Page 13 of Guarding the Runaway Omega

“Nah, it’s not that. It’s something…” Jasper fiddled with the zipper of the jacket again. You just insisted to him that you aren’t a kid, so don’t act like one. “There’s something sexual about the experiments. Like, they’re trying to make us hornier, more inclined to get with strange men, or whatever.”

“Gods…” Hawk chewed his bottom lip before setting his mouth in a grim line. He sucked in a deep breath as if trying to maintain control. “Did they make you do anything with strangers, even if you couldn’t help yourself? It’s okay if you did, it’s not your fault.”

“No, no one got near me other than to shoot me up with drugs or when I had the operation.”

Jasper’s head flew forward as Hawk slammed on the brakes, but he managed to keep from smacking it on the dashboard again.

“Damn! Did you almost hit a deer or something?”

Hawk angled his body to face him, the fury in his expression clear. “What operation? Who did it? Why were they cutting you open? I’m going to fucking rip them all to pieces!”

“Whoa, slow down.” Jasper held up his hands, palms out, hoping to calm the beast that had just arisen in Hawk. “I get that this is all shocking, trust me. As it was happening, I thought I was losing my mind and I was scared half to death. But I couldn’t let them tear me down, to break me. Instead, I focused on what little pieces of info I could pick up, anything to help me escape.”

Jasper took a chance and laid a hand on one of Hawk’s. “Whatever the operation was, it couldn’t have been anything major. There was a small incision, no more than an inch, right below my navel. I was fine and walking around in a couple of days.”

Hawk’s expression was so pained that Jasper ached to hold and comfort him. It was as if Hawk was personally experiencing what Jasper had gone through.

“I promise you this. They’ll pay for what they did.” Hawk sucked in a few deep breaths before continuing. “I need to hear the rest.”

Jasper indicated to the steering wheel with a jerk of his chin. “Yeah. Better we have this conversation while we’re stationary.”

Hawk brushed a stray lock of hair away from Jasper’s face. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No. I’m developing excellent reflexes since you’ve been driving me around.”

Hawk blinked a few times then chuckled. “I deserved that.” He nodded. “And I’ll try to keep myself in check while you share with me what happened. I’m sure my knee-jerk reactions to your experiences aren’t helpful.”

Something about Hawk’s extreme response to Jasper’s ordeal nagged at him, but he filed it away for later.

“It’s a long story, but I’ll give you the basics for now.” Jasper sighed. “Okay, as I said, my father wanted to pawn me off on Nic Petrov. Well, when that plan went south, he started acting weirder...” Jasper rolled his eyes. “…even for my father. He’d always been secretive and tyrannical, but after the incident with the rogue deltas, he would disappear for days at a time. At first, it was the best thing that had ever happened to us. He wasn’t around making our lives a living misery.”

Jasper swallowed hard as his heart hammered away at the awful memory. “Then, one night, my father showed up very late after we’d all gone to sleep. He woke me up and ordered me to go with him for a ride.” Jasper swiped his hand across his mouth, the moment his father had come to get him suddenly so sharp, so immediate. “I knew.” Jasper gave a shaky laugh. “I knew something horrible was about to happen and I didn’t stop it. I went with him like a lamb to the slaughter.”

“Jasper, don’t.” Hawk wiped a tear from Jasper’s cheek that he hadn’t realized had fallen. “You’ve been controlled your whole life, brainwashed into following his dictates. I understand. I allowed those around me to the do the same, but for different reasons. Sometimes it takes a major event to shake us loose from the invisible chains that hold us down.”

Jasper lowered his head, shame washing over him even though Hawk was being so understanding. “Thanks for saying that. I guess it’ll take some time before I can forgive myself for being so weak.”

“Jasper, please… Don’t…”

Hawk caressed his cheek and Jasper leaned into the touch. Hawk’s warmth, the way he could be so gentle yet so strong, drew him even closer to the shifter who had rescued him.

If only…

His eyes flew open and he slowly pulled away. I won’t allow myself to be used if Hawk already has someone. Maybe his desire to save himself for his one true mate was childish, but he didn’t care. He wouldn’t give in to the overwhelming temptation to throw himself at Hawk.

Hawk dropped his gaze as he lowered his hand. “So, um… Can you go on? Talk about what happened next?”

“Yeah, in for a penny…” Jasper chuckled with no humor. “As soon as I got in the back seat, these big goons who only spoke Russian, grabbed me and forced me to sit between them. I was screaming for my father to help me, which is a laugh. Anyway, while one of them shoved a cloth hood over my head, the other one jabbed a needle in my arm. I don’t think I woke up until the next day, but I can’t be sure. That’s what precipitated my inability to track days and nights while I was there.”

Jasper hugged himself as he continued, “When I woke up, groggy as fuck still, I was what I’d call ‘processed’. Some weird doctor who also didn’t speak English, poked and prodded me, took blood, urine and so on.” Jasper’s face heated. He’d been poked more than once in ways only his mate should be a part of. He took small comfort in the fact that the intrusions had only been done with an instrument and not by a person, the way he knew had happened to the others. “Then it was weeks and weeks of needles, different drugs that fucked with my system—like I said, crazy horny sometimes, out like a light other times—and the ones that kept me from shifting.”

He shrugged. “I’m thinking that whatever is going on at the prison, suppressing our shifter abilities might be more about keeping us docile than anything else.” He shuddered at the memory of the other men screaming and begging not to be raped or drugged, to be allowed to go home to their families. “I’m scared… I think they might be trying to make us into sex slaves to be sold overseas or something.” His eyes filled with tears and this time he couldn’t hold them back. “I’m so afraid for Sascha. He’s such a nice guy, nicer than me. He doesn’t deserve this.”

Jasper covered his face with his hands and sobbed openly. He briefly struggled as Hawk drew him into his arms, not realizing that he’d come around to the passenger side. Hawk wrapped him in his strong embrace, and they stood next to the car, a light drizzle falling down on them. But Jasper didn’t care. Hawk was holding him, comforting him and nothing else mattered in that moment.

“Shh, little wolf. I’m here, I’ve got you. No one will ever touch you again and we’re going to get your friend out of there. I promise.”

Chapter Six