Page 21

“Just champagne and snacks. Typical stuff. Nothing unusual. What, you think I took some magic medicine that helped me slow my bleeding?” I offer, hoping he’s joking or something.

The older alphas exchange a knowing look, Leo looking just as lost as me, before suddenly Nakoa changes the topic, seemingly satisfied with his line of questioning.

“I’m stavrving. How about we eat something fresh. Celebrate a fresh start with our mate before we properly introduce her?” He says and I blink in confusion.

“A trip to the beach? This early in the morning?” It’s like Raphael is reading my mind now, because all I want to do is pass back out.

“Yes. Now,” he says, and Leo shrugs, pumping his fist in the air.

“I’d love a good swim.”

Wonderful, I think, they’re not only holding me captive, but they’re keeping me in the dark.

Only, when I try to stand up, the world starts falling down. I collapse onto the groun.

“Grace!?” Leo shouts, and I know I must’ve hit the ground hard, because I haven’t heard the man use my name since we met.

I’m–” I’m cut off by the weight of gravity, collapsing into the furs for a second time as I try to stand up and fail like a flailing newborn doe not use to my lanky legs. I lay there, blushing so hard I’m sure the fur will catch on fire.

Did I really get knotted so hard I can’t walk straight!?

I can count the times I’ve been knotted on one hand, and three of those times were with them so it’s not like I have a huge frame of reference to work with, still they felt inhumanly big.

And this is my first heat. My first neverending heat, though I feel much better today than I did just yesterday.

“Omega? Are you okay?” Nakoa asks, and I’m forced to look as him as he lifts my chin.

He looks geunuily concerned, but somewhere in his eyes I can see the hint of lust. Only an alpha would be turned on by the fact he fucked his mate so hard he rendered her legs useless.

Leo sways from left to right, fingers dancing on his thighs.

His jittery smile conveys more or less. But damn it all if I don’t I blush harder as Raphael, the jackass, cackles before coughing into his closed fist. He’s not hiding the fact he thinks I’m pathetic, and doesn’t see a damn thing sexy about the state I’m in.

“I think your princess needs a piggy back ride to the beach, Leo,” he says, and I want to smack the shit out of him.

No way will I be humilated like that. Until I lock eyes with the rest of our pack. Nakoa smiles at me, and for the first time, it feels somewhat genuine. Or maybe he’s smiling at Leo, who’s beaming ear to ear, waiting for me to climb onto his back.

Oh great, I fume, he’s set me up.

I remember Faith’s advice. Being friendly won’t kill me. Getting on their bad side, especially the one who had a penchant for stabbing people, just might. And for some reason, I think rejecting his offer will be tantamount to humiliating him.

Together, while being carried in Nakoa’s arms, we go on an adventure to the beach to fish. Hopefully soon, I’m able to fish for clues too.

Our progress is slow going, but mostly because Leo keeps stopping so I can oh and awe at the vegetation and animals I see. I even make a giddy sound I’m ashamed of when he points out a coconut and, with a precise flick of a dagger he seems to materlize from thin air, knocks it out of a tree for me.

“Thank you,” I say as I hold it against his chest, my arms wrapped around his neck. My hand is still swollen but much better than it was last night, and I wonder if that nasty shit he made me swallow was the medicine Raphael and Nakoa went out to find last night.

“Anything for you princess,” Leo chirps like a bird and I laugh.

“Oh get a cave will you,” Raphael groans and my laughter only swells, caught off guard that he’s joking.

He seems just as caught off guard, eying me like I’ve grown another head. I stop laughing when his look of surprise shifts into a glare.

“What,” I snarl. It’s like I can’t have a moment of happiness in this hater’s presence.

“You seem awfully content. Guess we fucked some sense into you,” he says, and it’s like he engineers his sentences to piss me off.

“Fuck you.”

“You did. Thanks,” he says, and without thinking, I chuck the coconut at him.

He catches it and smashes it on the ground, “Toss something else at me omega, and I’ll toss your ass off the next cliff.”

