Page 32 of Petals and Strings (Broken Melodies #1)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Audrey

“ L ooks like you get your wish,” my least favorite nurse bit out as she opened the door.

I didn’t bother to answer. She liked monologuing far too much for me to take that from her.

“Up. I’m finally getting rid of you,” she ground out like this wasn’t just the second day. “But don’t worry, you’ll be dealt with soon enough.”

Her smug grin and sneer were a strange mix, making it look like she was constipated or something, a small laugh bubbling out of me despite it not being funny at all.

It sounded like a threat.

But, it was the most entertainment I’d had in twenty-four hours of isolation.

Omegas weren’t meant for isolation and a few hours in, I was ready to climb the fucking walls. The only reason I slept was imagining Rydell on the other side of the wall.

She continued growling orders at me and I didn’t respond until I spotted someone behind her. An alpha with buzzed silver hair and eyes that saw right through my armor.

“Ledger,” I gasped, hopping off the bed and rushing into his arms. The nurse tried to step between us. Without a word we moved around her and I jumped into his arms, burying my face in his neck so I could breathe him in.

It was insane how just a short separation and facing the reality of a life without them had me refusing to hide behind the armor and delusions that held me back before.

I knew by now this group was nothing like the alphas of my past. It was impossible to ignore how deeply I already cared about them all.

I’d spent most of my time worried that this separation was tearing my pack apart, not myself.

I was forced to watch as they let alphas drag Ansel away. Just like that, the facility that said it was going to protect me, had burned a new vile image into my mind that I couldn't let go.

It wasn’t just him. Rydell was already likely going mad in these isolation rooms.

Ledger, as usual, kept his composure. I knew him well enough to know he wasn’t unscathed. He’d been waiting, watching. As he always did.

“We get to be together again, wildling. It looks like our boy Rydell broke some chains and made it happen,” Ledger whispered. He sounded so relieved, his body sagging into the touch as I clung to him.

“Enough. You’re to report to your wing,” the nurse bit out. “I’m not standing here listening to this shit.”

“You’re a joy, aren’t you?” Ledger asked, putting himself between me and her. His glare was enough to make any alpha cower.

This beta was too cocky to care, it seemed.

She scoffed, though she didn’t argue or lash out like she had done to me. His name really did hold weight here.

“Let’s go home, wildling,” Ledger said as he tucked me into his side. I’d never been so happy to leave a room in my fucking life.

It just made me more angry for Rydell who’d been stuck here for far longer.

At least I was going to see him soon.

The atrium was lined in guards. Director Cross was at the start of our wing but I ignored him much like I did last time, refusing to even acknowledge him when he spoke. I pushed my way past to get to our wing, desperate to see who was there.

There he was.

My stoic, watchful alpha.

His arms were crossed as he stood, eyes locked on the hallway, so he spotted me right away. His face was chiseled in stone, giving nothing away.

Then he smiled and opened his arms. There was a question in his gaze. Even now he was leaving it up to me. He didn’t need to worry. I was already moving, rushing toward him and throwing myself into his arms.

"Audrey.” My name was said with so much longing and relief it had the ache in my chest flaring to life all over again. I’d felt it from the moment they turned our lives upside down but it had dulled the moment I was back in Ledger’s arms.

Now, the cord binding us together flared to life. It was strong, despite not having a bite on my skin. I couldn’t feel his emotions but I could feel him . That was enough.

“What did they do to you?” I asked as he put me back on my feet, though he made no move to step away from me this time.

I ran my hands over every inch of him, clocking the dark circles and bruised knuckles. Reaching out, I took his hand in mine, ghosting my fingertips over the wounds like I could take the pain away.

“Clearly, I didn’t handle being thrown in isolation well. But you know, I think I gained some clarity,” he said. That gravel tone of his was like music to my ears. I was just so glad he was here with us and hadn’t gone missing.

