Page 16 of Omega Alliance

I lift the bowl in his direction. “This is enough.” That big lunch I had today feels like it happened ages ago. So much has happened since then. So much is going to keep happening as long as I stay free.

Kieran smiles and moves to dish out a helping for himself. “Okay, I’ll join you then.”

I take my food slowly, since I have no idea what will happen once we’ve finished this meal. There is no schedule now, a fact which should excite me but sends terror straight through my heart.

I don’t know what happens next. Is that what freedom means? And will I ever be strong enough to truly enjoy it?

DANI

Jax, Levi, and I take a car to reach the rally point, and it feels like the drive takes forever. We already got a late start because of having to pack up our equipment, retrieve the nanotech dress, and safely extract Levi without alerting the Omega Alliance to the fact that he’d been wandering the complex’s halls.

It was a good thing he had the foresight to duck behind a corner the moment the power returned, affording us a brief show of Sin’s awesome assault on her attacker while remaining undiscovered himself.

Even still, he had to extricate himself carefully, which also meant slowly. One wrong step could send our entire rescue operation up in flames.

So I waited and waited as the need within me built to a painful peak. Sin was now out there, a part of the world, and likely scared out of her mind.

I needed to get to her, to soothe and care for her and make sure she knew everything would now be all right. As a beta, it’s not my job to protect. We have three alphas for that. But I’m the glue that holds them all together. I make sure everything runs smoothly. I do what needs to be done, and for the longest time,I also attempted to fill that omega-shaped hole in our pack—to nurture and nest and fulfill all my alphas’ carnal desires.

But now Sin is with us, and I pray that she chooses to stay. I know we can’t force her. I wouldn’t want to do that anyway, but if she chooses to leave us after all my years spent yearning for her, I don’t know that I could survive it. Don’t know that our pack could survive it.

Jax barrels down the narrowing forest road, cutting a path to our girl. When at last he parks just outside our chosen hideout, I tear out of the car and race up the creaky porch steps into the house.

I find Sin standing on one side of the kitchen while Kieran fills the other with his looming alpha presence. A pair of empty bowls sit on the countertop, whatever meal they’d shared now finished.

Sin lights up when she spots me, standing taller, shining brighter, and I run over to wrap her in a tight hug. Our first ever. Finally. After so long.

“I was so worried about you,” I cry, hugging and squeezing and holding. Now that I finally have her, I never want to let go. When at last I pull back to take in her expression, I find that Sin is crying.

“What’s the matter?” I coo softly, reaching my thumbs up to brush the tears from her reddened cheeks. “Is this oaf giving you a hard time?” I ask, shooting a hostile glare toward Kieran.

“No, no. He’s been perfect. You’re all so perfect,” she manages to squeak, and then, “I don’t belong here.”

Fear grips my throat and threatens to suffocate me. I open my mouth, but no sound comes out. What can I possibly say to convince her to stay?

“But Sin,” I whisper, holding her face in both of my hands to ensure she watches me as I tell her the three truest words in all of existence. “I love you.”

She sputters and takes a step back. “How can you love me, Dani? I’m not even a real person.” Sin laughs bitterly, and I hate that sound so much, hate that her captors have poisoned her in this way. She isn't even safe with herself, but she's safe with me. Can’t she see that? Can’t she feel it?

I pull away from her face and reach for her hands, lacing my fingers with hers. “You are very real. And you’re free now, but even back there, even back in that place… Sin, I could always see the real you peeking through. And that person is beautiful. That person is the one I love.”

She shakes her head. Another tear falls. “No, no. I’ll only disappoint you. They took me and broke me, and I don’t think there’s any way for me to become whole again.”

I shake my head too, holding her hands, wishing that words weren't required, that I could communicate everything that needs to be said simply though my touch. “I believe in you. Even if you’re having a hard time believing in yourself, I know who you are, what you could be once you find a way to recover from all the horrible things that have happened to you. But that’s just the thing, Sin, those things happenedto you.They weren’t your choice. From now on you get to decide.Youget to choose. And I’m hoping more than anything that you will choose me. Choose us.”

I step back to include the guys in my bold proclamation, but I keep my eyes focused solely on Sin, and I watch as she takes in the enormity of my love, my belief in her recovery. She’s still for a long time until at last her posture loosens and she says, “I don’t know what I want. I don’t even know who I am. But I’m willing to give you a chance to show me.”

I smile and hug her again. All I wanted was a chance, and now that I have it, I won’t let her down.

eight

SIN

My mind is whirling from the events of the day, and I can’t seem to settle on a single emotion or mood. From my high-octane escape to Dani’s tearful confession of love, I couldn’t take any more if I tried. So I beg off early for the night, satisfied to discover that my bedroom door locks.

I should trust Dani and the others.

They risked so much to help me be free, but the last time I trusted someone new I was taken prisoner for seven years by the Omega Alliance. Earlier today I pined for Dani, pictured her in the shower with me, wondered what it would be like to kiss her, but now that I have the opportunity to do all these things, my limbs are frozen with terror. Most of all because my body isn’t yearning for her the way it craves Kieran. I hate that so much.

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