Page 180 of Captive Omega

I look at Sadie. “If you bring her out of the sedation, will she be able to talk?”

“I can give her something to make her lucid. It would only be for a brief time before it wore off and heat overwhelmed her. Her body is under extreme stress right now.” Sadie’s expression is serious. “This is not good for her or for the baby.”

“I’ll talk to her, give her the options. Maybe…” My voice trails off as a doctor in a white coat stalks this way, distracting me. His steps are purposeful, and at first, I think he’s on his way to another room to see a patient.

Until I realize he’s laser-focused on Resa’s open door.

An alpha.

Resa’s scent drifts out of the hospital room, a potent lure to nearby alphas. I’m in control, because I’m fighting to stay that way. This is Resa, my scent match, and the woman I love. I will fight biology with everything I have for her.

This alpha isn’t fighting his urges. He’s driven by pure instincts screaming at him to knot the perfuming omega he can smell.

Sadie moves to block him as he arrows in on Resa’s door. “Ethan, you have to leave.”

He doesn’t slow down.

I stalk toward the prowling alpha that Sadie is failing to block with her body. “Vaughn, get the car ready. We’ll be leaving through the window, so have the engine running.”

Vaughn hesitates.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spot his hand hovering near his right pocket.

“You can’t shoot him. This is not a use deadly force situation.” Not in a clinic, and not yet. “Go!”

Vaughn sprints down the hallway as the doctor lunges toward Resa’s door, ignoring Sadie’s attempts to block him.

I nudge Sadie aside, grab the doctor’s shoulders and ram him head first into the nearest wall. Resa is my mate. No one is putting their hands on her.

He hits the wall with a grunt and collapses into a huddle, not moving again. He’s still breathing, but I wasn’t trying to kill him. Yet.

Farther down the hallway, nurses and doctors hover. I keep most of my attention fixed on the downed doctor as I bark. “Sadie, that drug you said can make Resa lucid. I need it now.”

The soles of Sadie’s sneakers squeak as she takes off at a sprint, yelling, “I’ll be a minute.”

I stand in Resa’s doorway, blocking it as I wait for the next person who dares threaten my scent match. I breathe in through my mouth and out of my nose as Resa’s scent grows stronger. But I fight those urges, battling back my need. My mate needs me to protect her, not maul her. And that’s exactly what I intend to do.

Sadie’s back in thirty seconds, and the doctor still hasn’t moved from the floor.

She presses a needle with its tip covered into my hand, and I carefully tuck it into my shirt pocket. “One dose. Very small. Do you remember how to?—”

“Give a shot? I do,” I interrupt as I walk into the room and ease Resa’s sheet off her.

“I’ll get the window.” Sadie is already at it, whipping the blinds away and shoving it open as far as it will go.

“How long will I have after I give her the shot?” I ask, scooping Resa into my arms. Her head flops against my chest. And her ripe, sweet peach scent… I tremble with the need to tear the clothes from her body, then my own, and fall on top of her. I ache with it.

“Maybe five minutes.”

It might not be enough time, but it might be just enough. Outside the room, the doctor groans, stirring.

Time to go.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Sadie asks.

No. But I hope I’m doing the right thing for Resa.

I throw my left leg out of the window then the right, careful not to hit Resa’s head as I climb out. The second I’m out, Sadie slams the window shut, gives me a small smile and draws the blinds shut. As I sprint toward the parking lot, I hope I’ve opened up enough space that the doctor and any other alpha in the building can no longer smell Resa.

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