Page 89 of The Omega's Bloodline: Part One

My muscles ached. My tongue was thick in my mouth and I felt sucked dry.

“Seth?”

Answering questions was too much to ask of me right now. I pressed my face into her skin and closed my eyes again.

Logan’s jasmine and moss scent infused every breath. I burrowed my nose against her stomach and tried to stay afloat. Everything was so much effort. Why was breathing so hard? Her hand never stopped moving over my fur and I focused on her, on the steadying touch, the warmth of her body.

The car stopped at some point and several hands dragged me out. I let my head hang, unable to lift it or open my eyes to see what was happening. They dropped me down again onto something soft and Logan wrapped herself around me.

A hand touched my face.Seth.

Hmm?Using my telepathy made me dizzy, but I couldn’t talk in this form without it.

You have to stay. For Logan. For me. You can’t leave us.

I opened heavy eyelids and saw a vaguely Caden-shaped blur.I’m trying.

Logan’s hold on me tightened and the heat of her skin felt like the blast of an oven. I was too weak to move or protest as the intensity grew. It felt like my bones were charring, my blood boiling, and I fought, squirming out of her grip, staggering and falling down with awhump.

Stay with me.Stay. Stay. Stay.

My vision cleared enough to see her face.

“That’s the most you’ve moved in hours.”

My muscles twitched as the heat dissipated. They vibrated with her power, and while I wasn’t eager to test their strength again, it was nice to not feel entirely like a pile of overcooked noodles.

I glanced around the room, not recognizing anything.Where?

“A nest,” said Logan. “They’re giving us time to get cleaned up before we’re presented to the Protectors. Apparently they usually take people in immediately, but we were naked and you were unconscious.”

How the fuck was I going to be presented? I could barely stand, let alone walk. Someone knocked on the door, but I didn’t have the energy to see who it might be.

Caden got up and returned with a rolling cart. “We have food, toiletries, and some clothes.”

The smell of raw meat made my mouth water. Caden passed over a bowl and Logan hand fed me hunks of beef. Chewing tired me out, but I ate as much as I could without my stomach threatening to bring it all back up. They let me sleep again and when I was woken by another knock, both Logan and Caden were showered and dressed.

The last thing I wanted was to be hauled before the Protectors. My last experience with a nest had been at one in Orlando where the power-hungry Protectors had run a fighting ring, broadcasting “exotic” animal fights. I’d gotten really fucking good at hiding to avoid it whenever I could, but I couldn’t hide forever. Staying meant that they owned me, and they hadn’t taken kindly to my lack ofcontribution. I’d spent two months in the infirmary after that fight and left as soon as I was strong enough to do so.

I couldn’t go back to that again.

I didn’t even want to think about what they might want out of Logan. The Protectors would be able to tell she was an omeganow that her magic had been unlocked. She’d be a novelty and I’d never encountered a Protector who didn’t want to play with something new and shiny. I wasn’t strong enough to protect her. Caden would probably get himself put in chains if he tried to fight them.

“They’re ready for you,” said a voice at the door. “Come with me.”

“Did you see them?” I stroked a hand over Haru’s mottled gray fur, scratching behind their ears.

Gold eyes looked back at me.Two panthers and an omega witch. I remember one of them.

“Oh?”

He was in Orlando.

Tension shot up my spine. “If he’s the one who ripped your throat out, I’ll have him dead before nightfall.”

Not him. He was treated as badly as I was, and we were…close. I’d like to keep him. They’re all exactly as I dreamed.

I mused, twirling patterns in Haru’s fur to focus. My wolf had always had a touch of prophecy, though it didn’t show up all that often. I hadn’t a clue why these new arrivals were important, but Haru had been insistent that they were coming. I’d felt them the moment they came through the wards of the nest and sent Haru to investigate. They were in the temporary suite at the moment to prepare for being presented to the Protectors.

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