“So, you see, Omega? You can get off your high horse now. You never meant anything to the alpha, and you never will. Dom said it back then, even before he left for black ops; you don’t deserve a place in this pack. You're nothing but scum, and it's only a matter of time before you're kicked out.”
Simon's words knock into my gut with a palpable strike that has me feeling sick to the core. I know exactly which time he’s talking about—the time I was being bullied and Dominic said and did nothing. I ran off then, and it’s probably when he said those nasty things about me.
Keeling over and clutching my gut, I point at the door.
“Leave, Simon!” I yell out, relieved when I see his boots stepping toward the door. But instead of leaving, he turns to me, forcing me to look up just as he smiles sadistically, then presses a sweet but ether-like doused cloth to my face. Just as I'm about to squeal and attempt to fight back, the claws of unconsciousness wind their dark tendrils around my vision, and everything fades to black.
***
The gnawing in my insides is what pulls me back to consciousness, my head heavy with a thumping headache that makes it nearly impossible to see clearly when I open my eyes. Blinking them slowly as I adjust my vision to the dim lightsurrounding the room, I panic when I realize my wrists are tied to bedposts on either side of me.
Gasping and struggling to catch my breath, the scorching burn in my throat lingers from having inhaled chloroform. That's when I remember that it was Simon who choked me with a cloth drenched in poison, and now I've woken up in a dimly lit room, tied to the bed.
I kick my legs, shuffling to sit upright when Simon's treacherous face stares at me, appearing eerily creepy as he holds a candle to his face. Lit up by the orange flickering light, every sharp line of his face appears horrid, his eyes glowing like hellish pits as if he's deranged.
“You're awake so soon, Omega…” he chides in a cruel tone as he stands up and carries the candle with him. “I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise, since you're the alpha's fated mate.”
“Wh-what?” I stammer, my stomach churning with how gruesome Simon's looming presence appears. I gag when I feel a stir in the pit of my belly.
“That's right, Cecelia Morales,” Simon chuckles. “I overheard my father talking to his beta about it, and we all know that fated mates are the most feared amongst our kind because of their power together. Now that proves to be a problem for me, considering that Dominic won the trials and is now alpha.”
“You're l-lying!” I croak, the unbearable pain in my gut making it hard to concentrate. But I heard what he said—he thinks Dominic and I are fated mates.
It's so rare, but if it does occur, the wolf who emerges with a fated mate naturally becomes the pack's leader because of how powerful he becomes beside them.
Simon must be lying. There's no way Dominic and I are fated mates.
“Oh, I’m not lying. I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble if I were,” Simon snorts. “Why would I care about a stupid omega, unless killing her would render my rival weak, so I can take his place as the alpha?”
Simon's sadistic laughter as he peels his lips over yellowing teeth and throws his head back has me feeling sick to the core.
“You're crazy!”
Simon lowers his head and blows out the candle, meeting my eyes with a cruel glint in his. “I may be crazy, but I know Dominic will be too once I've killed you. I heard it hits one harder when the other dies.” He straightens up and pulls out a knife. I gasp when he presses the blade to my throat, feeling it burn because it must be made of silver. “Let's put it to the test, shall we? I'll prove to everyone in the pack that Dominic is a weakling, just like his weak omega mate!”
Simon howls and raises the knife as if he's preparing to strike, and I close my eyes, bracing for impact while murmuring a few last-minute prayers, knowing I'm going to die. I shed tears for the life I would have had, and guilty ones for ever doubting Dominic.
If Simon is right—even if he's crazy—then Dominic and I are fated mates.
It's that thought that erupts a giant stir in the pit of my belly, shooting my eyelids open just in time to see the door crashing in and knocking Simon down.
As if my prayers were answered, Dominic stands at the door in his magnificent wolf form like a knight in shining armorof black fur. Our eyes meet for a brief moment as relief washes over me, the ache in my belly subsiding until a treacherous howl rings out when Simon shifts into wolf form and bursts out from under the door that knocked him down.
Dominic lifts his head and howls at the top of his wolf lungs, the sound vibrating through me with the power of recognition of my fated mate.
There's another recognition just as Simon charges toward Dominic, and I gasp, worried for the father of my child.
Chapter 22 - Dominic
Meeting Cecelia's eyes briefly brings momentary relief that I found her before it was too late. But that relief is short-lived when Simon comes bursting from underneath the door in his wolf form, his eyes red and oddly demented when a treacherous howl rips through the air.
Something is off about him, as if his madness has taken over him and turned him rogue. When he comes lunging toward me, his lashes are crazed and uncontrolled and unlike the wolf I know him to be.
Did he take the loss so badly that he let his anger take over? Thank Goddess, Santo and a few others found his scent across the border when one of the younger wolves spotted Simon carrying a body bag out of the woods.
All the way to Mount Desert, I'd been filled with dread thinking that body bag contained Cecelia's lifeless form. But seeing her breathing now, even if she's tied to a bed, ignites my deepest protective instincts as I fight Simon and dodge every single one of his attacks.
I draw him out of the cabin, his teeth snapping at my face as he pushes through the narrow doorframe until he finally bursts through, cracking wood, leaving a gaping hole behind him for Cecelia to watch the fight. I continue dodging and defending myself with brisk attacks, only injuring him enough to impair him until Santo and Bart come to my aid.
