Ransom (The Unchained Omegaverse #1) - Callie Rhodes Page 0,11

halfway point. She paused to rest in the shade of a tree, her hands on her knees, gasping for breath. Her adrenaline rush had long since faded, leaving her with the opportunity to actually think, not just react.

Slowly, the enormity of what had just happened settled down on her like a suffocating blanket. Gretchen struggled to come to grips with this new reality. It was far too overwhelming to take in all at once. So she focused on the three things she knew for sure:

1. Someone from the government wanted her dead

2. She was on the run for her life

3. An alpha had killed her pursuers

Remarkably, it was the last of these facts that strained credibility the most. A real live alpha, over seven feet tall and twice as broad in the shoulders as any man she'd ever seen, in the middle of Nowhere, Nebraska, thousands of miles from any of the Boundarylands?

What the hell was going on?

Gretchen forced herself to start moving again. Jogging through the field, her sneakers caught in the brambles, adding to the cuts on her legs. Her skirt was ripped and stained, her blouse unsalvageable. Even if she managed to catch up with one of the departing vehicles, she'd have a hell of a time explaining herself—and even worse, that would be the end of her exclusive.

She calculated that it would take her another twenty minutes to reach the dirt path, maybe less if she managed a second wind. With luck, she'd get there in time to flag someone down and hitch a ride back to Omaha—or anywhere, for that matter, where people weren't trying to kill her.

Or…

No. There could be no 'or.' The only version of this story with a happy ending was the one where she was back at her desk by tonight, working feverishly to report everything she'd seen.

The article she would submit to Jeremy would be filled with more questions than answers, speculation with no proof. The more she thought about it, Gretchen realized how little she really had to work with. A massive explosion, mystified first responders, an obviously false official version… not to mention a foiled assassination attempt, and an alpha attack that no one but her had witnessed.

No one would believe her. Especially not Jeremy. Submitting an unsubstantiated piece would only confirm his suspicion that she didn't have the chops for serious reporting. Gretchen would be back on school board meetings before she knew what hit her. Even knowing that none of her male colleagues had gotten a story worth reporting either was little solace.

Gretchen debated with herself, watching the last of the media vans heading for the road. Before long, there would be no one left but the military, the mysterious man in the dark suit…and the alpha.

She swayed back and forth on her feet, caught between safety and ambition.

What would Mom do?

Gretchen didn't have to think twice—she knew her mother wouldn't dream of leaving. Mad Dog Conrad would never let a few bullets and an alpha get in the way of a story.

"Damn it," Gretchen whispered, then turned around and headed back the way she'd come.

Chapter Four

What the hell?

Ransom may not have exercised his voice much for the last eight years, but he was pretty sure he'd told the beta woman to go and stay gone. And yet, here she was strolling back toward him like she didn't have a care in the world.

Okay, that wasn't exactly true. She looked plenty worried, even from a distance, and she was hustling along with grim determination, as though there were about a thousand places she'd rather be.

"I told you to run," he snarled when she was within a few dozen yards. He could sense her heart pounding in her chest, but her fear did little to cover up her intoxicating scent, and as she grew closer Ransom felt it winding around him like ribbons around a maypole.

Where the hell had that come from? The only maypole Ransom had ever seen was back in kindergarten, something he hadn't thought about for years, the same way he avoided any pleasant childhood memory. Failing to do so made being imprisoned that much more wrenching.

He could leave. He ought to leave if he had any sense left in his fool head. He wouldn't have to go far—maybe just beyond the crest of that little hill—and she'd give up following him. Even the most persistent beta would be forced to admit defeat when they figured out he could outrun them all day long.

Yesterday, all he'd had