Page 136 of Pretty When She Breaks

Jule stood up straighter beside me, folding his arms, but it seemed not even he could come up with something to say. For one wild moment, I considered trying to get the gun now strapped to my thigh, but that would be suicide.

“You know,” my father said, “I was just coming to terms with the fact you’d be a beta. I thought maybe there would still be a place for you in this family. But if this is the kind of beta you are?” His lip curled in disgust as he looked Jule up and down. “I think not.”

“Father, please,” I said desperately. “We were drunk and messing around. It didn’t?—”

“Silence,” my father hissed. “Did I ask for your input?”

I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes.

My father signalled his guards, and they stepped forward, binding Jule’s hands behind his back and forcing him to his knees.

“I knew you were weak, but I never in my wildest dreams would imagine my own flesh and blood to be this queer,” my father said.

Jule’s eyes flashed in anger. “Weak?” he said. “I’d knock you flat in a fair fight, if you didn’t hide behind muscled men and guns.”

He might, actually. He’d been training with Hugo since hewas twelve and had a lot of lean muscle packed onto his frame. Hugo had even trained him on fighting alphas, giving him tips on his best chance against an aura.

“You want a fight?” Father said. “I’ll give you one last chance to claim your aura, boy. In Blood Court. You’ll come out the other side a proper alpha, or you’ll die as a weak beta. It’s a win-win for me either way.”

SEVENTY-FIVE

LAUREL

Jade and Casey’s shift was just starting now, which meant I could sneak in and see Ocean without anyone ratting me out. Getting in on official business was off the table now that the Lucas pack was actually managing him.

I sent a text to Kaos, letting him know I was ready.

He sent me a skull emoji a few seconds later, which I hoped meant he’d fritzed the cameras, but I didn’t have time to clarify. I moved the panel from the wall and carefully dropped onto a stack of chairs. It was a storage room right next to the securement wing.

I hurried down the corridor and around corners and knocked on the door. Jade let me in, and Casey already had the outer security door open. She’d been quiet after I told her why Jule had been taken, a uncharacteristic frown on her face. I had let her have some space; she was struggling to reconcile what she’d believed for years with this new information.

We made it through the two security doors, and I sighed with relief when we were all safely on the other side.

“Thanks,” I told Casey, and he smiled.

“Of course, Miss Laurel.”

Jade beamed at me from behind his back, giving me a double thumbs up.

“How is he?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself. Ocean had been in feral territory when I’d come back to him after his fight, and I was hoping that he’d retained what little awareness I’d given back to him.

“He’s not great,” Jade admitted.

I squeezed my arms around myself. I’d been hoping we had more time.

“He was calm for a bit when he woke up, but he gets so worked up every time the Lucas pack comes to see him,” Jade finished.

It didn’t sound promising as we walked over to Ocean’s cell. I stopped when he came into view, part of my heart breaking. He was throwing himself against the bars of the cage, his aura hanging heavy in the air. The vycron steel, designed to withstand alpha auras, held firm, but that didn’t stop him from trying.

“Ocean,” I said, moving closer, and his gaze snapped up to meet mine.

For a second, he just stared, and I took another step closer. He snarled and lurched toward me, pressing his face up against the bars, his arms stuck through and reaching for me.

I swallowed, looking at the hands that were clawing toward me. Would he rip me apart if I stepped forward?

It didn’t matter.

I had to try.