Page 18 of Captive Omega

He walks over to his car and opens the passenger door, leaning in to grab something from the center console. I try not to notice his ass, but the guy is hanging out of his car right in front of me.

He slides back out and hands me a business card I can barely read.

I squint. “Lucas Security?”

It looks official, but anyone can make a business card these days. All you need is card stock, a printer, and an idea for a logo. Any fool could do it. As I focus on Vaughn Potter, I don’t think he’s any fool.

I chew on my lip as I consider my options.

I’ve never heard of Lucas Security, but just because I haven’t doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I need to be off the street. What better place to hide out than with a guy who won’t hesitate to blow Nathaniel Lang’s security staff away?

Not a hint of stress makes it to his handsome face as police sirens scream our way. He just waits for me to decide if I trust him, or I don’t. It’s what finally motivates me into the car. This man just killed two others to save me. If the cops find him, he’ll spend the rest of his life rotting in a cell and that’s a fate only alphas deserve.

I pass the card back and hobble over to the passenger seat. Vaughn steps aside, holding the door as he waits for me to slide in. He slams the door shut with a flourish, reminding me of his earlier promise that my chariot awaits.

A dark green Jeep driven by a guy who pretended to be drunk.

Some chariot, I mentally snort.

I buckle my seatbelt as he rounds the car and climbs into the driver’s seat.

He starts the engine and pulls out, snapping his seatbelt with one hand as he pauses at the mouth of the parking lot. “You didn’t tell me your name.”

He turns left, away from the alley. Out of the corner of my eye, neon lights flash rapidly.

Recalling Vaughn’s earlier warning, I don’t look that way. The last thing I need is to make eye contact with a cop, so I focus on the beta pulling into the road. “I appreciate you stepping in to help me, but?—”

“You’re looking to get out at the first opportunity?” he interrupts.

I nod.

He drives for the next minute in silence. It’s late, the roads are mostly empty, so the only thing that stops us is a red light as we leave downtown behind us.

His cell phone vibrates. He fishes it out of his center console, taps out a quick text, and tosses it back before he looks at me. “You don’t have to tell me anything, or even your name.”

“I sense a but coming,” I guess.

His lip quirks in a smile as he darts a rapid glance my way. “Right now, the safest place in the city is with my pack.”

“And your pack has an alpha?” I know they do.

Alphas make a pack and only an alpha leads it. Some have one or two. Others more, but one is always more dominant than the rest. The true leader. I don’t smell alpha pheromones on Vaughn, so he and his alpha must not be lovers.

If they are lovers or not lovers, if they like each other or only barely tolerate each other means nothing to me. Alphas hold the same appeal as a soak in a pool filled with piranhas, and if I had a choice, I’d take the flesh-eating fish any day of the week.

The lights change. Vaughn doesn’t seem to notice.

“Garrison is the boss. Blaine is…” His easy going expression turns inscrutable. “Blaine is Blaine. You’ll be safe.”

I look out the window as sarcasm makes my words sharper than I intend. “What omega wouldn’t be safe with an alpha?”

I’m expecting an old, beige colored office building tucked down one of the city’s side streets.

In my mind, someone who works security wears coffee-stained shirts, an open shirt with no tie, and is bleary-eyed from surveilling cheating husbands and wives. It’s an oddly specific view that makes me wonder if I haven’t watched too much daytime TV.

Vaughn tears through the dark city, winding his way through them to leafy streets where mansions tower behind tall iron gates. Lucas Security, it seems, has done well for themselves. And clearly, there must be more to private security than I thought.

“Just how rich is your pack?” I ask as he pulls to a stop at a black iron gate that doesn’t give me even a peep of the mansion it protects.

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