Page 128 of Retribution

There’s an exit sign in front of me and I don’t think twice about it. I simply push it open to get out of the fishbowl that I’m currently in, where people are staring at me silently as I stalk out the door and walk out onto a parapet that connects the floor I’m on to a stairwell. It’s freezing and I don’t have my coat, but I stand out there and force the clawing panic to dissipate as the door slams shut behind me.

If this was any other time, I’d be tempted to cut myself in an attempt to quiet the noise in my head. It’s as if every demon I have is awake and screaming terrible things. I’m not the type of woman that the world thinks Lucas should be with. Even with the toned down clothing, I’m not all polished.

I don’t fit in here.

Pulling a pin from my braid, I lean against the short retaining wall on either side of the path between the stairwell and Lucas’ company to stare out at the city.

Being this high up makes me feel tiny, and for a second, I wonder what would happen if I jumped. It’s an intrusive thought, something I haven’t had happen in quite a while.

Fucking bitches. Sucking in a breath, I hope Lucas does fire their asses. My fingers play with the sharp knife-like pin as Ithink, but I accidentally sink it into the pad of my finger as the door beside me opens. I wasn’t expecting it since I was so far into my thoughts and it startles me.

I’m way too jumpy at the moment.

“You were way too easy to find. Ophelia said you’d be a hellion,” a man says.

Those words pull me out of my own thoughts, my pity party, and my panic attack. My hand reaches for my knife as the pin falls out of my finger and blood splatters along the wall.

“She was right,” I say, spinning to find three large beta assholes in front of me. “Aww, is all this for me? She shouldn’t have.”

My body remains on guard as I watch them, waiting for their next move. I don’t know how they found me, but nothing really surprises me anymore. One of my own clients could have sold me out for all I know, even though I don’t share personal information with them.

It was just a matter of time. I hate that this shit is going down while I’m happy and bonded to all of my alphas but one.

Why couldn’t this have happened at any other time to spare them?

I won’t attack until they do. I know in my soul that if things come between me and my family, I’ll sacrifice myself. Despite how awful Lucas’ staff has treated me, I won’t let Ophelia’s men get past me.

They’re headhunters, and anyone will do when it comes to a payday.

“I don’t give a fuck if you come the easy or hard way, Ophelia has a bone to pick with you,” one of them snarls, walking forward to grab me. “It’s making her grumpier than usual.”

Now that he’s made his move, I jump at him and shove the knife into his fat neck and twist it before pulling it back out andjumping away. The idiot falls to his knees and then to his side as he chokes on his own blood.

I’m not an easy mark. The only reason I’m not running in the opposite direction is because there are innocents inside. I don’t want to bring this into the calm office life where my pack is either. I’ll handle this myself or fight until I can’t anymore.

“It’s always the loud ones that fall first,” I mutter.

Those are the last words I say as the other beta glares dispassionately at me and tasers me.

I don’t care how strong you are, it’s nearly impossible to fight through that type of pain when you’re malnourished.

“Did you set that fucker to high?” the other beta laughs. “Dance little omega, dance! Watch her go.”

I gasp for breath for a different reason than earlier as I drop to my knees, my fingers numb as they release my weapon.

There are so many things I can fight, kill, stab, yet electricity isn’t one of those things. My nerve endings are on fire as my heart stutters in an alarming way. There are different settings for a reason, and as my eyes roll back, I see that the cruel fucker holding the taser is very smug.

The prongs are digging into my skin, pushing electric pulses over and over into my body, and the beta won’t stop hitting the button on his torture device.

I scream in my mind for my alphas, struggling to drop the walls that I had sky high to mask my angst. I don’t want to go with them! Every fear I’ve ever had crashes over me as the reminders of why I escaped Ophelia fill my mind.

Some of these are the feelings of dread, others the phantom pain from my remembered forced heats where I was mindless and feral, and that I’m simply a thing to be fucked for the enjoyment of others.I am a person!

Why can’t I be treated like one?

Over and over, I tell my alphas how much I love them, and thank them for honoring me as a human being and their omega. I thank them for being patient with me, never blinking when I came home with a baby that wasn’t biologically ours, and I apologize that I can’t stay.

“Stop hitting the button, stupid!” One of the betas yells, punching his partner in the arm.