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I could smell his anger. Anger -- and, oh god -- blood. He was drenched in so much blood. Jesus fuck, he was going to kill me.
I pressed my face against my shoulder and showed him the side of my neck. It was an instinctive submissive response that I had absolutely no way of controlling. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to be ripped apart by an enraged alpha. Maybe if he thought I was some helpless little omega he wouldn’t gut me. “I’m sorry,” I gasped, cringing away when his fingers slid over my nape and squeezed softly. Oh fuck. Oh god.
“You’re an impressive man,” Steve said, stroking along my throat softly as he pulled me a little closer. From someone I knew and trusted I might have considered the gesture soothing. From a blood soaked unfamiliar alpha it was terrifying. “Over the course of a few hours you managed to slip your cuffs, steal our van and leave us stranded. Not bad for a sand rat. I’m impressed.”
I pointedly ignored the slur and bared more of my throat. “I just want to leave,” I whispered, aware that I absolutely stunk of terror. God, I wanted out of the car. I wanted his hands off me. “Please, let go of me.”
“And then what?”
Huh? “What?” I said, gaping at him.
“If I let you go, what will you do? I hope you’ll forgive me for saying so but you don’t exactly look like you’re in the best of health. You said earlier that you hadn’t eaten in, what was it, three days? You’re underweight, you’re filthy and you stink like fear and sickness. So what will you do if I let you go?”
“I’ve managed this long,” I said, a little insulted despite myself.
Steve smirked and sat back, looking at me with a thoughtful expression. “You’re living on borrowed time. The fact that you had to come out of hiding means staying under the radar is no longer an option. Sooner or later someone was bound to notice you. You can try to mask your scent all you like, but even under all that stink there’s no hiding what you really are.”
“Like I said, I’ve managed up until now,” I said, wondering if he thought I was a simpleton because of my secondary gener. I’d known men like him my entire life. Asshole alphas that thought they were so much better than everyone else because they possessed a knot .
“Someone was protecting you. Helping you, weren’t they?”
I could feel that familiar shocking ache in my chest. The pain that never seemed to go away no matter how much I told myself I was getting better.
“I’m sorry,” Steve said softly.
“What?” I asked, genuinely confused.
“For your loss. I’m sorry.”
I could smell it then. The scent of my own sorrow.
“You won’t last on your own," Steve continued earnestly. "You have to realise that.”
“And so my alternative is rolling over for you and good ol’ Bucky? Thank, but I’ll pass.”
He caught my wrist before I could open the door. We sat there for a tense moment, watching one another. “I’m sorry, but you really don’t get a choice. This will be a lot easier for you if you just relax. We aren’t going to hurt you.”
I snorted. I couldn’t help it. “You realise you are quite literally covered in blood?”
“That’s because you stole our van and left us stranded. We were attacked.”
“Well, not to use anything as ridiculous as logic in my defence, but you did kidnap me. Maybe this should be a life lesson. Don’t kidnap people.”
Steve huffed out a breath. It might have been a laugh, or possibly and much more likely, a coping mechanism to refrain from strangling me. “Are you going to behave or do I need to tie you up?”
“Kinky,” I said, attempting to pull my arm free. Unsurprisingly it didn’t work. The guy was insanely strong, even for an alpha. “OK, Jesus. You don’t need to tie me up.”
“You’re going to behave?”
“Sure thing, big boy,” I muttered, debating if I could throw myself out of the car whilst we were moving. I wasn’t entirely sure what good that would do me, but it was an option.
Steve started the car and moved forward. I looked in the rear view mirror and noticed Bucky was following us. “So, two cars and a brand new omega. Quite the haul for you guys.”
“So you admit you’re an omega now?”
I shrugged. “There doesn’t seem to be much point in lying about it anymore. So, you guys kidnapping everyone you come across, or is it -”
“Just omegas,” he interrupted.
“Oh,” I said. That couldn’t be good. “Swell.”
He was so still. How could anyone sit in the same place for such a long time. Was he even blinking?
“So, why are you only after omegas?” I asked. I was pretty sure I would be happier not knowing, but I figured knowledge is power.
“Because we don’t have any.”
Okayyyyyy.
“What happened to them?”
Steve’s hand tightened on the steering wheel. “I’ve just realised I don’t even know your name.”
“Rude,” I said, tapping my fingers against the glass in a rapid pattern. I felt eyes on me and stopped mid-tap. “It’s Tony.”
Steve seemed to hesitate for a moment before holding his hand out to me. “It’s nice to meet you, Tony.”
He was kidding, right? “You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m not -”
“Hello, you’ve kidnapped me. I have been taken against my will, abducted. To be taken to the place of ‘no more omegas’ because they’re all ‘just gone’ for some reason. Go fuck yourself.”
He frowned and I suddenly realised where i was and who I was with. Pissing the man off probably wasn’t the smartest move. I leaned back nervously, bearing my throat.
“You don’t need to do that,” Steve said distastefully, pulling back his hand. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“OK,” I said evenly. “But I can’t really control it.”
He nodded shortly. “I guess it’s just been a while since I last dealt with one of your kind.”
“My kind?” I asked, aware I sounded a little bitchy but feeling pretty justified. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“There are just a lot of alphas where I’m from. You have to be hard. Posture. You know?”
I nodded jerkily.
“It’s difficult to remember everyone doesn’t act that way. That some people are -- softer-- kinder.”
Another nod.
“I don’t mean you’re not weak or anything,” he hastened to add, looking a little worried that I might be insulted.
I didn’t say anything.
“Tony, are you ok?”
A lot of alphas. He was taking me to a place full of alphas.
“Tony?”