Page 27 of Ryder

“Sloane?”

She staggered from the couch, heading back into her bedroom.

I followed her into her room…and found she’d emptied her wardrobe and the clothes were scattered all over the floor.A great mountain of them had been piled up in the bed, and she crawled into it, moaning piteously.

Suppressants, she needed some freaking suppressants.I went back to my cell, vision coming through a tunnel.Somehow, I found the number for the Dawn Agency, and they answered on the first ring.I didn’t remember what they said.My mind wasn’t processing any of this.I’d been with an alpha too, only I couldn’t think about that while Sloane was in so much pain.

I paced, occasionally checking on Sloane, who had buried herself in the nest.When the people from the agency arrived, all I cared about was helping her with the pain.

“Sloane?Oh shit?—!”

“Just leave it to us, ma’am.You said she was with an alpha last night?”

“Ah…yeah, but what does that?—”

“No way he’d leave a tasty little morsel like this alone.He’s rutted her, sent her into a frenzy.She’s one step away from her heat.”

“Yes, that.She said she needed suppressants, like right now.”

“We’ll need to get her down to the center.At her age, fucking around with an alpha so soon after discovering her true nature… It complicates things.”

“What?But I thought?—”

“Please, let us do our job.You’ll be able to come and see your sister once we’ve got her settled and sedated.Damn omegas!When they get fixated on something, they can be a bloody nightmare to deal with.”

I felt like I’d been slapped.The way he was talking about Sloane like she was a fucking animal… The malaise I’d first felt when Sloane returned ramped up to a roar.

“Jace…” Her whisper captured all our attention, and she started to thrash.

“Jesus fucking Christ, the little bitch has gone deep!Shoot her up with something to calm her the fuck down!”

“No!”

I screamed, Sloane screamed, and the sense of malaise rose to a fever pitch.Someone had a needle.I made to dart for the bed, only to be cut off when the burly beta guard the orderlies had brought with them threw his arm out to cut me off.“What the hell did you do?I asked for suppressants!”

“You don’t get to make the choices now.She’s an omega.She belongs in the Dawn Agency until a suitable alpha can be found for her.”

“You’re banishing her to an alpha zone?Who the hell do you think you are?She’s not going to live in some slum, popping out alpha babies!Sloane is independently wealthy.”The strip might be nice, but the rest…the rest I sensed was considerably worse.The thought of Sloane being tossed in there, or whatever they were going to do, made me break out in a cold sweat.She already had an alpha.Well, she’d picked one, and from what I could discern from her tight lips and heated cheeks, it had all gone well.Maybe too well!

“Not any more, she’s not.The assets of omegas are seized by the state until a family member is approved to transfer them to.You’ll need to put in an application with the Office of Omega Affairs.”

“I don’t want her ‘assets,’ I want my sister!Where the hell are you taking her?Sloane?Sloane!”

But it was too late.They lifted her limp body up and carried her off, while the beta guard took me by the arm and frog-marched me out.“What the hell!”I snatched up my cell from the coffee table and snagged my sneakers from beside the front door.I was still in my sleeping clothes, for goodness’ sake!Where were they taking Sloane?Where were they taking me?

As I stood in the hall, the guard pulled out a roll of bright orange tape with Dawn Agency splattered all over it and taped up the door.“You have somewhere to go?If not, you’ll be given state housing until the case comes to court.”

My whole body trembled with suppressed rage.“I want to go with my sister.I’ll sleep on the floor in her room if I have to.I go where she goes.”

“Not an option.”The guard’s face smoothed out.“State housing or make a call to a friend or family.Choice is yours.”

“I’ll call someone,” I said.“H-How will I find out about Sloane?When can I see her?”

“The agency will be in contact.”

As he walked away, the adrenaline crashed and I sank to the floor outside our taped off apartment.Somehow, I got a call through to Jude, although I could barely get the words out.“Sloane…omega…agency took her.Please come.”

His voice on the other end of the line telling me he was on his way was the only thing keeping me together.I existed in a vacuum, while the rest of the world was outside.I made my way downstairs in a daze.It was cold, but I didn’t care.It helped to shock me back to life.

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