ΩMEGA

Chapter Three

Kian's POV

Peyton is mad at me. As soon as the beta – Bridger – left the room, he let me have it. He scolds me for talking, for being too trusting. He yells that I can't trust every creature that's kind to me because that's how I'll get myself hurt. I understand his concerns but I try to reason that if they truly wanted to hurt us here, they would have done it already. The kind women wouldn't have offered to wash our clothes, the iota assistants wouldn't have given us soft cots with fresh linens that actually smell good, they wouldn't have given Jenna a separate room and treated her so gently the way they did.

But maybe Peyton is right. Maybe I shouldn't trust the first person who shows me kindness because maybe everyone truly is evil. Maybe this is their way of trying to lure us in.

Now I feel stupid. I bite the insides of my cheek as I turn to climb off of the cot. I walk over to the window. If they had wanted to hurt us...they wouldn't allow us to move freely the way I am now. Right? They'd chain us to the cots or something. I look out the window. We're on the second floor but even so, we're still pretty high up. The theta who came in to talk to us had said that the infirmary only has four floors and that we're on medium security. The fourth floor is maximum security, the third is for mental instability, the second is used mostly for the birth of pups and the first is for non-serious injuries.

"Our pack isn't huge so we can get away with having such a small infirmary," the theta had said.

I lean against the wall and peer out of the window, watching the people of this pack go about their business. A woman, I assume a teacher or a Chi, guides a bunch of pups who are probably no older than five with her arms spread wide as she flaps them up and down like a bird. The pups follow suit with huge smiles on their faces as they run around. Other people walk about looking peaceful and not angry the way my pack members looked. They always looked as though they hated being alive and walking past them always made me nervous. They'd lash out and beat me publically for no reason even if my head was lowered.

But these people...they seemed so kind. They seemed happy.

I lean my head against the wall and watch. I watch a large man with bulging muscles stop just before running into one of the pups the teacher is guiding. He stands on his tiptoes as if stopping was hard for him and leans over the pup as if he was about to fall. The little boy's smile wavers only a bit as he runs back to his teacher. Standing in front of her, the boy flexes both of his little arms on either side of his head and the man does the same. All the pups get excited and jump around and point at the man with shock and admiration on their faces and some even make the same pose.

I smile.

How lucky they are.

My hands slide up my arms and I flinch as they press against the bruises. My alpha had gotten mad at me hours before we left. He had grabbed my arms so roughly I thought they'd break under his grip.

I shudder at the memory.

I glance over at Peyton who has his head leaned back against the wall. He's still sitting on the cot, his legs pulled to his chest. His eyes are closed and his breathing is steady. He's asleep.

I stare at the door and glance back at Peyton. Slowly, I move towards the door and reach out my hand. Just as I'm about to open the door, it swings open. The scent of rosewood ambushes my nose and I stumble back, eyes wide and almost losing my balance. I back all the way up until I hit the cot where Peyton sleeps with the back of my legs.

My eyes land on a tall man. His huge, terrifyingly so. He has long blonde hair pulled back into a tight bun and a bit of facial hair that lines his face handsomely. He has a crazy muscular build, his muscles bulging out of his black muscle tee and thighs threatening to break away from his black, ripped jeans. His blue eyes are narrowed and they're staring straight at me. It's like they bore through my body and he's seeing in me. His eyes are cold and they send an unpleasant shiver up my spine. I take a deep breath and his scent enters my nose again.