Page 123 of Curvy Quirky Omega

“Oh, I was just hoping to hear if there were any side effects to the new drug we developed.” She reached out and tapped my neck right where it was sore, making me flinch. “Once it’s injected into the bond mark, it starts working immediately. It was developed to help omegas escape abusive bonds so the alpha couldn’t find them and from all our research, this particular dose should last half an hour for the average omega. Once it wears off...”

But I wasn’t average. I was a lot taller than most omegas and I had a bit more weight on me. I metabolized drugs pretty quickly and it probably wouldn’t last more than fifteen minutes but that was still too long.

At least my bonds weren’t broken. They were still alive and I felt ridiculously grateful they were so obsessive. It wouldn’t take them long to figure out where I was. I still had my earrings and I honestly didn’t think the ring they’d given me was clean either.

I was almost positive it had some kind of tracking device on it. Liam knew I lost things easily and if someone had the gall to steal it, he’d want to know who immediately and hunt them down.

All I had to do was stay alive long enough for them to get here.

The problem was…

I wasn’t the only one she’d kidnapped.

Helen was smart. I already knew that. I just hadn’t expected her to play on my emotions like this. It almost made me think she’d kidnapped Melinda just to saddle me with a weakness and not because she was Gideon’s wife.

“I know you’re not the typical omega, but I didn’t expect you to be so calm,” Helen admitted. “You seemed as timid as a mouse down in the server room. I guess I should have known better since you were the one who set fire to all my hard work.”

“It wasn’t just me,” I reminded her. “I couldn’t have done it without Frankie.”

Her smile widened. “Even still…you’re an omega.”

“And so are you.”

“Is that how you knew it was me?” Helen tilted her head slightly and her eyes gleamed in the dim light. “No one else would have thought an omega did all that, even with cold hard proof. They could find the murder weapon in my hand, covered in his blood and they’d still ask if an alpha tried to get me to take the fall.”

I held her gaze, seeing the feral gleam in her eyes for what it was.

This woman was full of hatred and she was going to deliver retribution no matter what it took. Helen Tinley was going to kill every single person in the Valor pack for Gideon’s betrayal and I honestly couldn’t blame her.

But I wasn’t going to let her kill me or my alphas either.

“I knew it was you because I’m a better hacker than you are.” I shifted my weight slightly so my fingers slid inside my boot, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible.

Her eyes were as bright as the moon and I could tell she was angry because her pheromones were starting to burn through the scent blockers. “What gave me away?”

“You didn’t hide your trail well enough. I found missing data on the Valor servers. Someone was sending out data packets externally to a source I couldn’t trace, and then deleting any proof. I couldn’t see what you were sending, just that you deleted it.” I shrugged a shoulder and wrapped my fingers around the hilt of my knife. “I had no idea you were having an affair with Gideon until I found his burner.”

She cursed and looked away. Helen didn’t say anything at first and then she stood so quickly I flinched.

I waited for her to turn toward the two alphas before slipping my knife out of my boot. I hid it in my palm, glad it was so small, but I had to cut through the rope around my chest first. That would free me and Melinda.

Then I’d only have a split-second before they realized what I was doing.

Could I do this with my wrists tied together?

“You.” Helen whirled back around and pointed at me, making my heart pound as I stared up at her, wondering if she’d caught on. “You were the one who figured out he was going to Buttercuppa Coffee, weren’t you?”

“Uh…” It was such a random question, I didn’t really know how to respond. “Not exactly. Gideon turned his main phone off sometimes and so I had my interns watch all the traffic footage to figure out where he was going and why he didn’t want anyone to track his location.”

She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. “I can’t believe I was willing to give it all up for someone so stupid. Did you know he promised to run away with me?”

“Yeah.” Maybe I could get her to confess, even if I wasn’t Frankie. “But then Melinda told him she was pregnant.”

Helen crossed her arms over her chest and suddenly the dark space felt a thousand times colder. I could feel her pheromones slowly filling the room and all I could smell was spearmint. It was thick and burned the back of my throat, but it wasn’t enough to make me sick.

“You’re going to die here,” she warned me.

“I figured.” If she wasn’t going to leave the room, I had to cut the rope and attack. I wouldn’t have the time to cut my wrists free first.

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