. So, to speak.”
I lean forward and rest my forehead in my hands. “This is wild.”
“What is?”
“I don’t know. The life of an omega, I guess. You have to realize, I never knew I was one. I didn’t even know there was such a thing. And now...I mean, it makes sense. It fits everything I’ve always known about myself. But being an omega is just such a strange thing when you don’t grow up with the concept.”
“You should be happy,” Zoe says. “Aren’t you?”
“I think so.” I picture the expression on Bruno’s face when I tell him the news. I picture Mike and Clay playing with their children, teaching them how to fish and build fires, how to climb trees and how to read. How to be bears. How to be people. “Yes. I think I am.”
Zoe smiles. There’s something dark behind her eyes. This must be painful for her—watching me experience the thing she longed for her whole life—but she’s being supportive. I guess we made more progress down at the river than I realized.
“We should get back,” she says. “Bruno will want to hear the news.”
I get up off the stump and brush the dirt off the seat of my pants. “Yes. let’s go tell him.”
“You tell him. You’re the omega.” Zoe grins.
And suddenly, without warning, a man steps out from behind a tree in front of us.
“An omega, eh?” he asks, his lips curling in a sinister smile. He shakes his head, as if disappointed. “An omega shouldn’t wander off in the woods on her own.” He takes a step forward, and behind him, three more men emerge. “You never know what might happen.”
Chapter Twenty-One
BRUNO
It’s a boring day at camp.
It’s so boring, in fact, that Greg has sketched a chessboard in the dirt and is teaching everyone how to play using rocks of various colors. We’re twenty minutes into my turn, and I’m pretty sure I’m losing, but I can’t keep my mind on the game. Something doesn’t feel right about today.
I don’t know what it is. I’ve checked the sky so many times that my neck is starting to hurt, but the weather is clear and bright. It’s not going to rain. There was a rabbit in one of my snares this morning, and Clay is making a stew for dinner, so we’ll be eating well tonight. It isn’t that.
“Mike,” I call, “can you run out and check on the bikes?”
“You already had me check the bikes,” he points out, and he’s right. I sent him a couple of hours ago. It’s just that I can’t think what else might be wrong.
“You’re just feeling the stresses of leadership,” Greg says, advancing a “bishop”. It’s actually a white rock with speckles on it. “You haven’t been alpha for long, right? It’s normal to feel some anxiety about it.”
Maybe. I study the board and nudge one of my pieces forward.
Greg shakes his head. “Knights can’t move like that.”
“This is a knight? I thought it was a rook.”
“I captured both your rooks.” He points them out.
“I thought those were pawns! Okay, this is hopeless.” I get to my feet. “Maybe we should get dinner on the table. Where are the girls? They’ve been down at the river a while. Robbie, maybe you should go bring them back now.”
“They’ll come back when they’re hungry,” Robbie says. He’s lying on his back in the shelter, enjoying an afternoon nap. “Zoe wouldn’t miss a meal.”
“Come on, man. Don’t make me make it an order,” I say.
Robbie chuckles. “It might be good for you to give an order once in a while,” he says, but he sits up, and I know he’s going to go. I turn to the others, about to ask Clay if the stew is ready or if it needs more time, but I’m interrupted by Zoe stumbling into camp.
She’s a mess. Her hair is full of leaves. Her arms are scratched and bloody, and I can see the beginnings of a black eye. Her shirt is dirty. She’s gasping, as if she ran all the way here.
Greg is on his feet and at her side in an instant, arms around her, guiding her to sit on our log. “What happened?” he asks, quietly and urgently.
She looks up at me. “They got Lane.”
I feel every muscle in my body shut down, one by one, as if I’m being encased in ice.
“Who got Lane?” Mike asks after a moment, when I don’t speak.
“I don’t know,” Zoe says. “Some men. I don’t know them. Bruno, I’m sorry. I tried to fight them. There were too many. Four of them. One was old, he wasn’t a problem, but then there were three around my age, and they were big, and... I just couldn’t take them all. I tried.”
“This isn’t your fault,” Greg says. Robbie hands him a wet cloth, and he begins to clean the cuts on his daughter’s arms. “Did you fight as bears?”
“No. I should have shifted, but I was afraid that if I did then they would, and...” she shakes her head.
I find my voice. “That’s good,” I say, even though I feel like my insides are melting. “That was the right choice. Four bears against one, they would have killed you.” We should have taught Lane how to fight. We never taught her how to defend herself.
“Why would anyone take Lane?” Robbie asks.
It’s Greg who answers. “Every pack wants an omega. Any pack out there without respect for Lane as a person —and there are plenty like that —would be willing to kidnap her.”
