Page 26

F aye

I sit on the edge of my bed, rubbing lotion onto my legs.

The guys were tense the whole way back down to the castle, up until the moment they delivered me at my door early this morning.

It was like they truly thought that someone, or something, was going to spring out at us at any moment, even though none of us saw anything.

I’m not saying that Eli was wrong about someone being out there, but maybe it wasn’t someone who wished us harm.

“Someone should stay with her,” Ezra had said, his voice low, but looking at all of them, I just wanted a moment alone. I wanted to feel normal again, happy like I had been right as we left the hot springs.

“Go,” I’d said, putting a hand on Ezra’s chest and pushing him back. “I’ll change and meet you for breakfast.”

Eli had shook his head. “Xander, you stand with the guard and watch her room. From now on, Faye is never alone. The guard simply isn’t good enough. We’re going to look around outside and see if we can find the culprit who was watching us.”

“Does it really matter?” I ask.

His gaze grows intense. “We need to know if Dexter or Kurt is planning something before the council meeting, since they met privately yesterday. It gave them plenty of time to come up with a way to hurt us and protect themselves.”

I sigh, just wanting to be done with all of this. “Okay, if you think it’s necessary.”

“It’s necessary,” Cayson says, but then kisses my cheek lightly. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’re just being over protective.”

With that, they were off. I watch as Xander moves to stand beside the solemn guard outside my room. So far, there had been three different guards paid to watch me in rotation. All big men, who looked capable of doing some bad things. Even still, I felt better having Xander outside my door.

Unable to help myself, I cross the hallway and plant a kiss on his lips. He smiles down at me, and my heart squeezes. He truly looks at me like there’s no one else in the world. Like I’m his whole world. And it makes me feel unstoppable.

He’s a good egg, that one. I feel a twinge of guilt for not trusting him and embrace it, knowing I deserve to feel guilty.

Going back to my room, I decided to take a shower to get the smell of the hot springs out of my hair, thinking it’d make me feel better.

Which brings me back to where I am now, lotioning my legs until they’re baby soft.

I finish with my legs and stand, trying to decide what to wear for lunch with the guys. But I’m instantly tapping my foot.

There’s just something hanging in the air, like I’m sitting on the edge of a cliff, staring over the bottom, unable to see what’s down there.

Like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I pace through my room, hands in my hair, a towel wrapped around me, trying to breathe my way through the feeling.

Everything is fine.

Of course, there’s the hearing with Kurt and Dexter in tomorrow, but there’s nothing I can do about that right now. I’ll just have to face it when it comes. As for now, I’m just in my room. Safe. With a guard and Xander outside, and my men all around.

Breathing deeply, I wish Addilyn was here with me to help me get ready, but she’s not, so I just focus on putting an outfit together.

I find a pair of high-waisted jean shorts and a red polka-dot halter top.

It’s a vintage look, and it’s cute. Separating my hair, I braid it loosely, then put on a red headband, pinning it in with a few hair pins I borrowed from Addilyn.

I finish the look off with red lipstick.

When I admire myself in the mirror, I like what I see. Maybe I actually have learned something from Addilyn, after all. I’ve changed, inside and out.

Outside I hear some strange sounds. A commotion. I tense, but the sounds disappear into silence. Whatever it was, it’s gone now. But I’m sure Xander will knock and tell me what happened.

Relief courses through me when there’s a knock at the door, and I realize my thoughts have turned into reality.

Unlocking the door, I throw it open, smiling. “Hey, I was?—”

But it’s not the guys standing outside the door. Of course it’s not—it’s Dexter and his men, and Xander and the guard are lying unconscious on the ground. He doesn’t hesitate before punching me square in the nose.

Blood is acrid in my mouth when I wake up, and it makes me instantly nauseas.

I can feel grass against my cheek and smell several alphas around me, their boots stomping the ground, their voices low and deep.

Even though my head spins and I’m afraid I’m about to throw up, fear rises inside of me.

