Of all of the alphas, the one that was the most proficient with a knife seemed like the best choice for upping my chanced of survival. Nevermind that I just… missed him. He’d been soworried about how I would react back at the apartment that it was a bit of a surprise, given I was still half sure that I was pretty much just an incubator he got to fuck.
Okay, maybe that wasn’t fair. He was just… hard to read.
My knock on the alpha’s door went unanswered. Unsurprisingly, given Cameo tried to keep a fairly regimented schedule and two AM was certainly in the realm of time where he was usually sleeping.
I swung the door open, whispering loudly as I toed my way into the room. “Cameo?”
Nothing.
Not that Cameo, god forbid, would be the type to snore and let that slide.
I had a feeling that if anyone could, he’d be able to stop himself out of sheer willpower alone. But, if that didn’t work out, surgery was probably a fun side hobby for the strange alpha anyway.
Cameo’s bed was tucked into an alcove on the far side of the room with heavy velvet curtains in a deep merlot framing either side. I tiptoed towards it, but all my care to be quiet was pointless, since once I got close enough to squint through the shadows I could make out that his bed was empty, sheets still tucked with nurse-like precision.
My chest tightened with anxiety, worst case scenarios flying through my mind a mile a minute.
Where did he go at this hour?
A faint, blueish glow from over the loft’s railing in Cameo’s office below drew my eye, and I moved to investigate. A long alpha-shaped shadow laid on the vintage sofa facing the desk, the knot of worry in my stomach loosening.
Oh, duh.
Leaving my blanket behind on Cameo’s bed, I slid down the fireman’s pole that connected the two rooms to go drag the alphato bed. Only, once I was level with the mass, I realized that it wasn’t Cameo at all.
The long body pillow propped against the back of the couch almost made me laugh as I picked it up. Even squinting in the low light, I would recognize that patternanywhere, my long pigtails flowing beside me on the strawberry-printed fabric.
He has my merch?
I smiled, weirdly charmed by the alpha’s strangeness.
I wonder…
I brought the pillow to my nose for a heavy sniff, letting out a little giggle at the burst of smoky sweetness that flooded my senses.
Yeah, he totally fucking cuddles with it.
Laughter really was the best medicine, the knot in my stomach loosening a little as I set the pillow-me back into her place.
I’d intended on heading back upstairs to look for Joon and Indi, but the faint glow of Cameo’s computer screen drew me closer, casting strange shadows along the walls. As I approached, a plastic container on his desk caught my eye. I recognized it as one of the prep containers that Marcus used the in the kitchen, my smile growing at the massive, quiet alpha leaving his friend treats for while he worked.
Curious, I picked the container up, squinting through the semi-opaque side to try and make out the contents within.
Too dark.
I pulled the chain on the vintage banker’s lamp, and the bulb popped to life in a wash of warm light that left me blinking, trying to adjust.
This, of course, was ahugemistake.
In my hand, separated by only a few milimeters of plastic, was a container full of thick, wriggling white worms.
I gasped, tossing the container on to the desk and wheeling around to beeline it the fuck out of the office when my eyes hit the wall, registering the odd shadows for what they were for the first time. Bugs of every size, shape and type bore down on me from every side, the walls seeming to close in around me, bringing them closer.
A scream tore from my throat as I bolted for the door, nearly tripping in my rush to get the ever-loving fuck out of there. I missed the doorhandle on the first try, but on the second, it opened and I half fell into the hallway, a dark mass moving to block the low light coming from the kitchen at the end of the hall.
Where's your knife?Cameo's voice hissed in my mind.
I reached into the pocket of my sleep shorts. At first, I’d thought that the whole‘always be armed’thing was insane. But now? Faced with an assailant in the middle of the packhouse, my alphas no where to be seen? The metal of the handle, warmed from being kept so close to my body, seemed to steady me.