“‘Clarity?’” I asked, not letting go as I looked up at his gorgeous face. His green eyes were burning with a fire I knew was reflected back in my eyes as well. It wasn’t just attraction, but the need to be close. To know the other is safe.

To acknowledge what we truly were.

“Later. Let’s get the others,” he said gently.

“Kane? Ansel? Caspian? Do we know where they are?” I asked, turning to direct the question at Ledger. If anyone was keeping tabs, it was him.

“I sent for you first, so I’m not sure,” Rydell admitted. “Though, it seems Ledger beat me to it.”

“I know where everyone but Caspian is,” Ledger admitted. Something in his voice had me narrowing my eyes.

“What’s wrong? What did they do? Is Caspian truly missing? I swear to god I’ll tear this world apart,” I ground out.

His face turned murderous as he answered me. “Ansel was put with some of the biggest alphas here. As for Caspian, I heard talk about the infirmary, but we’ll have to ask Cross to know for sure.”

“Take me to Ansel, we’ll start with him,” I demanded, stalking down the hall so they were forced to keep up. I felt like a badass with my two big alphas flanking me and vengeance in my soul. If anyone stood in my way, I knew they’d be cast aside easily with a single command.

How fucking dare they play with us like little chess pieces. Moving us, shifting us, then tossing us aside when we didn’t get them the win they expected.

Even worse, using trauma against us. They knew I was locked in a cell and stuck me in isolation. Knew Ansel was terrified of alphas, and put him with alphas anyway. They knew damn well he was safe with us, had grown to trust Rydell and Ledger, yet had ripped him away anyway.

I glanced down at Rydell’s wrist where a pale indent still rested. It was gone. He truly had broken his restraints. There was nothing holding us back now, except mine.

“Can you break this?” I asked. He grinned, flashing his slightly pointed canines and I saw that beast resting within him.

It had an animalistic edge. But I didn’t fear it. In fact, I craved it. I held up my hand to my alpha. Despite the gleam in his eyes, he was gentle as he gripped the bracelet between his large hands.

“My fucking pleasure, omega,” he said as he flexed his muscles, the bracelet shattering under his grip.

Maybe this was the beginning of the end. Our ticket to truly healing and getting the fuck out of here. They could no longer control us like they did before. I wasn’t going to let them drug me or set me back.

Only moving forward. Finding out how to live my life the way I deserved.

When we reached the atrium again, Cross was waiting. He held up a bracelet to Rydell. His eyes spoke of a warning but Rydell laughed. It was a deep, rumbling chuckle that was genuinely amused.

“No thanks,” he said as we passed. I stopped just beyond and turned back, unable to bite my tongue.

“Maybe you should use this opportunity to learn you don’t need to control us in order to keep this place running.

We deserve autonomy and you are required by law to provide us with a therapist. Try to get us one that can actually help us leave this godforsaken place.

I won’t be controlled anymore. Nor will I stay indefinitely.

Anarchy is coming, Cross. I suggest you get ahead of it. ”

I held up my own wrist and Rydell let the remnants of my bracelet fall to the ground, clattering there in the stunned silence.

We walked away, turning our back on the director and his guards, Ledger leading us to the furthest patient wing.

I could smell the alpha pheromones strong in the air before we even reached the rooms. Both of my alphas moved closer, squishing me between them as we stepped into their common area.

Four big alphas sat in a circle, talking loudly. There were two betas on the other side, quietly reading, unbothered by the jeering alphas.

“Ah, are you here for our little mouse?" one asked, a smirk on his face. “We wondered when you’d be coming. I heard the big one broke his chains. Care to share the secret?”

They all four held up hands encircled in their own bracelets. Despite what I’d just told Cross, they deserved to keep wearing theirs as punishment. I had a feeling they reveled in scaring Ansel. There was only amusement and a shitty nickname, not compassion.

Let them rot in their own chains.

“No.” Rydell’s answer was sharp, cutting out all the amusement in the air. “Where is he?”

