Page 9 of Omega Alliance

I swallow hard and shift to the other side of the hall, searching for the exit I need. My heart is thrumming in my chest. Why haven't they come for me yet? Can it really be this easy? I want to ask a million questions, but Dani and Jax told me to keep quiet, so I do.

After some brief fumbling, I find the door and thrust it open cautiously. I reach for the wall again, but can't find it, so I take a few tentative steps forward and stub my toe on something hard.

I hiss from the pain, an automatic reaction that I'm unable to stop.

"Careful, careful," Dani says along with a gentle shushing noise. "You're in a storage room. I'm not sure what all they keep in here, but one time when I needed more alcohol wipes for our session, they sent me inside. Be careful not to bump into anything, and stay as quiet as you possibly can.”

Quiet, quiet. Yeah, I knew that already. I also know that navigating the unfamiliar space in the dark will cost me precious time on my way to freedom.

I keep one hand outstretched like a search beam while my other trails along the side of the room, feeling out all the boxes and barrels as I go.

Soon, I come upon a storage tote hasn't been sealed properly, and I pause for a moment to rummage about inside. Nothing but stacks of paper; whether blank and unused or filled with valuable information, I can't say. Just as I'm about to give up my hunt, my fingers brush against something smooth and cold. A pen.

Before I can think much about it, I snatch the item in my hand and retreat, pulling it back into my sleeve for safe keeping. It's not what I was hoping for, but at least this pen something. Better to have it and not need it…

"Sin, you need to pick up the pace," Dani urges. "The lights and cameras could come back on at any moment, and when they do, we'll lose our advantage. The goal is to get you out before then."

Right. Focus.

I move faster, stubbing my toe again but biting back any expression of pain. This storage room seems to go on forever. I hadn't even realized my house was so large. Then again, Jax had referred to it as a complex. And it now seems I've only been living in a very small portion of it.

Finally, I make contact with the far wall and trail my hands up and down until I find the door.

I yank it open…

And gasp.

JAX

The sound of Sin's sudden sharp intake of breath sends my heart into overdrive. It's beating so loud in my ears that I can barely hear my own thoughts.

"Sin, Sin!" Dani cries out, pushing on buttons needlessly in her panic. "What just happened?"

But she receives no answer beyond the muffled sounds of a struggle happening on the other end.

I watch as her face crumples in on itself, as she turns to me and pleads, "Jax, we have to do something!"

Finally my brain reboots itself and immediately loads up an idea I can use. I switch channels on my headset with the flick of a button. It’s time to initiate Plan B.

"Levi, we've hit a snag," I tell my pack brother, watching as his tracking dot blinks on screen.

"What's going on?" he answers without hesitation.

"We don't know. We need you to go check it out.” I loop an arm over Dani’s shoulders to share my silent strength, my level-headed calm—even if both those things are only for show. “She's on the eastern edge of the storage room. I'll get you there. Start by moving right."

Levi has already been making his way toward Sin on her escape route, but the path is incredibly convoluted and filled with obstacles. He's had to lurk and slowly make his way toward the far end of the public complex in search of the one door that will lead to Sin.

He's still in there as a backup plan, and we need him now, but even if he runs, it will still take him minutes to reach her. Minutes I'm not sure we have.

Beside me, Dani is hysterical. "Sin, are you still with me?"

I raise an eyebrow, an unspoken question, but Dani just shakes her head.

No, we can’t lose like this. Not when we’re so close.

At first I wasn't sure about helping Sin. Our pack had always been enough just as it was—the three of us and Dani. And from the outside, it looked like Sin led a pretty cushy life. Sure, she didn't have her freedom, but she seemed to have everything else.

Dani's the one who changed my mind. She signed us up for the Omega Alliance and brought Sin's life into ours. I didn't want to watch something so mundane, so obviously meant to control us. But slowly, Dani won me over. She pointed out all the little ways you could spot her sadness.

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