“You’ll take care of her.”
“Of course.”
“Fine. Go. She needs to sleep.”
Vale moves outside, and I hear them and stiffen.
“Get fucked.”
“Can you tell us-”
“I’m not telling you shit. Get that camera out of my face, or I’ll break it,” Rory snaps.
“But you left-”
“Clearly, we were coming back, but now, we are here. Let me be clear, every single company here will be hearing from our lawyers for causing damage to the omega we were courting.”
“You can’t do that-”
“I’m pretty sure you’ll find I already have. So I strongly suggest you stop filming, get out of this city, and leave us alone.”
“It’s free speech.”
“Yes, it is. But there are lines and consequences and responsibility,” Cyn snaps. “And you crossed the lines, and while our omega might not be able to lock you all up in court, we have the funds, the means, and the will. I’ll keep every single one of you in a courthouse, tied up in paperwork, until you’re ninety-nine. No one will hire you. No one will touch you.”
They back off; I can feel the fear in them.
What makes these alphas so terrifying to everyone who isn’t me?
They carry me back to their house.
Vale sets me down, and Rory starts cutting my clothes off me. I snarl, but he snarls back louder.
“If you hadn’t fucked yourself up so much, you could stop me, but here we are.”
“You don’t get to be pissy at me,” I say hoarsely back to him.
“Yeah, I do. You said you trusted us. You said you believed us. We left for two days to handle some business, and you lost it, but instead of killing someone else and letting us clean up the mess, you tortured your own body. Why?”
“I hate it,” I admit in a hiss.
“Why?” Rory snarls.
“Because it hurts.”
“Because you worked for two days without sleeping.”
“No, it hurts when you leave!” I shout at him and swing. The blow hits him in his face, and I don’t feel better, I feel worse.
The feelings flood back, all the ones I've been trying to ignore, and suddenly, four alphas are pressed to me.
“We weren’t gone, and we aren’t going to leave you ever again. You don’t need to feel that ever again,” Kota whispers.
I shudder, and my legs collapse, but before I can do more than dip, Cyn has me. He carries me into the shower and washes me carefully but thoroughly all over. Before I know it, I’m sitting in their bed, and Vale is forcing me to drink electrolytes and eat an energy bar.
I’m so tired, though.
I have nothing left in my tank.
