Kian crossed his arms in front of his chest and nodded slowly at every word that Ty said.
"I agree with you," he said. "But what I think doesn't matter. I'm not Mia."
Kian was right about that, at least. Nothing mattered but Mia.
It was true now. It would be true forever. Until the day they died.
Ty didn't need any claiming bite to be bound to her. Even now, he could feel her in his blood, pulsing through him, giving him a reason to live, to breathe, for his heart to keep beating.
But she was also the reason for the burning pain in the center of his chest. The longing for completion that he couldn't deny. Only Mia could satisfy it. Only by giving every part of herself over to him and letting him give himself in return.
Until she did that, he'd continue to burn.
So, let Kian blame him for using threats to get what he wanted.
What he needed.
Ty wrapped his hands around the porch railing and drew in a deep breath. Fresh air filled his lungs but didn't do a damned thing to temper his blood. If anything, it only made his fever worse.
He could smell her out there. Faint and distant.
Too distant.
Mia and Paige and wandered too far. He could still make out the faint hum of their words and the soft patter of their steps, but not much else.
But he could also sense something else, something that froze his blood: another set of footsteps, even lighter than the omegas'. More careful. Deliberately silent.
Shit.
The fever in Ty's blood turned to ice in an instant.
It couldn't be.
Maybe it wasn't. Maybe he was just on edge, his vigilance heightened to the point of misleading him.
Ty sniffed the wind. Again he only scented the omegas. No other people.
Just a foreign… sharpness that he struggled to put his finger on. Something new. Something he'd never smelled before.
Kian must have sensed something out of place, too. The wooden porch groaned as the alpha pushed to his feet.
"What is that?" Kian asked, sniffing the air.
Ty shook his head. "I don't know, but it's near the girls."
"We should go. Now."
Ty nodded.
He was halfway down the stairs when Mia's scream echoed through the trees.
* * *
Mia didn't run as her scream echoed through the forest. It didn't matter that her knee had healed, that her physical condition was excellent, and that she might be able to outrun the soldier.
The only thing that mattered was Paige could not.
The very pregnant omega at her side wouldn't be able to outrun a snail right now. Much less defend herself against an armed soldier.
So instead of running, Mia positioned herself between Paige and the soldier and stretched her arms out wide.
"Don't touch her," she said as forcefully.
The soldier didn't blink. His cold expression didn't change at all beneath the thick paint smeared across his face.
"I'm not here for her," he said.
Of course he wasn't. But Mia wasn't taking chances.
"Stay away from both of us," she snarled.
"Mia Baird, I have orders to pull you from the Boundarylands."
Mia shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Yes, you will." The beta made a show of pulling a handgun from the holster at his hip. "My orders are to bring you in dead or alive."
Mia swallowed hard. Fear surged inside her, but she'd be damned if she'd let him see it. "You going to kill me?"
"I will if you don't comply," the soldier said flatly.
Mia strutted to swallow past the fear clogging her throat. The soldier's eyes were cold as ice. It was clear he'd killed before had no reservations about doing it again.
She slowly raised her hands as the man stepped toward her, careful not to make any sudden moves. She was afraid of being shot, sure, but she was far more scared of a stray bullet lodging itself in Paige's belly.
The soldier cocked his chin toward a radio strapped to his shoulder. "I have the package."
He probably thought he was too quiet to be heard by the alphas back at the cabin, but Mia knew differently.
"What's her condition?" a crackling voice on the other end asked.
"Currently alive and defiant."
Currently. Mia wondered which one of those conditions he was planning on changing.
"We're detecting another heat signature."
"A second female," the soldier said. "Omega. Pregnant. Beyond redemption. Advise."
Advise? On what? Whether or not to let Paige live?
"Fuck you, asshole," Mia snarled. "Do whatever you want with me, but leave her alone."
Apparently, the soldier didn't like being talked to like that. He drew his fist back and slammed the butt of the pistol into Mia's cheekbone.
Lights burst in front of her eyes. She stumbled, but before she could crumple the soldier wrapped an arm around her waist and hoisted her up over his shoulder.
"Package is incapacitated," the beta said as he started to run through the trees in the direction of the Central Road. "Evacuating now."
Mia opened her mouth, trying to scream again, but nothing came out. With every stride the soldier took, Mia's middle slammed against the unforgiving ledge of his shoulder, forcing the air from her lungs.
She knew she needed to do something—anything—to get away from him, but her brain was still reeling from the blow. She desperately to focus her thoughts, but she couldn't. With every step, Mia's stomach churned, jostled and jolted, made worse by the searing and disorienting pain in her head. Hot bile rose up in her throat.
"I'm going to be sick," she tried to say, but the words came out mangled and slurred.
Not that it mattered. Mia had a feeling she could have screamed them to the heavens, and her captor still wouldn't have responded.
Eventually, she couldn't fight the waves of nausea any longer and let go down his back, heaving painfully.
Just like she thought, the soldier didn't slow, let alone stop.
He had other things to worry about. Like trying to get off an alpha's land alive.
What would happen
