Chapter 2
Apalm flew toward my cheek, connecting with an ear-ringing smack. I didn’t attempt to avoid it because that only angered Father more. My knees gave out under the blow, and I landed on my hip.
“I don’t want this,” I repeated with my head lowered, and the rough carpet abraded my palm.
Even though I’d been prepped my entire life for my fate of being sold off to the highest bidder, now that the time had come, bitterness boiled over. Father forced me to a different country and was selling me off to a fucking Pack of Alphas that couldn’t find an Omega through their own merit. They must have offered him a pretty penny, because he’d been holding off on selling me until he received an offer he deemed worthy enough.
Father knew a lot of fucking people from different backgrounds and had stepped on whoever he needed to get where he was. Even the only other Alpha of his Pack, Javier.When he’d spoken up in my defense when I was fourteen . . . I never saw my second father again.
Cutthroat, violent, and power hungry—those few words described every Alpha I’d ever encountered.
Father crouched, eyes steady on mine. I kept my eyes on his twisted, angry mouth. Lines rimmed the corners of his lips from all the sleazy schmoozing he did when around others of his perverse ilk.
“No tienes opción, mocosa.” Sadly, that was true. I’d never had a choice. “Comportate.”
I lowered my eyes.Behave. The familiar word he always said to me after hitting me, or burning me.
“Get dressed and be outside immediately.” He gripped my jaw so hard my teeth dug into my cheeks. I held his gaze. “You’re lucky I don’t split your lip for talking back.”
I clenched my molars. It wasn’t luck; it was necessity. He wanted me to look perfect to meet my new Alphas. He stood smoothly and ran his palm down his tie. Then he grabbed the shawl I’d dropped and threw it at me. The silk fell over my face, drowning me under it. “Be on your best behavior, girl.”
He slammed the door behind him, and I squeezed my eyes shut tightly.
“Miss?” The Beta female standing in the corner of the room slowly approached. I didn’t bother turning to address her. It was her fault my escape attempt failed. If she hadn’t opened the door to the attached bathroom, she wouldn’t have caught me standing on the toilet, trying to wiggle the window open. Her shout for my father brought him barreling in to drag me out of the bathroom and into the main room it was attached to so he could lay into me.
By the glee on her face, she’d enjoyed Alfonso’s show of force. I sighed and climbed to my stiletto-covered feet, smoothing my hands down the sides of a godforsaken black dress. Expensivepieces always adorned me, and the shoes were no different. To an outsider, I had every comfort I could want . . .
But it was all a facade. And fucking archaic. I sighed and tugged the shawl around my shoulders even though the dress reached my neck, covering my scars. With my step forward, the split in the dress skirt widened, showing off my leg. None of it was coincidence; Father wanted me looking desirable. I smoothed my hands down the bust and waistline. The suppressant pills I’d tossed back during the flight would have settled in my stomach by now.
Fortunately, I’d had one more dose left. Even after making sure to only take them before any large events Father dragged me to, they hadn’t lasted. I would have ended up having to beg Roberto to access my savings he’d been holding on to for me in order to get some more.
They weren’t cheap.
The pills were illegal without a prescription from an Omega specialist, so he had to get them off the black market, which was dangerous, but I needed the protective barrier against all Alphas. I hadn’t wanted to risk Alphas discovering I was their Scent Match, because if they were in any way acquainted with my father, they weren’t good people.
What I had taken should hold me over for a few weeks. After that, I’d have to figure out where to get more, but that was a problem for later.
Right now, my worry was the Ironwyld Alphas, and if I kept father waiting any longer, he’d come in and drag me out by my hair.
I shoved open the door and stepped into the hall with the Beta walking so close I could feel her breathing on me. Everything about this place screamed modern and sleek. From the rectangular windows framed in black, to the eggshell shade of the walls. I’d had only a glance at the house before I wasshuffled down the left of the entry all the way down the hall to a room with a single lounger couch.
The yellow-hue of dusk spilled in through the windows. My pulse elevated with each step, and my heart thundered painfully. I couldn’t do this. Switching one hell for another . . .
I whirled and gripped her arms. “I’ll pay you if you help me escape.” Pride had no place with the desperation clawing at my throat. I had a small savings account, hidden from Father since it was under Roberto’s name, but I would empty it if she agreed.
She writhed under my palms, trying to get away. I held on tighter, digging my nails into skin.
“Omega bitches never know how good they have it,” she murmured under her breath. I slowly dropped my grip. The gall of this woman.
She stared at me with a blank expression. As if she hadn’t just said something so utterly fucked.
All I wanted to do was curl up and cry. I would become the property of new Alphas. And this female an arm’s length away from me acted likeIwas the problem. She didn’t understand what I’d gone through and how much worse it’d gotten after I Presented as an Omega at eighteen. Then, when I Awakened at twenty-one, I got the searing heat I wasn’t allowed to quench. It elongated the agony that could have been staved off if I was allowed release with any Alpha. Father had me strapped me on the bed and under lock and key. Under no circumstances was I to lose my virginity.You’ll make me more money as a virgin.
She knew none of that, but it wasn’t an excuse.
“And Beta whores likeyoualways assume too much,” I hissed. “You disgusting?—”
“Enough!” The bellowed order rendered me silent.
