I wanted to ask if I can go out to another clearing tomorrow, please? Without Beast, preferably? As a part of the agreement.
What? Who was spying on me the entire time? I read it again, thinking it’s not Juno, unless she’s writing about herself in third person. Mira? It doesn’t matter. I grunt loudly, but don’t let it seem like I’m too bothered sincesomeoneis watching.
I can’t trustanyonein this world.
I breathe heavily, staring at the wooden wall in front of me.Doesn’t shock me at all that Judge was spying on me through someone, but I just… I don’t know, I imagined the others wouldn’t do that to me. They don’t owe me anything, but it still hurts. It’salwaysa betrayal.
Even back to my mom and dad…
Rolling off the bed, I go to the fire and grab more scraps of the book papers that didn’t rip perfectly and were my defect pages, placing them all in the small fire. I watch as all the paper burns, some of the letters visible as it crinkles open slightly.
I return to the nesting bed, staring at the door. I bet he’s coming up soon.
And when he does, I’m going to start asking him questions about himself. Learn who hereallyis. Make him think the omega he’s taken is interested in him, which is clearly what he wants. I’ll play that piece. The other omega in the letter asked to go outside, that he agreed she could. And I want out of this space, so I’ll be nice.
Maybe he’ll make an arrangement with me, too.
I’m kicking myself for not going along with his little plan downstairs, but I also just couldn’t do it at the time. I close my eyes, thinking this through as carefully as I can, and take deep breaths. Where is the exit?Howdo I get out of here? The unthinkable crosses my mind, and I don’t push it away.
What if he bites my neck? That would grant me freedom, right? The Witch Doctor can remove bites.
I’ll do it if I have to.
Okay… yes. Let’s start there.
My eyes flash open when I hear him in the stairwell.
DIANA
I wipethe heat from my face, straighten the blanket, and sit with my back tall. The fire eats the last curl of paper, a black petal collapsing into ash. If he finds it, fine. I can’t panic. He’s the one who left his doors unlocked and forgot to take out the trash.
The doorknob turns, and then he fills the doorway.
The room tightens around Judge the way a throat tightens to swallow, his thick frame a reminder of who he is and what he’s capable of. His pale eyes go to the hearth for one second longer than I’d prefer, then to my hands that smell like beef jerky.
“You didn’t eat the food I brought earlier. Grow tired of the bread pudding?”
He even pays attention to the fact that Ialwayseat the bread pudding. “I preferred the jerky,” I counter.
His rough, deep exhale fills the quiet space. “If you want a change in the menu, all you have to do isask.” He comes within a few feet of me, his right hand moving the fingers like it’s kinetic energy that hasn’t fully resolved, but his eyes look… playful? “Did you have fun going through my space?”
“It definitely broke up the monotonyof being in here.”
“What would have really broken that up is asking about the note you took… I admit, I didn’t think to take out the trash first.”
My jaw drops, and I look at him like how the teen nurses used to look at us when we found them sneaking out at night. Or like a raccoon caught rummaging through the bins. Glancing down, I stare at his legs, then at his forearms that are thick with muscle, a few deep scars lining his flesh. “Of course you noticed.”
“I have cameras in my room as well.”
My face deadpans. Why in the hell did I not think of that? “I don’t want to ask anything about it.”
“Keeping an eye on you is what a good alpha would do to an omega who trusts no one, and is an incredible flight risk.”
“I can’t do the monotony anymore,” I say, almost pleading. “I miss fresh air. All the windows are bolted shut.”
I don’t know if my mind is extra vigilant because I’m incredibly desperate for a break in this, but I swear I can see him considering doing other things than just growling, fucking me, and then making me pass out. “You’re not going to leave these walls without my bite in your neck, Diana.”
“Then just do it already!” I get out.
