Page 43 of Bliss & Her Idols (Pack Bonds Omegaverse #10)

CHAPTER TWENTY

Torin’s Bedroom, Idol Manor

I sit on the dusty gray sheets in Torin’s bedroom.

I didn’t expect that his childhood bedroom would be this tiny. It’s at the back of the large, wood paneled manor, along a neglected corridor with peeling paint.

Has anyone ventured down here, since Torin was thrown out?

The soft morning light filters through the small window over the battered wardrobe, which has been covered in stickers of a constellation of Idols.

The plain white walls are plastered in posters of rock stars, including a young Jin and Immortal from before I’d heard of them. Glow-in-the-dark stars brighten the dingy ceiling.

A small smile tugs at my lips.

It’s not hard to imagine a teenage Torin in here, lying on his back and dreaming or wishing on the stars as much as I did, while he stuck stickers of his favorite Idols on his furniture and crushed on the Idols on the posters.

He’s no different to other fans all around the world, apart from the fact that he actually knew the Idols.

They were his friends.

Plus, he truly did fall in love with Jin.

What makes my smile fall away is that this bedroom doesn’t look like it belongs to the Alpha of a billionaire family.

In fact, even when I was growing up in slums and fleeing from violent debt collectors, I owned more than this.

The only possession on display is a single cheap, scratched acoustic guitar that’s leaned against the wall underneath the window.

At least I’m looking around now.

In the early hours, when we first arrived after traveling through the night from Pack Bonds island, I was too panicked to notice anything about the Idol Estate.

I’d already had endless, panicked calls from Piper checking that I was okay.

Then just as many from Chase threatening creative dismemberment methods of Torin, if Cricket or I were harmed like Jin had been, while we were under his protection on the estate.

Then both my brothers, as well as Lionzio, offering to drive and take all of us to a secret, safe house.

I refused because Jin needed immediate medical attention.

Also, because terrifying as it was to see Jin unconscious, this situation had placed me exactly where I needed to be for my PBU mission.

I couldn’t miss this chance.

I know that I should be paying more attention to the details of this mysterious estate.

Every music journalist would kill for the chance to be allowed into this manor. It’s buried in the forests on the mountainside halfway between the towns of Haven and Sanctum.

The entire property is shrouded in mystery and ringed by high fencing and security cameras.

For a horrifying moment, I didn’t think that the iron gate was going to swing open for us.

Finding out the Idol Estate’s location, giving me the chance to actually find the Idol’s camp, where their brutal training takes place, should be the best chance in my journalism career.

I could make my name for every Omega who wants to prove that they can be a journalist in the future.

I could also work out a way to save the Idols.

Except, I didn’t expect on this journey to find something that matters to me more than that: my own pack.

And one of them right now is sleeping under the dusty sheets of the bed with too flushed cheeks.

I reach to stroke a strand of white hair off Jin’s fevered forehead. The rest of his hair is splayed over the pillow, freed from clips and decorations. His face is wiped clean of makeup.

Jin looks younger like this. It makes me protective.

My throat is tight with tears.

I helped Torin to change Jin into a cool pair of gray pajamas, which are too large for him and must also be Torin’s.

The rest of us are still dressed in our costumes from the masked ball.

The train of my dress spreads around me like waves on the bed. I’ve torn one of the flared sleeves and stained the blue silk down the front.

I look like a fallen Dragon Queen now.

Somehow, Torin is still immaculate in his outfit. Even his hair is still covered in tiny glittering snowflake clips.

He’s pacing agitatedly from one side of the small room to the other, while his silver cape swirls behind him. He looks even more like a Disney villain gone bad.

The family doctor has just finished examining Jin.

The prejudiced Beta doctor, however, wouldn’t tell Torin anything in front of the Reject Omegas , insisting that we Rejects wait outside in the corridor.

Torin slammed the doctor into the wall.

Cricket and I immediately obeyed the man’s orders, however, because all that mattered was that he helped Jin.

When the doctor finally scurried out of the room looking suspiciously like he was hiding a fat lip behind his cotton handkerchief, and Cricket and I rushed back into the bedroom, Torin was silently pacing.

Torin’s sweet vanilla tea scent was soured with distress.

I haven’t raised the courage to ask Torin what the doctor said yet in case it’s bad news.

Why did Jin collapse? What’s wrong with him?

I’ll fucking die if anything happens to him.

