Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty-Six

FREYA

I would have loved to know what sassy remark Kate would have had in response to my favorite food being granola bars, but we're quickly swept into absolute fucking chaos.

The door booming against the wall unleashes a beast I wouldn't ever be prepared to face.

"YOU LITTLE FUCKING SHITS!" Ken spits, face bordering on purple, and waves a gun around in a tight-knuckled grip.

Kate and I immediately scramble to our feet and back away as far as our cells allow. Ken has always been a wild card, but he has absolutely lost his fucking shit. I'm struggling to breathe while I stare down the barrel of his trembling gun, afraid to make any kind of movement.

"Grab them!" he roars as enforcers flood into the small space of our basement.

"Hey asshole!" Kate shouts, drawing his attention and aim toward her. "What's your fucking problem?"

If I didn't consider Kate my best friend before, I absolutely do now. Part of me breaks while another part of me heals when I notice her shaking in fear but standing tall to protect me.

"Kate," I murmur, pleading with her to let me handle this.

"You!" Ken whirls on me as his enforcers enter my cell and grab me by my hair. "You. No issues for years and now you're here and everything is ruined! You will fucking PAY!"

A screech is ripped from my throat as my hands are yanked behind my back and the hand in my hair heaves me forward. Blinking back tears, I see Kate being escorted out the basement door in a similar position.

Instead of yelps and cries of pain, my friend cusses them out and fights their unyielding hold. Watching her fire escape in bouts of rage and protective instinct, my omega flares in response.

"Get off me!" I yell, twisting and flailing my feet at the calves of the betas dragging me up cement stairs into what looks like a warehouse.

A fucking warehouse that is absolutely not the clinic they've been bringing me to for heats and isolation all these years. I don't know where the hell we are, but it's not the place they bring us to test our control while abusing our pack.

I know this because that place is all white walls, bright lights, and hospital-like bedrooms. This place, even the main level we are being drug through, is stone, dirt, and reeks of fear instead of chemicals and drugs.

I'm struck absolutely dumb when I notice other omegas being dragged through the big garage door and loaded into trucks. Some fight and snarl, others look completely dead inside.

"I'll kill you!" Kate hisses, hooking her foot around a table.

We've been drugged every time they come for us, keeping their evil fucking secrets. And while I watch my best friend being thrown into a small camouflage truck that looks suited for battle, I crack.

"LUCAS!" I scream with all my might, reaching for the bond I've felt the most while being stuck in this hell.

It's uncomfortable, but I shove my soul away from me and toward my mate. "LUKE, HELP!"

I don't stop even as I'm tossed in beside Kate and the door closes on us with a mean-looking beta aiming a gun at my forehead sitting across from us.

I won't stop giving my alpha all I can, so he can finally grab hold of me. Keening, I continue to scream and plead for him down the bond.

LUCAS, PLEASE! Please, please, please!

I'm reaching now, and I refuse to stop even if we're being dragged in different directions.

A sob escapes my abused throat.

I'm reaching now, Lucas... please.

Find me, grab me, don't let me go.