Chapter 31
The Lincoln pack arrived not long after we did.
I was grateful all of a sudden for the scent blocking spray, because there was no way I would be able to mask my fear when they stepped in. I dropped my eyes, not ready to see them yet.
Flynn took one look at me and waved a hand. “Alright. I need a fucking drink. Bring her in five,” he said, waving at Mord, stepping by us and down the grimy hall to another room. He paused, gazing at me. “Why is she in socks?”
“Good news.” Mord shrugged. “Your omega has manners.”
Flynn rolled his eyes, vanishing, and Gareth followed, muttering something about staying in a shithole.
Eric lingered, though. “Come here,” he said, and I dared glance up at him to see him watching me with dark eyes.
I swallowed, unable to stop myself from glancing at Mord. His cigarette was long out, but the stub remained between his lips. He watched me carefully as I got to my feet and forced myself to cross out the door to the hallway, where Eric waited.
“Why do you look so scared?” Eric asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be happy you’re saved?”
I glanced up at him, then back down to the floor. “H-he’s got a gun,” I whispered.
Eric snorted.
“Hands.”
“What?”
“Show me your hands.”
I lifted my hands before catching myself. I realised, as I stared down at my palms, what he was asking for. A low growl rose in his throat as his grip closed around my left wrist and he lifted it.
My ring…
It was still there, glinting in the dim sunlight that filtered through a few grimy windows. The diamonds and hexagons facing the wrong way. Now, those diamonds danced through tears as I braced, already knowing what was about to happen.
When he ripped it from my finger, he might as well have ripped my heart from my chest. The world blurred but I tried so hard not to cry.
“Done with that fucking pack taking shots,” he muttered, aura flaring as he crushed it in his fist. He looked ready to throw it, chest heaving, but then he shoved it in his pocket instead.
My pulse was thready, and I jumped violently as he grabbed me by the chin.
“Tell me why you’re crying over them if you’re ours,” he snarled.
I clutched his arm, whole body shaking as pain radiated from his grip. His aura was out and my instincts screamed danger. I couldn’t speak, low whines of terror slipping from me with every breath.
“What the hell are you doing?”
His grip was gone, and Eric’s furious green eyes focused behind me, where Mord’s growl had come from.
“Eric!”Flynn’s voice was sharp from the other direction. “What’s going on?”
“Tryna kill your fucking omega,” Mord snapped.
Eric shoved me out of the way. “We didn’t pay you to?—”
“You didn’t pay him at all!” Flynn caught Eric before he could launch at Mord. “Enough.” Flynn shoved Eric toward the room he’d just come from. He turned to Mord. “Give us a fucking minute.”
The door slammed, but I heard raised voices through the walls.
I was shivering, breath tight, terror still shooting through my veins. I flinched at the rustle of Mord’s movement, eyes finding him. He was leaning against the doorframe, eyes fixed down the hall in the direction of the Lincoln pack.
I blinked away more tears, pain shooting through my jaw as I swallowed, the ghost of Eric’s grip impossible to shake. This was harder than I’d thought it would be. A lot harder. Eric was terrifying. But… I’d already known that.
What if… if everything went wrong?
What if the study wasn’t what I needed it to be?
What if they bargained for Dusk and Umbra’s freedom, and it was my only choice?
Everything could still go wrong…
“It’ll be okay…”
I blinked, realising I’d whispered that out loud. I didn’t look at Mord, arms waving awkwardly as I fought the urge to hug myself. I don’t even know why I didn’t want him to see.
Dusk and Umbra.
Saving them from this pack mattered first. Everything else… it was up to the universe.
I glanced at Mord, but he hadn’t moved.
Finally, there was a bang on the door ahead which I think meant they were ready for me.
I didn’t move.
I tried to, but I couldn’t. Oddly, I didn’t want to be in that room without Mord which seemed… unreasonable.
To my relief, at my inaction, he stepped toward me, and hauled me into the room that was full of the Lincoln pack’s scents. When he let me go, giving me a shove toward my mates, I met his eyes for a moment, knowing how desperate I probably looked.
He still looked empty inside but those dark eyes met mine, and he leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms and staring past me at the pack behind.
Okay.
Okay. I clasped my fingers. I could… I could do this.
I turned, seeing Flynn, Gareth and Eric waiting. Gareth was lounging on another of the clinical looking metal chairs, Flynn was perched on the edge of the table, cracked beer in his fist, and Eric was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, watching me darkly.
