2. CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2

"No. I won't do it." There were times Renzo Grealy wanted to kick himself for getting into this mess. He was a doctor, for fuck's sake. Graduated from Harvard Medical School, yet there he was, a prisoner of a human trafficking ring that operated in the wilds west of the Mississippi River.

He wasn't certain what was the worst part of his life at the moment. Having to treat abused Omegas knowing they are going to be abused more by their captors—or, and this was an eventuality unless they died, they'd be sold. But it was as he looked into the eyes of a terrified Omega, who had unfortunately gotten pregnant by a guard, and been told to abort the baby, despite the Omega's plea to save his baby.

It took a strong person to be raped repeatedly, get pregnant and still love his child. Admittedly, it wasn't as if it had been the baby's fault, but it had to have taken an amazing capacity to love someone who was forced upon him. He admired this Omega, as well as too many of them in the past year he'd had to perform this operation on against their will. Then again, he also understood those who were more than willing to have the abortion because they didn't want the reminder of what had been done to them.

Those Omegas rarely made it to the time they were to be sold. They had so much taken from them and they'd survived. But when they'd had their baby taken too, it had been too much, and they'd given up the will to live. Twice Renzo had tried to get pregnant Omegas safely away, but they'd been caught.

Only because they'd needed him had they not done anything to him directly. But they'd punished the Omegas in front of him by beating them until they'd lost their babies before losing their lives. It had killed him to witness this, and Renzo would no longer try to help them.

That didn't mean he didn't give them the best care he could. Even that made him feel guilty because the better they were, the more they were used and abused. He just didn't have it in him to not ensure they were taken care of while in his small medical center.

But he'd had enough. If it meant he died, so be it, but he wasn't about to take another baby away from an Omega.

"I don't remember giving you an option," Bujar snarled out. He'd been the one to get the Omega pregnant and didn't want to have a kid on his hands. Not that any of them would actually have to take care of him or her. The Omegas would gladly do it, but that would mean trying to sell an Omega with a baby. Something no one was about to take on.

That was the thing. Renzo no longer cared. Oh, he worried about the Omegas not getting treated for their injuries, but he could no longer have any part with doing anything against their wishes. Too many came to him begging to let them die, but he'd always found that too abhorrent to allow to happen.

But now?

Now that he'd seen what happened to them when he tended their wounds. More bruises. More cuts. More rape. More torture. It was pure hell and even though he hadn't taken part in any of that, Renzo had made it possible for them to have to endure it longer than necessary.

If he couldn't get them away from their captors' clutches, the least he could do was take himself out of the equation. He wasn't na?ve. There was zero doubt it would get him killed, but he also gave an oath to not cause harm, which he was complicit with so long as he allowed those under his care to continue to be abused.

"There is nothing you can do to make me abort that baby." He stood firmly on his feet, squaring off against the burly guard with the gun. It was those weapons that hadn't allowed Renzo to even attempt to fight those who held him as much of a captive as the Omegas they were using and selling.

Renzo might have been a doctor, but he wasn't weak. As an Alpha, he'd prided himself on one day finding his Omega. In their world, that meant he'd also need to protect him. In high school, he'd wrestled. In college he boxed. Every damn day he spent hours in the gym lifting weights and learning to defend himself and, he'd hoped, one day, his Omega.

But with ten guards always there with their guns strapped to them, it wasn't exactly like he'd been able to take them all out. If he'd been lucky, he might have gotten to two or three, but that still would have left the others to shoot him. Something, until that moment, he hadn't been willing to accept.

But he honestly couldn't continue as he had been. It had been eating at his soul until he was no longer certain who he was any longer.

The barrel of the gun was shoved against his chest. Rage poured from Bujar as he demanded, "Get rid of that child now or pay the consequences and it will be removed, anyway."

He glanced down at the Omega who was looking up at him as if he were some kind of savior. But he wasn't. Far from it, in fact. He just prayed this Omega knew he would be beaten until he lost the child and then killed to get Renzo to capitulate.

Reaching out to take the Omega's hand, he said, "Fen, you know what will happen. Are you certain?"

