Page 12 of Alpha's Second Chance

On my elbows, I made it five feet before my body went slack. I lifted my head just as Eve shoved the door open and slammed it behind her.

“Eve,” I stammered. “Get back inside.” My voice cracked. I wasn’t loud enough to warn her, but she spotted me on the ground.

She rushed forward, kneeling on the pavement beside me.

“Get away. Drive,” I said. I tried to push her away, but my arms were useless.

“I am not going to leave you here to die.” She grabbed me under the arms and started tugging. “I’m getting you back inside.”

“I won’t die.” I managed to dig my fingers into her wrist. “Eve. Go now.”

She didn’t go. She kept hauling me backward, not aware of her surroundings. We made it about another five feet before the shifters showed themselves.

They crept out from the motel door next to ours. Within seconds, they were on us. One aimed a gun at my head. Another pointed a gun at Eve. “In the van... get moving,” the one pointing the gun at me said.

The other one poked his finger in Eve’s face. “Don’t get any ideas. We dosed him with triple the amount needed. He’s not going anywhere.”

She hesitated. I knew she was weighing her options.

The goon pressed the gun into my skull as he spoke to her. “Omega. I said get in the van. I’m planning to leave him alive as long as you cooperate.”

I could imagine Eve’s eyes glaring at the one that called her omega. For once, she didn’t mouth off to him. She slowly lowered me back to the ground. She squeezed my shoulder once and stood.

Two of the goons tried to pick me up. I caught a faint whiff of bear on them. So they must be shifters after all. But they were still weak-ass losers if they couldn’t pick me up together. I chuckled a half-laugh when the third one had to help. They stumbled around, and finally managed to drag me into the back of a passenger van.

To my relief, Eve was in the same van. We bumped back onto the highway. I fought the tranq as long as I could, but darkness descended, and my eyes fell shut.

Eve

“Where are you taking us?” My voice was steady, but my pulse wasn’t. Mostly, I was grateful they’d dumped Owen in the back with us. Seeing the gun pressed against his head had shattered my illusion that I had any control over this situation.

I wanted to scream, cry, punch everyone in that car. But I didn’t want them taking my reactions out on Owen.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about, omega,” the bigger guy said.

I bit down on the inside of my lip. My blood pressure spiked.

Do not engage, do not engage. Owen is in the back. They could kill him. His life is worth more than your feelings.

In my career, I’d had many men try to belittle me. Some were colleagues. Some were defendants sitting in a jail cell. I’d always had options on how to respond. Today, I had very few options.

I focused on the facts. There were three shifter males in the car. Their scents were subtle, as if they’d taken a large dose of suppressants one time, but not consistently. That had likely been to evade Owen’s notice. Number one, the largest, was driving. Number two, the smallest, was sitting next to me. He had a gun. And number three, in the passenger’s seat, was silent. He also had a gun.

“Why is your boss interested in me?” I had to ask.

The driver chimed in with an answer. “He doesn’t like an omega rising above her station, never mind trying to put him in the slammer.”

Above my station? Were we in 1820 and I didn’t notice?

“Surely he wasn’t angry that I was doing my job.”

“Only a little. He likes omegas. They’re hard to find, these days. He collects them. Wants you as part of his pretty little crew.”

My blood ran cold. This was far worse than I’d anticipated. I’d imagined Bull wanted to eliminate me because of my relentless pursuit of ending organized crime in Denver. Prosecutors were targeted from time to time. But if he wanted me because I was an omega…

“Kinda big for an omega aren’t you?” That comment came from the smaller one. I assumed he was jealous. I was bigger than many human men, but it was very rare for me to be larger than a shifter male. It must be giving this one a complex.

“Kinda small for a shifter aren’t you?” I said back without thinking. Shit. It had just slipped out.

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