Their scents were all in here;. passionfruit, sesame seeds and sunflower, and coconut and plum. It was hard to put a dam on the memories that tried to surge back at those scents.
I watched Flynn’s gaze drop from my eyes to my chin and neck, and a shadow crossed his face.
Bruising, maybe?
Gareth was staring, too, before shooting Eric a glare.
Flynn cleared his throat. “As I’m sure you know, we intend to make you an offer you don’t deserve,” he said. “But only if you help us.”
“Help you?” My voice cracked. I tried to find the balance. I couldn’t fall into their arms too quickly, not if I wanted this to be believable. Some of my hatred and fear of them, I think I needed that. “You… hurt me. You forced me to… to…” I trailed off, unable to say it, not looking toward Eric. Trying to shove away the memories of their teeth on my flesh, on the way Flynn had held me still while?—
“Forced you to what?” Eric asked, raising an eyebrow. “You blame us for our response when you hid the scent match all this time?” He leaned forward. “When you told us you were stalking us, then tried to pretend you didn’t want?—”
“Th-that’s not—” I swallowed, hand jumping to my collarbone. To the canvas of scars they’d left on my skin.
“We were pushed to the edge of insanity,” Eric snarled. “We didn’t hurt you, we claimed you. How could we not? You tricked us, lying about the scent match and driving us mad—what did you think was going to happen?” he asked. “What alpha would have done differently, knowing you’d just spent a heat with them? Not knowing why it was twisting us up.”
I stared between them, trying to ground myself, to find a plan amidst my panic.
Flynn was the one who went on. “We’re willing to take you back even after you’ve been defiled by other alphas—yet it seems you’re nothing but ungrateful.”
I recoiled, heart thundering in my ears as I stared at him with wide eyes. I opened my mouth, ready for… for what, I didn’t know. Venom rose in my chest, hatred like I’d never felt.
Ungrateful?
The pause, the blinding fury at what he’d just said. It was the only thing that saved me. I froze, suddenly dragging every ounce of hatred to a screeching halt as my mind scrambled with that.
No… I took a breath. Now I was here, now they were talking, I could hear echoes of these words in what Ransom had told me they’d said.
I knew this part.
They still believed that I was trapped in the middle of this, caught between a dark bond and mates who’d rejected me. They still believed everything that I’d wanted them to believe the day I’d put on that dress that revealed all of my scars.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to find my voice.
“You still… you still want me?” My voice was weak.
“That’s why we brought you here, but you will first understand how much you have to make up for. A princess bond is no small offer—not to an omega like you.”
“Why… why would you do that?” I asked.
“We are not the kind of alphas who would leave behind a scent match,” Flynn said.
That was a lie.
They would leave me a thousand times over, if they didn’t need this bond. But they didn’t know I knew that.
“You haven’t made this easy,” Flynn went on. “Your lies have left us humiliated, and even when we bit you, you asked for him—when you could have just told us about the scent match.”
“I… I was going to.” My mind raced, still dizzy with this card I was trying to play. “I was—that’s why I needed Roxy to help me figure it out b-because she was your omega and she would know if you would still want me when you found out I was gold pack… But Dusk knew I was—he had a picture, and he told me I could never tell you, so I had to be sure.”
Flynn’s jaw was clenched. “We were right there?—”
“I thought you were going to dark bond me, and Gareth s-said… that you would never want me after I spent my heat with them…”
“Because you lied about the match,” Gareth snapped. “And then you ran straight back to him.”
“You don’t understand…” My voice shook. “He knew I was gold pack, and he claimed me anyway, I thought—maybe even with the bites… And no one else was ever going to want me again.” My breath caught. “I didn’t realise he was going to…” I swallowed, chest heaving. “To…”
“You didn’t know he was going to dark bond you?” Eric asked, incredulous. “After you came back to him like that?”
“He said he loved me.” My voice was small.
“How the fuck did we get matched with such a stupid bitch?” Eric snorted, glancing at the others. “This is insane.” He looked back at me. “You could have just told us and none of this would have happened. Do you know how much money this has cost us? And they still might not give up the fucking bond.”
“I thought that when you saw my eyes?—”
“You didn’t give us a chance,” Flynn snapped. “You drove us mad instead, didn’t you? And now we’re forced to offer a princess bond if we want to save our mate.”