No omega should ever be left alone, surrounded by alphas.

I should never be left alone with Dexter and his men.

I’m in trouble.

Panic sweeps through me. Dexter and Kurt are insane. Their men are known for being bloodthirsty and ruthless. Whatever they took me for, it can’t be good.

I bet they don’t want me to talk at the council meeting.

The thought makes every muscle in my body freeze.

Without me, is there even a case against Kurt?

Yes, but he wouldn’t receive the full punishment.

All they can prove is what Eli saw, that Kurt was rough with me, and that won’t come with any major punishment because Eli can’t prove he was trying to kill me without my testimony.

All they need to do is get rid of me and Kurt will be saved from death or being thrown out of his pack.

But getting rid of me won’t be hard with these odds. Hell, they didn’t need half this many men to take down the likes of me. Just one of them would do.

I try to listen to them, to hang on to what they’re saying, but my brain is still scrambled, a persistent throbbing rolling through from my nose to my brain. I wonder if this is what Dexter felt like when Eli punched him. Maybe. Maybe worse, because he’s an ultima.

As my body gains more awareness, I realize my hands are behind my back, metal digging into the wrist. They have me handcuffed. I’m gagged, my tongue pressed to the back of my mouth, and I have to breathe carefully to keep from vomiting. Tentatively, I open my eyes, but see nothing. I’m blindfolded.

Every cell in my body urges me to writhe, to scream, to try and get someone’s attention. But I know Kurt, which means I probably know enough about Dexter. There’s no way I’m anywhere near the castle. Nobody is going to hear me screaming.

I have to stay calm and figure out how to save myself.

When I roll my head to the side, I can feel one of the hair pins holding in my hair band, and I rock my head a bit, wincing as it digs in, but I feel the hair pin slip out, remaining on the rock when I lift my head slightly.

A moment later, light blares into my eyes when the blindfold is ripped away, and it feels like my retinas wither inside my eyeballs.

I suck in a surprised breath, and when my sight adjusts, Dexter is leaning down, grinning at me.

There’s a tiny white band-aid on his nose, which is bruised, but other than that, he looks fine.

Alphas usually heal pretty fast. I still have bruises on my stomach from his son.

“Well, good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” he hisses, grabbing the back of my top and pulling me into a sitting position.

While he stares at my face, I feel around with my fingers behind my back, trying and failing to grab the hair pin, desperately hoping he doesn’t notice what I’m doing. “Don’t you look nice and pretty today?”

He leans down, taking his thumb and swiping it over my lips around the gag, rough enough that it burns. He pulls his thumb back, looking at the red there and shaking his head, laughing cruelly.

“Look at this, boys, she’s wearing red. At least she knows she’s a whore.”

I expect the familiar shame and fear to come crashing in, to overwhelm me, but I am so tired of feeling that way. Especially when I know it’s not true. Back at the castle, there are five men who want me. Who cherish me. Who are willing to go to the ends of the earth for me.

Including an ultima who is going to kill Dexter when he finds out about this.

Without meaning to, I let out a laugh, but it’s muffled by the gag. Dexter raises an eyebrow, then pulls the gag out, even though I kind of wish he hadn’t. I kind of wished I’d held the laugh back, because laughing at him seems like a quick way to die.

“Just so you know,” he says, “nobody is going to be able to hear you screaming out here.”

I feel the laughter rolling through my body, and when I look at Dexter through my tears, they’re tears of amusement. Even though it makes no sense. Even though I’ve tapped into a part of myself I don’t even understand.

Am I having a breakdown? I might be having a breakdown, but something about this whole situation is funny. There’s something about picturing what will happen when my men find out that this idiot took me.

“What the fuck?” Dexter says, eyes nervously roaming over my face. “Are you crazy or something?”

Unable to help myself, I say, “I’m not the crazy one,” still shaking with laughter.

This covers the movement behind me, and I’m finally able to grab the hair pin on the rock between my fingers and drop it into my palm.

