Page 52 of Seducing Selena

Thankfully, the light switch was easy to find. Stacks of boxes created a maze for me to walk through. This part, at least, was familiar. I knew what the hormones looked like from the hospital. But I also knew where to find them because of that day in the dining room. Thank you, Steve.

Stacks and stacks of boxes in the back corner that clearly hadn’t been there long, haphazard as they were. All of them were labeled. Except for—

There. A smaller stack of boxes on a shelf, tucked in between what looked like vodka, and drinking straws. It made sense—they wouldn’t want to draw extra attention to these.

The shipping labels didn’t have a name. I didn’t think they would. But theydidhave a company name.Normality, Inc. The address was halfway across the country. I should have gone and gotten the Syndicate’s phone first. That way I could have taken a picture of the information instead of having to commit it to memory. But I did. I repeated the name and address until I could say it back to myself and not forget it.

Another nursing trick coming in handy. We needed to memorize things quickly in order to take care of patients. One address wasn’t difficult.

Just to be sure, I opened one of the boxes. The blue plastic cases filled with vials were achingly familiar. My heart sank. Part of me had hoped it wasn’t real, and they weren’t actually using these hormones. They had real uses. Injecting them to make people smell more appealing in order tosellthem was not only unethical, it was dangerous. I’d seen the effects of these overdoses firsthand. They weren’t good.

I shut the box. I had what I needed, and so far, so good. Now I just had to get the phone and get back upstairs. If the Syndicate was true to their word, they could get me out of here tomorrow.

Despite everything, I wasn’t going to pretend the thought didn’t make me sad. The Alphas upstairs were… they were everything I wanted, if things were different. They drove my body crazy, and in the small moments, I thought I imagined something more in the way they looked at me than what they claimed I was.

No matter what Seb had said in the middle of the incredible sex, and no matter how much I loved the submission he talked about, this was real life. I couldn’t be a slave in the real world. I needed to be home and have my friends and my life and make sure my sister was okay.

Turning, I froze.

The three Alphas I’d just been thinking about stood at the door, watching me. They hadn’t made a sound, and on all their faces, was bitter disappointment.

“Hello, Selena.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

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SEBASTIAN

Isurfaced from sleep, sensing something different. After taking Selena like that, I hadn’t been able to keep my eyes open. The little Omega had taken everything I gave her and loved it. Just a little longer, and we could make her ours in the way that really mattered.

Reaching across the bed for her, my hand felt nothing but cold sheets. I opened my eyes, and she was nowhere in the room. But I’d fallen asleep so quickly I hadn’t attached her cuffs to the bed. It was possible she was in the bathroom.

“Selena?”

No answer.

Sleep still tugged at my consciousness, but I dragged myself out of bed and went to the bathroom, flipping the light on. No Selena.

Strange, but I wasn’t panicking yet. Tugging on a pair of sweats, I went down the hall to the cage room. “Little one?”

Sometimes Omegas needed familiarity and comfort. But she wasn’t in the cage, and she wasn’t in the nest. She wasn’t anywhere I saw in our apartment. Going back to my room, I grabbed my phone before going to Nick’s room.

He looked up when I knocked and opened the door, eyes bleary. “Yeah?”

“Selena’s gone.”

That got him moving. “What do you mean she’sgone?”

“I just woke up, and she’s not here.”

He jumped out of bed, scrambling to follow me as I pushed into Derek’s room. “How the hell did you lose her, Seb?”

“When we fell asleep she was beside me. Hell, I was knotted in her. When I woke up just now, she wasn’t in the bathroom, the cage, or the nest. She’s nowhere I’ve found.”

Derek swore. “The cuffs?”

I sighed. “We both passed out. It was intense. Short, but a full rut. It’s not like I expected her to get up and walk out. Where is she going to go?”

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