“Over my dead body, you nasty motherfucker,” I shouted, the rest of the guys spitting the same curses as me only to be promptly shut up when the barrels of guns were pressed to our foreheads.
“That can be arranged, boys, but let’s see if your omega has the balls to protect you the same way that you’ve protected him,” Orpheus said as he jabbed me in the skull with the tip of his still warm pistol.
Podcast turned to look at me, his body was still shaking with fear but his expression was full of stubborn resoluteness as he nodded.
“No,” I told him, shaking my head vigorously. My earlier vision of him lying prone on the floor returned to my mind as he gently pushed the barrel away from my forehead.
‘I’ll do it,’he signed before standing on wobbly legs.
“Perfect,” Orpheus crowed, and grabbed Podcast by the back of his neck and began to drag the omega toward the back hall. “Why don’t you give me a little tour of this shithole, omega.”
I needed to get back there. To get to Podcast. Prickling rage filled my body and it took me a minute to realize that it wasn’t only my anger that was blazing hot.
While we’d been listening to Orpheus spout crazy shit, Juneau had apparently had enough. I could see her crawling toward the front of the table, her face pinched with fury.
I met her eyes and shook my head but she was already lifting a glowing hand, and after a moment, the world exploded around us.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Icouldn’tfeelPodcast’sfear, but I could see it on his face as he was dragged away by the disgusting Orpheus. Despite the way that the pack likened him to the boogeyman, he didn’t impress me much. He was a bully and I hated bullies.
It had taken everything inside of me to remain hidden in the shadows underneath the booth table. I knew that they would have wanted me to stay out of trouble, but Rex getting shot in the leg and watching them hurt my loved ones was filling every fiber of my being with rage.
Rex could feel it, his icy eyes finding mine. He wanted me to stay where I was, I could see it on his face as he shook his head, but I was done letting people hurt my family.
I lifted a hand and aimed for the wall of liquor behind the bar. If we survived, I was definitely going to hear an earful about destroying all of the stock from Rex later. The wall exploded in an inferno of fire, throwing everyone in the bar into a panic.
I was up and out of my hiding place before they could figure out what was happening, my feet carrying me toward the back hallway to where Orpheus had taken Podcast. The sounds of fighting followed me but I ignored it, relying on the rest of the pack to handle themselves.
The door to the storage room was half-way open by the time I skidded to a stop in front of it.
Orpheus was completely oblivious to the chaos that I’d just created. He knelt down over Podcast, who was unconscious, and was dragging the tip of a knife down the omega’s bare chest. My stomach heaved at the sight of someone I loved being tortured.
“Get off of him!” I didn’t think, I just jumped and wrapped my arms and legs around the alpha.
“The fuck?” I heard him shout as he stood, trying to throw me off.
I channeled all of my rage into the palms of my hands and pressed it to the man’s face, feeling his skin crack and bubble as he screamed.
I felt him trip over Podcast and together we stumbled toward the mirror. The same one I had been trying not to think about all night.
I closed my eyes and braced myself for impact, but instead I fell by myself through the surface of the mirror, the sound of glass shattering following me as the blackness closed in around me.
I landed on my hands and knees on a familiar rug, glass raining down around me as I tried to catch my breath.
“No.” My voice was hoarse as I looked up to find myself sitting in my mother’s Pink Room. “No, no, no, no,” I chanted as I stood with a wince and turned to look at the now-shattered mirror above the fireplace.
“This can’t be happening.” I had made my choice. I wanted my pack. I couldn’t be back in 1915 again.
I scrambled within myself to try and find the bond I shared with Rex, only to find it quiet and stretched beyond recognition.
I yanked on it, hoping for something, anything.
‘You’ve returned to your time, Juneau,’the voice that had been silent for weeks whispered mournfully in my mind.
“Take me back,” I demanded. “I didn’t choose to come back here, so you put me back right now.”
‘I don’t know if I can, not with the mirror shattered,’the voice sounded apologetic, but it didn’t make me feel any better.
