Page 54 of Escaping Monsters

Chapter Eighteen

Oliver Hunt stood in the packhouse stairwell, glaring at me with cruel victory in his light blue eyes as he pointed a gun down at Chad.

My eyes fixed on Chad’s still body, and even though I knew that I should be running, I froze in place. Chad was dead. The massive wolf’s chest was still, and blood spilled out of a wound in his forehead.

“Stay exactly where you are, Omega,” Oliver said as he held a revolver out toward me. “Take this gun and point it directly at your head, aiming at your temple.” His will pressed down on me, and I fought it, pushing back until air squeezed from my lungs and my hand started to move against my conscious thought. I grabbed my wrist, but it was no good. Against every ounce of my will, I reached for Oliver’s gun.

I wrapped my fingers around the thick handle and lifted the barrel to point at my temple.

“Look at me,” Oliver said, and when I resisted, he screamed, “Look at me!”

My gaze lifted to meet his furious glare.

A smile spread over Oliver’s lips, and he said, “Now, go ahead and pull the trigg…” His gaze snapped past me. “Come out, werewolf, or I’ll make her do it!”

I didn’t know who Oliver was talking to until Jasper stepped beside me. He was so close, I could feel his presence tingling up my side, but gripped in Oliver’s will, I couldn’t so much as turn my head.

Oliver’s gaze fixed past me. “You’re going to stay here, and she’s coming with me. If any of your wolves come after us, I’ll have her pull that trigger.”

“You’re not going to tell her to shoot me?” Jasper asked from my side.

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” Oliver said the words to me, and a sneer was plain over his full lips.

“No,” I breathed before gritting my teeth. Blood pounded in my skull, and a cold sweat prickled across my skin. “Don’t you fucking dare, Oliver.”

“You know, Alpha, this bitch pretends like she’s so innocent, but I wonder if you’d be so ready to protect her if you knew what Omega has been doing for the last decade. You know Kane fucking loved this stupid bitch. You want to know what he used to give her for gifts?”

“No,” I gasped. “Stop.”

Oliver didn’t stop. “Every year, right around this time, Kane would ask his bitch who she hated most in the world, and she would tell him—”

“He forced me to tell him,” I said.

“Shut the fuck up, Omega,” Oliver snarled.

My teeth snapped closed, and I couldn’t force out so much as a sound. Fuck.

“So, Kane’s wife here would tell the alpha who she hated most in the world.” As Oliver kept going, the world bled into a deep crimson. I tried to blink the color away, but all I could see, all I could remember was blood. “We picked up Michael Card, the mother fucker that sold this bitch to Kane, first in the lineup—and then Omega named nine other assholes, and Kane sent us off to collect them. If I remember right, one was the coach who molested her sister. Then there was the drug dealer chick who sold her sister the lethal dose. Mind you, these fuckers were worthless pieces of shit, but they had families and people who cared about them, and us enforcers had to kill anyone who got in our way. I honestly felt bad about what I was doing.”

A sob ripped from my chest but lodged in my throat, and I had to swallow it down or choke on it. Kane’s terrible words echoed in my mind. Our anniversary is coming up, my love, who do you hate most in this world? Tell me.

You, Kane.

It was always my response, but he would command me until my mind forced out a name.

Oliver grinned. “Omega killed them all. Then Kane ate them. Maybe they both ate them. I don’t fucking know. I wasn’t there.”

I shook my head so furiously, my temple banged into the barrel of the gun. Kane was a monster, but he never forced me to eat those people.

“Shut up,” Oliver growled at me, even though I didn’t say anything. I stilled, afraid that he’d give me another order, and Oliver continued, “See, all of the other members of the pack said that Omega here loved her little murder presents, but I thought she was a fucking innocent little bitch, being forced to do unspeakable shit against her will. I should have known. I heard the screaming. She’d kill them slowly. Then, this sweet little innocent bitch would come slinking out covered in blood, smelling like sex and murder while Kane feasted on their corpses. They probably fucked over the dead body or some shit. You should be thanking me for taking this sick bitch away from you and your pack.”

I shook my head with all I had. Oliver was a fucking liar. The last thing I had been feeling in that room was lust, but Kane had been dominating me the whole time, forcing me to kill those people, and as Kane did, his satisfaction had flowed through me. Nothing gave Kane pleasure like vengeance, and he had been aroused at just the idea of me taking revenge on those who wronged me.

A warm hand pressed to the small of my back. Jasper was telling me he was here at my side, even if I couldn’t look at him. “Teagan is my mate. If you take her at gunpoint, I’ll never stop coming after you. You’re going to have to command her to shoot me.”

I managed a just audible sound at the back of my throat. No. Fuck no. If Oliver commanded me to kill Jasper, I’d use all my defiance and shoot myself first. I refused to be forced to kill another person. I ran away from that life, and I would rather die than ever be forced back.

“No,” Oliver spat. He bared his teeth at the alpha. “You’re about twice as dominant as I am. The moment she pulls that gun away from her head, you’d have me. Do you think I don’t know what you’re doing? If you keep trying to compel me, I’ll have her pull the trigger. You might be able to make me submit to you, Alpha, but not before Omega shoots her head off. The gun stays exactly where it is, and you’ll stay exactly where the fuck you are, or you’ll have her brains splattering across this fucking firehouse.”