Chapter 34
DIANA
Judge left early that morning, and I did not bother to get up with him.
Instead, I let my mind wander, wondering if there are books within these walls that can help me understand the bond.
Or what if I ask him to let me interact with more omegas?
I can cover up the bite with a turtleneck or a scarf, and suppressants would cover up his musk.
I pop my head out from the covers when I hear more footsteps, and I swear they’re coming from the attic entrance that leads to the main hall, so not Judge’s room. With furrowed brows, I watch the door, listening to the bolts unlocking.
Judge isn’t felt anywhere.
I sit straight up, scrambling underneath the covers with my lips parted.
It’s Rebecca, the omega with echo eyes.
As soon as she’s in, she’s holding her hands out as if to prevent any sound from me being made. “Sshh.”
“What’s going on? How are you in here?” I ask in a hushed voice. I look up at the camera, which still has a red dot on it. So it’s on, right?
“That camera is on repeat of you sleeping, so he won’t know. I know you’ve been in here for almost a month.”
I shake my head and close my eyes before opening them, jutting my head forward. “How have you managed any of that?”
She looks down the stairwell, then back at me. “We need to move fast. I have something to show you. Something you definitely want to see.”
“Woman, you are not supposed to be here!” I sit up, making sure I’m still covered. “Do you realize how much trouble you’ll be in? How did you even know I’m in Judge’s attic?”
“My alpha is close in Judge’s ranks. He’s one of the few that watches over you when Judge isn’t in here—” she points to the camera “—Don’t you want to know why Judge isn’t showing you off?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re not desirable for the pack,” Rebecca states, my eyes widening. “You’re an outsider. He needs an omega that is from here. Please, let me just show you, okay?”
Oh, that fucking hurts. “Then why did he go through all the trouble with me? And is your alpha aware of this?”
“My alpha is sleeping in our room because I ensured he’ll be out for at least the remainder of the day,” she says, an edge in her eyes reflecting what used to look back at me in the mirror.
“I know you’re a scent match. Jack, my alpha, knows.
Alphas can’t resist their scent matches, but you wouldn’t be the first omega to be taken, bitten, while he has other favorite pets.
I heard he was getting something set up for you away from the Iron Castle, so you’d be permanently moved there. ”
My heart races with a sickness that makes my body feel rotten. “What are you saying?”
“You should see for yourself.” She motions to the dresser. “Get dressed. I should warn you, too, that Judge has real plans for the scraps, and that’s why you weren’t with them anymore. He didn’t want you mixed up in that.”
“What plans?”
“He’s going to offer the scraps to Titan.”
My blood runs cold, and that finally gets me on my feet, poorly wrapped in a sheet. “Excuse me?”
“I’m here, Diana, because I’m leaving,” she hisses.
“I’m going to the Witch Doctor and ripping Jack right out of me.
He and I have a dark bond, and I don’t have much time to get away.
Judge is at a gathering right now. It’s not out there, because you obviously can’t see it or you’ll want to skin him. ”
I feel as nauseous as I did when I learned that a bomb had been dropped on my old district. “Are you fucking serious right now? Why even bother coming to me? You don’t owe me anything.”
“Selene said she wouldn’t arrange transportation with the trains if I didn’t at least try to talk to you first. She said if you don’t come, then I have to get a lock of your hair to prove I was near you.”
The world tilts.
“Selene… is with you?” I whisper.
For a moment, I’m not the omega in the attic or the ghost in Judge’s walls. I’m the girl who used to laugh so hard she cried, sitting in a nurse’s lounge with Selene, talking about everything we’d do if we ever got out.
That sparks life back into me like nothing else has.
I near the dresser, survival slithering in like muscle memory. “I’m naked,” I state, like it matters. I’m getting dressed even if she watches.
She turns around, giving me her back.
I throw on clothes because, at the very least, I’d rather not be totally freaking nude while dealing with this.
“I also… I don’t know. I’m sorry to dump this all on you.
It’s something I want to tell you, because you should know before making this decision.
” I glance at her, my body stiffening in case she’s about to attack me.
But she’s still got her back to me. “Judge drugged you the last few days with engagers.”
A high-pitched sound escapes me. “He did what?” I ask through the fabric of a sweater as I yank it over my head, my voice muffled and shaking.
