Chapter 43 Moments of Pain #2
“Here you are. I told Damon you’d be near the dessert table,” Liam’s husky voice came, making me freeze, my mouth full of chocolate and the sense of déjà vu of the night we found out we were mates returned to me.
I slowly turned and looked at him, remembering his mutilated back.
My heart thundered as I looked him over.
Black ripped jeans, boots, and a white collar-less button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a few buttons open.
My stomach fluttered, and I stared into his cerulean eyes, noticing his hair was perfectly styled.
I was glad he felt better, or at least looked better.
I didn’t miss how his eyes raked over my body, his eyes flashing their beautiful magnetic deep blue as he swallowed hard.
His thudding heart made my core throb, and if the bond was strong before…
it was far stronger now. My body was craving him, yet when his gaze fell on my neck, and the familiar flash of guilt filled his eyes, reality came crashing down.
Well, I saw no one… I said through the link, only to reach a blank wall. Oh yeah, wolfsbane. I quickly tried to swallow the cake in my mouth.
“Take your time, little miss glutton.”
I frowned as he reached over, taking a cake pop from my plate before I moved my plate out of his reach. I finally managed to swallow my mouthful down and lick my lips.
“That’s my cake pop, I fought a pack of boys to get there first!” I complained, picking up the last cake pop before he stole it.
“Yeah… a bunch of pups, I saw,” he said, his gaze flickering to my lips.
He stepped closer, raising his finger slowly and placing two fingers under my chin, sending off a rush of sparks that took my breath away.
He brushed his thumb along the corner of my bottom lip.
My chest heaved, my heart pounding as he slowly moved back, slipping his thumb into his mouth and licking off the fleck of chocolate.
Our gaze met. My core throbbed, and I felt blank.
“Shall we go?” He asked softly.
Go?
It took me a moment to realise what he meant. I knew that we were paired due to Liam being on wolfsbane, meaning he didn’t have the pack-link. I nodded, not missing the few glances we received.
Drama queen… if you wanted him, why make him go through the punishment? One of the younger females asked through the link, jealousy clear in her eyes as I glanced at her.
I frowned, feeling a sting of pain. I didn’t even know her by name… but obviously, there would be people hating me for what happened. Ignoring them, I followed Liam, my plate still in my hand. I could make out the outline of bandages faintly through his shirt. I looked down, sighing deeply.
We walked away from the commotion of the party, the music fading a little, yet it was still loud enough to hear. He slowed down, falling into step beside me as I quickly ate my dessert.
“So, we get the packhouse,” he said quietly, sliding his hand out of his pocket and holding out the piece of paper which contained a list of door numbers. “The ones marked off are those members fully in the clear.”
I nodded, taking the paper from him. We had a lot of rooms to search…
“Shall we split when we get there? There are a lot of rooms to cover. Maybe one of us can start from the bottom and the other from the top, although I doubt it would be an omega,” I said. Liam shook his head.
“No one gets a pass. Everyone is capable. In fact, omegas have access to a lot of places with ease,” he said quietly as we entered the packhouse, and he slid out a bunch of keys. “The extra keys.”
Keys that I knew were not meant to be used.
“Where are those usually kept?” I asked quietly, although we were alone in the very silent packhouse.
“Dad’s house, in a safe.”
“So, no one could have accessed them,” I said, closing the front door behind us as we headed up the stairs.
“Let’s do a room at a time. It’ll be faster,” Liam said. “As for the keys, imprints can be made with ease.”
“I was telling Damon about the picture you got…” I said. I knew he didn’t know about the rejection, and I wasn’t planning on telling him.
He frowned. I saw the flash of guilt on his face as he took out two anti-scent sprays, handing me one. Quickly, we sprayed them over ourselves before Liam tried to find the correct key.
“Well, I got pictures of Robyn and him, and he got pictures of us two,” I said quietly as he unlocked the first door, and we stepped inside. He looked at me sharply.
“What? When?”
“I got mine when I moved to the packhouse. I think I ordered some stuff for my room and there was a thin flat package…”
“And you never thought to fucking mention that?”
“It was of Damon. I didn’t want to make matters worse…” He sighed.
“I get it,” he said as we both walked to opposite sides of the rooms and began searching.
I know, I messed up. Not speaking up was the issue from the start.
