Page 55 of Fleeing Fate
“Of course, perhaps you could persuade me,” he continues. “I have always admired your beauty, Emily. Maybe if you get on your knees andbegme, I might consider keeping your secret.” He palms himself in front of me. As if he needed to make it clearer what he wants.
“You’re disgusting,” I say, recoiling as I try to muster up the bravery needed to find a way out of this situation. Jackson always told me the goal isn’t to beat them, it’s about getting to safety. But I should be safe here. There are warriors not far away. Nothing I’ve seen since I arrived here would lead me to believe that this behavior would be tolerated.
Anderson’s eyes flash with amusement. “Careful now. Hasn’t Aidan trained you better than to talk back to ranked males?”
“You should leave,” I say, as confidently as I can manage. “We aren’t in Blood Moon here. Whatever you’re suggesting is not acceptable.” I hear footsteps approaching down the hall and hope builds that someone is coming.
“Ah, Caleb, please join us,” Anderson says with a grin, walking fully into my room and making room for his Beta. Forcing me to step back or risk being touched by him. “Perfect timing. Emily and I were just having a little chat.”
That confidence I had briefly found fizzles away now that there are two males here. “I was telling Emily that I’d be happy to keep her location secret. If she made it worth my while, that is.” My throat tightens, constricting my voice, rendering me speechless. I’m suffocating, trapped in a whirlwind of helplessness.
Recoiling slightly, Caleb’s lip curls. “That’s sick,” he says.
My mouth falls open as I gape at him in shock.
“Come on, Caleb, lighten up. Don’t you remember what she was wearing when we saw her in Blood Moon? This slut might be playing hard to get now, but everyone in her pack knows how much of a whore she is.”
Something passes between the two men as Caleb visibly tenses and clenches his fists. A vein throbs in his temple to the point it looks like it could pop.
“You’re a strong Beta,” Anderson says, his tone turning hard. “But if you can’t back me up on this—if I can’t trust you—maybe you’re not cut out for the role.”
Caleb stares at him for a long moment before his shoulders slump. “What are you asking me to do?”
“I’ll go first. And you watch while I fuck her in every hole she has. Tell you what, I’ll even let you have a go afterwards,” John says calmly, eyeing me up and down. “Or at the same time? That’s what sluts like her want, right?”
Caleb snarls and all the blood leaves my face at the cavalier way John talks about raping me, but I don’t get a chance to react or scream before John grabs me and wraps his hand around my mouth, muffling any noises I could make. I curse myself internally for not screaming when I had the chance, and my vision blurs with tears. His other hand clamps on my arm in a bruising hold and one sharp tug has me ceasing any fight left in me.
My wolf is growling, but she knows we don’t stand a chance of fighting our way out of this. I’m not strong enough. If I even try to shift, John will just alpha command me to shift back.
“You can’t be fucking serious!” Caleb says quietly, running his hands up his face and down the back of his head.
“Now this is happening one way or the other, Emily. But if you stay quiet and do exactly what I say, then maybe I won’t tell Aidan whereyou are. Deal?”
I nod slowly. My only chance is to try to draw this out long enough that Jackson or Sofia come looking for me. How long has it been since I ran from Sofia? Minutes?
A growl erupts from the other side of the room as Caleb glares towards us.
John removes his sweaty hand from where it was in front of my mouth before jamming his fingers into my mouth.
“Suck,” he orders, a cruel kind of glee as well as a hint of his Alpha command in his voice. The command hits me like a slap. He isn’t even fully using his Alpha power, just enough to force my complicity. My lips close around his fingers while bile rises in my throat. His scent—stale and bitter—overpowers the comfort of Jackson that still lingers on my skin. I gag, but I can’t stop.
“Perfect,” he murmurs, withdrawing his fingers and smearing them over my lips like a mark. “Now strip. Get on your knees. I’ll take your pretty little mouth first.” He steps back enough to leer at me while still staying close enough to touch me. I stare at him, silently praying to the Moon Goddess for something—anything—to make this stop. I need the numbness to materialize, but it’s not here yet.
Tears stream down my face, and my hands shake as they move to the zipper of my hoodie.
“No!” Cooper roars. “This is not fucking happening.”
I freeze as my gaze snaps to Caleb. His fists are clenched, and the skin on his arms begins to ripple—fur sprouting where his rage spills over. His eyes burn with a different kind of fire. Not lust, not cruelty—pure fury.
John snarls at him. “For fuck’s sake, Caleb!” He shouts and I back further against the wall. Maybe I can sneak around them while they focus their energy on each other.
“I, Caleb Cooper, Beta of the Iron Fang Pack, challenge you, Alpha John Anderson, for the position of pack Alpha.”
Chapter 27
Emily
“What the fuck?” John growls as Jackson bursts in through my door. He takes one look at my tear-stained face and then the two imposing males who are glaring daggers at each other before he positions himself in front of me, a wall of furious muscle and snapping dominance. I can’t see his face from my position behind him, but I can detect the raw fury emanating from him—lethal, controlled only by the thinnest thread.