Page 23 of Daisy

"Don't what?" He's close enough now that I can see the madness in his eyes, pupils blown wide with whatever drugs he's taken. "Don't take what's mine? Don't claim my prize?"

His hand shoots out and grabs my wrist, yanking me away from Camelia. His grip is iron, bruising, fingers digging into my bones. When I try to pull away he just laughs.

The pain shoots up my arm, but it's nothing compared to the terror clawing at my throat.

"You're coming with me, princess. You and me are gonna have some fun."

"No!" The word tears out of me, raw and desperate. I struggle against his hold, but I'm small and fragile and trained to bedecorative, not strong. He drags me toward him like I weigh nothing.

"Fight all you want," he says, his breath hot and rancid against my face. "I like it better when they fight."

The casual cruelty in his voice shatters something inside me. This isn't just happening. This is what he wants. He wants me to be scared. He wants me to suffer.

That's when he flips me over his shoulder.

The world spins violently. Suddenly I'm upside down, his shoulder digging into my stomach while he carries me like a sack of grain. Air rushes from my lungs in a painful whoosh. All the warmth drains from my body.

I can see Camelia pressed against the wall, frozen in terror, watching him take me. Her face gets smaller and smaller as he carries me away.

"Let me go!" I beat my fists against his back, but it's like hitting a wall. My hands sting and throb but he doesn't even seem to notice. "Please!"

"Not a chance, omega." His hand gropes at my thigh where my nightgown has ridden up, fingers rough and possessive. Bile burns in my throat. "You're gonna make me feel real good. Been waiting too long for a piece of omega tail to sink my knot into."

The words hit me like physical blows. He's going to rape me. The knowledge sits in my stomach like a stone, cold and heavy and undeniable.

He starts walking, carrying me deeper into the building, away from any hope of rescue. Each step jostles me, making my ribs ache where they dig into his shoulder. I can hear other omegas screaming in the distance, and I know we're all lost.

No one is coming to save us.

I think about Storm. About how fearless she looked, how she never backed down from anything, never let anyone make her small.

What would Storm do?

She'd fight. She'd claw and bite and make them regret touching her. She'd be fierce and angry and unafraid.

But I'm not Storm. I'm just Daisy. Soft, obedient, valuable property who was trained to smile and submit and never cause trouble.

I don't know how to fight. I don't know how to be brave.

All I know how to do is break.

So I do.

Something inside me just... snaps. Like a rubber band stretched beyond its limit, like glass under impossible pressure. The terror is too immense, the helplessness too overwhelming. My mind simply can't contain it all.

I feel it happen. Feel the exact moment when my consciousness decides to let go.

The struggling stops. The screaming stops. The feeling stops.

The world becomes distant and gray, like I'm watching someone else's nightmare through frosted glass. The alpha's hands on my body don't feel real anymore. His voice becomes meaningless noise, like static from a broken radio. Even the pain fades to nothing.

I float somewhere else. Somewhere safe and quiet where monsters can't reach me. Where Mikey's sightless eyes can't stare at me with silent accusation. Where uncles and alphas and the whole twisted system can't touch the small part of me that still remembers sitting under a cherry tree, pretending I was just a normal beta girl.

Let them take my body. Let them do whatever they want with this shell.

The real Daisy, the one who dreams of choice and freedom and love, retreats so deep inside that nothing can harm her.

This floating place has no fear. No pain. No awareness of rough hands or cruel words. Here, I am safe in the nothingness, wrapped in gray silence that shields me from everything.