The assholes shifted back, lounging now in a show of disrespect. “Figure it out since you don’t want to help us out.”

Rydell growled, but I wasn’t ready for a brawl. It would just put us back in the staff’s clutches.

“Ansel?!” I yelled, startling my group and theirs. The alphas started to protest but Rydell flexed, his chest puffing up in a dare to even try it. He was itching to get out his aggression, I’m sure.

“He’s in that room,” one of the beta women said, pointing to a door to my right. She seemed far too sweet to be stuck with the four assholes nearby.

“Thanks,” I breathed out in relief as I ran for the room, shoving the door open and nearly crumbling as Ansel’s broken face peeked out of his covers with pure terror on his face.

“Oh, baby.” My whisper was followed by a broken whimper that had me rushing forward and pulling him close. He stared up at me with his dark blue gaze, eyes full of pain and fear that never should have been there.

Not after coming so far.

He didn’t say anything to me and I knew that even if it was only just over a day, the emotional pain of wrenching apart the shaky foundation we built, would last.

Just because I thought we deserved a say in our care and what we put into our bodies, didn’t mean I was going to say that we had no emotional issues. We all struggled with abandonment and our designations were so fucked up at this point we could barely survive without those we trusted.

“Audrey.” My name on his lips was perfect as he finally broke the silence.

“Come on, baby. We’re going back. Rydell made sure of it,” I told him, helping him to his feet. He felt impossibly more fragile and it only added more timber to the ever-burning fire of my rage.

I would make them pay. That vow only grew every second I spent putting us back together. We were done waiting around for them to hurt us again and again.

If Ansel wasn’t there yet, that was fine.

I could be strong for the both of us.

This change had woken me up in new ways and I was going to show this whole fucking facility that we weren’t pretty dolls to drug and set on a shelf.

We were survivors. Warriors in our own right.

I had a feeling I knew just the alphas to make sure I could fight back, too.

“Hold your head up high, baby, we’re going to show them they didn’t break us,” I said. He let me help him to his feet then squared his shoulders.

Pride hit me right in the chest and I smiled at him. So fucking strong.

Ansel walked with me out of the room, his hands clinging to me as we passed the alphas, but his head stayed up and he didn’t hunch in on himself.

Only when my alphas stood between us did he calm enough to stop squeezing my hand hard enough to break it.

I don’t know if he even realized that his omega accepted our alphas. Not romantically, but as part of our pack.

As protectors.

Something neither of us ever had before.

“Let’s go,” I said over my shoulder to the alphas as we walked back to our unit. “I still have to find Kane.”

“This way,” Ledger said, moving around us to take the lead, veering down the next hall.

It was silent here, not a single patient in the common area. In fact, there was no sign of life to be found at all.

When my hands started to shake, Ansel squeezed them, offering me comfort even as he was trying to gain his footing.

It might be too soon, but I loved this omega.

Right now, I truly needed his reassurance. I was terrified that the man we found here in this hall, would not be the same one who was healing and remembering his past.

That he’d forget us. Or me , rather. I was the new one to the group.

Ledger walked up to the door I assumed was Kane’s. The alpha really had kept tabs on us all while we were separated. Watched and waited until he could bring us back together.

It would be insane to deny we were pack at this point. I thought I’d fight the notion, and I did at first, but now?

This felt right.

We weren’t your typical pack. Every one of us had skeletons in our closets and trauma to keep a whole team of therapists employed for years.

But that’s what worked for us. We understood each other like no one else could. There was no pity here, only acceptance and an underlying strength we saw in each other.

The door swung open and Kane stepped out. His face was set in a scowl until he saw Ledger standing there. His face softened, but when it flickered to the rest of us, he crumbled.

Ledger caught him, holding him as the tears flowed and sobs echoed out. Ansel sniffled next to me and my own silent tears streamed down my cheeks.

When he could stand, Kane walked over to me, his fingers drifting down my face. “I was lost without you.”

“We found you again,” I promised. “We always will.”