Page 178 of Captive Omega

So instead of working, I was in the entryway, watching Resa and willing her to stay.

I’d tucked my phone away as Vaughn sauntered back into the house. And because I’d been watching her so intently, I’d caught the moment someone shot her.

I shout her name as metal glints from a tree far behind our garden hedge.

I’m still shouting as I sprint toward her, an order for her to get down. Resa blinks at me, beautiful brown eyes confused as she looks down at the smear of blood on her arm. Her legs fold under her.

But I’m right there, just in time, reaching out to catch her as she collapses.

I immediately spin her around, my back shielding her as I go to my knees. Vaughn and Blaine are right behind me. Both must have heard my shouting since they’re carrying. The sniper has gone, but that doesn’t mean Resa is out of danger.

Her face is flushed, cheeks pink, and sweat forms on her brow. She’s burning up. Whatever the sniper shot at her wasn’t a bullet. The wound on her arm is a puncture.

“Vaughn, get Sadie on the phone. Tell her to have a stretcher ready. We’ll be there in five minutes.” I check her pulse. Too fast. “Blaine, look for a dart. Sniper fired from over the south side hedge. We need to know what this was.”

A phone jumps into Vaughn’s hands as Blaine searches the grass. I stay on my knees beside Resa, shielding her body with mine.

“Got it,” Blaine says.

Using the bottom of his shirt, he retrieves a small silver dart from the ground. The end is wet.

Someone didn’t shoot a bullet at her. They shot drugs.

She’s in leggings and a tank top, and my gaze latches on the gentle curve of her belly. Terror grips me by the throat.

The baby.

“I’m moving her.” I slide my arm under her back and knees, lifting her slight weight off the grass and cradling her against me. “We need to find out what the fuck that drug was.”

Now. Before it can do any damage to Resa and the baby.

“I’ll cover you,” Vaughn says tightly, moving with me. He has his Beretta in both hands, raised to the south side hedge, with his finger hovering over the trigger.

I swear the sweet peach scent of Resa’s omega pheromones is growing stronger by the second. I thought it was in my head before, but now I’m not so sure. What the fuck did someone shoot her with?

“Let’s go.” I sprint up toward the house, shielding every part of Resa as I can, as Vaughn runs alongside us and Blaine covers the rear.

We make it to the house. Lex is waiting, phone in hand, and it sounds like he’s telling Frost what happened and that he needs to come back.

In my arms, Resa groans. Her skin is flushed, and she’s still burning up.

I stalk toward the front door.

As her scent grows stronger, I get harder. Resa smells like an omega in heat, which is impossible. No pregnant omega goes through heat.

Blaine retreats, his green eyes as hungry as mine must be. “I’ve got the dart,” he says, backing up.

Vaughn is starting the Hummer as I slide in the back with Resa cradled in my arms. Blaine appears with a white towel he must have grabbed from the bathroom that he passes to Vaughn. “Here. Sadie will want to test it.”

But he doesn’t get in the car. He slams my door shut and runs to the Audi as Lex watches from the front door.

“Let’s go,” I order.

Vaughn runs every single red light on our way to the clinic. The car squeals to a stop right outside the clinic’s front doors, where Sadie is already waiting with a team to meet us.

One doctor is wearing a white coat, but Resa is unconscious, so I don’t order him to take it off.

“Someone shot her with a dart,” I say, placing Resa tenderly on the stretcher.

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