Ransom (The Unchained Omegaverse #1) - Callie Rhodes Page 0,66

possible. But it appears that my work has accidentally conferred some new abilities on you. Abilities that, as I'm sure my dead colleagues would agree, warrant further study."

"Every second you keep her from me," Ransom snarled, "you earn more pain. I promise you that."

"Touchy, touchy! Relax, Forty-two, there's a silver lining that you're not seeing." Fulmer lifted his eyebrows in mock surprise. "Surrender peacefully, and I'll put you and your pretty little omega in a cell together. I'll even have a larger one custom-built so one of you can relax while the other is helping out with our research." He flinched slightly at the sound of Ransom's growl before continuing. "No harm will come to you—at least not for a good long while. You have my promise."

It was that word—promise—that turned Ransom's vision red, the same color the blood he was getting ready to spill. Fulmer, with his lies and conniving and monstrous self-interest, had no right to it.

"This is the last offer I'm going to make. Let Gretchen go now, and your death will be easier."

Fulmer laughed. "Now, what in the world would make you think I'd agree to that? Sure, you've tussled with a few of my men one-on-one, but you’re surrounded now. And I can promise these troops aren't carrying standard-issue rifles. This time I sent them with real weapons. Ones that can turn the spot you’re standing on into a smoking crater with you as a pile of dust at the bottom."

Ransom knew Fulmer was telling the truth. It was just like him to break out the big guns only when it was his life on the line.

It didn't matter. These soldiers could throw an entire arsenal at Ransom, and he'd still keep going. As long as Gretchen's life was on the line, he'd find a way.

Oddly, the best way he could see at the moment didn't involve any violence. The five surviving members of the first wave had retreated when they'd realized the futility of the fight they'd been dropped into. Perhaps these other soldiers could also be made to see reason.

"I didn't 'tussle' with them. I killed them. I didn't want to. Just like don't want to kill any of these men. All I want is my woman and my freedom. But make no mistake, any more blood that is shed today will be on your hands, not mine."

Fulmer rolled his eyes, unimpressed by the speech, but Ransom could sense a shift in the air. Most of these men were rank and file soldiers, not Fulmer's hand-picked squad whose ranks Ransom must have already decimated over the past few days.

These men had no particular allegiance to Fulmer or his mission. What they did have were families and friends and lives back at the base, and they were very interested in living to see tomorrow.

So Ransom kept talking.

"You do realize that the ability to turn a beta into an omega wasn't the only gift you gave me." Ransom was looking into Gretchen's eyes now, reminding her of his promise to protect her forever. "I'm faster now. Stronger. Deadlier. I wouldn't be so sure there's anything you could arm these men with that's powerful enough to stop me."

The sense of unease rapidly increased. A few of the men lowered their guns. Others shared worried glances.

"Look around you," Ransom said, not even bothering to direct his words to Fulmer anymore but addressing the soldiers. "This soil is drenched in the blood of your comrades. And for what? This man's pride? His refusal to admit defeat? You don't have to end up like them. Don't be fools. You don't have to sacrifice your life for some madman's delusional dream of domination."

Fulmer must have sensed the change in atmosphere because his lips tightened into a hard flat line. "Hold your ground, men," he snapped. "That's an order."

"An order?" Ransom laughed. "Who the hell are you to give orders? You're not a general. You've never fought a day in your life. You're nothing but a coward in a bad suit shielding yourself behind other men’s bravery."

The unmistakable sound of an engine turning over was followed by the first vehicle pulling away from the others, picking up speed as it shot toward the road. Half a dozen men raced toward a second jeep, and it followed the first.

Then another. More men were running than those left standing.

"You see that, Fulmer? These men are getting out while they still can. They're abandoning you."

Fulmer's eyes went wide, not just in fear but in