“Someone who can walk around with ease... mine was posted under the door when I stepped out of the bathroom that day,” he said quietly.
“Strange…”
“Yeah, so it’s possible it’s someone with ease of access to the packhouse.”
“Yeah, like someone who lives here…” he said. “Mind-link the others and tell them to come help out here. I don’t know, I feel the killer’s at this packhouse.”
I frowned, quickly linking the others to come as I removed the bottom drawer, checking behind it whilst Liam rolled the rug back, checking the floorboards. With wolfsbane in his system, he was far weaker than normal.
“How’s… the darkness?” I asked quietly. He tensed before glancing at me.
“It’s there… growing stronger… but I’m trying not to let it get to me,” he answered.
“Great.”
Fifteen minutes later, we moved to the next room, but I didn’t think a three-hour party was going to give us enough time.
We wouldn’t even cover one floor at this rate.
The other three had come; Damon was checking the omegas’ rooms on the bottom floor at the back of the packhouse while Zack and Taylor had taken the top floor.
We moved on to the next room, not talking much as we worked fast.
“There’s less time, isn’t there,” Liam muttered, unlocking the door to Owen’s room. I wrinkled my nose, hit with the sweaty smell of male musk and unwashed gym wear.
“Yeah, let’s do what we can, I guess. Goddess, it stinks.”
I went over to the drawer and looked around. His room was such a mess, I was sure even if we ripped it apart, he wouldn’t notice. I kicked a discarded shirt to the side as I began opening the drawers. Nothing.
I sighed as I watched Liam move the bed slightly. It was a low wooden bed that was stuffed with boxes underneath. I frowned when I saw the slight pink patch on his shirt, realising it was blood.
“Liam, you’re straining your injuries!” I said, rushing over. I couldn’t smell the blood, but I knew that was due to the anti-scent spray.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not. Care to explain why your back was ripped apart again two days ago?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Liam!” I said, frustrated, and forced him back by his shoulder. He looked up at me from where he was crouching. “Don’t lie to me!” He looked down.
“It’s nothing.”
“Liam... did you ask for your punishment to be completed?”
“It isn’t.”
“What?” I asked, sitting on the bed as I tried to get better eye contact with him. “Liam, what do you mean?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m just saying I didn’t get my full lashings. I haven’t.”
“Yet you want them?” I asked. My stomach clenched, and I felt sick as I tried to make sense of what he was saying. Suddenly the room felt very small.
“Raven… I need this for me. I can’t be let off lightly. I’m fine. Dad’s even broken it down. It’s not like I’m getting five hundred at once,” he said, his hands closing around my upper arms. The sparks of the bond made my heart calm a little, but it wasn’t enough.
“I told them to stop, meaning to forget about it!”
“I know, but this isn’t that easy, Raven. Why don’t you get it? I can’t live with myself knowing what I did... please,” he said quietly, cupping my face. My chest was heaving as I tried to calm down.
“I told you how to make it up to me,” I said softly.
“And I will, but let me do this for me, too. I need it, love,” he said quietly, looking down. His eyes flashed as they fell on my breasts before they snapped back up to mine.
I tried to understand what he needed, to make sense of it. In the end, I nodded. If that was what he wanted…?
“Thanks for understanding. You look beautiful, by the way…” he said quietly.
“Thanks,” I whispered. Our eyes locked, his cerulean ones meeting my unique ones, but the moment didn’t last long as he pulled away and began moving around the boxes and rubbish that littered the ground.
“He’s a fucking disgusting dickhead,” Liam growled in disgust.
My eyes fell on some porn magazines that looked pretty old. I scrunched my nose as I stood up and got down on my knees to look under the bed at the back.
“I’ll get the rest of the stuff out. You need to be careful with your back.”
He nodded, opening another box as I took out the rest of the stuff from under his bed. I sighed, leaving Liam with the boxes as I went to look in his wardrobe. I had just opened it when Liam swore.
“Fuck.” I turned sharply, only to see him staring down at a dark, green-coloured large pouch.
“What is it?” I asked.
He didn’t respond, simply spilling the contents to the ground. My eyes widened as I stared at a spoon, a thin sharp knife, pliers, and a jar of what appeared to be very clearly human teeth. I looked at Liam in shock as our eyes met, his blazing a brilliant magnetic blue.
“He’s fucking dead,” he growled.