Page 194 of Captive Omega

I spend an inordinate time soaking in the bath and snacking on cut up fruit. My fingers are pruney, and my muscles so relaxed I’m not sure if my legs will support me when I get out, when a soft rap on the door makes my eyes snap open.

“Resa?”

Sadie?

“Was I supposed to be having a checkup I forgot about?” I call out.

“No,” she says. “Garrison asked me to stop by and I’m a little early.”

So what is she doing up here with me if Garrison wanted to see her?

“Uh, give me a minute.” I stuff another strawberry in my mouth before I move to get out of a bath I’m not sure I want to leave yet.

“No need to rush. I can wait.”

She’s piqued my interest, so there’s no relaxing now.

I get out, quickly dry myself and slip into a bathrobe I find hanging behind the door.

Sadie is at the window, peering out, when I close the bathroom door behind me.

Her bag is next to the bed, and I get a bad feeling this visit isn’t a casual one. “Is something wrong?”

Sadie turns at the sound of my voice, and her expression is relaxed. Nothing to suggest she’s here to deliver bad news. “No, I don’t think anything is. You look rested.”

“I was soaking in the bath.”

“An excellent way to relax. And nothing is wrong.”

I study her for a beat. “It feels like a but is coming.”

“Only a small one.” She crosses her arms over her chest and leans back against the window. “My father got the results back from the dart someone shot at you.”

I had no intention of sitting down, but I’m across the room and perching on the edge of the bed in seconds, needing to be off my feet. Just in case.

“How much of what happened before your heat do you remember?” she asks.

“Not much.” I was talking with Vaughn beside my nest. Then I thought a wasp stung me, which is when things are less clear. “Garrison…” My voice trails off as more memories trickle into my mind.

Us in this room. Him sitting on the edge of the bed, staring straight ahead as I cowered in the room’s corner, terrified he would push me into something I didn’t want. “He asked me if I wanted to go to a heat clinic.”

Her eyes dart to the unmade bed I’m perched on. “You didn’t want that.”

A strange realization hits me between the eyes. “I told him I would rather die. I didn’t trust them.”

I still don’t. Maybe I would have gone to Ever Safe if that had been an option. After I saw the love in Pack Ashe’s eyes as they looked at Everleigh, I struggle to believe they would hurt an omega.

But you trusted Garrison.

“Resa?”

I blink, returning myself to the present. “Uh. I feel okay, though. Was the drug dangerous?”

“The drug wasn’t like anything my dad had ever seen before. He’s asked some of his friends about it and sent a sample to the Council. Someone has manufactured a drug that can trigger heat in a pregnant omega. That is disturbing in so many ways. They need to be stopped.”

“What will happen now?”

Sadie crosses over to me. “The Council will investigate where it came from, so it’s out of our hands. But I would like to give you a quick check up if I can.”

---