Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Audrey
Time dragged on as my omega and I waited.
Yet, no one came.
We stayed in the dark, listening to the silence, heart pounding, every second stretching thin. Terror sat heavy on my chest.
It felt like hours dragged by. Each minute that passed only making me feel more helpless and trapped.
Then the medicine began to move in my veins.
At first it was subtle… a dull ache starting in my muscles, before a fever rose beneath my skin. Then it spread in a slow but steady intensity until I felt like I was burning alive. The air around me felt like it was growing colder, almost icy now against my sweaty skin.
Just like he’d promised, my body ached for a knot, core throbbing angrily. My omega strained against me, desperate, but I swore to myself I would never let them touch me.
By the time the cramps tore through me I was already falling apart. I doubled over, clutching my stomach, biting my lip until I tasted blood. A whimper tried to escape but I choked it back.
They would not hear me suffer. I refused to let them see me weak.
The heat continued to creep closer, coiling tighter with each passing minute, threatening to drag me under.
But I wouldn’t break. Not for them. Not for anyone.
The door creaked open, dragging me from the pit I was falling into.
Footsteps were trailed by the scent of stale coffee and cigars. My captor and someone else that smelled like spices that tickled my nose and made my omega want to recoil.
They moved closer and I bared my teeth, the omega inside me clawing forward, feral and ready to defend us.
“Don’t be like that, sugar,” the alpha crooned, laughter spilling from his throat like poison as I crouched in a defensive stance.
He thought this was a game.
I wanted to rip him apart, tear into his throat and shred it so thoroughly he could never use that mocking voice against me again.
The new alpha edged closer, hands raised in mock surrender, like I was a frightened animal he could soothe.
“Don’t touch me,” I warned him as I braced myself, ready to tear into him if he tried.
“You’ll be begging me for this knot in a minute,” he drawled, smug and certain as he grabbed his crotch. “Begging me to give you what you need. To ease the pain.”
Beg. For him?
That would be a cold day in hell.
“Don’t come any closer,” I snarled again. It was his last fucking warning.
He simply laughed. That condescending, dismissive laugh, the one that said, you’re nothing but a toy. Something to break. Something to use. I’d heard it far too often during my time as their captive.
It was always followed by them taking what they wanted from me, what they paid my captor for.
Sickness churned in me. Rage blistered hotter than the drugs tearing through my blood. He thought we were playthings. Flesh to get him off.
I wanted him to die. Even more? I wanted to do it myself. I’d never been violent, but I was desperate now. There was no reality where I let them take this from me now.
Not after having a pack. Even in the small capacity we were able to be in ARC.
The alpha spun around as the door slammed open again, lips pulling back in a snarl, ready to fight for what he thought was his.
“Sorry,” a voice cut in, firm and icy. “You’re out. Someone outbid you. I told you to wait for the final number.”
The alpha stiffened. “What do you mean? I paid fair and square. You’re not taking her from me.”
“You’ve paid nothing to us. The bid was still ongoing for another twenty minutes when you tried to call it. It seemed unlikely, so we gave you a little taste. Now, leave. You don’t get the choice to stay, you were heavily outbid.”
My captor stepped forward, gun already raised. I’d never bothered to learn his name, what was the point? He was my nightmare, nothing more.
The other alpha barely blinked before the gun fired. There was no time for a warning or reaction when the loud crack split the heavy silence.
Blood sprayed, hot and wet, across my face.
I screamed without meaning to, the shock and disgust exploding out of me.
“Stop that screaming,” my captor snapped with a snarl.
I slapped a hand over my mouth, choking it back, forcing my body to obey even as tremors wracked me. This man was unpredictable now and I didn’t want to test it. I had to survive, to fight, to get back to my pack.
He smiled, pleased with himself at my obedience. “Don’t worry, little omega, it’s just that another opportunity came about, that’s all. You see, when money like that comes along—” his eyes gleamed at the thought of it, “you don’t turn it down.”
“You could,” I hissed, my voice raw and rasping now. “Be a good alpha. Let me go. I just wanted to live my life. You had no right to drag me back here.”
His grin widened again. “No right? I have every right. I’ve owned you your whole life.”
“No one owns me.” My voice shook, but the conviction in it did not. They would come for me. No matter what he said, they would never give up.
He snorted in response. “Maybe not anymore. A million dollars says I gave up that right. I’d say you were worth every penny, princess.”
The nickname made my skin crawl almost as much as ‘little omega.’
Princess.
I hated it with every cell in my fucking body.
Princesses lived pampered lives in castles. I’d never known safety or comfort until I met my pack. My parents hadn’t cared, and this man only cared about the money I brought him.
“In fact…” He leaned closer, voice dripping with that sick excitement. “Why don’t we give him a warm welcome? You wouldn’t want to disappoint me, would you? After all, he paid handsomely for you.”
Before I could move, his hand shot forward and wrapped around my throat, pinning me to the wall.
The needle plunged into my arm before I knew what was happening.
Fire tore through my veins again, this time it wasn’t slow. The burn was immediate and vicious. My body convulsed as the heat spiked higher, crushing down on me until I was drowning in it. Slick flooded my thighs and my scent swelled in the air. It was humiliating, but impossible to stop.
I collapsed to the dirty cement ground, cramps wrenching me to the floor in mere seconds. The cool cement burned against my fevered skin, even as I kept my cheek pressed to it as if it could ground me and stop the inevitable.
His voice followed me into the dark.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “It won’t be long now, princess.”