I pop my head out from the covers when I hear more footsteps, and I swear they’re coming from the attic entrance that leads to the main hall, sonotJudge’s room. With furrowed brows, I watch the door, listening to the bolts unlocking.
Judge isn’t feltanywhere.
I sit straight up, scrambling underneath the covers with my lips parted.
It’sRebecca, the omega with echo eyes.
As soon as she’s in, she’s holding her hands out as if to prevent any sound from me being made. “Sshh.”
“What’s going on? How are you in here?” I ask in a hushed voice. I look up at the camera, which still has a red dot on it. So it’s on, right?
“That camera is on repeat of you sleeping, so he won’t know. I know you’ve been in here for almost a month.”
I shake my head and close my eyes before opening them, jutting my head forward. “How have you managedanyof that?”
She looks down the stairwell, then back at me. “We need to move fast. I have something to show you. Something youdefinitelywant to see.”
“Woman, you arenotsupposed to be here!” I sit up, making sure I’m still covered. “Do you realize how much trouble you’ll be in? How did you even know I’m in Judge’s attic?”
“My alpha is close in Judge’s ranks. He’s one of the few that watches over you when Judge isn’t in here—” she points to the camera “—Don’t you want to know why Judge isn’t showing you off?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re not desirable for the pack,” Rebecca states, my eyes widening. “You’re an outsider. He needs an omega that is from here. Please, let me just show you, okay?”
Oh, that fucking hurts. “Then why did he go through all the trouble with me? And is your alpha aware of this?”
“My alpha is sleeping in our room because I ensured he’ll be out for at least the remainder of the day,” she says, an edge in her eyes reflecting what used to look back at me in the mirror. “I know you’re a scent match. Jack, my alpha, knows. Alphas can’t resist their scent matches, but you wouldn’t be the first omega to be taken, bitten, while he has other favorite pets. I heard he was getting something set up for you away from the Iron Castle, so you’d be permanently moved there.”
My heart races with a sickness that makes my body feel rotten. “What are you saying?”
“You should see foryourself.” She motions to the dresser. “Get dressed. I should warn you, too, that Judge has real plans for the scraps, andthat’swhy you weren’t with them anymore. He didn’t want you mixed up in that.”
“Whatplans?”
“He’s going to offer the scraps to Titan.”
My blood runs cold, and that finally gets me on my feet, poorly wrapped in a sheet. “Excuse me?”
“I’m here, Diana, because I’mleaving,” she hisses. “I’m going to the Witch Doctor and ripping Jack right out of me. He and I have a dark bond, and I don’t have much time to get away. Judge is at a gatheringright now. It’s not outthere, because you obviously can’t see it or you’ll want to skin him.”
I feel as nauseous as I did when I learned that a bomb had been dropped on my old district. “Are you fucking serious right now? Why even bother coming to me? You don’t owe me anything.”
“Selene said she wouldn’t arrange transportation with the trains if I didn’t at least try to talk to you first. She said if you don’t come, then I have to get a lock of your hair to prove I was near you.”
The world tilts.
“Selene… is with you?” I whisper.
For a moment, I’m not the omega in the attic or the ghost in Judge’s walls. I’m the girl who used to laugh so hard she cried, sitting in a nurse’s lounge with Selene, talking about everything we’d doif we ever got out.
That sparks life back into me like nothing else has.
I near the dresser, survival slithering in like muscle memory. “I’m naked,” I state, like it matters. I’m getting dressed even if she watches.
She turns around, giving me her back.
I throw on clothes because, at the very least, I’d rather not be totally freaking nude while dealing with this.
