Knot the Alphas’ Feral Omega

53. Lilah

53

Lilah

My head throbbed when I finally stirred...God knew how long later.

I groaned and squirmed around, vaguely aware of two things. One: I was still in human form, so whatever my kidnapper had done to me hadn’t been threatening enough to force my shift. Either that, or I had been too deeply sedated for my wolf to react appropriately to whatever was happening to me.

The second thing I noticed was that I was on a bed—or something soft, at least. The surface underneath me was squishy, and when my hand slid out, I felt the distinct texture of brocade stitching on a bedspread.

I forced my eyes open and managed a quick sweep of the room I was in before the heaviness of the drug overtook me again. The room was plain, if expensive. It looked like a luxurious hotel suite of some kind, though a peek out the window told me there were enormous trees just outside. There were no trees like that anywhere near the city, where a fancy hotel might be.

That meant I had been out for some time...and had been taken to a second location.

I swallowed hard. I wasn’t a true crime girl, but even I knew that if you were taken to a second location, there was zero chance you would leave the situation alive.

My heart pounded, and the urge to shift was strong. Whatever drug was still in my system was stifling my shift, though, the magic that pushed my change far off on the very edges of my subconscious. I couldn’t even make my claws pop out, my nails remaining irritatingly dull and human when I tried.

I was stuck. I was helpless. I didn’t know where the fuck I was. I didn’t have my pack...

My stomach swooped at the thought, which was enough to make me bolt upright despite how my head spun.

I’d spoken to Killian just before I’d been taken. They had to know that I was missing by now.

I scanned the room and didn’t see my phone at first glance. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, centering myself for a moment and drawing on my enhanced hearing—though it still wasn’t as strong as it would be if I could shift.

Still, I could hear the quiet sounds of my surroundings: birds chirping in the trees outside and the faint rumble of a car driving by, far enough in the distance that the road had to be quite a way off. That realization made my stomach sink, but I swallowed hard and continued to listen.

It took a moment before I could finally identify the soft sounds of footsteps in the building—downstairs, based on the distance I could measure. They walked steadily, pacing ten steps, then a brief pause, then another ten steps.

Pacing...whoever else was in the house with me was waiting for me to wake up.

The thought of being in the same room as my kidnapper made my heart rate spike, and I bit back a squeak of fear. I didn’t know who had kidnapped me, so I had no way of knowing if I was dealing with a shifter who would sense the moment I was awake from my breathing and heartbeat. Maybe it was just a psycho human who had decided that stalking me was what he wanted to do with his time. I didn’t know...

The pattern of footsteps changed, and this time, I did let out a cry of fear.

Because they were strong and purposeful now, making their way directly towards me, and I wasn’t naive enough to assume he was just coming to check on me. He’d known that I was awake—shifter, then.

I swallowed and forced myself not to panic even further as I straightened up and planted my feet on the bed on either side of me. I tensed as the steps of the person who had kidnapped me rapidly approached until they were on the other side of the door.

I was finally able to shift my ears, and my hearing immediately sharpened as they paused outside the door. Their heartbeat was steady, the breaths even—whoever was out there wasn’t afraid of me, not even a little bit.

As I listened, I finally heard something else—the sounds of another person, their heartbeat sluggish, somewhere far below my feet.

Fuck .

The sound of a key in the lock of the door made my heart rate spike again, and I quickly shifted my ears back so I looked as human as I could be. I didn’t want whoever was out there to know that I knew I wasn’t alone with them in this house, especially if the other person was as drugged as I had been. I had to keep as many secrets as possible to make it out of here alive.

The door clicked and then opened, and I swallowed hard as a man walked through.

He was middle-aged, roughly, with streaks of gray at his temples. His eyes were big and blue as he looked at me, though the spark of life that I’d come to expect from...well, people, was missing, and he looked empty despite the smile that stretched across his face. He wore a loose pair of jeans and a T-shirt that hung off his shoulders, and there was a hollowness in his cheeks that I wouldn’t have expected from someone healthy.

Everything about him made me shiver with unease.

His eyes flashed gold briefly as he watched me before inclining his head. “Lilah. You’re awake.” He offered me a smile and then stuck out one hand for me to shake. “I’m Hunter Randall.”

The blood drained out of my face so quickly that my head spun for a moment, making me dizzy, and I swallowed, forcing myself to stay sitting where I was, not moving even a muscle.

“You’re the Slicer,” I said, looking at his hand pointedly until he dropped it back to his side. My voice was flat and emotionless, and I deliberately folded my arms, closing myself off from him.

There was a spark of irritation in Hunter’s eyes, but he let out a low chuckle, folding his arms over his chest and mimicking my stance. “Ah, yes. Well. I never did like that moniker. I thought it was a bit unoriginal.”

For a moment, I couldn’t think of anything to say. I sputtered a little, then managed, “Your only issue is...that you don’t like the name the press gave you? Not that...you’re a serial killer?”

He shrugged and took a step closer to me again, letting his arms drop back to his sides. “People die, Lilah,” he said softly. “Does it really matter whether I’m the one that helps them over the finish line or not? The end result is all the same.”