Rebecca’s tone drops, low and urgent. “My sister works in the infirmary. She handles inventory, the meds, all of it. She saw Judge’s requisition—he’s been signing them out himself. Jack overheard Judge mentioning the engagers to help form a proper bond.”
I freeze, the wool halfway down my arms. “You’re lying,” I manage, but my voice doesn’t sound sure of anything.
“No, I’m not. You think I’d risk coming here if I was?”
My jaw goes slack as I stare at the pile of wool socks I never even wear. Of course, there’s no underwear. Just as he promised.
Oh my god.
It explains too much.
The memory hits me—how crampy I had been without any other signs of estrus. How much of an attitude I got for no apparent reason. How at peace my body was just to smell Judge. What if that wasn’t peace? What if it was chemical?
But then that other part of me that’s still tethered to him whispers back, traitorous and tender. What if he didn’t mean to hurt me? What if, in that strange and broken way of his, he thought it was the only way to keep me safe, like he always promises?
Is there a way I can ask him to explain himself? Or would he then literally chain me up in here?
Fuck.
Selene is here.
No, I have to see what Rebecca is talking about, so I continue to dress myself because, at the bare minimum, I want shoes on if all this shit goes down. “I don’t have a coat or anything.”
“I have a jeep ready.”
“Really?”
“I’ve been planning this for months,” she says. “Selene got involved because my sister was tending to her wounds, and they sort of got to talking to each other. It started off about me, but Selene threw you into it. She was really worried about you, even if she was beaten to hell herself.”
Judge didn’t mention Selene was wounded.
“What’s the plan?” I ask, figuring I’ll figure this out on the fly.
“I take you to the little social gathering, and show you what Judge’s plan really is. You can either come with me after that or not. I just ask that you don’t stop me. I don’t have access to the scraps, or I’d take them, too.”
“Deal,” I say. Who am I to stop an omega who knows she needs to run for it? “And if this is a trap?” I ask, wanting to gauge her reaction.
“You’re already in one,” she remarks, heading down the stairs.
“What about the guards outside?” I step out into the hall and see they’re on the ground, slumped over.
“My sister got me the right meds. She’s the one driving the getaway jeep.”
My heart races with pure adrenaline, because that actually kind of makes sense. Rebecca hands me a wool hat from a bag on her shoulders. “Put your hair in it.”
I nod, though my stomach twists as I shove my hair under the knitted cap, tucking every last strand out of sight. My fingers shake a little. She also hands me suppressants. It feels like a betrayal to Judge, but if there’s even a chance she’s telling the truth, I need to know.
Something has felt off this entire time, and this is making me feel vindicated.
I follow Rebecca, like maybe I woke up in a dream, still feeling like none of this is real, including my tether with Judge that feels perfectly content on his end.
She takes me to a doorway that leads to a smaller hall.
“Servants hall. We’re going to spy from one of their windows.
The jeep’s waiting in the cooks’ loading bay, if you still want to go after what you see. ”
I don’t think my heart can race any faster than it already is, the sound whooshing in my ears.
We pass two people—a pair of older men hauling flour sacks.
They barely glance up, and I realize how normal Rebecca looks here.
The confidence in her stride, the easy nod she gives them.
I’m not afraid anymore, either. So what if I get caught?
No matter what, I feel like I’m about to finally make my way to the last layer of truth and lies.
I know something is going on beyond what I’m being told. I can feel it in my bones.
“They know you?” I whisper.
“I help out in the kitchens,” she murmurs back without breaking stride.
“They aren’t asking about me,” I say, a little too fast. “Suppressants don’t work that quickly.”
“It’s not uncommon for me to bring an omega friend to help with the baking shifts. I don’t think many of them know what Judge actually smells like.”
Okay, keep moving, then. I just need to see what she wants me to see. That’s it.
Rebecca leads me into what looks like a cellar with low ceilings and stone walls that are freezing to the touch. There are narrow windows lined high along the wall, rimmed with frost.
I can see a bunch of people in another outdoor gathering ground, and there are a lot of fires.
My heart slows as I see him.
From where I’m standing, it looks like Roxy’s in his lap. His hand is on her thigh, and she smiles up at him while the crowd moves around them. The patch on her shoulder reads Judge’s Property.
He’s not pushing her away, either, and she even laughs as someone speaks to them, and she puts her arm around his neck. The bond between us… just more contentment. He’s not bothered in the slightest.