His fingers were cool, and despite his steady voice, there had been a deep tremor in his grip.
“I’m okay, Princess,” he murmured.
But I didn’t know if he was.
He sat though, drawing me onto his lap without giving me space to argue, arms winding around me, giving me relief as I battled with my own consciousness.
If he was still here, I could hold on.
Karma pulled out a chair for Sin, and I noticed the way he nudged him, as if for comfort.
Sin was like a statue that might crack beneath the slightest breeze. A storm held together by sheer willpower as he lowered himself onto the seat stiffly.
It was strange seeing him without the blood red eyes…
So wrong.
The two men behind the glass weren't speaking as they stared at us and the crimson smears on our faces.
Would they send us back?
I tried to straighten my brain out around another heat pang. They were probably unhappy that we’d made their room smell like a fresh slaughter house.
Phantom cleared his throat. “We’re here for our appeal.”
Good.
He sounded solid. Sure. Not a fraction of the ferality I knew they’d be looking for.
I glanced at Karma. He hadn’t sat, protectively shadowing Sin. Phantom was on his other side, also still on his feet.
The betas exchanged a look, one of them clicking onto the computer, typing something rapidly after an exchange we didn’t hear. Then the other spoke into the microphone, his words not coming through to our side, and then looked up. He adjusted the headset, trying again, and his voice crackled to life through the speakers.
“Please uh… list the designations and names of your pack members.” His eyes were fixed on me.
“No…” I heard the other faintly through the speakers as he addressed his colleague, looking up from his computer where he’d been previously typing. “No record of a female alpha…”
“We have two omegas,” Vandle said. “Three alphas.”
“Two?” The colour drained from the faces of the betas, their eyes going wide. Maybe they’d guessed because of my eyes, but Sin’s didn’t give him away. “That’s impossible. Omegas aren’t permitted in Anarchy.”
I frowned, curiosity overtaking my discomfort. “There are lots—” I cut off as I felt Vandle’s hand tighten around my waist—a warning of sorts.
I shut my mouth, looking between the betas and Sin.
Why didn’t they know?
He was tense, jaw clenched, the suppressed Sigma energy making the air around him feel heavy.
“Someone’s been doing it without permission, I would guess,” Vandle murmured in my ear.
I remembered when I’d been sent down by the High Priest, how he’d taken me from the Convent.
Everything had seemed secretive, but at the time, I’d thought it was just because they didn’t want me exposed to any other alphas, lest I destroy them…
But I knew, now, how so much of that had been made of lies.
It was at that moment that another wave of my heat hit and the tenuous strings of thought holding my sanity together snapped completely.
