Waking up is difficult, my body screaming that it’s far from pleased. I’m lying in a bed that smells divine, like the scent of home?—
My eyes widen.
Home.
No, home is beyond gone.
When I sit up through the groggy haze, it’s clear that the delicious scent emits from a black shirt that I was gripping like it was a favorite pet I fell asleep with. My nose wrinkles when I realize it belongs to Judge.
Did he fuck me while—I reach down underneath my pants, pressing firm against my skin between my thighs as I feelaround. Dry as my mouth. I sniff my fingers and only smell me, maybe the faintest scent of him, but it’s older.
Oh god, it really happened. I’m already scented by him. My pussy smelling like the alpha is the worst assault on my autonomy that anyone can make.
Holy shit.
This is actually my life.
Judge fucked me in my heat, drugged me, and then left me in a different place.
Apprehension makes me examine the space with more scrutiny, the cramped room containing only a single window with bars on the outside. Standing and tossing off the blanket, I’m wearing what he last put me in.
My feet are still bare; the floor is old wood. Orienting myself to understand where I’m at feels like waking into a nightmare. Nearing the window, all I see are a bunch of trees barely clinging to the last leaves of late fall. Turning around, I near the only door and press my ear up against it, hand on the metal handle. I can hear voices, probably female. There’s a scent in the air?—
My eyes widen.
They’re omegas.
Even that thought comes to me like a whisper. I don’t remember the last time I could smell this many individual omega scentswithoutsuppressants.
Opening the door, my curiosity gets far ahead of caution, as if closing one’s eyes before jumping off a cliff, only to finally hit the water and realize it’s over with. I’ve been captured and am now among omegas.
And I’m alive, unbound. I’m notokay, but Iamokay.
It’s clear I’m in a hallway of some sort, and it almost reminds me of the military bunkers of home, except this place has more elaborate trim work. I seek the omega scent, approaching an open archway that leads to a spacious area full of mismatchedcouches, tables, and chairs. There’s even a small kitchen in the back. Wherever I am, there’s a lot of electricity, as I haven’t heard the hum of that many parts since my childhood.
The place I hope to never revisit.
And yet, I know we’re closer to there than I have been in over a decade. Why not deal withallthe trauma at once and destroy my system in one fell swoop?
The women swivel their heads, their eyes on me like they’ve been waiting. A sudden chill prickles my skin, and I fold my arms like I’m a deer coming out of the woods to join the others, terrified that hunters are nearby.
“Where are we?” I ask, unable to let my gaze settle as I scaneverything.
“Well, there’s the softskin that almost got away.”
I eye the one who spoke, her neck and sides of her face covered in an elaborate tattoo design, a hoop ring pierced between her nostrils. A wild knot of blonde hair is pulled back, barely contained.
“Where are we?” I reiterated with a hoarse voice.
Another laughs sardonically, running her fingers through her pin-straight black hair. “Well, Judge might like her ass, but he clearly drugged her like the rest,” she drawls.
The tattooed one slides her gaze over before looking back at me. “We’re in the Iron Castle. The place Dominion lives. We’re in an omega wing. Ignore Cassandra. Or well, he probably did drug you, but don’t take it personally.”
It’s a strange sensation to have no recollection of the travel here, yet I’m told I’m at the fucking Iron Castle. I look around the place once more, neglecting the women as I slowly start a system of grabbing all the doorknobs, only for them to reveal small room after small room. The one with the tattoos follows me. “Those are all our rooms. The rest are empty. And that one—” When I’m upon a larger door that seems it will most definitely open to an exit, my eyes widen when I see five menoutside, all in leather vests, a few with shotguns in their hands. I shut it right away, sucking in a sharp breath. “—that’s definitely the way out, but it’s infested withthem. So, might as well treat it like a closet full of crap.”
I turn around, my heart pounding as I stare her over more. She’s entirely clean, wearing a black dress, and smells freely of omega.
“The name’s Juno.” She extends a small, tattooed hand.
