Page 2 of For All My Effort

My heart was pounding, partly from all the silent attention, and partly because I hated the peace officers. They might not have been the exact ones that took me from my home, but their uniforms were the same. It was enough to make me feel thirteen again, making me lose all the confidence I’d actually gained in the last eight years.

Each thud of my boots seemed to be the only noise, and much louder than shoes had probably ever sounded before.

One of the officers opened the door, the bell chiming—

Then I felt it. A hand on my upper arm. The sheer fabric on my sleeves wasn’t enough to hide the warmth from their touch.

I knew immediately, before their scent even reached my nostrils. Only alpha assholes grabbed whoever they pleased, and the old, dusty scent only confirmed their designation.

“Are you an omega?”

Maybe his question was rhetorical. Maybe he was only barely able to scent my omega perfume in the clouded room of beta stress.

Panic looped in my stomach until I thought I might throw up right there. Their touch wasn’t painful, but my instincts demanded only my alphas be allowed to touch me. The aggressive behavior would definitely get me some mandated lessons back at the OC.

Instead, I swallowed down the growl, the need to bare my teeth and claw at the hand that had still been touching me. And I screamed. Not the kind asking for help, the loud high-pitched kind that made the officer drop my arm in a startled reflex.

Then I ran.

My feet took me toward my alphas without even thinking.

The restaurant was in the middle of the fashion center, a prime commodity spot considering the amount of foot traffic it gets from shoppers. Unfortunately, the fuck-ton of people didn’t work to my advantage.

No one seemed willing to move out of my way. I tried shoving and squeezing through crowds, but I could still feel myself being chased like prey.

My entire focus was on the path in front of me. I couldn’t see over the shoulders of basically everyone, which meant I couldn’t tell if I’d passed the turn I should have made between the two stores that was a shortcut to the back parking lot.

Despite the fear coursing through my system, it wasn’t enough to block out the burn in my lungs from how much I was heaving, or the strain in my calves as I tried to run with my thick heavy boots. I could tell I was naturally slowing down, but not even that knowledge helped me move faster.

Unlike my mates, I couldn’t feel them through our bond. Omegas relied on our sense of smell to identify our mates’ emotions which meant the bond was more one-way.

Maybe I was hoping that they’d sense my panic and come to my rescue? Except the longer I ran, shoving and stumbling, the more I realized that I wasn’t going to be rescued this time.

I felt the tug on the back strap of my overall-denim dress, just enough to throw off my momentum. My feet stumbled as I tried to right myself. Then a sharper tug, this one with a full grip on my clothes. Rather than falling straight back into the alpha, the movement pulled me toward his side.

I was looking up at the alpha—knowing that something was wrong even without my instincts. The male was pale, and backing away?

Other faces started to crowd in around me, and I couldn’t figure out how they were managing to look down on me. I was used to others sort of glancing down to talk to me, but this felt extreme.

Looking around, I realized I was on the ground. Something touched my ear, most likely a bug, and I lifted my hand to swat it away, feeling like it took every ounce of my strength to move my arm.

When I lifted my hand back up, I saw the red, and it took me several long seconds to realize it was mine. That I shouldn’t be lying down.

The faces over me changed. These ones were much more handsome—my mates. Sebastian was at my head, completely upside down, and saying something if his moving lips was anything to go by. His indulgent smile was missing, the one he always wore as he called me princess and let me run wild. Han and Zeke, like always, were on either side of me, almost perfect mirrors of each other if you ignored their looks. Where Zeke was an artist in skill with his drawings, Han was the masterpiece of clothes, loving to try styles from around the world. And of course, Jackson, my grumpy mate, the one that was usually glaring at the world to protect me but was glaring down at me.

That’s how I knew something was wrong. My other mates might overreact, not Jackson. He’s my levelheaded alpha. The one that takes the pamphlets about keeping an omega happy very seriously. He made it his life goal to keep me safe and healthy and happy.

I reached out, visibly watching the shaking of my hand as I touched his cheek. His dark skin hid the stain of my blood. His hand caught mine, keeping it against his cheek, which was good because I couldn’t hold it up anymore.

For just a moment, the world went dark—no, I blinked. My eyelids were like weights, and I was never one for exercise unless you counted every time I was on top of my mates, riding their dicks. That was a thigh workout for sure.

I wanted to ask something, only the words went missing almost as soon as I thought of them. Despite how light my body felt, it was impossible to open my eyes again. And then the world truly went to shit.

Chapter Two

I slept like crap. My entire body felt stiff, like rather than blood running through my veins, it was sand, weighing me down and making it impossible to get comfortable.

Plus, it was colder than I like my nest to be. The OC was filled with assholes, but they at least had independently separated controls for each omega’s nest. I liked mine warm, so I didn’t have to be wrapped up in blankets. Not hot, I didn’t want to sweat. Just perfectly in the middle so I could spread out.