Page 26 of The Forgotten

Her pupils are blown with fear, and her chest is heaving as she nods. I don’t think I’ve ever moved so quickly as I pull a knife from where it’s taped to the nightstand to release her.

“Fucking breathe, Olivia,” I insist, putting the knife away.

“Can…can’t,” she gasps. “Take me home.”

Grabbing the back of her neck from where she’s collapsed at the edge of the bed, I shove her head between her legs.

“I can’t do that,” I mutter. “My adoptive father probably already knows you exist. He’s been bugging my brothers to findan omega, and they all refuse due to some fucked up traditions that he has.”

“Then that’s why you should let me go,” she whines. “I’ll disappear. I’ve been doing it for years.”

Releasing her now that she can get words out clearly, I gaze at her in exasperation.

“Why though? I need your fucking words,” I insist. I never beg for anything, but I’m getting close here.

“Why?” she asks. “My truths and circumstances won’t change just because you say they should. I already gave you a little insight into them.”

“You’re a tough cookie,” I observe. “Maybe I don’t want you to disappear. Maybe I want you to fight.”

“I’ve been fighting you,” Olivia reminds me, rubbing her wrists. They’re red from the cord, making me wince as I pull out arnica salve and doctor her skin. Her muted blue eyes try to figure me out, and I can tell the wheels are turning in her head. Good luck, because most days, I don’t even know why I do the things I do. “What you want is for me to give in.”

“Now that would be boring,” I chuff. “Be a hellion, keep me guessing to a degree, but I don’t want you broken. So let’s talk about things that I know about you, and go from there. You have nightmares.”

I don’t phrase that as a question because I watched her have one in her closet. Olivia’s lips purse in annoyance, and I’m almost remorseful when she tugs her wrists away from me.

“You’re a creepy stalker,” she sighs.

“Careful, you’ll make me blush,” I wink at her. “Why do you have nightmares?”

“My entire life is a nightmare,” she says, sounding exhausted. “The only thing that makes this the slightest bit bearable is that your brothers have rejected me. I’ll fight any bites that come my way, and refuse to allow them to rescind the rejection.”

“Olivia,” I whisper, dropping to my knees as she wipes away a tear. “There are reasons why my brothers don’t want an omega, and surprisingly they’re for your protection. However, to think so low of them?—”

“I don’t know them,” she bites out. “The only thing I can judge them on is what they’ve shown of themselves. Maddox wanted to keep me as a pet to work at their company, forced to look at their smug faces because he thought he could blackmail me. Weeping Willow Institute saved me with their drugs, hid me from my abusers by clouding my mind so they couldn’t whisper and terrorize me anymore. You and your brothers onlythinkyou’re the scariest things to exist. You’re not.”

“Whisper how?” I ask, my fingers digging into the plush fabric of her sweatpants and her thighs. My jaw grinds down hard, and I’m desperate to put together the nuggets of information she’s spitting at me.

“Through the forced bond,” Olivia rasps. “It was corrupted, and I could hear their thoughts, feelings, and the darkness that lived inside of them. It’s how they found a way to turn the bond into a tracking device of sorts. As long as I didn’t see my daughter, stayed doped to the gills with antipsychotics I didn’t need, then Cerenity was safe.”

“I’ve never heard of a bond doing that,” I say without thinking before shaking my head to negate the words. “I believe you, Olivia.”

“I don’t care if you do or not,” Olivia says, waving her hand in the air haughtily. “I didn’t want anyone to know, so they didn’t. I will bide my time, find my chance to either escape or die. No one really needs me anyway.”

“No one? There were men in my living room willing to go to war for you!” I roar. My yelling doesn’t even make her twitch, her gaze shifting over my shoulder to ignore me. “You don’t get to do that. I fucking warned you, Angel. PAY ATTENTION!”

My fingers move back to her chin, careful not to mark her pale skin as I lean in so close that her eyes have to focus on me.

“Checking out is weak,” I growl. I grew up with alphas, so I do a damn good imitation of the real thing. Olivia shivers as her breaths get faster, but she’s present again. “You have made your goddamned point, okay? You want to make my brothers crawl? Do it. Make them rue the day they were fucking born. But do it with your eyes open. Your defenses are also weak. My father is coming to visit and the shit is going to hit the fan.”

“What does that mean?” she whispers.

“It means that the only thing that exists for you in this room is me. I’m going to teach you how to defend yourself, and I am going to keep you armed. As long as you don’t kill my brothers, anything goes. Stab the fuckers, but maybe avoid Aled’s dick, okay?” I ask. “I’m kind of attached to it.”

“This family is so odd,” Olivia mutters. “So you want me to fight them?”

“Them? Yes. My brothers lied to me and didn’t tell me about you. When a pack of alphas is scent matched to an omega, the beta sometimes is soul bonded to her or him as well,” I explain. “They attempted to rob me of meeting you, and I protect what’s mine. However, if you spit at me, I’ll spit back in your mouth.”

Olivia seems intrigued by that so I give into the need to taste her pouty lips. Kissing her, I feel her melt slightly against me before she pushes me away.