It was weird being in a strange house when night came. But it beat the ranch. I’d be dodging my brothers about this time, fighting over a single TV in the break room, avoiding Elf who always tattled on every little thing we did that he decided was wrong. It was nice to have peace and quiet. I could eat as much as I wanted when I wanted. I didn’t have to wait in line for a shower, letting the pregnant omegas go ahead of me. I could sleep in privacy. Best of all, I wasn’t dreading being called to the breeding rooms in or out of my heats. No more drugs. No more blurry nightmares of being taken without consent. The past year, I’d been spared a lot of that, having only been taken during my heats. If alphas suspected you weren’t fertile, they didn’t want you. Since I hadn’t quickened in a year, I was already turning into an old maid at twenty-two.
Later in the evening I grew bored. I wandered back upstairs and entered Malin’s hoard room again. It was incredible and I was drawn to the majestic beauty of it. I’d already examined every glass piece downstairs. I wanted to look at more.
There was one whole aisle of abstracts. Globes and cubes, pyramids and rods. Some had rainbows deep inside of them. I picked up a sphere about the size of my two fists put together and held it high so the track lighting in the ceiling reflected within it. It was glorious. Too beautiful for words.
“What are you doing?”
The voice startled me and the sphere slid from my hands crashing to the floor and splintering into a million pieces.
Malin stood at the end of the aisle, eyes hard and dark, unreadable.
“Oh gods! I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I bent to pick up a piece of the sphere. For a moment, I thought if I had enough glue andtime, I could fix it. Which was completely irrational of me, but that was where my mind went.
“Get out of here.”
I froze, my mouth open.
“Now!”
Still clutching the broken curve of glass, I ran forward. He smelled of alcohol as I hurried by him and out the door. I sprinted to my room, slammed the door, and stood in the center of the room breathing hard. Something stung. I looked down and saw the glass in my hand had cut two of my fingers.
I went to my bedside table and gently set it down. The glass still ran with rainbows. Even broken, it was breathtaking.
Blood ran down my fingers. I grabbed a tissue and held it against the cuts. Only then, did the dread and horror of what had just happened settle into me. What had I done? There was no question now. Malin was going to return me. Brimstone wouldn’t want to give the money back. Not eight mil. And if Malin sued them for it, I would become the pariah of the ranch, a nobody, a burden. They would let the alphas at me for free. More than one at a time.
I’d just signed my own death warrant.
19
Malin
It was after midnight when the ride service dropped me home. I’d go back to the bar tomorrow to pick up my car. I hadn’t been in any shape to drive.
It had been an awful day. And as I pulled up and saw a light on in my hoard room, my frustration only worsened. Fuck, what now?
My day had started normally. Although my life was anything but normal right now.
I hadn’t told Cassius where I was going because it wasn’t any of his business. Usually, I had therapy sessions online. But Jacob had been in his town office today and we’d agreed to meet there. That agreement had been worked out days before I met Cassius. It wasn’t like it was any big deal. But of course, this meeting would be different. I had a lot to get off my chest.
I was still deciding what I would tell Jacob and what I would omit as I pulled up to his office complex.
It was a typical office with a window overlooking a courtyard, a desk and couch. Jacob brought his chair out to face the couch. It made everything informal.
“I almost cancelled,” I began. “I’ve been busy.”
“Anything you want to discuss?”
“I talked to my dad, I bought a set omega and he’s living at my house.”
Jacob couldn’t contain his shock. “You’re serious?”
“I don’t think I could make any of that up.”
“Let’s approach one thing at a time.”
I leaned back into the cushion. “Sure.” I could feel myself distancing from reality. My brief answers, my filters in place, treating everything as if it was no big deal. That was how I did things. Especially concerning things I didn’t like to look at.
Jacob leaned forward. “You don’t like to talk about your dad. You haven’t spoken in six years.”
