Page 1 of Merciless & Mated

CHAPTER 1

GIANNA

Dust and wet concrete were the only things I could smell besides the stink of my own body after being trapped in this cage for three days. The other women with me were in shock, barely acknowledging me, let alone providing me with any useful information.

I was so fucking hungry and getting dangerously thirsty. They’d given me a water bottle the first day, and like a fool I had consumed the entire thing, assuming they would give us more. They hadn’t.

Stupid fuckers.

If they had come for me when I was awake, I might’ve had a chance, but they had broken in while I was asleep. I guessed that taught me to not sleep with the window open for a breeze. I hadn’t expected anyone to be quite that ballsy. My family were under Gallo—the mafia family that controlled the south side of the city where we lived—rule, but typically that also came with protection even if we weren’t especially powerful. Unfortunately, Bianca Gallo, by reputation, didn’t care if traffickers worked her portion of the city to scrape merchandise. I never thought I’d be one of the ones taken.

I tried to stretch my stiff muscles, to keep moving without drawing too much attention to myself. Our abductors passed by the cages a few times a day, leaving one on watch at all times. None of them really talked near us, but I’d caught bits and pieces over the last three days. They were going for one more omega, and then tomorrow we were to be shipped out.

Part of me wished I had agreed to my father’s paranoid suggestion years ago of getting a little tracker implanted under my skin. He wasn’t so paranoid now, I supposed.

I played over the day I was taken in my head for the thousandth time already. I had worked my day shift at my father’s restaurant before heading to my late shift at the bar, feeling like I was being watched the entire time, not that it was anything new. Being a woman and an omega in a bar that served a lot of the underbelly of the world meant I got plenty of unwanted attention. When I’d gotten home for the day, I had felt safe, if not happy to be there.

Our territory was strategic, near one of the many bridges, the only boundary before enemy territory began, which meant it wasn’t the safest place to be. Was that why I’d been taken? I could only assume I was a deliberate target since they’d broken into my home, but there had certainly been cases of wrong addresses given for abductions before.

My father would, in all likelihood, fall apart with me gone. How worried was he? Was he trying to find me? I wasn’t even sure if we were still in the same city. The drive to the warehouse had been conducted with a bag over my head and in the dark anyway so I couldn’t see where we were.

The cold of the concrete sank through my jeans and tank top. Thank god I hadn’t been naked when they’d taken me. I’d been so fucking exhausted I haven’t even bothered to change when I’d gotten home. Passing out in my day clothes usually meant I felt gross by morning, but I hadn’t been able to summon the energy to do anything else but collapse face-first onto my blankets.

Despite my thirst, hunger, and growing discomfort, I had to keep my wits about me. I had to give myself every opportunity to get out of this. They were most likely to trip up when they transferred us from the cage to the transport vehicle. Being ready might be the only way I’d get out of this alive. I wasn’t sure where they intended to take us, or who we were going to be given to, but whoever was involved deserved to rot at the bottom of a ravine.

I stared at the bars above me and the distant ceiling of the warehouse beyond that. My father had been after me to settle down, to find a powerful alpha who could protect me better than he could. I had scoffed at the idea at the time, but now it didn’t seem quite so stupid. It was a little late to wish for. One wasn’t going to materialize out of thin air and save my ass.

I jolted when the crackly sound of plastic rebounded in my ear. A half-crushed plastic bottle of water sat on the concrete next to me. Weighing my options against whether it might be drugged, I decided to take my chances. My parched throat sang an aria of thanks as I chugged down the bottle. I had to keep reminding myself that survival documentaries always said not to ration your water. People had been found dead of dehydration with water in their possession. I sipped the second half of my supply more slowly. The other two omegas in the cage with me stared at those bottles like they were going to come to life and beat them. Maybe they knew something I didn’t, but it was too late now.

A man I didn’t recognize stopped in front of my cage—an alpha who smelled vaguely of gasoline. He smiled at me, showing off a gold tooth. “Not having fun, peaches?”

I flipped him the bird.

“Well, that’s not very nice. Don’t you want to thank me for your beautiful accommodations?”

I hadn’t quite expected my abductor to show up. I’d thought they usually left things alone after they did the first transfer, but what the hell did I know about the operations of a trafficking ring?

“Fuck off, bootlicker.”

He growled and rattled the chain-link. I was already turning my head to ignore him. “If the buyer didn’t want you untouched, I’d make you pay for your smartass mouth.”

I tucked that piece of information away. It made sense that was a stipulation, considering none of them had come inside our cages since we’d arrived. “You’ll only make use of my smart mouth if you want your dick bitten off. Fuck off and let me sleep.”

His sharp gasoline scent invaded my nose, and I turned just to make sure it was still him and that he wasn’t pouring actual gasoline in. I had no interest in being burned alive. Luckily, it was just him throwing a hissy fit and his scent reflected that. “You know, I’m a little sad I won’t be around to see you break. Mouth off like that where you’re going, and you’ll be lucky if you have any teeth left to make those threats with.”

I went back to ignoring him, taking slow deep breaths in the hopes that my scent didn’t betray my fear. I could put my money where my mouth was and fight when I needed to, but I wasn’t excited to be forced to. I knew I would have no choice in order to get out of this. Whoever this guy was didn’t really matter. His job was done as soon as we were delivered to the warehouse. In all likelihood he was simply here to gloat over us.

It was a shame the other ladies seemed to have had their fire quenched. Maybe they had never had any to begin with. I’d tried to talk to them when I’d been thrown in here, but whatever had happened to them in the time before my arrival had been enough to quell them into silence.

I didn’t intend to go quietly.

“I’m sure you have so much pride for kidnapping a sleeping woman out of her bedroom. You worked so hard, sweet baby. Did your boss give you a sticker? Pat you on the head and tell you what a good boy you were?”

His growl was satisfying, even if it did turn my blood to ice. He was a predator, but he had been ordered not to touch me, and the wall of metal between us let me be a little braver than I might have been otherwise.

“Does that mean there were no cookies for the widdle baby? I bet you don’t like that.”

“Shut your whore mouth, you stupid cunt.”

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