Chapter 29 #2
I let out a whine of distress, trying to get Hugo’s attention. His hands clenched into fists, but he didn’t move. I sent him reassurance through the bond. We could both feel Jade, and she was full of calm confidence.
Probably working on escaping right now.
We just had to play along for a little bit.
“Fine,” he snarled.
“Right.” Valentino waved a hand at Hugo. “That’s one problem taken care of. Take the alpha to cell B.”
“Jewel is coming with me,” Prince said.
“Wait—” Hugo snarled, but I shook my head at him. He managed to restrain himself as he was dragged away.
He’ll be fine, I reminded myself. It was my betas I should worry about.
?
JEWEL
I was dragged to the second floor and taken to one of the interrogation rooms. The security guards handcuffed me to a chair at the back, then left me alone.
With time stretching on, and no meaningful change from any of my pack, I fell to the temptation of picking at my gel nails. Which was awful because I couldn’t even see what I was doing properly with my hands bound and all.
How much time had passed?
It couldn’t be past midnight already, could it?
No, it hadn’t been that long. We still had time.
I was on my last nail when the door to the room opened, but it wasn’t Jade here to break me out. Prince Lucas was standing in front of my cell, a satisfied smile on his handsome face.
He’d changed; his once-sleek curls were stringy and limp, and he'd lost a good deal of weight. He was watching me, still with that stupid, smug look on his face. I could still pretend to be drugged, but honestly, with Prince, it didn’t matter.
“Look what the cat dragged in.” I raised an eyebrow. “Prince. You look positively ghastly. Been under a bit of stress recently?”
“Funny,” he said with a nod. His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Always so fucking funny, aren't you? You know what’s really funny, though?” He took another two steps inside. “All these years, and here we are again. Me here and you in a cage.”
Our eyes met, and I knew we were both thinking of the same memory.
?
Ascend was rather tastelessly decorated; painted brick walls adorned with neon signs. The ceilings were low, and the scent of cigarettes and lust-filled pheromones hung in the air, both alpha and omega.
Most of the other… employees here were free to wander about the room, but I was a special case.
I was shoved inside a large cage, none too gently.
Madison was a brute.
I held my cuffs by the bars and sighed as they were unlocked, stretching my hands over my head. The chain attached to my collar was secured, and it gave me enough room to move around.
Given my fight history, and a certain incident when I’d first arrived here, the muzzle stayed on when I was on the floor.
I also wasn’t allowed out of the cage without handcuffs, even with clients.
I leaned against the bars, surveying the room. Dax was making the final rounds before the doors opened.
He stopped by Madison, folding his arms.
“Dax, this beast of yours made me lose a nail,” I complained, showing him my hand. “No one's going to believe me when I threaten to take someone’s eyes out now.”
Dax snorted. “You don’t need those to take someone’s eyes out.”
“Yes, well, I know that, but these people don’t. I need my claws intact. You should keep him under better control.”
“Play well tonight, Jewel.” With that, he left, taking Madison with him.
I sighed, bracing myself for another night of performing. The doors opened, and the room started to fill.
My eyebrows raised as I spotted a familiar face come into view. Oh, this was my lucky day.
I ran my fingers through my hair and stepped over, leaning against the bars of my cage. “I didn’t know we were expecting royalty tonight,” I said, drawing his attention and surprise. He hadn’t changed much in the couple of years since I’d last seen him—same pretty-boy face with curly black hair.
“Julius?” Prince asked, mouth agape. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. “But you’re dead…”
I smirked. “Huh. I don’t feel very dead,” I said innocently. “Maybe you’d like to check yourself?”
I let my eyes trail leisurely down his body, taking in the packed muscles beneath the suit and breathing in his scent. I let it wash over me, building off instinct, which allowed my body to respond.
Perfuming was easy if I did that.
We had to learn that trick quickly here. Made nights very uncomfortable, otherwise.
My scent thickened in the air, and I watched with satisfaction as his pupils dilated. I was throwing everything I could at him, because he would walk away tonight over my dead body.
I didn't know what stars had aligned to bring him here, but he was the perfect person to get caught in my web.
“W—what are you doing here?” he managed.
“Hmm. I wonder,” I said, cocking my head and blinking my lashes. “What possible reason could a needy little omega like me have to be here tonight?”
Prince swallowed. “O—omega?” he said, his voice hoarse.
“Oh dear, is Dear Old Dad still telling lies? Yes, he was rather devastated when he found out. Couldn’t bear the thought that his son would inevitably end up on his knees, begging for alpha cock. Of course, we both know I’d already done that long before he found out.”
His scent thickened in the air at my words.
God, he was such a slimy bastard. No doubt his hard-on was half over the fact he was enjoying seeing me powerless. He’d always been jealous, and stupid. I was counting on that to lead him right where I wanted him.
“Come on, alpha,” I purred, “think you can handle me? I don’t bite. Or rather, I can’t.”
I snapped my teeth through the muzzle, then cocked my head, giving him a feral grin.
Prince stepped closer, his eyes glinting with greed.
Which was a pretty dumb move on his part.
He was lucky I was more interested in fucking him than killing him tonight.
I’d found my angle. There was always an angle.
?
