I couldn’t wait to get better and leave this fucking place. I needed to get the fuck away from here, and that fucking omega. Hell, I wasn’t even planning on taking him as my captive anymore. That would mean I’d have to keep seeing his face.

And I didn’t fucking want to.

I growled as I realized that once again, I was thinking about him. Kieran fucking Page, thirty-something, a single father by the looks of it, an ex-SOU officer, a fucking medic, team Zero-Fucking-Five. Fuck! Why couldn’t I get him out of my head?

Also, why was his scent so fucking strong in the basement? I wanted to go take the nastiest fucking shit just to get rid of his scent. It was too sweet. Too nauseating. But I didn’t have to go… I’d not gotten enough to eat in the past few days because of how sick I’d been. And how the fuck was I able to even smell him with all that fucking snot, huh?

My alpha was amused at me. It knew I was constantly thinking about the omega. Fucking bitches, both of them… I wanted to get rid of both of them as soon as possible. My alpha knew that, so it was deliberately hanging around, not returning into the darkness where it fucking belonged to. Even now, it was taunting me.

But it suddenly lost interest in me and turned its attention to the door. I rolled my eyes. It had to mean the omega was coming closer. My alpha had already learned to keep an ear out to the sound of the door opening at the top of the stairs. I couldn’t hear shit, but soon, the floorboards behind the door let out a quiet creak, and the door opened.

I ignored the omega when he stepped in. For about three seconds before I smelled the food he was bringing. My stomach let out a loud rumble, and the omega chuckled.

“Figured you might be hungry,” he said, and brought the tray to my bed.

I forgot to answer him when I stared at the casserole on the tray. It smelled… I hated to admit it, but it smelled so fucking good…

“How are you feeling?” he asked. “Can you sit up on your own?”

“Fuck off,” I told him, and forced my tired body up. It was hard, and it hurt, but I wasn’t going to ask for his help just to sit up, for fuck’s sake.

“So we’re still being rude to the person who’s trying to keep you alive,” he said, sounding fed up with me.

I glared at him when he went to sit down by the door. My alpha would’ve wanted him to stay next to us so it could study his scent. Both of them angered me, so I turned my attention back to my plate and ignored them.

The steam coming from the food gave me a bit of a cough, but I was glad to see I was getting over the fucking flu. My wound had gotten worse because of it, therefore I’d be stuck here with this omega for longer.

But soon I’d get the fuck out of here…

“What’s your name?” the omega asked, studying me closely.

“None of your fucking business,” I said while I grabbed the plate and the fork he’d given me.

“How old are you?”

“None of your goddamn business.”

“Where are you from?”

I turned to him. “I’m sure you can guess the answer to that.”

“Yes… None of my… hmm…” he turned to watch the ceiling as he tried to come up with a swear word to use.

“Bloody?” I suggested.

“Thank you. None of my bloody business,” he said, trying not to smirk. “Would you prefer me to call you the kid, the terrorist, or the jomica, then?”

“I don’t fucking care.”

“Gasp, didn’t see that coming…” he muttered, rolling his eyes.

I rolled my eyes back at him and ate for a moment. The food was really fucking good… I glanced at the omega again. He looked better as well. Probably had slept enough… There were no dark circles around his eyes, and his cheeks had more color. His hair wasn’t a mess anymore, and his clothes were clean.

I guess saving my ass really had done a number on him, huh…

“Trouble,” I said.

“Sorry?”

“I’m Trouble.”

“Sure you are…” he said in amusement.

I got annoyed. “My name is Trouble, you dimwit.”

“Oh!” he said and laughed lightly. “Well that’s… That’s quite spot on.”

“Yeah, I mean trouble,” I told him. “You better not forget that.”

“No, no… I mean it’s a huge fucking trouble to keep you alive,” he retorted. “You’re so dramatic. Trying to die on me every two days…”

“Hey, I got shot, all right?” I said with a snort. “And who’s the one who got me sick, huh? Wasn’t me. You brought the flu down here.”

“Well I’m sorry about that,” he said.

As I continued eating, I could feel his eyes on me. I tried to ignore it, but it was slowly getting on my nerves. Especially since my alpha was happy about the attention.

