Ryu winced. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sure you can guess which omega didn’t want to mate. Not only did Inotwant to mate, but I knew that mating with alphas only inside Stoneheart would cause a big problem in the future,” I continued. “We could only mate with each other for so long before it became a giant, inbred problem.”
Ryu nodded. “You’re right. That’s part of the reason Cinderhollow is so strong. We’re constantly bringing in outside blood.” He paused, then said, “Please continue.”
“Where was I… Oh, right, not wanting to mate.” I sighed. “Well, that’s not exactly it. I was in heat. Ididwant to mate and have a family. That’s probably something the other Stoneheart wolves didn’t know about me, huh? They probably just assumed I was an ornery bitch and left it at that. Anyway, I knew for a fact that if I mated, I wanted an alpha fromoutsideStoneheart. That’s the real reason I left.”
I paused. The worst part of the story loomed ahead, so I took a moment to gather myself before I continued.
“I guess before me, there was no one to make an example of,” I said. “So I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I thought I could easily make a break for it. Everyone knows a wolf is faster and stronger than humans, right?” I shook my head. “I just… I didn’t know how many of them there would be. And their weapons…”
I trailed off, shuddering with the memory. Ryu held me close and murmured, “You can stop if you want.”
“No,” I said with a shiver. “I have to tell you the whole thing now, or I won’t ever.”
Ryu nodded seriously. “Take your time.”
After taking a moment to breathe, I continued. “The guards at the top of the walls saw me go. I suspect they were too confused to do anything about it. No one ever tried to leave Stoneheart before. We just accepted life the way it was. The guards were there for people trying to come in—never for people going out. They might have yelled something down at me, but it was too late. I’d already unlocked the main door and left, shifting into my wolf form to run free.”
I stared at the floor, my muscles tensing with anxiety. “That’s when it happened. As soon as I started running, the human raiders saw. They… they caught me easily. It wasn’t even a fair fight. There were too many of them. I didn’t stand a chance.”
“Didn’t the guards do anything?” Ryu asked indignantly.
“No. How could they?” I shrugged. “It happened so fast. And obviously, they didn’t want to meet the same fate as me. All they could do was warn the pack about what happened to me. I became a sad story, an example to every omega that didn’t want to mate. Like Gabriel.”
Anguish crossed Ryu’s face. Obviously he was thinking about how Gabriel’s fate was so different than mine, even though our circumstances were similar. But I was glad Gabriel didn’t end up like me. I wouldn’t wish this on anybody.
Ryu waited for me to continue, but he didn’t pressure me. I began speaking again when the time was right.
“I passed out, from the pain and shock. When I woke up, I was caged and bound at their camp. All alone, surrounded by humans with evil in their eyes,” I growled. “I was still…wholethen. They hadn’t touched me yet.”
Ryu’s eyes sparked with furious fire, but he didn’t interrupt.
“I only caught bits and pieces of their words,” I admitted. “I managed to realize that they were jealous of me. Of all shifters. They were angry that they weren’t like us. They wanted our powers.” I paused, swallowing the lump in my throat. “That’s why they… They cut off my arm and leg. They thought that consuming my flesh would give them my shifting ability.”
Horror dawned on Ryu’s expression. His entire body tensed, like he was ready to fight. It was a bit comforting to know he was furious on my behalf. I could only wish he was there at the time. He gripped the edge of the counter so hard, I thought it would crumble. He realized what he was doing and stopped with a harsh sigh.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I’m just so angry. I’ve never been this full of rage before. You didn’t deserve that.”
I shrugged half-heartedly. “Anyway, I couldn’t do anything about it. I just laid there, bleeding. It was obvious they weren’t done with me yet. I thought I was going to die. IknewI was going to die. I’d given up on life when the Cinderhollow scouts showed up.”
“The scouts,” Ryu murmured. “They must have been searching for omegas outside the tribe that wanted to join.”
“They were,” I confirmed. “Except that’s not why they picked me up. They just felt sorry for me.” Suddenly, I let out a barking laugh. “Do you wanna knowhowthey knew I was there?”
Ryu frowned, not wanting to humor my dark question with a reply.
“It was a raven shifter. She smelled all the blood. Isn’t that funny?”
“No,” Ryu said. He paused, as if in deep thought. “Wait. A female raven shifter? I wonder if it was Ruby Corvae, the servant of Dante and Lorenzo’s family?”
“It was a long time ago,” I said with a shrug, but the name did have a whiff of familiarity. “Anyway, it wasn’t just her—there was a female dragon, too. They fought off the humans just long enough to grab me and get out. Then they brought me to Cinderhollow. And that’s that.”
A moment of heavy silence descended. It seemed like an eternity before either one of us spoke again.
“How do you feel?” Ryu asked gently. “Any less repressed?”
“I guess so, yeah,” I admitted. “I haven’t told anybody all the details about what happened to me in… forever.”
