Glancing to the side, I shake my head, moving closer to the front door.
“No,” I whisper. “I don’t know anyone in this building.”
“That’s a lie. Those ruffians dragged you in here a few months ago. They didn’t think anyone saw, butIsee everything,” the older woman hisses, looking me over.
It’s true, Pack Cockburn wasn’t at all gentle when they caught me the last time I escaped. They slammed my head into the wall, screamed at me, and dragged me back to the apartment. No one came out, I don’t think they’d dare.
Their cop friends run this city alongside the mob and see everything.
“I just want to go,” I say, my voice cracking. “Please, they can’t find me again.”
“Then be smart,” she says, hiking up her bag over her shoulder. The woman must be in her sixties, but looks like she could run circles around me in my current condition. “I know people who can help you…and your baby.”
At my startled look, she sighs.
“I’m Chrysalis,” she says. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that you’re on the run and very pregnant. Dressed like that, you’ll get picked up in a second. Sometimes, you have to trust someone. What does your gut say?”
Cerenity gently rolls around in my stomach, and I don’t feel any sense of panic. Chrysalis is the epitome of calm, even as she gazes at me with impatience circling in her blue eyes.
“Okay,” I breathe.
“We’re taking the bus,” she announces, linking her arm with mine. I don’t like people touching me, but she doesn’t bother me.There’s a small amount of peppermint coming from her, muted and soft. She’s also an omega, but it’s almost as if she’s hiding it.
“And then?” I ask, walking out the door with her. The winter wind is frigid as it attempts to cut through my layers.
“We’re going to get you new documents, use the underground to keep you safe, get you new clothes that fit. You’ll need to keep moving forever. Can you do that?”
“Yes,” I say immediately. “My bond…it’s messed up and they always seem to find me.”
“Stay strong for your baby, show her how omegas keep their children safe. One day, you’ll find alphas who know what to do with an omega,” Chrysalis says sagely.
My feet move without being asked to, and I silently raise up a prayer as I walk.
Please, protect my baby.Cerenity is the only one I care about. I don’t matter. I truly believe that, and no one can tell me differently. The picture Chrysalis paints of finding good alphas seems too good to be true and I can’t focus on that.
“If anyone ever asks how you got away, you make something up,” she adds. “No one can ever know we helped you.”
“Who is we?” I rasp.
“The Abused Underground,” she replies. “We help those who can’t help themselves.”
Chapter
One
Twenty-five years later
OLIVIA
Free just to end up ina mental institution.It feels as if I’ve come full circle, but this is the safest place for me. My daughter thinks I’m hearing voices, and in a way, she’s right.
They just don’t belong to me.The voices belong to my alphas, the ones who bonded me to them against my will so long ago. They taunt me in my mind, and can track me based on what they can see through me. It’s a deep, twisted connection, and how I’ve managed to keep moving.
Cerenity has made a life here, though. She has a club, a best friend, it’s not right to keep running. At least here at Weeping Willow Home, I’m medicated so highly that the voices are silent.
They can’t find me, which means my beautiful daughter is safe.
Drifting from moment to moment isn’t even that bad. It’s quiet and peaceful.