“Am I just so damn hot, or are you afraid I’ll drop dead any second now?” I asked without looking at him.

“Do you honestly want me to answer that?” he asked.

Probably not.

“You could just fuck off,” I noted.

“I need to check your wound first.”

“I’m sure it’s still there in a few hours.”

“Yes. Completely irrelevant question: do you know how fast an infection can kill you?”

“I’m guessing in less than a few hours.”

“That’s a smart boy,” he cooed.

I glanced at him, and he gave me an innocent smile. He sure was having fun… So was my alpha.

“Do you even remember I’m a jomica terrorist?” I asked him.

“So you admit it?” he asked.

“Don’t act like you had any doubt about that,” I said. “Doesn’t even matter which organization I belong to. A terrorist is a terrorist, especially to army cunts like you.”

“There’s that word again…” he mumbled.

“Sorry. Army dogs like you,” I corrected myself just to be sarcastic, but I guess I failed.

“That’s a good boy,” he said, now smiling again. “You’re learning manners.”

I watched him closely while I finished my dinner. Or breakfast. I had no fucking idea what time of the day it was. The omega didn’t avert his gaze, and his smile didn’t drop. So confident…

He was smiling and having fun like I was a harmless little kid, like he didn’t remember why he put me in chains. If I had stayed conscious the night I ran into him, it would be he who was chained up, bred by me and my friends at that very moment.

I wondered if he’d still be smiling like that if he knew what my job in our organization was.

No. He would not.

I put the empty plate away and leaned against the wall. I made myself as comfortable as possible and tried to ignore the agitated wound.

“You think keeping a terrorist as your prisoner is all fun and games, huh?” I asked the omega.

“I just spent three whole days without sleep trying to keep you alive,” he said. “That’s far from fun and games.”

“You keep ignoring my point like a goddamn politician,” I said harshly. “I’m a fucking terrorist. Understand?”

He snorted in amusement, which pissed me off.

“And why is that so fucking funny?” I asked.

“It’s funny because you think I’m supposed to be afraid of that,” he said slowly, and got up. “It’s funny, because you, too, keep forgetting what I am.”

“An ex-soldier,” I spat at him while he approached me.

“You think we stop being soldiers?” he asked and stopped right in front of me. “I’m rusty, yes. I’m not training anywhere near as hard as I did back in my unit, true. But does that mean I’ve forgotten how this shit works? No. I have not.”

I had to look way up to see his face. He gave me enough time to take in his physique and strength. He was not weak, no.

My fucking alpha admired him…

“I’m laughing because I know what you are, and it’s far from what you think you are,” he said with a creepy, soft smile. “You’re just a busboy and cannon fodder.”

“You know nothing about–!”

“I know Jomica,” he said calmly, interrupting me. “The reason they became such a huge problem to us is that they were so well organized. They had their strict hierarchy, and fanboys like you were put first in the meat grinder to give the real members time to either finish their job, or retreat.”

I swallowed my anger and smiled at him. “You think I’m a busboy? You think they’d send a busboy to get rid of Mercer?”

“That’s exactly what they’d do,” he said. “They’ll send a whole gang of busboys to get rid of one person.”

His words angered me, but before I had time to lash out, he dropped to his knees on the bed and leaned close to me.

“Your alpha was gone, busboy. That tells me a lot about you,” he said quietly, his face only inches away from mine. “That’s the difference between true jomicas and their fanboys. Their alphas aren’t gone. Their alphas agree with True Order. They are monsters through and through. But you?”

I held my breath when his hazel eyes studied me so close. His scent surrounded me like a warm summer breeze. I had to take it in. My alpha demanded it.

“You’re simply lost,” he finally said.

I forced my head back in order, and grabbed him as tightly as I could, making sure my grip was painful.

“Got you now,” I growled at him.

He only glanced at my hand, then looked me in the eye without losing his confidence. I hated that confidence. It made me so fucking mad…

“What do you think you can do?” he asked, his eyes smiling at me.

“I’m not as weak as you think I am,” I told him, my anger giving me strength. “I’ll fuck you up.”

“Uh-huh…” he uttered, leaning even closer to me. “But first… Want to see a magic trick?”