Just the words feel vile in my mouth, wrong on my tongue. “It won’t come to that. I won’t let it.”
“There’s one more thing,” Grayson growls. “Alicia. I want that bitch to pay for what she’s done to Sienna.”
My fists clench on my desk. “I want that too, Gray. But we can’t tip them off. Two more days, and they both go down for what they’ve done.”
And he’ll have to fight me to get to Alicia first, for what she did to my Soul Bonded.
They both walk out, leaving me to stew over how we’re going to get through a fucking Mating Ceremony, how I’m going to get Sienna to forgive me, patch my pack back together.
My hands shake as I reach for the whiskey.
Just one glass.
54
SIENNA
The room is still dark, but I can see tendrils of morning light poking through the slight gap in the curtains. I stare at it accusingly from my position, curled up in the corner of my bedroom where I’ve stayed for the last two days.
I couldn’t cope with the bed. Too empty. So I pulled off the bedding and made my own little nest in the corner of the room, one free of anything relating to the Cohen pack.
I haven’t spoken to them. Haven’t been downstairs, haven’t exposed myself to any more of the chaos that this damn pack is intent on bringing into every aspect of my life. They haven’t pushed it, although I trip over Jax every time I go to the bathroom. He’s kept a vigil outside my door, soft patches of song coming through the cracks that make my heart hurt every time I hear them.
The pain in my stomach is reaching nuclear levels, but at this point, I can’t bring myself to care. I can’t bring myself to care much about anything.
Today is my Mating Ceremony. The Trials will be over, the rest of our lives stretching out ahead of us.
A road of pain and broken promises littering the path like glittering shards of glass.
Every part of my body hurts when I force myself upright. I have to get ready.
Who knows what excitement today will bring.
I walk through the motions slowly. First, the bathroom. I step over Jax, his light snores filling the hallway where he’s slumped next to my door. I close the bathroom door. Do my business. Run the shower. Clean my teeth. Wash my hair slowly. Check on my still healing leg, the stitches slowly dissolving into vicious shiny red skin.
Avoid looking in the mirror at all costs. I don’t want to see the evidence of the last four weeks, and what it’s done to my body.
I know I look different. I can feel it.
I’m not the same omega that walked into her Bonding Ceremony with hopes and dreams.
Now, I’m something else. Something a little bit broken.
But today, I’m goinghome.
I’ve made up my mind. Maybe we’ll work things out, but I can’t do that in the same house as them, breathing in their scents, tortured by their closeness. I’m in pain regardless. I’ll take my old bedroom, my family, and we’ll see what happens after that. If they’ll fight for me.
My dad promised me my home would always be there. And I’m taking him up on it, as soon as the Mating Ceremony is complete.
When I open the bathroom door, I flinch at the sight of Logan, his hands filled with a long bag. He spins to me, the edge of the bag brushing over Jax’s legs where he’s slumped over.
“Sienna,” he whispers. “I just… I wanted to give you this.”
He holds out the bag, but I just stare at it. “What is it?”
His cheeks darken. “Just a dress. I realized you might not have one, and… you deserve something nice to wear.”
Because that’s all I’m good for. Pretty clothes and trinkets. Not for anything real.
