Tangled

37 Ava: Overcome (IV)

I was an animal. And so was he.

I can feel Selene in the back of my mind, and I know that she’s asleep. I don’t bother her; I have a more pressing concern.

There’s no call light within reach, and I wiggle and struggle against my restraints. I desperately,

desperately need to pee.

I can hear a little electronic click, then a disinterested, staticky voice fills the room. “Do you need anything?”

I clear my throat, licking my dry lips. “I need to go to the bathroom.” My voice is hoarse, my throat sore. I wonder if I’ve been screaming. I have a feeling I have

been.

“Your nurse will be in in just a moment,” Static Voice says, and clicks off again.

I realize then that they’re probably watching me on camera, and my skin prickles in unease. Somehow, this feels worse than dealing with a horny kidnapper rubbing himself on me.

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37 Ava: Overcome (IV)

I try not to think about it. It’s something I’m used to doing; it’s how I’ve made it through life this far.

But I really, really need to pee, damn it.

A nurse I don’t recognize comes in, and it takes a solid thirty seconds for her to lock the door behind her. It’s embarrassing to see how many security measures are in place to keep me unmated.

“How are you feeling? You seem to be pretty rational,” she says, chipper as the morning sun.

I hate her. I feel like shit. My head hurts. My body hurts. I have horrible memories of me throwing myself at a man I barely know in front of who knows how many strangers, and here’s this pretty nurse with her life together, asking me how I’m doing.

need to go to the bathroom, or I’m going

We don’t want a repeat of last night.” She speaks in a matter of fact kind

agree with a sigh, perking

mu aide and

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Overcome

freedom, my urgency has become an emergency. “Please

the bathroom in panic. For a brief moment, I’m able to push aside the confusion and embarrassment. But then memories rush back, and I bury my

remember it

Ugh.

I had amnesia.

there was a pill to cancel heat and cause twenty–four hours

toilet and wash my hands. Drying them with a thin hospital town, I stare at my reflection. Tangled hair, puffy eyes, and hickeys

and turn away from the mirror, patting

is gone when

restraints hanging off my bed makes my stomach roil with nausea, so I sit on the visitor’s couch instead.

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377

Ava: Overcome (IV)

in, followed by a female doctor, going through the elaborate

steel door.

on her face. “Good

makes

I gesture

nods, her expression serious.

cycle, Ava. Much stronger than what

from me, folding her hands in her lap. “Honestly, though… We don’t have a lot of documented information on true omegas and their heat cycles. They’re incredibly rare. All omegas are called that because they were given the rank, not

as one.”

my stomach churning with unease. “So, what does

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Ava: Overcome (IV)

before the peak hit.” She looks at me directly, her eyes apologetic. “I’m sorry, Ava. We should have taken

trying to be nonchalant. “It’s okay. I mean, it’s not, but… I