If I can just neaten him up, then maybe he’ll open his eyes.
“Please, wake up.” My hand is trembling.
Icarus will hate the sticky sensation when he wakes up…if he wakes up.
I furiously wipe at the traitorous tears, which I can’t stop leaking from my eyes.
“Stop it,” I whisper. “Stay strong. Focus.”
I will find a way out of this. I have to.
But how?
Desperately, I stare around the vast cellar with vaulted ceilings. The only lights, which the security team who draggedIcarus and me through the secret staff corridors here were kind enough to leave on, are small brass ones that are built into the stone walls.
Custom-built wine racks line the rest of the walls, angled to keep the corks from drying out. I scrunch up my nose at the earthy damp smell, which mingles with the berry aromas of the aging wine.
This musty darkness is where staff are shut up as an isolation punishment.
It is pretty much a second home for Icarus.
I grimace, stretching my arms.
My stomach growls, clawing with hunger. My throat is dry.
How many hours have we been locked in here now?
When does Maya intend to let us out? Have I already missed the ball?
Is it past midnight?
The security team ripped off our watches before they threw us in here. It’s one of the cruel rules of isolation.
My muscles twinge, where my shoulder was struck by a baton. Yet Icarus shielded me and took most of the blows. Beneath his ripped shirt, he must be black and blue.
Idiot Alpha.
My Alpha.
I gently loosen Icarus’ tie, letting my fingers brush over his scent gland in case that helps him. Then I nuzzle against his cheek, purring in encouragement. I concentrate, as sweat beads my forehead, coursing my pheromones over him.
Nothing.
Icarus still lies unmoving and bloodied in my arms.
My purr cuts off. Tears slip from my cheek onto his.
“Why didn’t I see how much I loved you earlier?” I murmur. It’s easy somehow to confess knowing that he can’t hear me. The silence in the shadows is getting to me. “You are my best friend,Icarus. I always had to put on an act with everyone else but at high school, but you justgotme. Do you know how many of my friends tried to convince me to stop hanging out with thebroke-assed Alpha? Fuck them. You never treated me like I was an Omega. It was just Icarus and Grace. I couldn’t imagine a time when we wouldn’t be together. After losing one of my parents, witnessing the devastation of a Shattered Bond, then the abusive violence of Maya, I think that I was frightened that if I bonded with you, then you’d change. I couldn’t risk losing you, my closest friend. Then I was meant to match with the Alcotts and I didn’t love them but it felt…the safe choice. I’ve always loved you; I just didn’t realize that I was in lovewithyou. But I am. I really fucking am. So, wake up, my Alpha.”
I stare at Icarus, hoping that somehow he will hear me and open his eyes.
He doesn’t.
“Wake the fuck up,” I order through my tears, “else I’ll do every reckless and bratty thing I can. I’m not kidding. And you won’t even be able to give me that stern face of yours that you love. I’ll…eat your hidden stash of favorite cookies in your desk that you don’t think I know about, mess up your alphabetized filing system, and mix up the staff schedule for the next year. You hear me? You better open those pretty blue eyes and stop me causing havoc like you always do. Because if you die, my Alpha, I will go as feral as you are and then…then I will die. Because why does it matter that you fell first? I’ve fallen so much harder.”
Helplessly, I sob.
“Harder, huh?” Icarus’ startlingly blue eyes snap open.
