Page 147 of Daisy

The smell hits me first. Something wrong. Fear and pain and something else I don't understand yet.

A young man is curled up on a thin mattress on the concrete floor. His wrists are chained to the wall, the metal raw and bloody against his skin. He's naked, bruised, broken. There are marks all over his body that make me want to throw up.

But he's beautiful. Delicate features, long dark hair matted with sweat and tears. And his scent—sweet omega, but different somehow. Different from the female omegas I've met at Uncle's parties.

A male omega.

The thing Uncle always says are abominations. Freaks. Unnatural. The thing he says should be destroyed.

But he looks so human. So hurt. So alone. He's shivering, and I want to give him my blanket.

I must make a sound because his head snaps up. Our eyes meet for just a second. His are green, terrified, pleading. Like he's begging me to help him. Tears are streaming down his face.

I want to help. I want to unlock those chains. But I'm just seven and I don't know how and I'm so scared.

Then Uncle's hand is on my shoulder, yanking me away so hard my arm hurts. I cry out, but he doesn't care. His fingers dig into my shoulder like claws.

"What are you doing down here?" His voice is frightening. Furious. I've never heard him sound like this.

"I heard crying—" My voice is tiny, scared.

"You heard nothing." He drags me back upstairs, his grip bruising my shoulder. I stumble, my feet barely touching the ground. "It's just a bad dream. You're imagining it all."

"But I see?—"

"You see nothing." He shoves me into my bedroom so hard I fall onto my bed. His face is red with anger, and I'm crying now. "Little girls shouldn't go exploring where they don't belong. Do you understand me?"

I nod, too scared to argue. I've never seen Uncle like this.

"Good. And if you ever mention this dream to anyone you'll be in very serious trouble. Do you understand? I'll have to send you away, just like I sent your last nanny away."

I loved my last nanny. She was kind to me. But one day she just disappeared, and Uncle said she had to leave because she asked too many questions.

"Yes, Uncle." I'm sobbing now, terrified.

"Now go to sleep and forget this nonsense. If I hear one word about this dream, you'll wish you'd never been born."

He slams my door so hard the whole room shakes. I pull my blanket over my head and cry, thinking about the green eyes that begged me for help.

But I'm too little. Too scared. Too weak to do anything.

"Oh my god." The words come out broken. "I saw him. When I was little—" My voice cracks. "I saw him in the basement. A male omega. Uncle told me it was a nightmare, that I was making things up, but I saw him chained to the wall."

The guys go completely still. Even their breathing seems to stop.

"He was so young. So hurt. And Uncle..." I can barely get the words out. "Uncle always said male omegas were abominations. Freaks. But he had one chained up like an animal."

My hands are shaking. I press them to my mouth, trying to hold back the nausea.

All those times Uncle went on and on about male omegas being freaks and abominations. All those speeches about proper breeding and keeping bloodlines pure.

But he's bonded to one of them. Had to be. How else could he stay stable?

The hypocrisy makes me sick.

"Sweet and scared and so alone." Tears start sliding down my cheeks. "And I left him there. I was too scared to do anything."

I'm crying now. Really crying. For that young man. For seven-year-old me who knew something was wrong but was too scared to fight back. For all the years he's been down there while I lived upstairs in comfort.