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The cages are old, iron bars orange with rust. A few doors hang open, while a few hang off their hinges completely.
But others are locked tight, like they’re waiting for a new prisoner.
I lie to myself when I see the stains under the bars, doing whatever I can to deny the memory of my own cage—A different cage, in a different concrete room as dark and cold as this one—from creeping in.
I tell myself the red stains are rust.
The same as they were before.
Not blood. Not blood. Not blood.
It’s as much a lie now as it was then.
My lungs squeeze. This place… It’s no different from my father’s house. The only difference is that it’s filled with cages instead of cells. All that’s missing are a set of stairs leading up to a house filled with chandeliers and priceless art—a mask to hide the evil below.
This is a more honest version of the nightmare I was kept in. There are no lies here. Only stone and the truth of what monsters do to Omegas when no one cares enough to stop them.
“Move.”
I jump at the sound of Daxen’s voice behind me. It’s not easy, but I manage to pick one foot up, then the other, latching onto the middle of Gavran’s back as I follow him across the room so I don’t have to see the nightmare surrounding me.
“You’re alright,” Soren’s deep voice wraps around me, suffusing me with its warmth. He’s behind me, so close I can feel the heat of his body.
Dax and Gavran walk up to two other males in tactical gear like the two outside, and I hang back a few feet, so I don’t get accused of trying to eavesdrop. Another male walks up to them, and after a few seconds I realize I know who he is—one of the Doctors—Calder.
The group moves, clustering around a lone cage off to the side. Daxen glances over his shoulder, and his eyes find mine with unerring accuracy.
Like his singular goal in life is to humiliate me, he snaps, “Omega, here.”
It’s not the tone—or even the order itself—that causes a red mist to appear, casting a haze over everything and lighting my chest on fire.
It’s the way he snaps his fingers, calling me the way he’d call a dog to heel.
My jaw clenches. Something deep in my chest, where the golden thread of our Bond lies lifeless and alone, pulls and pulls and pulls. It pulls so tight it splinters. Reality shifts. The world sharpens, and a red-hot rush of fury explodes through my veins.
He has no right.
“I’m not an animal,” I respond coolly, narrowing my eyes in disgust. Each word out of my mouth is ice cold, a shocking contrast to the fiery heat pulsing under my skin. He opens his mouth to reply, but I’m not finished.
“You will never speak to me like that again.”
The shock in his eyes lasts for much, much longer than I anticipate before it morphs, replaced by anger so sharp it would cut me if given half a chance. Neither of us speaks. The longer the silence goes on, the faster I feel my sudden, unexpected confidence leaking away.
My momentary strength has turned back into fear like Cinderella’s carriage turning back into a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight. My hands start to shake as the burst of adrenaline evaporates. I’m seconds from falling apart when behind me, Soren steps forward, shifting his body so close to my back he’s practically touching me.
And for the first time, I realize…
I’m not alone.
An approving rumble vibrates through his chest, low and soft but unmistakable.
This Alpha… my Mate…he’s actually… proud of me.
“The lassie’s got backbone,” Kane laughs, sounding far too excited. “Took her long enough tae show it."
A scream tears through the air, loud and piercing and terrified. Everyone’s attention turns toward the sound—toward the cage in the corner of the warehouse.
Toward the Omega.
