Page 85 of The Beta: Part One

Chapter 30

Talia

I run as quickly as I can down the stairs to my room and dump out my bag to find the heat suppressants. If I'm going to sacrifice myself to keep Jasper safe, I'd rather do it without the threat of a heat spike as a distraction until I can lure them far enough away. I throw however many pills are left in the bottle into my mouth and choke them down as I race back up the stairs and out the door.

I know the rogues will be coming from the woods, it's the only thing that makes sense. I'm going to run toward the road and hope I can cut them off before they get too close to the house. I am surrounded by Jasper's sweet scent and I let it comfort me, taking in deep lung-fulls of it as I run between the trees and leap over stumps and brush.

The air in the woods is cool and sweet with the smell of decaying leaves and wood, and the ground is soft under my bare feet. I make it far enough into the woods that the sunlight dims on its way through the thick foliage before I've been spotted. I don't have to chance a look behind me, I can hear and feel that I'm being flanked by two, and they don't sound winded. I pick up my pace. I know these woods. I've run through them so many times, hopefully that will give me the edge to outrun them just a bit longer.

I hear a vicious, rage-filled roar sound through the woods. I know it's Kaleb, but he sounds so far away. Maybe he's closer than I think, I can't tell, my pulse is pounding too hard in my ears for me to hear properly. I run and run, but it starts to dawn on me that I'm no longer being chased. I'm being herded, like a rabbit by wolves, toward the road. I can see the break in the trees, the light filtering between the thinning trunks, and I can barely make out the sound of an engine.

Fine. They can herd me. They can take me. Better me than Jasper. By the time they realize I'm not the omega they thought they were chasing down Jasper will be locked up safe with his alphas. That is the entire point of me doing this.

If they kill me, fine. Better me than Jasper. The alphas will comfort him through his sadness. It's better for me to be taken than for them to take him, which was their obvious goal. Why else would they come the week before Jasper was supposed to go into heat? Someone has been feeding these rogues information about him, and I hope I get the opportunity to find out who and get word to Nathan.

I slow my run just enough to make it seem like I'm too exhausted to continue to give the rogues time to catch up to me. I wait until I hear their now lumbering breaths and heavy footsteps before I glance over my shoulder, making the appropriate terrified squeaking sound they expect an afraid omega on the run to make.

He grins at me, and the other one calls out, “We love a good chase, sweetheart, it's half the fun.”

I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Instead I whimper and make a show of trying to run faster. I throw myself to the ground, making it look like I've tripped in typical damsel in distress fashion.

By the time I'm on my feet again they've caught up, and I let myself be hauled up between the big assholes by my arms, making sure to kick and flail to show my reluctance to be taken.

“Where are those big, bad alphas of yours now, little girl?” one of them asks, chuckling at my wide-eyed, fearful expression.

“They're coming. They'll find me. Then you'll be sorry,” I push a tremble into my voice.

They both laugh outright, one sneering, “Is that so?” as he jerks me into his body and smells my neck. If he smells anything that might be off-putting he doesn't show it; as far as I can tell he is all but foaming at the mouth at the thought of rutting an omega in heat.

Then a van pulls to a stop on the shoulder of the road and I'm being marched to it like the prisoner I am.

“Her alphas are on the way, boys, so better hurry along,” the one on my right mocks.

I try to jerk away from him, and I let just a bit of genuine trepidation into the movement. Just because I'm willfully giving myself over in Jasper's place doesn't mean I'm not afraid. I'd be an idiot to claim that I wasn't terrified. I know what I'm turning myself over to. I know what's going to happen to me. And I know that I likely won't survive it.

Better me than Jasper. I can let this happen to me so that Jasper won't have to suffer it. I made sure to run past every trail cam Nathan planted so he will have definite visual confirmation of these fuckers. That is what will keep this from happening to Jasper.

I'm shoved roughly into the back of the van and the rogue waiting to catch me smells like stale cigarettes and garlic. It makes me gag, and he thinks that's funny. His hair is dark, hanging to his shoulders, and he is thick in a way that tells me probably makes his living fighting. He quickly shoves a foul rag into my mouth and nearly down my throat and secures my wrists with a zip-tie before yanking my legs apart. He shoves his meaty hand up the leg of Jasper's shorts to paw at my sex, grunting at whatever he finds.

He brings his fingers to his nose and draws in a deep breath, smiling at his disgusting friends, “Do we have to wait till we get her back to the compound? We could fuck her right here, right now.”

All but the driver make sounds of agreement.

The driver says, “No, we're supposed to take her back so the boss can record it. He wants Devon and those other little shits to suffer before they die.”

Thank goodness for small mercies, I guess, because I don't actually want to be raped to death in the back of a van. But Jasper could possibly see whatever video I might end up starring in. I need whatever’s going to happen to me to happen without Jasper seeing it and being even more traumatized.

“No! Now, can't you fuck me now? I'm going into heat! Can't you smell it? I need to be knotted!” I try to make myself sound needy when all I feel is disgust.

They all laugh, one of them saying, “So much for those alphas, huh, baby?”

I don't care. Let them laugh. I start undulating on the floorboard, trying to mimic the way I've seen omegas move when their heat is upon them and they're seeking relief.

“Fuck this. I'm fucking her. She needs it, don't you, pretty?” the fighter purrs into my ear, and my whimper is real, but it doesn't come from pleasure.

Disgust and sorrow and useless anger that I can't show makes me flinch away from him before I can stop myself. “Don't be like that, sweetheart, I'm going to make you scream.”

Of that, I have no doubt. I already want to scream. One of the rogues who was chasing me sidles up beside me and grabs my breast, harshly squeezing it until I cry out in pain. “Go on then, Greg. Fuck her. Then I'll have a go.”

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