Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
LAUREL
I stumbled after him, trying to keep up so his tight grip didn’t twist my skin. Terror was pounding through my veins, threatening to overwhelm me. I struggled to focus, but the way his scent was swimming with rage was too much.
We made it to the living room, and a light switched on, revealing another figure standing in the room. I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the brightness as I tried to make him out. The other packmate. The caustic scent of his sharp lime overpowered the honeyed persimmon.
He was not what I was expecting.
The alpha standing in front of me could have been carved from marble.
Black, round glasses above a square jaw.
He probably had the nicest skin I’d ever seen in my life, and it was a shame he looked a bit unshaven.
The rest of his face was cold and angular, his dark eyes narrowed as he regarded me.
His wavy black hair was shaggy, brushing his shoulders.
He was tall and broad, wearing a nerdy sweater-vest that gave him an Asian Clark Kent vibe. His arms were folded on his chest, and his sleeves were rolled up, baring corded forearms.
“Having fun, Kaos?” he asked, not looking away from my face.
Then I was shoved forward, falling down the step to the sunken living room, and his strong arms caught me, holding me firmly in place.
I glanced to the side, able to see the alpha who had chased me now.
He had long blue hair, his black eyes glinting at me as he prowled around the couch.
He was even taller than the first, but so thin I wondered if he was sick.
The shape of his face was long, with sharp brows and thin lips that were curled into a feral smile.
The alpha holding me had shifted, tugging up my shirt.
I struggled, but he yanked it up until the side of my rib cage was showing.
He shoved me forward so I was bent over the couch, my shirt pulled up around my shoulders.
Fear speared through me as I tried to get free, but he was too strong, even without his aura.
He leaned over me, and I could feel his lips touch the bare skin on my side.
His mouth opened, and I froze as I felt the sharpness of his teeth.
He was trying to bond me.
Surely he wouldn’t—
I screamed as he sank his teeth into my ribs, and pain burned through my veins, spreading from the wound like lightning.
Something battered my mind, a presence invading, burrowing, demanding entry.
Unstoppable.
Inevitable.
A dark bond—a twisted, forbidden link that could not be refused by an omega.
I was being shackled, and an image of my father burst into my mind, how outraged he’d be over this moment. All his plans, all his primping and prepping so I could be given away as a prize, all for nothing. A bitter surge of messed-up triumph overwhelmed me as I embraced the feeling.
The bite was released.
My legs gave out, and I hit the ground hard, the alpha letting me go.
I screamed as my scent blazed out of me like a bonfire.
My side burned, and shadows lurked in my mind, one faint and two filled with a burning hatred.
“What did you just do?” snarled the skinny alpha, leaping forward.
I flung myself at the alpha rushing toward me. He said something harsh, pushing me off him, and then it hurt to touch him, and I sank to the floor, my whole body hot and my throat raw as I continued to scream.
Someone else here was shouting, too, and I could feel his pulsing rage through the bond, matching mine.
Hands were grabbing me, and then growled words cut through everything. “Get to your room.”
I tried to stay, but a burning, prickling pain built under my skin until I staggered away. The shouting behind me didn’t stop, and I heard something heavy hit the floor.
When I made it to my bedroom, I slammed the door closed behind me.
I took a breath, and the screams morphed into hysterical laughter. I’d never been destined to be free. Even though my fucking father wasn’t the one to take this last piece of me, it had been taken, anyway. What a joke that I thought I’d escape all this.
That I might be able to get something I wanted.
I wanted Jule.
I wanted to be me.
I continued laughing until I was spent, curled on my bed, my cheeks wet and my head pounding.
Now I was just so, so tired.