“The first time really worked out well for you, didn’t it?” I mused. “Two packmates gone, a shattered bond, and a prison sentence. Wonder if you’ll survive this time?”
“Gone? Where’s Dax? Is he still alive?”
“Oof. Right to the hard questions.” I made a face. “I’m gonna go with probably not.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“I locked him in that nasty little basement room you put me in. Haven’t really checked in on him since, but given I cut the water line, I doubt he’s still alive. You never know though, it’s hard to kill a cockroach.”
Prince snarled.
“You’re going to regret what you did to me, Julius.”
I rolled my eyes, letting my head fall back with dramatic flair. “Oh no, not dead naming. Spare me this torture.”
“You done?”
I grinned. “Insulting you? Hardly. I've got years’ worth of material I've been holding back. You make it rather easy, really.”
A muscle in his jaw twitched, but he composed himself. “Want to know how I got out?”
“Not really.” I sighed. “I have a feeling you’re going to tell me, anyway.”
“Uncle Valentino came to visit me in prison. And he wanted to talk about you.”
No shit.
Obviously.
“He said he believed me that you and Laurel killed Thaddeus. That you set me up. Asked if I wanted to help bury you for good.”
“How wonderful. Happy for you,” I said.
He bared his teeth at me. “You’ve lost. I’ll be a hero for bonding you, especially once I release all the evidence of how crazy you are.”
“Hmm. No. How about: I’ll rip out your throat if you try to join my pack.”
“No, you won’t.” He leaned closer. “No matter how much you loved to play pretend, you always bent over at the end of the night. You're not an alpha. You don't have an aura. And no matter how many cheap tricks Hugo taught you, at the end of the day, you'll always lose.”
I gave him my most excellent sneer. “Not to you.”
“Come, Jewel.”
The bark hit me like a freight train, blitzing through my mind. I struggled to obey, the handcuffs digging into my skin painfully as I surged forward. The bark’s power waned, and I managed to get ahold of myself again.
I shifted back in my chair, glaring up at Prince. How juvenile.
Prince snickered as he leaned down and grabbed my shirt. His sandalwood scent choked in my throat, and I hated how my body wanted to respond. He buried his nose in my hair, inhaling deeply.
“Fuuuck.” He groaned, causing my scalp to prickle. He inhaled again, almost desperately.
Ugh, this was disgusting. I’d need like a hundred showers to get his icky-ness off me.
“God, what did you do, Jewel? You smell so sweet. Like a real omega now.”
I stayed still, revulsion threatening to overwhelm me. I didn’t want him to know how much he was affecting me.
“What? No flirty comment? You get broken or something?”
I snorted. “I spent enough years choking down my bile while I flirted with you. Not eager to repeat the experience.”
“Liar!” Prince hissed, spraying my ear with spit. I shuddered, fighting not to gag. “You came on to me first! Remember? Your sister’s birthday?”
“I’m sorry, I forgot how stupid you are. I did that to stop you from sticking your tongue any further down Laurel’s throat. She was fifteen, for fuck’s sake!”
My lip curled in distaste. “I knew all about your little bet with your pathetic alpha friends. Competing to be the first one to get a beta to take your knot. All I had to do was dangle my ass in your face. I knew you’d take the chance to fuck me instead.”
“Shut up!”
The bark had my mouth snapping closed. Prince’s breathing was heavy, heat radiating off him like a furnace. He huffed out a breath, then loosened his hold a bit. His fingers came up to stroke through my hair.
“You think that’s funny, huh? You got a real kick out of humiliating me. Do you have any idea what I’ve been through in prison?”
“What, with your pretty face? I’m sure it’s been a breeze—”
“Shut up,” he snarled again. “God, I can’t wait until that’s permanent. I’m gonna make you pay, Jewel. I’ve been dreaming of all the things I’m gonna do.”
His voice was shaking with excitement, and he pulled back so he could look me in the eye. He held my face still in both his sweaty hands. I bet I was going to get acne there now.
“So many things, Jewel. I’ve been dreaming of how I’m going to make you kill your sister. But then I discover you have two little beta pets? The possibilities are endless.”
I didn’t think it was possible to hate him more, but I was wrong. Not only was he pathetic, disgusting, and vile, but now he was adding cruel to my list as well. How dare he even think about bringing Jade and Casey into this?
“How long do you think you’ll keep that smile on your face when you watch me fuck them, huh? Or maybe I’ll have you kill one of them, so you can feel each moment as they die, just how I did with Madison.”
The temptation to stab him in his shriveled-up heart was impossible to resist.
“You know what’s fascinating? Your obsession with fucking people who don’t want you. Though perhaps it’s because no one actually wants you?”
He flinched. “That’s not true.”
“Really? Let’s see. Me, Laurel, Dax—”
“Dax wanted me! He chose me!” His voice cracked again, and he took a step back.
“He wouldn’t have looked twice at you if I hadn’t told him to.”
For a moment, we just stared at each other. Prince raked a hand through his greasy hair, his face flushed. He gave a desperate laugh.
“Fuck you, Jewel. First thing I’m gonna order you to do is to keep your whore mouth closed. And trust me, if I do let you open it, you won’t be doing any talking.”
With that, he turned and stalked out of the room.