Chapter 27 Jo
twenty-seven
Jo
Igasp as I’m pulled into a dark room from the hall and immediately pushed against a wall. I can’t believe I let myself be caught with my guard down, but I was so busy thinking about what I should do about the fact that I can scent both Hayden and Kole again that I wasn’t paying attention.
I reach for the knife in my pocket, ready to plunge it into whoever has me, when a hand grabs my throat and squeezes tight. The light flicks on, and less than three inches away from my nose is Banesworth.
His gray eyes stare directly into mine, his lips pulled back in a snarl. It’s a shame, he might’ve been attractive if he wasn’t just a sleaze.
“Whatever you’re about to do, don’t,” he hisses out, an alpha-bark lacing his voice as he squeezes tighter on my throat.
I can’t fucking breathe.
Visions of him doing this to Nurse Helaena the first day assault me, and I know that if he wanted to, he could lift me off the ground so high my feet don’t touch the floor.
So I lift my hands out of my pockets, carefully raising them above my head. Trailer Trash Bitch needs to stay contained if I want to make it out of this in one piece.
He gives a slimy grin. “See, I knew you could be taught to listen.” His grip loosens, and I greedily inhale air into my lungs. Thank fuck it’s not all alphas I can scent, just Kole and Hayden. Otherwise, I might be gagging right now.
“Here’s how it’s going to go, Kitten,” he sneers, and I resist the urge to stab him for calling me that. “I’m going to tell you something, and if I don’t like how you answer, I’ll tighten my hold again. Understand?”
Giving him a death glare, I nod. I know I have no other choice right now.
“You were sneaking around last night, in the abandoned wing.” He squeezes tighter.
“And?” I choke out. It’s against the rules to go there, sure, but they can’t prove I was doing anything.
“Wright was with you,” he snarls, squeezing even tighter. My vision starts to dot. “Is he fucking you?”
“Wright?” I gurgle. Who the hell is Wright?
He loosens his grip, and air floods my lungs again.
“I…don’t know who Wright is.” My throat is starting to get sore, and even though it’s going against everything in me to not fight back, I know I’m not in a position where I can win. So I’ll tell him what he wants to hear.
“Sam,” he snaps.
My eyes widen and I shake my head. “No, Sam wasn’t with me. I’m not fuckin’ him.”
“He was following you,” Banesworth sneers, but luckily, he doesn’t tighten his hold again. “And this is the second time the two of you have been down there…together.”
“I didn’t know.” My eyes are wide, and internally I’m cursing myself. How could I not have realized that Sam was following me? Maybe I am losing my touch.
“Good.” His grin is not friendly in the slightest, and he leans forward, running his nose up the column of my neck.
My eyes snap shut, bracing myself for what comes next.
If he tries to take me…well, I still got that knife in my pocket.
“Fuck. I hate that I can’t smell you anymore.
I’ll keep this short, Kitten. I don’t know what you’re up to, and honestly I don’t care.
But—” He pulls back and looks right into my eyes.
I have no choice but to meet his void of a gaze.
“If you don’t want me going to Brooks with this information, you’re going to do everything I tell you. ”
That cannot fucking happen. If he goes to Brooks, then everything I’ve been working towards the last five years will have been for nothing. I swallow, my neck still in his hand. “What do you want?”
“You’re going to become my good little fucktoy.
” His words make bile rise in my throat.
“I’m sick of spending my money on whores when I have a useful little omega right here.
And if you breathe a word of this to anyone or resist?
I’ll tell Brooks exactly what you’ve been doing.
Bet he’ll throw you straight in the Cathedral for that.
Then I’ll just have my way with you anyhow. ”
My head shakes before I can think better of it. “No, they took my instincts away. No more slick, no more scent…I’m basically just a beta now.”
His hand tightens on my throat again, making me whimper. “You still got that little spot just inside that takes a knot though.” He growls in my ear. “Slick or no slick, you got enough space for me, and I’m not against going rough to get what I want.”
My stomach sinks. There’s only one way out of this. Banesworth can’t tell Brooks what I’m doing, and there’s no way in hell I’m being anyone’s fucktoy.
“Fine,” I grit out, saying what I need to get out of his hold.
He pulls back, giving me a slimy sleazy smile. “Good. That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”
“Fuck you.” Probably not the smartest words to say to the asshole choking me.
But he just bares his teeth at me. “Oh, I intend to. I want you to keep some of that fire, too. I’m thinking…” he licks his lips, his eyes darting down my body, “Saturday, after the fights I’ll find you. Be ready for me.” He starts to lower his hand from my neck, and my shoulders relax slightly.
“Can’t wait,” I deadpan, and he chuckles before his hand flies back out and catches me around the throat again, squeezing as hard as he can. My eyes are surely bugging out of my head, and my throat feels like someone is stabbing a knife through it.
This time, my hands claw at his wrist as he lifts me off the ground so I’m eye-level with him.
Panic overtakes me, my feet kick out, trying to get him to drop me.
Black spots start to spot my vision as he leans in close, speaking next to my ear.
“Don’t forget, Kitten. I own you now.” He speaks his next words full of dominance, a pure alpha-bark. “Do not tell anyone we spoke.”
Then he’s dropping me, and I crumple to the floor in a heap, my hands clutching my throat. I gasp, taking in as much air as I can as I stare at the door that he’s just gone out of. It slams shut, and I blink a few times, trying to clear my vision.
Dammit. Fucking asshole.
There’s no way I’m letting him touch me like that. But…how do I stop him from telling Brooks about what I’ve been up to?
He barked at me to not tell anyone, but what nobody here realizes is that I spent two years with Declan training on resisting alpha commands.
How the hell else does anyone think I managed to get the drop on all those alphas? They all relied too heavily on their barks, and then didn’t know what to do when someone could resist their commands.
So really, there’s nothing stopping me from telling Kole. He’d know what to do. Except…Kole will kill him, and I don’t know what they’ll do to him if he kills an orderly. Especially since I know that Kole will attack him immediately, giving no plausible credibility to a statement of “self-defense”.
Hayden…he’s not a killing type, and I have the feeling that he doesn’t have any more pull over these guys than I do.
My head finally starts to clear, the throbbing in my forehead becoming less prominent. Maybe West or Sam…no. I shake my head, then wince at the motion. I can’t have them knowing anything either. They’ll go to Brooks, and then my secret will be out anyway.
No, I need to handle this my way, just like I have for the last five years. I need to keep the advantage of him not knowing I can resist his bark.
Looks like my rap sheet is about to go up to fourteen alphas.