My stomach lurches. The things they might do to Lane now that they have her...there’s only one reason, really, to kidnap an omega. I know exactly why they want her. I know exactly what they plan to do. God, how could I have let this happen? This is exactly the kind of situation I intended to rescue her from. It’s unbearable to think of her right back where I found her.
Robbie shakes his head. “No, I know why a pack would want an omega. What I mean is, how could they have known Lane was one?”
“If they got close enough, they could have followed her scent in,” Mike says.
“They’d have had to be in the area already,” Greg points out. “We were only a few miles away before we met you, and we never noticed her.”
“So, they were in the area.” I don’t understand why we’re talking about this instead of returning to the scene of the crime and trying to track Lane’s kidnappers. Don’t any of them understand what’s going to happen to her if we don’t get there in time? Don’t they care?
“We were talking about her being an omega,” Zoe says. She bites her lip. “She had...she h
ad some questions about it...”
“Okay, but if they were close enough to overhear you, they were close enough to pick up Lane’s scent,” Mike says. “Which means they were here for some other reason.”
“Why do they need a reason?” I snap. “It’s a forest. In Quebec. There are bears. What kind of answer are you looking for?”
“Calm down, Bruno,” Clay says, stepping toward me gingerly. He looks like he’s trying to avoid a land mine.
“They took Lane!” It bursts out of me like a roar. I feel barely human, like I’m clinging to my sanity with my fingernails. “They took my omega!”
“We’re going to get her back,” Greg says.
Mike holds out an arm. “Guys, he’s gonna blow.”
But I’m not. No. I’m not going to leave my rational self behind right now. Lane needs a human, someone who can think and reason and figure out where she is. She doesn’t need a bear. Once I find the people who did this, then the bear can come out. Until then, I have to stay cool. I breathe, consciously bringing my heartrate down, centering myself in my humanity. I look around the clearing. Everyone is watching me, concerned, waiting.
“I’m all right,” I tell them.
Mike stands down.
Cold logic is returning and Robbie is right. There’s something off about this story. I turn to Zoe. “How did you know they were shifters?” I ask.
“I guess I assumed,” she says. “They understood what an omega was. And they made it clear that was why they were taking Lane.”
“They did? How?”
“They said something about how it wasn’t safe for an omega to be out alone in the woods and they’d better bring her back with them.”
“But she wasn’t alone,” I say. “She was with you.” Which means they knew, probably, that she was part of a pack. That out alone in the woods line was just that, a line. They knew we were nearby. “Why didn’t they come looking for the rest of us?”
“No need to,” Greg says. “They had what they wanted.”
My mind is racing. We need to begin our pursuit soon. Every moment we waste trying to figure this out lengthens the head start they have on us and puts Lane closer to danger. But we also have to balance racing out blindly with taking our time and making sure we’re following in the right direction. “Zoe,” I say, “do you remember anything else about them? Clothing colors? Badges on their jackets? Did you see anyone’s pack tattoo?”
She claps a hand over her mouth, eyes going wide.
“What is it?” I demand.
“They had the Hell’s Bears tattoo!” she cries. “I can’t believe I didn’t register it. I saw it, but I’m so used to seeing all of yours, it just didn’t stand out. One of them had it on the side of his neck, here.” She points.
My hand goes to my own neck.
I’ve seen that tattoo.
Clay meets my eyes, and I know he’s having the same realization I am. “That’s Vince,” I say quietly.”
“You know him?” Robbie asks.
“He’s one of Harlan’s,” I say. “Our old alpha, before we split from the Montreal pack.”
“That’s the group that killed my uncle.” Zoe’s hands are balled up into fists. Her father reaches out and rests a hand on her shoulder, trying to keep her calm, but I can see the fire behind his eyes too.
“They didn’t confront us because they didn’t want us to know who took her,” Mike says slowly. “They didn’t want us to know where to go to find them.”
Which gives us the advantage.
It’s not much of an advantage, but I’ll take it. “We’re going after her,” I say. “Mike, go get the bikes ready. Clay, pack a bag. Just the essentials. We’re leaving now.”
Greg steps forward. “Wait a minute. You’ve only got three bikes.”
“I know,” I agree. “I’m sorry about that. I really am. But we have to go as quickly as possible. You three will have to stay behind.”
“The hell we will,” Zoe snaps. “They killed our alpha. Besides, there were four of them here, and there are probably even more in Montreal. You’re going to need us.”
“Don’t make me make it an order,” I say.
Robbie opens his mouth, and I know he’s about to argue further.
Greg puts a hand on his son’s arm. “You’re right,” he says. “We don’t have enough bikes. You should go. We’ll stay.”
Zoe whips around. “Dad!”
“Zoe, he’s just going to order it anyway,” Greg says. “Let’s not make this a fight right now. Let them focus on rescuing Lane.”