“Try it!” I bark back as Leo barks with laughter.

We all stop laughing though, when Nakoa doubles over. He’s silent for a while, just shaking before he stands straight and throws his head back, the white strand of his bang glittering. Nakoa’s laugh is rich and sonorous. And it sounds rare. And it stirs something inside of me that’s… strange.

When he’s finished, he dabs at the corners of his eyes with his ungloved knuckles, choking out, “You two are so much alike.”

“No we aren’t!” we shout.

Great. We aren’t beating his allegations by a long shot.

Raphael pushes off a tree and stomps ahead, as Leo hoists me back up his back, as I was starting to slip off, chuckling all the while.

“Aww, she’s gotten under your skin that bad, Raphael?” Leo asks, antagonizing him just when I thought we’d squashed it.

“It’s tradition,” Leo says, and I roll my eyes behind his head.

Well, you have some pretty fucked up traditions I think, returning to the more pleasant taks of sightseeing.

Raphael halts and turns on his heels, expression neutral, “No. If anything, I feel sorry for her. You two keep playing house. You’ll confuse the poor girl.”

Huh?

“What do you mean by that?” I ask, as Leo falls silent.

Raphael walks backwards, not missing a step or tripping over a branch as he yanks at his black collar, “One thing about me Grace, is I’m not one for games. If I had it my way, I’d shock you until you learned to shut the fuck up. Remeber, princess.

There he goes again, making a word like princess sound more like a curse word than fuck or bitch.

“Are you saying I’m wearing a shock collar?” I ask in disbelief. “You’re joking?”

“Want to find out?” Raphael asks, snickering like some kid as he slowly turns around. “I can take you to the edge of our territory and you can give it a test.”

“No thank you,” I grit out, emphasizing every word in my sentence.

“Stop scaring her,” Nakoa dead pans, the playful mood dead.

But he doesn’t deny what Rapahel is saying, and that scares me ten times worse. So the rest of the way, we walk in awkward silence. Every time I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, they make me feel like an idiot.

Fuck me indeed.

I’m so lost in thought that the sun blinds me when we emerge in a picturesque slice of paradise painted in pastel.

Even the sand seems different here, pink instead of the bleached yellow I washed on.

I’m too stunned to speak as Nakoa starts stripping down to his birthday suit, and Raphael busies himself recounting the supplies in the packs they lugged along, yanking out a huge fishing net that seems impossible to squeeze into what it came out with.

Nakoa takes it, and heads to the edge of the water, his tattoos moving like black waves as he casts his fishnet out with expertise.

I’m staring at his sculpted ass a little too long, before I realize Leo is pressed against me.

Leo holds the palm fern over my head, using the other to fan me, and I really do feel like some island princess.

Raphael sets to work building a fire, the next to peel off his shirt. I don’t admire his muscles or stare at the hint of what looks like a burn scar on his hip. Not at all, opting to take in the serenity of this space. The smell is relaxing too, and I pick up hints of what can only be described as…

Lavender and eucalyptus?

I recoil, and Leo nuzzles my cheek, asking me what’s wrong.

I whisper it’s nothing, but I feel strange.

It can’t be. Those scents are too woodsy for a tropical beach, at least I think.

I figure my mind is playing a trick on me since I associate those scents with a sense of comfort.

And as much as I shouldn’t be, I feel a sense of peace for the first time since my world came crashing down out of the sky.

“What’s wrong with you now, omega?” my pack’s apex alpha asks as he turns around with a stunning smile. “You’ve been quieter than usual.”

“We’ve known each other for two days,” I dead pan and he barks with laughter.

“Yes, and like I said, you’re much quieter than usual. Are you still in pain?”

He doesn’t wait for me to respond before casting his fishing net back into the ocean. His muscular arms flexed with the fluid motion, mesmerizing me for a split second.

I want to respond, ‘what isn’t wrong,’ but keep my sore mouth shut. Everything about this scene is too surreal to put into words.

