Page 2 of Bound to the Guard

The Alpha who purchased me loved scars, but all the drugs pumped into my system messed with my pheromones. When my Heat came, the Alpha couldn’t come near me and sent me back to be sold again.

“What are we all here for, then?” Jade presses.

“This place is for private sales.” The concrete floor under my cage holds the stains of countless Omegas before me. “For customers with specific requests, or for those like me who have become useless. They find other ways to recoup their money.”

Half-expecting fear as Jade realizes his situation, I risk a look, only to discover a furious scowl on his bruised face. “Those bastards. They’re not going to get away with this. We won’t let them.”

For a moment, I’m taken aback by the sheer conviction in his words.

They only take Omegas who are expendable, who already live on the street, or who come from poor neighborhoods where no one will search for them long. Why is he so sure he can stop what’s coming for any of us?

“What’s your name?” Jade asks again.

“07825.” I show him my wrist with the barcode tattooed on my skin by my first owner. “But you can call me Seven.”

He wraps his hands around his bars, revealing bloodied knuckles and broken nails. “No, what’s your real name?”

A violent shudder goes through me, and I hide behind my drawn-up knees. I locked that time of my life away so deeply that I split myself into two people. The one before, free with people who cared about him, and the one now, an item number soon to be retired. It’s the only way I can stay sane.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” Jade whispers. “Will you please look at me again?”

Reluctantly, I raise my head.

Jade reaches into his tattered shirt, his fingers trembling as he pulls out a folded piece of paper. He smooths it out on the cold metal floor, revealing a map of the compound drawn on a takeout menu in a mixture of dirt and blood.

“I’ve been watching them, memorizing the layout, the guard rotations. There’s a weak spot in the perimeter here.” He taps a spot on the map, his nail leaving a small indent in the paper.

My heart races as I study the map, trying to make sense of the lines and scribbles. It’s a glimpse of a world beyond this cage, a tantalizing promise of freedom.

Even as the hope swells within me, though, tendrils of fear and doubt creep in, wrapping around my chest like chains. “How did you get this?”

“I’ve been here for about five days.” He tongues at the split in his lip. “They wanted information from me, so I’ve been all around the compound. I have training in this kind of thing, how to be observant, how to focus through pain. There’s a way out of here.”

Fear slices through me. “They’ll find you. They find everyone who runs.”

“Because there’s a tracker.” He fingers his bicep. “You haven’t felt it?”

Of course, I’ve felt the hard bump under my skin. It’s impossible to miss with how thin I am. But it’s embedded within my flesh, and no amount of scratching has broken far enough through to dig it out.

Jade must see my acknowledgment, because he leans closer. “You’ll have to cut it out.”

I startle backward. “What? Why?”

“Because you’re getting out of here, Seven.”

The defiance radiating from him demands that I believe, demands that I follow him in this foolish escape mission.

“I… I don’t know if I can do that.” My stomach sours with fear. “What if we’re caught? What if they…”

My throat closes before I finish the thought, unable to give voice to the horrors that haunt my dreams. Slaves who try to run are made examples of, but is such a death worse than the one already destined for me?

Jade tries to reach through the bars, but he’s still too healthy to fit more than his forearm through, his fingers just brushing my cage. “You can do this, Seven. You’re stronger than you know.”

“I’m not strong.” Shame burns within me. “I’m broken, useless. I’ll only slow you down.”

“Bullshit,” he spits. “You’re here, you’re alive. You’re a survivor, despite everything you’ve been through. That takes strength, Seven. More than most people have.”

How can he praise me for something I’ve never once chosen for myself? Survival was just something thrust on me by my owners, by my jailors. Here, no option exists but to plod forward until the end.

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