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“I’m sorry. Ok? Is that what you want to hear?”

“I want you to let me go.”I want to cut off your dick and have you choke on it.“If you want to build an empire, you won’t do it off my back.”

Chase let out a rumble of displeasure and pressed against me harder.

“There is another way to do this. If we’re bonded. What do you say about that?” His fingers brushed my top, pulling aside the material. He hovered like a viper before he surged forward.

His teeth dug into my shoulder, and I cried out as a hot lick of pain jolted through my body. My lungs seized. Had he broken the skin? Forced a bonding mark on me? Chase’s lips crushed against the bite mark and his chest heaved against mine.

He leaned back, fury dark like thunder clouds rolled across his face. “That was a warning, but next time I’ll make it real.”

“It won’t stay.” I lifted my chin and wriggled against him.

A bonding mark given under duress should fester and disappear. Surely the gods wouldn’t curse me with his bond, not when I already had his lingering voice stuck in my brain.

The papers fell to the ground as Chase’s throat rumbled with a growl.

“Let’s find out.” He said, and his head descended once more.

33

Lloyd

Some places you recognize by sight, others by sound. But The Barracks was all smell.

An undertone of stagnant storm water trapped in makeshift walls and tunnels. Except in the high heat of summer, where everything stank like overripe fruit.

Some parts of The Barracks had a fresh lick of paint. People who didn’t live here came to get their thrills, and they wanted somewhere prettier to party. We stood in a repainted alleyway while the pack waited for me to gather myself. It had a cloudscape mural painted over it. But someone had already turned the walls into signposts. My fingers dug over the notches. A flood of bittersweet nostalgia crashed over me. I promised myself I would never return to this place. But when I left, a partof me became carved into the walls here and it pulsed in my breath.

“What are these?” Walden said, frowning at the scratches.

Surreptitiously, he used the opportunity to rub the back of my neck. The entire pack was watching me like I was going to fall apart. Some of the dizzy nausea in my stomach eased.

“They’re directions. Notes.”

My fingers drifted down the marks. Most of them were directional. This was a popular thoroughfare to the clubs. A young kid could make good money ferrying people safely in and out of The Barracks.

“Are you feeling better now?” Ajax muttered from my other side, and I gave him a thin-lipped smile.

“Yeah, I just needed a minute.”

I couldn’t breathe well in this place.My home.It was as familiar as my own skin. It seemed smaller, less intimidating than my memory. The air reeked of claustrophobia. Underneath our feet was a warren of tunnels full of Designated who could easily be trapped.

A cold tingle, like the slide of an ice block, coasted down the back of my neck. I brushed off the unease.

“I have an idea about where she’ll be.”

“No growling. No alpha high-handedness,” Pan said, like it was a reminder to himself.

I clutched my bag of noodles closer and tried to breathe through my nose. My cheeks heated. It was silly, but it helped and I had to be here. Whatever I could do to help deal with the panic of being back here.

I wasn’t leaving this place without Tully knowing how much I needed her.

A small boy tapped Pan’s arm, and he started, letting out a noise of surprise.

“I know you.” The kid narrowed his eyes. Behind him stood another alpha with a scar across his neck.

“I don’t think so, kid.”