“You really thought you would be able to kidnap an ultima’s mate and get away with it? The mate to five powerful men?”

Dexter’s eyes go hard, and he releases the back of my shirt, throwing me to the ground again.

I cough a little when I hit the ground, but I’m still laughing, because everything is so clear to me now.

Where this man and his alphas fall in the food chain.

No matter what happens to me, I know what’s going to happen to Dexter.

Eli, and my men, are going to rip him limb from limb, leaving his body parts for the buzzards.

When Dexter takes a step away from me, my eyes land on Kurt, and I stop laughing.

He looks on the brink of death, still, after more than a week has passed since Eli saved me from him.

His entire body looks like an over-ripe berry, riddled with bandages and stitching, and one of his eyes is bulging so far out of his head it looks like it might pop out at any moment.

An alpha with tawny skin and yellow hair stands next to him, holding him up.

“Gods,” I whisper, averting my gaze.

“That’s right,” Dexter says, crossing his arms, fury in his expression. “Everything that’s happened to my son is because of you . You’ve been after him for years, trying to pin the death of your worthless brother on Kurt. Trying to sully his good name.”

I give him a look.

Dexter raises a brow. “What?”

“If you know your son half as well as you think you do, you should know he killed my brother. And you should know he killed him for no fucking reason.”

Dexter’s hands drop into fists. “Are you still carrying on with that bullshit?” He turns to his son. “Tell her. Tell her you didn’t kill her brother.”

Kurt glances away from his father. He looks at the ground. Silence stretches between us.

“See?” I challenge, trying to get the pin into the lock.

Dexter’s expression changes from shocked to a strangely smug one. “If he killed your brother, I’m sure he had his reasons.”

“Ask him his reasons,” I say, not backing down.

“Kurt…” Dexter begins.

His son makes a wheezing sound. “Johnny and Ralph were there, and they didn’t think I could kill someone with just my boot. They said I wasn’t strong enough.”

“See?” I remark, finally getting the pin in the lock and moving it around, trying to unlock my cuffs. “No reason.”

Again, his dad’s face shifts from shock to acceptance. “His strength was challenged as an alpha. He had no choice. You, as a weak omega, couldn’t possibly understand that, but your brother’s life was a small price to pay for my son’s honor.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “Is that why he’s the way he is? You make excuses for him, no matter what he does?”

He slaps me hard across the face, probably because he didn’t want to kill me with a blow, but it still leaves my head spinning. “Watch your mouth, you filthy whore.”

I roll my head and spit out blood. “What do you want, Dexter? What is all of this?”

Dexter draws himself up taller. “Today marks the last time you will screw with my son’s life.

This will be the last time you share air together, and the last time you hurt him.

” He stares at me, waiting for me to say something, but I just stare back, needing him to say it.

“Without your lies, and your testimony, the council will only be able to prove Kurt got a little rough with you, because that’s all Eli saw, and we both know that’ll only come with a slap on the wrist. So, it’s simple.

We get rid of you. We kill you and hide your body so well that no one will ever find it again.

No one will ever have proof that we were involved in your death, no matter how much your men might suspect it. ”

Again, Dexter leans down close to me, and I can smell his rancid breath, the liquor dancing on his tongue. When his eyes meet mine, they’re murderous. There’s no question about whether this is right. No hesitation. No one to reason with. Just a man hellbent on taking my life.

He stands up straighter and jerks his head toward Kurt.

“Because of what you’ve done to him, I’m giving Kurt the chance to end this, once and for all.

The council may not like things to be fair, and your ultima may think he has the power to do anything, but it’s not true.

Clearly,” he says, holding his arms out and laughing, “it’s not. Where’s your ultima now, little girl?”

I stare up at him, unblinking.

“This is over ,” Dexter says, taking a step back and shaking his head when I don’t respond. “ Over. ”

And, somehow, Kurt has the strength to smile.

“But first,” Dexter says, pulling a knife out of his boot and giving it to his son, “we’re going to have a little fun.”