I can pretend hot beach boys are fanning me, feeding me, and fishing for my dinner at a tropical resort.

But pampered as I may be in this moment, it doesn’t change my reality. I’m trapped on a prison island held captive by alpha ex-covicts from this primal paradise’s ruling pack.

Sentenced to a sex cult, was it? I try to recall what that article called it when I thought I’d be waking up at Foxcroft, a house for unwed omegas, weeks ago. Back then, I thought my biggest worry would be clearing my name with the paparazzi.

As I dig my toes into the coral pink sand, take a deep breath, and soak in the pastel rainbow sunset, I have to admit that the gossip rag wasn’t wrong.

A mating bond isn’t that far off from brainwash, only mine will last forever. I scratch at the back of my neck. It’s starting to scab. I frown at this. I know they scar, permenetlu, but do mating bites bleed? I thought something in the enzymes or whatever big scientific word makes it

Super tetanus. I have super tetanus. And here I thought this lockjaw was from sucking those monstrous cocks off.

Maybe he can read my thoughts, because Leo’s cock hardens against my hip. Unhinged but, he’s growing on me. I can’t lie compared to Nakoa and Leo

Don’t they know the rules of hookups? No kissing. I mean, sure Nakoa and I are mated—I think—but it’s contract bond.

“Earth to Grace,” Raphael barks, a roaring fire too close for comfort. “Answer your alpha.”

His lackey routine is growing tiresome.

“No. I’m feeling much better, Nakoa,” I say, and he stills, mid-way up shore with a net full of a healthy sized catch.

His eyes twinkle with emotion, but he doesn’t akcnoelement my answer.

Instead, along with Rapahel, he skins and cooks the catch.

Nakoa flips the frying fish and tuts as Raphael who cuts his eyes to the sky when he tries to sneak a bite.

Leo, for his part, alternates between fanning me and massaging my legs.

“If you have tech and can intercept signals, why haven’t you sent out an S.O.S?

Why are you still on this island?” I ask, because I don’t want to think to hard about the fact that out there, Providence was shut down years ago.

I can’t imagine whatever government body or private corporation that ran this place doesn’t know they’re here.

“You don’t think we’ve tried?” he asks, and I frown as the radio buzzes on his hips.

“Rip tides and other natural elements kill the majority of escapees. Our boats are exactly ocean worthy, and most of our experienced sailors are dead. And there’s a jammer signal when you get further out from shore.

We can receive things when they get closer. But nothing gets out.”

My heart thuds in my chest because nothing he’s saying can be good. It sounds like we’re all trapped in somebody’s warped experiment. But who?

“Our spies have spotted more modern technology up North though, which begs the question how they got their hands on it,” Nakoa murmurs as Leo and Rapahel dig in, and I nibble on the fish on a stick offered to me.

“Spies?” I ask hesitantly. This is all starting to sound like some spy movie.

“Among the wolves. And the majority of the boats crash on their side. The lighthouse, the real one not what we call the prison, also functions from time to time. Nothing we can explain.”

“Which is why we need to take over their territory so we can figure out how they’re accessing lost tech,” Raphael adds, his knee knocking against mine as Leo wraps his arms around my waist after discarding the remnants of his meal.

“Wolves and foxes… I still don’t get the masks?” I say, getting overwhelmed by all this confusing information.

“We were divided after the war. The wolves used to be the wardens, the jailkeepers pretty much. And we were the prisoners and… Forget it. Enough chattering. We need to get back,” Nakoa says, tossing sand into the fire as he polishes off his fish.

For what feels like the millionth time since I’ve washed up here, I’m not sure I want to know that answers to my questions as I’m hoisted back onto Leo’s back, Raphael’s situated me there before shrugging on his backpack.

“We have a mission to protect the survivors, and that’s that,” Nakoa says, as if that’ll explain everything. “Now, let’s head into city. Whatever they’ve discovered, it’s urgent enough they’re requesting all pack leaders to attend an emergency meeting.”