I was training to be a bodyguard. I dreamed that my job would be to defend him.
Seeing him being bullied, my Rogue Powers simply burst out.
“Then Mars must learn to stand up for himself. Alphas must be Alphas.” Fiorella hurled me to the floor next to Mars. “If you ever use your powers again, however, I will hand you over to the government. I’ll let them execute you, understand? Go to the basement. Don’t you dare come out. I don’t want to see your ugly face.”
When I was finally released from my room, I was never the same.
I was stronger.
I tilt my head, deciding which memory game to start first to keep my mind sharp.
“Hmm, song lyrics or famous Omegas?” Hearing my voice out loud is how I keep myself sane. Well, less crazy. “Wait, card games. Nope, let’s start with a list of one hundred card tricks. Okay, the Rogue Switch, Invisible Deck, Phantom Deck…”
I am smiling by the time I reach one hundred of my magic tricks, running through how to do each one as I count it.
Then I settle in front of the bars cross-legged.
You are only in a cage if you allow yourself to be. We are all free inside our own minds.
I take a deep breath, opening the door and imagining that I am in my brother’s bedroom instead.
I visualize the space like I have trained myself to. I count the posters on the bedroom wall, trace my fingers over the fluffy cushions on my brother’s bed, imagine the red roses through the windows, and smell the sweet milkshake scent.
A deep contentment settles over me, despite the devastation that tore through me on being torn apart from my brother and Nico.
I always knew that Fiorella would betray me at some point.
She warned me that she would, holding the threat over my head to keep me loyal. At least this way, I chose the timing.
What are packs?
Home?
I do know that love is putting someone else’s happiness before your own.
It’s loyalty and duty like giving myself up to save my brother.
But can it be more than that?
As a Rogue, I never had a chance in the Adonis pack. But I have bought that chance for my brother, Nico, and the Omegas in the auctions.
It’s a fair price.
I bite my lip, returning into my mind and the reality of the freezing cell.
When I hear light footsteps down the corridor, I open my eyes.
I stiffen but deliberately keep myself looking relaxed.
“Rogue Seventy,” a cheery voice calls, which is jarringly out of place in this bleak facility. I have been labeled asSeventy. So, there are at least sixty-nine other poor prisoners here, right? Or are there far less? Because of those sixty-nine, how many have survived? “Happy Christmas!”
My head does jerk up at that.
How did I miss that it’s Christmas Day already?
Not that I have much to celebrate.
I still smile, imagining Mars waking up at Adonis Hall and his normal bouncing excitement every Christmas morning. Nico always makes sure that he has a good day.