Zoe still looks angry and frustrated, but I can’t focus on that. I pull on my jacket and follow Mike to the bikes to help him make sure they’re ready to go. We’ve got a long ride to Montreal, and we don’t have any time to waste.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The room they have me in is hard and dark. The floor is uncarpeted and unfurnished, so all I can do is curl up on the wood and think about my family. At least my hands are untied and the gag has been removed from my mouth, so I’m more comfortable than I was on the back of the motorcycle coming here. But I don’t know when I’ve been in a worse situation. I have no idea where I am. I don’t know who my captors are, but I can’t imagine their intent with me is anything good. And to cap it all off, I’m pregnant.
I rest a hand over my belly, still flat, but carrying the promise of new life. What’s going to happen to my babies now? Will these kidnappers even let them live? Will they force me to terminate my pregnancy? Or if they allow my babies to be born, will they raise them to be the kind of people they are? The kind who kidnap helpless women in the woods and drag them away from their families?
I honestly can’t decide which outcome would be worse.
Zoe was fighting them. When the man who picked me up ran off with me, Zoe was still fighting. She had several of them ganged up on her. They were hitting her. I can still hear her yells, rage mingled with pain, ringing in my ears. Did they take her too? Did they hurt her? Is she even alive?
And Bruno. I never got to tell him his pack was expecting a litter. Not to mention Mike and Clay, who I’m sure fathered some of these babies as well based on what Zoe told me. They would have been overjoyed at the news. But now everything is different. Now it will be Zoe who tells them. And who knows whether they’ll have the chance to watch their children grow up or not?
The door opens. Immediately, instinctively, I move toward the light. A woman holding a tray enters, and by the dim light of the hall I can see that her hair is graying and her face is lined. She’s probably in her forties. She places the tray on the floor and turns back toward the door.
“Wait,” I say.
She turns back reluctantly.
“Please. I don’t know where I am.”
She hesitates. “You’re in Montreal.”
Montreal. So far from where I started. “The men who brought me here. Who are they?” I know they must be shifters, but maybe knowing a little more will help me gain some control over my situation.
She shakes her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you anything.”
“Please, ma’am...”
“Emily.” She wrings her hands. “My name is Emily. And I’m sorry. I don’t like this, what they’re doing to you, but I’ve been ordered not to talk to you about it. You understand, don’t you?”
I do. She’s bound by her orders. Suddenly, for the first time, I really appreciate Bruno’s reluctance to boss the rest of us around. The way he was always careful to phrase everything as a request whenever he could. He never wanted us to do anything that would have made us feel trapped, but he just wanted to be sure. He was a good alpha.
No. Not was. Is. He’s still my alpha. I don’t know how, but I’m going to get back to him. These babies are depending on me.
Emily leaves the room and I make my way over to the tray of food. Plain cold noodles and a glass of tepid water. It’s a lot better than nothing, and I’m starving, so I dig in. If you’d asked me yesterday,
I would have said it would be a relief to eat something other than our usual fare of fish and the occasional rabbit, but now I’m longing for the flavor and sustenance of fresh meat. I suppose the babies are probably craving the nutrients, too, and that doesn’t make me feel any better. My children are hungry. They need protein, not this slop.
But at least they aren’t starving. It could always be worse.
I can’t let my captors know that I’m pregnant. I don’t know what will happen if they find out, but I don’t think it will be anything good. I have to protect these babies no matter what. If I can keep my secret long enough, something will change. I’ll find my way out of here somehow, and then I’ll be able to get back to my pack.
This room has no windows and only the one door. Before I can escape whatever house I’m in, I’ll have to escape the room. And right now, the door is locked. But I can already see one avenue of hope: Emily. She seems kind and understanding. She seems like she cares about me, even if she is bound by her alpha’s instructions. If I can figure out a loophole for her, one that doesn’t put her at risk, maybe she would be willing to help me escape.
I LOSE TRACK OF TIME.
There’s no way of telling the difference between day and night in this dark, tiny room. It begins to feel as if I’ve been here forever, as if life outside was nothing but a dream, but I know my mind is playing tricks on me. I haven’t slept yet. It can’t have been more than a day that I’ve been here, two at the most. I’m more worried about what will happen as the days go on. Every time I fall asleep, I’ll lose more of my ability to track the passage of time. If nothing else, I can tell time by my stomach, which has not yet begun to grow. I rest my hands over it, lying flat on my back, as if the added layer will give extra protection to my babies in this horrible place.
Emily brings food again. I try once more to talk to her. She can’t answer questions about the people who are holding me or their purpose, but I have more luck with other queries. By asking about the weather, I learn that it’s probably still the same day as it was when I arrived here. I get her to admit that the sun has gone down. I get her age, too, and the fact that she has a brother, but she won’t tell me if she’s married or has any children. Something feels ominous about that, but there’s nothing I can do.
The Hidden Omega Page 13
