Page 179 of Captive Omega

“Do you?—”

“I have the dart,” Vaughn cuts Sadie off, holding the towel wrapped dart.

“Lara, get that to my father. We need to know what it is.” Sadie bends over Resa, peels her eyelids back to check her pupils one by one as a nurse in black scrubs takes the white towel from Vaughn and sprints inside. “Her eyes are dilated. Let’s get her inside,” Sadie orders, straightening.

The doctor wheels Resa into the clinic, and I follow until something stops me. A small choked sound. I peer over my shoulder.

Blaine is backing away. “I can’t stay here, Garrison. Not when she’s…” Blaine’s voice breaks, and he shakes his head. “I can’t.”

“I know,” I assure him.

He rakes a shaking hand through his hair. “She needs me. And I can’t let her see.”

“Go. It’s okay. She’ll understand.”

His scars. That car crash. Every day, they find a new way to torment him.

I watch him climb back into the Audi and tear out of the parking lot. He’s had more than his fill of clinics and doctors coming to Resa’s appointments. Expecting more will break him.

I hurry inside the clinic with Vaughn, lingering in the hallway outside the room Sadie wheeled Resa into.

Thirty minutes later, Sadie pushes open the door.

Over her shoulder, I take in Resa, lying under pale blue sheets in a matching blue hospital gown. Resa’s scent is still thick, though it’s not as overpowering as it was before. It’s still stronger than it should be.

Vaughn and I step forward.

Sadie’s blank expression sets off every warning I have. “What is it?”

“She’s going into heat,” she says calmly.

Vaughn and I stare at her.

“She’s pregnant,” I say. Pregnant omegas do not go into heat. Heat is such an all-encompassing experience, putting so much pressure on an omega’s body, that it’s nature’s way of protecting an unborn child. Everyone knows this.

“Whatever drug someone shot at her triggered her heat,” Sadie says, troubled. “I didn’t know a drug could even do that. It almost doesn’t matter what it is because we don’t have time to reverse it. The effect on Resa’s body is unmistakable. This is heat.”

Then I remember.

Something similar happened to Everleigh. She told us that the members would trigger an omega’s heat before the auction.

I don’t know why someone shot Resa with that drug, especially when they weren’t shy about using bullets in the courthouse, but that isn’t important now. I’ll answer those questions later. Only one thing matters now.

“Can we stop it?” Vaughn asks.

“I’ve sedated her, but you can see how well that’s working,” Sadie says.

My gaze drifts over her shoulder. Resa’s olive skin is flushed and every few seconds she twitches under the sheets.

“There must be something else,” I say.

I promised Resa that she and the baby would be okay, and that means they have to be. I won’t settle for anything less than. They will be okay.

“Sedation is not working. That drug could have killed her, and I can’t risk giving her anything stronger while she’s pregnant. The longer this continues, the more it endangers the baby.”

Sedation isn’t working. There’s only one thing that can help an omega through heat.

An alpha’s knot. Or…

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