“I’m fine,” I called back. “Knocked something over.”
“What?” Blue asked, his voice irritated.
When he came through the door, I expected him, but I still looked up genuinely startled from the sink.
His big frame filled the doorway.
“What did you say about not attracting attention?” I demanded in a hiss. I turned off the water and reached for a paper towel.
“What did you knock over?” he demanded.
“The air freshener on the back of the toilet,” I said. I didn’t bother to look. I’d noticed the floral-printed can when I walked in.
Blue snorted. He crossed his arms over his chest. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing,” I said.
It wasn’t a lie.
I didn’t have a plan, not yet.
Chapter Three
“You said two bodies,” I said, when we were back in the car.
“You should get some sleep,” Blue said, instead of answering. “It’ll be a while before you get through In-processing, once we arrive. Long day.”
I was still curious why anyone would take a job like theirs, where if they failed to bring someone into the prison, they went instead. Unless the two of them didn’t have a choice. “Do you know that from firsthand experience?”
No one answered me. I glanced toward Gray, who seemed like the nicer of the two by far, but his attention was fixed studiously on the road.
Whatever. I closed my eyes and nestled my head against the cool glass window. I needed time to think, anyway.
There was nowhere for me to run, was there?
Even in my isolated pack, stories had reached us about omegas who lived freely, not bound to any pack. But I wasn’t sure how to find them.
And if I didn’t? It wasn’t as if being part of a pack had brought me much joy, had it? Yeah, my pack said lone wolves go mad. But maybe that was a lie.
Still, the thought of being helpless—and not even being able to recognize I was in danger—made me sick to my stomach. As an omega, when I went into heat, any alpha in the vicinity would scent me. They’d be drawn to me, and I’d be drawn to them. Even if they wanted to hurt me.
I’d not started yet. My mother said it was better to marry someone before my heat began, because once it did, I’d need a man. I’d need an alpha.
And my virginity was one more thing that our pack owned, that they could trade away to another pack.
I floated between sleep and wakefulness, sorting through vague plans. I had the knife, sure. It was a comforting weight in my pocket. But what was I going to do with it? I couldn’t picture using it to hurt Blue or Gray. They might be my captors, but they were kind, in their own way. Victims in this whole mess too, if they really would be imprisoned if I escaped.
Guilt tightened my chest at the thought. What would it cost them if I escaped? Maybe I should be smart and just look out for myself. No one else is going to do it, a voice whispered in the back of my head. It’s time to just take care of yourself.
But I didn’t want to hurt them.
I felt Blue twist in his seat, as if he was checking on me. I kept my eyes closed.
“She’s sharp,” he said, his voice soft, as if he didn’t want to wake me.
“Yeah,” Gray said. “Seems like a waste.”
“Don’t go all soft on me again,” Blue warned him.
“It’s just that if she’d been born anywhere else…”
“I know.” Blue sounded resigned.
“Do you think she even knows about the Freed?”
The Freed? My heart began to beat a little faster at the thought, and I forced myself to focus on breathing softly, easily, as if I was asleep. They might sense the change. Even in human form, wolf shifters have keen senses.
Blue snorted. “No. She looked pretty hopeless.”
“She did.”
“If she thought she could run, that she could head north and find the free omega enclave in the packless territories, then she’d have tried to claw her way out, I bet,” Blue said. “I think there’s some spirit hidden under all that…”
Blue trailed off. I wished he’d keep talking. Hope had sparked in my heart at the mention of the packless territories. I didn’t know where I was running to, exactly, but I’d be able to scent unmarked land when I found it. I’d just have to avoid being captured on any other pack’s territory. I’d have to hide my scent, move fast…
“Maybe they’ll hit the prison again,” Gray said, after a minute.
“Don’t say that,” Blue warned. “You know what’s going to happen if the Warden thinks you’re sympathetic to the Freed.”
“As if things can get so much worse.”
“You know they can,” Blue said sharply. Then, in a gentler tone, he said, “We both know how bad things can get.”
That tone makes me feel something unsettling, as I try to imagine what they might’ve been through.
“All right, well, let’s focus on what we’ve got to do,” Gray said. “I wish they hadn’t sent us to get two of them at the same time.”
“He’s on our route.”
“His pack had a lot to say about him. He’s got quite the taste for violence…soft spot for the ladies, though.”
Oh really?
“I don’t like having the girl with us and him at the same time. If things go south…”
“If things go south, we’ll figure it out. Just like we always do.” The words came out quick, pat. Then, he added, “We’ll protect her.”
For a few long seconds, silence hung between them, and I barely breathed. Of course they’d protect me. They had to deliver two bodies, right? But as much as I told myself that was what they meant, I couldn’t help feeling like it meant something more.
I dozed off then for real, but I woke up a bit later, startled out of my sleep by one of their rough voices. It took me a second to understand what I’d heard through my daze. One of them