“I w-was scared…”
“That pack has fucked with her head,” Gareth said. “You’re acting scared now, but you don’t seem to hate them in public?—”
“It’s Dusk,” I said quickly, shrinking down. “He gets upset if I act out. He wants me to be grateful for the dark bond. He’s big on punishment.”
Gareth snorted. “Seems the type.”
“At least we know you can tolerate being put in your place,” Eric mused. “That won’t be over when we save you. You have a lot to make up for.”
“I-I understand.”
“You’ve almost single-handedly ruined us,” Gareth added. “I need something to prove your gratitude today.”
Proof?
“Like what?”
“What do you think?” Gareth asked, something nasty in his eyes.
“I c-can’t,” I stammered, far too quickly. My mind raced to come up with a reason. “He’s jealous. The commands—p-please don’t… He’s told me I can’t with any alpha out of the pack…”
Gareth grinned, straightening. “You’re saying if we fuck you, that dark bond you walked right into is going to hurt?” he asked. “Sounds like the least you owe us. It’s a good start.”
Fuck me?
“Gareth—” Flynn began, but Eric interrupted.
“No. I’m with him. She was in tears when I took their ring. I want proof.”
I knew the risks of playing this card but it was moving faster than I’d planned. My mind was going cold, memories of Eric’s room creeping in, tightening my chest.
Gareth got to his feet, eyes glinting.
I cracked, backing up. I wasn’t strong enough for this.
Only, I crashed straight into a wall of solid muscle. The faintest trace of ebony assaulting my senses.
As useless as it was, I scrambled behind Mord, nails digging into his arm as if he wasn’t paid by them.
Gareth was grinning, something manic in his eyes.
I tried to calm my breathing, not daring to look up at Mord’s expression, afraid of how cold it would be.
“The bond is…” I swallowed. “I can’t.”
“Either you come back here,” Gareth breathed. “Or I’ll have him hold you still.”
I bit down a whimper of fear, eyes darting around, knowing there was no escape.
But I couldn’t do this.
“No.” Flynn’s voice was low. I looked at him, relief almost dizzying. “As foolish as our scent match might be, we are courting her. We will do it with dignity no matter how little dignity she cares for.”
My breath escaped my chest at last as Gareth scowled, but he sank back into his seat.
Stranger still, I swear Mord’s muscles uncoiled beneath my grip. He was so statuesque I hadn’t noticed he was tense in the first place. I glanced up at him, unsure for the first time, but his expression was as impassive as ever, and I wondered if I’d imagined it.
With all of the courage I could find, I stepped back around Mord so I wasn’t cowering behind him anymore.
“When’s your next heat?” Eric asked. I forced back another wave of nausea. With how sickened they made me, with them, it would be never. “It was a heat you had with them, right?”
I nodded with a wince, knowing that wasn’t something I could lie about.
“A month or two?” Gareth asked. “You’ll be making it up to us then.”
The more I seemed to agree, the more they relaxed. I hadn’t realised, until now, how much they believed the picture we’d painted. This pack believed Dusk was the ultimate villain, and I was nothing to them but the prize, so desperate that I would do anything for the chance to escape.
Eric crossed the room toward me, and I saw Flynn stiffen, as if concerned.
“You will not walk into this bond thinking you’ve won,” Eric hissed. “What we’re offering—what we’re going to do to free you from the foolish position youve put yourself in—is far more than you deserve. Do you understand?”
I nodded, fighting to control my breathing.
“Say it.”
“Yes.” My whisper wasn’t enough to distract from the overwhelming horror that had been building.
I clenched my jaw, eyes suddenly burning, but I couldn’t burst into tears right now. I was so close, though. Not because I was afraid, but because of the vile truth that they were who I had come to this academy in search of. Because I was pushing every emotion I had to its limit in order to pretend for them. And I had been so close to ending up here.
Dusk, Umbra, and Ransom had been the only ones in the way of that.
“I still don’t like the fact they had her heat,” Gareth murmured, not looking at me anymore. “We’re taking their leftovers.”
I shut my eyes, trying to calm my breathing. I wasn’t going to make it. I was so scared. So scared and fucking pathetic.
“We don’t have much of a choice if we wish to honour the scent match,” Eric said coolly. “But I want fucking atonement.”
I blinked at him. He stepped toward me, adjusting his cuffs with a sickened expression on his face.
I forced myself to nod, hoping that would be enough for him. “Of course. Yes. I c-can do that.”
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and as I stepped back he glanced down at it. He did a double take, eyes scanning the screen, eyebrows shooting up.
