Page 12 of Guarding the Runaway Omega

Not fair.

What kind of fucked up world was he living in where he was raised in a shitty pack with a shitty father, was imprisoned and experimented on, then was rescued by a super hot guy he couldn’t have?

Jasper yelped as the driver-side door opened and Hawk slid back in the seat.

“Sorry about that. Were you dozing off? You must be exhausted.”

He regarded Hawk and tried not to dwell on how handsome and kind he was. “Truce on apologizing, remember?”

Hawk gave him a playful nudge to his shoulder. “Forgot. I’m getting a bit loopy too. But great news. I was able to get a signal at the top of the hill, and my dad is going to meet up with us. Why don’t you grab some sleep until we get there? It’ll be a couple hours still.”

“Yeah, but you have to stay awake and you’re tired too. I can keep you company. We can talk about stuff.”

Hawk smiled. “You’re a good kid.”

A jolt of anger shot through him. “Hey, I told you I’m not a kid. Remember?” Jasper arched his eyebrows. He wouldn’t stand a chance at all with Hawk if the guy kept viewing him that way.

Hawk narrowed his eyes at Jasper then fired up the engine. As he pulled back on to the hidden road, he seemed to be contemplating something. “When you say you’re not a kid, by how much do you mean?”

I can see which way this is going. “I’m eighteen, almost nineteen. That’s by how much.”

Hawk winced and Jasper wanted to smack him. If he was old enough to vote for the President, he was damn well old enough to have a mate.

When Hawk didn’t comment, Jasper poked him in the arm. “Well? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Hawk stared straight ahead. “What’s there to say?”

Jasper crossed his arms, frowning. “You asked.” He gave him the side-eye. “You don’t exactly seem ancient yourself. How old are you?”

Hawk had the nerve to smirk. “I’m twenty-four.”

Jasper snorted. “Oh, you’re right. Forgive me, how could I be so delusional? You’re clearly a wise old man compared to my bumbling infancy.”

“Knock it off.” Hawk didn’t sound very pleased. “I wasn’t inferring anything by asking, I just needed to know, that’s all.”

The fuck? “Why? What difference does it make?”

Hawk straightened in his seat and cleared his throat. “Oh, uh, something my dad said. You know, making sure we weren’t transporting someone underage…or, er…” Hawk cleared his throat again. “Anyway, you’re legally an adult so none of that matters anyway.”

“Right…” What is he hiding from me?

“Do you feel up to talking about what you’ve been through? I won’t push if you’re not ready, but we’ll at least have to have something to tell Asha if you want to bring these people down.”

Jasper swallowed hard. “And help my friend and the other prisoners.”

Hawk reached over and patted his arm before placing his hand back on the wheel. So far, the couple brief touches had only been outdone by the glorious moments when Hawk had carried him. Holy gods, he is one fine male specimen.

“And help your friend and the other prisoners.”

Jasper rubbed his forehead. He was bordering on delirious, but he didn’t have the luxury to pamper himself when Sascha—along with the others he’d seen there whom he didn’t even know—were still suffering.

“I can talk about what happened, I need to. The only thing that matters now is finding the laboratory and freeing everyone being held captive.”

“Laboratory?” Hawk had gone back to frowning. “I thought this was a prison of some sort.”

“Well, yeah. Totally a prison. But they weren’t just keeping us locked in cages, they were experimenting on us. That’s why I can’t shift. Or scent properly or see in the dark or hear shit or anything at all. They’ve been shooting me up with different drugs that suppressed the shifter part of me.”

“They’re trying to turn shifters into humans?” Hawk shook his head as if he couldn’t believe his ears. “I can’t imagine of what use taking away a shifter’s abilities would have.”