I snatch up the cool, damp cloth that’s resting on my knee and dab it lightly on Jin’s forehead.

Jin’s eyes appear to move underneath his eyelids. The movement is enough to make me press my fingers to his cheek.

Cricket and I exchange a concerned glance.

Cricket has stripped off his jacket and undone his bow tie. He has rolled up his sleeves and is on his knees on the hard, wooden floor. He has rustled up a bucket with soapy water from the staff and is scrubbing the filthy floor.

Torin shoots him an unreadable look. “You shouldn’t be doing that. We have servants.”

“But they don’t appear to be keeping your room clean.

” Cricket holds up his cloth, which has already been transformed from white to black.

“This is what I’m good at. Let me serve you.

I’ll launder the sheets, dust, and make this place look as good as the rest of the manor.

My Alpha deserves to be cared for. I can do that.

Also, when Jin wakes up, I want him to smell a fresh, clean room. ”

He gives Torin a careful look on the when Jin wakes up.

Cricket is getting a hang of this undercover work.

He almost messes it up, however, by glancing at me for approval shyly.

Of course, I smile and nod.

Cricket glows.

Torin catches the look and sighs, turning to face me. “I take it that my little darlings want to know what that asshole doctor had to say?”

“Yes,” Cricket and I say at the same time.

Torin clenches his hands at his sides. “He said a number of things. But firstly, he tested Jin. Then he hurriedly made up an antidote and injected him with it.”

“Antidote?” My brow furrows. “What for?”

“The poison,” Torin replies, “that was only a couple of hours from killing him.”

My heart stutters to a stop. I sit bolt upright with a gasp.

“Fuck.” Cricket cusses so rarely that it’s startling.

He slams the cloth into the water with enough force for it to slosh over the sides.

“Who’d poison him?” I’m shaking. “Who wants him to die?”

I grab Jin’s lax hand, entwining my fingers with his like I can always hold onto him.

As if I can deny the fact that I almost lost him.

“At least a thousand people that I could list.” Cricket’s amber eyes have become molten.

“The anti-fans group send death threats daily, Bee. Do you remember how cruel they are? They’re unhinged bullies who fixate on something that they hate about an Idol and then tear them down.

That one anti-fan, Kennedy, is the most vicious.

The only reason that I’m glad our Dragon hasn’t had access to the internet is that he won’t have seen what she writes about him. It would dim how brightly he shines.”

“Only a thousand people who may be our suspect,” Torin drawls.

He leans against the wall, crossing his ankles.

“I’ll make sure the cops get that list. Except, I won’t because that would be a scandal.

And right now, the press department are working overtime spinning this situation, pretending that Jin was simply overcome with the emotion of the selection of his pack bonds. ”

“Are the public buying that?” Cricket huffs. “Do they think that he swooned like he was in a romance novel?”

“That’s how PR are playing it. Actually, it’s going down well with the teen demographic in particular. From the messages that I’ve seen, they’re only pissed at me for not catching him in my arms to give them the perfect photograph.”

“But how was he poisoned?” I narrow my eyes. “If we don’t find that out, then he’s still at risk. He didn’t eat with the rest of us. Is Zoe responsible for checking what he eats? Or Stapleton? Have they been questioned? Who got close enough to him to…”

I trail off because I remember then.

Easter holding out her water bottle to Jin… “You shouldn’t be dehydrated. Is that why you’re shaking? This is the big final. Get yourself under control”…

Jin taking the water automatically from her and drinking…

“Easter,” I hiss. “She gave him water not long before he collapsed.”

Torin’s expression becomes darkly dangerous, before he pulls out his phone and starts typing a text.

“I’ll have Stapleton collect any water bottles that he can find in order to analyze them.

I’ve also told him to secretly look at the film from the final to see if he can find out whether Easter tampered with the water.

Stapleton is a bastard but he’s also a professional.

It was his job to protect Jin. He’ll take it personally that he failed at that.

If he finds that Easter did this, then Stapleton won’t care about what looks best on the Idols.

He’ll make it his life mission to destroy Easter.

I can’t think of a worse punishment than setting Stapleton on her. ”

I shudder.

If she did this, however, then Easter deserves it.

“Why would she poison Jin?” Cricket’s voice is small. “Because Jin stood her up? Because he was in love with us, rather than her?”

“I don’t know, Crick.” And I don’t.