Horror filled me, and I stumbled to my feet, taking several steps back and trying to maintain distance between us. “That’s... yes , it fucking matters! It matters whether or not a person spends their last moments in horrifying agony and terror compared to, I don’t fucking know, dying in their bed after a long illness!”

My mind immediately flashed to Mom with my words, and I was filled with even more horror as I realized that Hunter had snatched me from the house that Mom and I had shared for years. He knew where Mom lived.

Hunter cocked his head to the side, and the smile on his face turned sly. “Don’t worry, Lilah,” he said, his voice low and smooth. “I have no interest in hurting Katrina. Even if she did betray me in the most heinous way by keeping you away from me.” He frowned, almost pouted , and took a step closer. “I missed out on all these years that I could have been a father to you.”

I sputtered, unable to contain my indignation even as my heart rate skyrocketed. “You missed out on being a father because you were a murdering psychopath! Surely...surely you see that, right?”

I tossed out the last sentence in a desperate attempt to see if any sort of humanity could be reached in him—anything that might indicate he wasn’t the horrible monster the newspapers and reports had painted him to be. He was even more terrifying in person than he had been in my head, especially now that I had eyes on him and knew that...he was just a normal guy.

Since discovering he was my father, I’d read many stories about Hunter Randall that described his crimes in great detail, but since he’d never been caught, the police had only ever been able to speculate about the person who had perpetrated them.

Now that he was standing in front of me, I had the horrible realization that there was no way he would have ever been caught, even if someone had seen him. He was too plain—not handsome enough to catch anyone’s eye, not distinctive enough to be remembered.

The perfect serial killer.

And I was in a house with him. Not alone—I still didn’t know what was going on with the other person in the house—but alone enough that I was terrified I wouldn’t make it out alive.

Hunter shrugged again and cocked his head to the side. This time, when he looked at me, there was a flicker of disappointment in his eyes, which was only emphasized when he sighed. “Your mother and her rigid sense of morals,” he muttered.

He reached up, ran his hand through his hair, and took another step closer to me. I swallowed, the backs of my thighs hitting the bedside table, and he took the opportunity to march up to me and grab my wrist—not too tight, but enough that I couldn’t get away if I wanted to.

Then he turned around and walked out of the room, dragging me behind him. I stumbled a little, suddenly grateful that I was still wearing the jeans and sneakers I’d been wearing to go and visit Mom, and managed to steady myself on my feet when an alpha growl ripped through the air and he glanced over his shoulder with his eyes glowing gold.

Fear flooded me, and I couldn’t stop the tiny squeak that escaped my chest, fearful and all too human. I wanted to let my wolf free, to growl right back at this man and show him that I wasn’t going to be cowed...

But whatever he had drugged me with was still working in my system. I might be lucid and able to think clearly, but my shift was still just beyond reach.

It was frustrating, especially with fear flooding my body the way it was. I could barely see beyond the way that my heart was pounding in my ears, and desperately, I cast around for something, anything that would help me, as he continued to drag me through the house and then down the stairs.

The house we were in was nice enough, and it had a very lived-in feel that told me it wasn’t a rental. That realization made my stomach swoop because if this was where he lived ...

I didn’t have my phone, but... fuck , I could still feel the faint bond between me and Oliver in my chest. It was stretched thin, indicating how far away I was from my pack, but I still tried to pull on the connection, hinting at where I might be if they happened to be paying attention.

Immediately, there was a throb back, and that soothed me some, knowing that they were looking for me. Panic flickered along the edges of the connection, but Hunter started talking again before I could explore it further.

“It’s a shame we missed out on so much time together, but that’s alright. We can make up for it now.”

He dragged me through the living room, and my ears pricked up; we were heading towards the only other person in the house.

“What do we need to make up for?” My voice was a terrified squeak, and I desperately tried to keep my fear out of my voice and scent, but even I could smell how bitter my scent was turning.

Fuck. This was bad. This was so, so bad .

Hunter smiled over his shoulder at me, and the mask seemed to have fallen off his face completely. His eyes glinted, completely unhinged, and his hand tightened around my wrist. “My legacy, of course. I can’t keep doing this forever, Lilah. But you...” He chuckled, the sound evil . “You can continue on the family business.”

It took a moment, but then horror flooded me. Immediately, I began to struggle, trying desperately to tear my wrist from his grip.

“No!” I snapped, my voice tight with fear. “I won’t. I’m not...I can’t ...”

Hunter tutted softly, shaking his head as he continued to drag me along, completely undeterred by my efforts. “Of course you can, Lilah. Just because you’ve never been taught doesn’t mean you don’t know how.” His voice got more and more unhinged with each word, and suddenly, I could see through the windows as he dragged me through an enormous den.

I could see the road that stretched out in front of the house with clarity.

If I could just get out...

There was an enormous vase standing next to a side table against the wall, and as he dragged me past it, I made a snap decision.

I threw myself to the side, shocking him, and his grip on my wrist loosened just enough for me to break his hold. The vase shattered the second my body weight fell on it, and despite the fact that I’d been expecting it, the sound of the shattering porcelain, as well as some deep cuts that pierced through my arm from the broken shards, tore a startled scream out of my throat.

And then...all hell broke loose.