Fen squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I'm more than ready, doc."

That was what he'd been afraid of. Not for himself, although having to witness the brutality of what Fennec was to go through would tear him apart for being part of the cause, but he also wasn't about to go against another of his patient's wishes.

He closed his eyes and sent up a small prayer that somehow they would be saved before Bujar got his hands on Fennec. He might have known that wouldn't happen, but it couldn't hurt to ask the universe for a little bit of help.

Standing up to his full height, Renzo squared his shoulders and faced Bujar. Eyes meeting the cruel darkness of those muddy brown eyes, he took a steadying breath. "I won't do it. Nor will I help any of you so much as put a band-aid on another Omega. If you don't like it, kill me and find someone else to do your dirty work."

The rage in Bujar's eyes made them glow eerily, like he was actually excited at the prospect of beating Fennec to death and something inside of Renzo snapped. Just as Bujar reached down to yank Fennec off the cot he was currently on, Renzo's arm snapped out to the small rolling table he used for treating his patients. His fingers wrapped around the scalpel that was always there and before he even realized what he was doing, he thrust it into the side of Bujar's neck, severing the carotid arteries with the precision his training had given him.

Blood sprayed out in a large arc as Bujar lifted his hand to the wound, but it was already too late. Already he had dropped to his knees, his body practically sagging as the life drained out of him.

Rushing over before the man did something stupid like pull the trigger of his rifle, Renzo snatched it away from his body, pushing him to the ground so when he completely toppled over, he wouldn't make a sound. Not even waiting for him to die, he went back to the cot and helped Fennec to his feet.

Thankfully, the Omega wasn't hurt, just pregnant. "We have to save the others," Fennec insisted.

Renzo already knew that, but he doubted they'd get very far. At least this time, he had a gun. "Do you know how to shoot this?" he asked Fennec.

The Omega's eyes widened in surprise for a moment before determination seeped into their hazel depths. "Yes."

Even though he hadn't elaborated, Renzo took him at his word as he shoved it into his hands. "When possible, try not to use this. If you'll distract the Alphas, I can hopefully strike, taking them down without making a sound." He held up the scalpel he still had in his hand.

Fennec nodded, and they quickly made their way out the door and stayed close to the building, hoping to not draw too much attention to themselves. When they got to the corner, they ran the short distance to the building with the cells for the Omegas.

He breathed a sigh of relief when they made it to the door without incident. Placing a finger over his lips, he slowly, and as quietly as possible, opened the door just enough to slip inside. He should have known it wouldn't be necessary as the guard had one of the Omegas, Arwel, pinned to his bed, brutally raping him.

The good news, the cage door was wide open, the guard's gun was propped up against the wall by the door, and he was making enough noise to drown out Renzo as he strode over the pair and plunged his knife into the asshole's carotid. Just like with Bujar, it was over before he could do anything to stop the bleeding.

Fennec already had the keys that had been left in the cell's lock door and was opening the others. No one made a single peep as they made their way out of their cells to the door. This was where it would become tricky. There were too many of them–ten Omegas and Renzo–to easily stay hidden as they made their escape. That meant they had to take out the other guards, preferably without alerting anyone as they did so.

Picking up the gun that was still against the wall, he held it out. "Who is a really good shot?"

Kelce stepped forward and took the weapon. "My Alpha father and brother taught me in order to help defend our home and hunt for meat." His eyes shuttered for a moment as if he were reliving a memory. "They died trying to save me and my Omega dad." Steel infused his entire body as he said, "I won't let that happen again."

That was good enough for Renzo. "Even though we have two guns, if we can, we need to not use them unless absolutely necessary, as it will cause the others to come running." He held up his very bloody knife and hand. "When possible, I will sneak up and kill them, but I may need some help with distraction from all of you."

More than half looked leery of his plan, but Renzo gestured to Kelso and Fennec. "They will keep you safe. If I can't get to the guard in time, they will shoot him."

All of them nodded, even if some still seemed uncertain any of this was going to work. Who was he kidding? Renzo doubted they had a shot in hell, but they'd gotten this far. No point in turning back.

Now, all they needed was a miracle.