“What do they want with us?”
Shelby gives me a stern look but shakes her head. “I think they’re selling most of the girls. Some are for personal pleasure,” she states plainly. There’s no room for sugar coating with the situation we’re in.
I gulp and wrap my arm around myself.
“If we ever find ourselves alone with one of them, we need to be smart, Lily.”
She says it like it’s inevitable and that our escape may take some time. The dry sandwich in my stomach threatens to come back up, but I swallow it down.
“If we can just get a phone off of one of them, that would be everything. Especially if we could just send a text and delete it after. I hate to say it, but I think you had the right idea. No more putting up fights, the more docile and calm we are, the more likely they are to lower their guards. If either of us has a chance at a phone or to get out, we take it.”
“Okay,” I sigh, wanting to die, but the small sliver of hope she’s giving me is enough to keep me going. My stomach recoils, though, and I grab my waist at the pain.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
There are no lights in the small room, just the window in the corner signifying the time of day. The sun is going down, and Shelby and I decide to lie on the bed. I’m not sure how either of us will get any sleep tonight, but we can’t let ourselves fall apart.
We only have each other in this depressing room and in this situation. I take some solace in that; I hate that I put Shelby in this situation, but at least I’m not alone. I’m pretty sure I would have crumbled in on myself by now if it weren’t for her strength.
Another cramp hits me suddenly, and I groan. The pain is so sharp and intense that my vision almost goes out. It reminds me of the last period I had, but worse.
“Lily?”
“Something’s wrong,” I grumble as Shelby touches my forehead.
“You’re burning up. When did this start?”
“I don’t know. Fuck it hurts,” I whine.
And despite everything, that fact I’m terrified and in pain… I perfume. It doesn’t hold the thick warmness it usually does, but it’s potent nonetheless.
“Shit, Lily.”
Neither of us has to say it. If we talk about it, that would make it real. Shelby shifts so that her body curls behind mine, her bad arm resting on top of me as she gives me the slightest bit of comfort.
She’s not mine.
She’s not the Beta I want right now.
This wasn’t supposed to happen this way, none of it was. I should be on the road with Axel and Cash right now, starting our new lives. I hoped maybe Tate would join us too, but now it doesn’t matter.
I’m trapped here, and the idea of what’s going to happen to me makes me sob. My first heat is going to be taken away fromme, and the worst part, my body won’t care. All it will want is the relief and for the pain to go away. But my head and my heart? If there was a way to kill myself in this small room, I think I would.
The thought is dark, and it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever felt this way. It’s only a matter of time before they come barreling through that door and take a piece of my soul, one that I can never get back.
Shelby tries to make soft noises of reassurance in my ear, but we both know I’m fucked.
Even if we get out of here, I don’t know if I’ll survive this. I’ve survived a lot as a child, my mind hiding away dark truths I never wanted to face. But this? Them using me in this state… I won’t ever be the same.
There’s a soft thud in the hallway that makes both Shelby and I startle. She holds me closer to her chest. “It’s okay, shhh. It’ll be okay.”
It won’t.
Her lies don’t comfort either of us as the doorknob turns. Shelby and I both act like we’re asleep, but it doesn’t matter as a male hand touches me.
Yet, I don’t revolt from the touch. His scent is so familiar, and it’s jarring when I turn in Shelby’s arms.
