Page 17 of Sidone

Relief floods me. He’s alive.

“Put the gun down, or I’ll kill you both,” comes from farther down. This is Mr. VP talking.

“Get out of here,” Kade says.

“Do it, boy. If I can’t have her, nobody can.”

Shoot the fucker.Mr. VP has been at the top of my kill list for years. It pains me to have to give up my kill to someone, but he’s my Omega, and Icanshare a kill with him. Now that the VP is here, I’d love to see him on a pole dying a very slow death while I lounge underneath him, drinking a Bloody Mary.

Projectiles fly. People outside start screaming.

Something hard thumps the floor.

Has he hit my Omega? My body convulses, all my muscles spasm, my teeth chatter, and I shake uncontrollably. I think I’m having a seizure.

“What’s wrong with you?” my Omega asks.

“Transition,” VP shouts.

“What the fuck is transition?”

“She sheds her armor.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Because she bonded an Omega.”

Bastard. He’s gonna manipulate my Omega into doing his bidding. Mr. VP has fooled even the president, and the guy paid for it with his life. The president wanted to respond to my king and seemed curious about aliens. Mr. VP couldn’t let me go. He became obsessed, stopped going home to his wife and kids, and slept across from my cell more often than he did at home. He enjoyed breaking me. That's how he knows about our dynamics, transitions, and things I'm ashamed I told him.

“Is that true?” my Omega whispers, though I can’t answer him. Jaw locked tight, I fight the pain.

“She needs medical attention, or she’ll die,” VP says.

“No,” I mumble.

“Jesus.”

I picture my Omega running his hands through his hair.

“I’m coming out. Don’t shoot,” VP says. “I can help her.”

“Shoot him,” I groan.

“What?” Kade grabs my hand. I stop shaking. Just like that. The convulsions cease. The pain stays, but that I can handle.

“Shoot him,” I repeat and pray he understands my slurred speech.

Footsteps sound, and Kade fires.

VP screams, and I know he’s been shot. The gunshots that follow almost deafen my sensitive ears, and Kade lets go of my hand. Again, I panic and shake. Across my belly, pain slices so hard, it’s as if someone’s gutted me. I wonder if they have. My back arches, and I swear my spine snaps.

The door closes, and silence blankets the room.

Kade’s breathing tells me he’s alive. I try to lift my eyelids and succeed.

Kade has tucked me away behind the bed, far away from the door, and he’s dragging furniture, stacking it to block the entry point. Bullets fly past his head. He ducks and curses, replaces his gun magazine, then glances at me and does a double take.

I swallow, then clear my throat. “I’m that hot, am I?”

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