“Were they any good?” Gareth asked. I looked back to find his gaze was fixed on me.
“Gareth,” Flynn snorted. “Come on.”
“No. I want to know. When they fucked our omega through heat did she want them to? I want to know if our omega was begging for other alpha’s knots.”
“Since she’s in a dark bond, I can’t imagine—” Flynn cut off as my breath caught.
I cracked, tears finally flooding my cheeks.
Stupid.
But Gareth was grinning, apparently satisfied.
Right… I took a breath, wiping my eyes. They thought I was crying at the thought of heat with the Kingsman pack?
That was the best I could hope for.
Eric had tucked his phone away, his sneer levelled at me. They were convinced, but he’d been the one who’d seen me cry over the ring. So I did the most insane thing I think I’d ever forced myself to do, and I flung my arms around him. “Th-thank you.”
He was rigid for a long moment, and then I felt his hand at my back. Not moving, but firm.
I hated him.
I hated him with more fire than I had ever hated anyone. Bile burned my throat as a thousand horrible moments all teemed in my head. So I clung to him harder and let his horrible passion fruit scent shift to something disgustingly satisfied.
“Alright. I think that’s enough.” Flynn’s voice was clipped.
“I agree.” Eric had a cold smile on his lips when I looked up at him. “If we’re done for the evening, I’m going out.”
“Where?” Gareth asked.
“Bit of fresh air. Process the corner we’ve been forced into.” I didn’t like the look in his eyes. “I won’t go far.”
“Mord,” Flynn waved dismissively. “Take her?”
I peered from Eric’s shirt to see Flynn getting to his feet, straightening his button up with an oddly cold look on his face.
“Is that everything? Are you sure we can’t—?” Gareth began.
“That’s everything.” Flynn’s voice was still stiff. Gareth opened his mouth, but Flynn cut him off. “As pack lead, I say we’re done here.”
I processed that, trying to understand the way his scent wavered, and I thought Flynn’s scent of coconut and plum might be bitter. His eyes were fixed on me.
Was he…? Could he be…?
Oh.
He was jealous. I let go of Eric and stepped back, surprised when his hand became more firm as if he didn’t want me to leave.
I took a step toward Flynn, though, determined to figure out if I was right. “You’re… really going to save me from them?”
He frowned, though I saw the spark of pleasure in his eyes. “If you don’t make any more stupid mistakes.”
Following instincts that I truly wished I wasn’t having, I fell into his arms next, finding him far faster to place his hands around me.
But I’d learned with distinct clarity over the last few weeks, exactly what it was that drove Dusk, Umbra, and Ransom crazy, and I just had to hope it would be enough for the Lincoln pack, too.
“Thank you,” I said again. “I can’t believe you still… still want me.”
“Like I said. The word mate means something to us. I expect you to take it seriously, too.”
“I swear.” I looked at him with wide eyes, the next words that came up as sour as vomit. “If you save me from Dusk, I’ll be anything for you.”
I watched his pupils blow, and his fingers dug into my waist. I tried really, really hard not to feel the arousal I’d just given him.
When I stepped away, I noticed Gareth remained seated, frame tense, eyes narrow. The last of their pack’s scent in the room, sunflower and sesame seeds, wilted with bitterness as I looked back up to Flynn, not making a move toward him.
“Right. We’re done,” Flynn said. “Go with him. I have arrangements to make so we can get out of this shithole.”
I turned, forcing myself to smile in the face of Mord’s cold scowl. If I was going to play this card, I had to commit, and the bitter edge of Gareth’s scent was still in the air. I think, just like Flynn, Gareth was jealous. And jealous alphas were never rational.
I needed them irrational while they thought I was stupid, desperate, and terrified.
So I hurried toward Mord and grabbed him in a huge hug, too, despite feeling the hard edge of the gun that was tucked into his belt. “I know it was dangerous for you.”
He froze in surprise, but I looked up at him with wide eyes. “And you said you might join the pack?” I asked, to which he gave a non-committal grunt. “Your scent is very dark, but I really like it—kind of matches mine—so I think that should be okay…” I nodded, glancing back to the other three, who were staring at me in utter shock.
I reached up, cupping Mord’s cheek and dropping my voice just for him. “Thank you for bringing me to them.” His eyes were narrowed as he watched me, as if he wasn’t sure what he thought. He was much more scrutinising than the others, so I just had to pray I did a good enough job.