Chapter 78
Chapter Seventy-Eight
~Harlow~
I wrestle out of Thane’s grip.
“I didn’t do anything, and as you can see, I’m leaving!” I screech. Thane looks me up and down, disgusted at my work attire.
“Oh really, then why did Talon call to tell me you were about to get fucked in a damn glory hole? All you’ve ever done is try to whore yourself out!”
I am shocked he dared to call me a whore. I was a virgin when I met them. My mouth still hangs open at his accusation.
My initial shock wears off, now replaced with seething anger.
I snarl at Thane. “I wouldn’t even be here if I didn’t need the money to support myself.
It’s not like you paid me for all the work I did.
Nor did you have the decency to bring my purse to the hotel.
You don’t fucking want me. None of you do!
You won’t fucking believe me or let me speak.
All you want is to breed me and then kill me for something I didn’t do! ”
He listens to my outburst with an unreadable expression on his face. He reaches for me, but I pull away.
“Why don’t you just go and find your fucking skank whore of a secretary and leave me alone? Cut your losses, Thane. I will never allow you to treat me like some broodmare, then put me out for slaughter after you get what you want from me!” I snarl at him.
Thane is initially taken aback before he growls at me. “News flash, Harlow! You’re already pregnant. And your death can’t come soon enough for me! I’ve had enough of your nonsense!”
I blink at him in shock. Did he say I’m pregnant?
“You’d only need money for one thing, and that is to run away. But not with my child, you won’t.”
No! I can’t be pregnant. He has to be lying. I am totally blindsided, although it would explain why I have felt like shit lately. There is no way I am going to let him take me and take my baby.
Thane lunges at me, trying to grab me and haul me out of here. My claws extend as I swipe at him to keep him back, grazing his chest through his shirt. “Harlow!” Thane grits out.
I bolt for the stairs, but not fast enough as Thane rips me back by my shirt. “Get off of me, you son of a bitch!” I say while thrashing in his grip, not caring about the attention I am drawing.
“Enough, Harlow! Submit!” he snarls, forcing his command over me and making me freeze on the spot.
I am motionless under his command. Tears stream down my cheeks, unable to fight it. How could I be cursed to endure such sadistic control? Being born an Omega is not a blessing; it is a curse.
A curse that killed my parents, a curse that took my sister from me, and now a curse that will end my life after he takes my baby from me. All for something I didn’t do. I should have died that night along with my parents; if I had, none of this would have happened.
Thane steers me down the stairs; Talon is at the bottom, holding my backpack. I reach for it, only for Thane to snatch it out of my grip.
“You won’t be needing this with where you will be staying until our pup is born,” Thane threatens. Talon looks away guiltily. Thane steers me into the main floor to find everyone staring in our direction. Thane’s grip on my arm is painful as he marches me toward the front doors.
Stepping outside, Rhen is standing beside the car on the curb.
He glances at me briefly before pressing his lips in a line.
His burning anger and disgust smash into me, and I wither and recoil inside as I feel it through the bond.
He opens the back door as Thane shoves me toward it, and Rhen grips my arm as I stumble toward him.
“I wasn’t going to—" I try to tell Rhen.
“I don’t want to hear it,” he says, stuffing me inside the car and slamming the door shut. I cringe at the loud bang as they both climb in the front of the car. The wheels spin and screech before Thane takes off, sending me backward in my seat before I scramble for the seatbelt.
Dread pools in my stomach as we get closer to the packhouse. I try to speak to them, try to explain. It all falls on deaf ears. They never even acknowledge my words. They speak over me, as if they can’t hear me. Yet their fury is loud and clear through the bond.
If only I had marked them, maybe they would be able to feel the extent of what I say, maybe they would see. Instead, they get glimmers but nothing else, not like the way I can feel them since they marked me. And I don’t like what I feel radiating through the bond from all of them.
As Thane pulls up to the enormous gates in front of the mansion, I reach for the door handle.
Thane’s growl in the front seat causes me to drop my hand as I meet his gaze in the mirror.
Time slows, as if lengthening the torture.
He drives up the long driveway, and my heart races in my chest as he pulls up out front. Still, they say nothing to me.
“Leon?” I ask them as hope starts dwindling.
Once inside, I won’t be leaving alive, and I suddenly find adrenaline pumping through me as I toss the door open, only to be ripped backward, having forgotten to take my seat belt off.
My claws slip-free in my panic, shredding through the belt that has a stranglehold on me, and I take off across the manicured lawns toward the front gates.
I get about twenty meters before Thane catches me. His arms wrap around my torso as he pulls me back against his chest. I thrash, kicking and screaming. I will not go to my death easily. So, I scream, hoping one of the neighbors on this long-ass street will hear me.
“Stop it, Harlow. You brought this on yourself,” Thane snarls in my ear. I scream in frustration and thrash harder, but it’s pointless, and before I know it, we’re inside the mansion, and he heads toward the Den.
“No, please, Thane. I wasn’t going to do it!” I scream as I kick and drag my feet as the door comes into view.
“I wasn’t, please! I wasn’t going to go through with it! Bree was getting Tammy!” I scream. Thane snarls, dragging me through the house.
“Command me! I can prove it, please!” I scream when Raidon, hearing the commotion, steps out into the hall from the kitchen.
Thane stops, and I look at Raidon helplessly.
“You weren’t going to go through with it?” Raidon asks, and I shake my head.
“She is lying,” Thane snarls.
“Command her,” Raidon snaps at him.
“It could hurt the baby,” Leon says, stepping out behind him.
“Not while she’s still this early,” Raidon tells him, and I know that must be true because Thane commanded me at the club, and I know he wouldn’t risk his baby.
“You were going to back out?” Raidon asks me, and I nod, pleading with him to believe me.
Thane growls, spinning me around to face him, and he grips my face in his hand.
His command and aura wash over me, and his arm around my waist is the only thing keeping me upright as I grit my teeth through my body’s spasms. His grip on my face is bordering on painful as he speaks.
“You will answer truthfully,” he orders, and I nod, tears brimming in my eyes.
“Were you going to participate in Bree’s gig?”
“No!” I breathe out in relief as the answer peels off my tongue easily, and they can see I wasn’t going to do it. I hear Raidon exhale behind me, yet Thane doesn’t drop his order or command.
“Were you going to run?” he asks, and my entire body tenses as I fight the urge to answer. Wait, that isn’t supposed to be the question.
“Were you going to run?” he asks slowly, pressing his aura harder on me. I whimper, not wanting to answer.
“Yes!” I breathe out through gritted teeth.
“How, if you had no money?” he asks, and I realize he’s trying to see if I was planning on doing anything else at the club. I would have preferred that answer over the one I didn’t consciously know I was going to make.
“I was going to ask Alpha Jake." The moment the words leave my lips, my heart nearly stops. Consciously, I planned to consider it, yet subconsciously my mind is apparently already made up, based on the words that spill out of my mouth.
His command drops. “Fucking whore,” he snarls, his fingers digging into my face.
“No, wait. Alpha Jake said he could—" My words die off as his command rolls over me painfully as he shoves the full weight of it on me.
“I don’t want to hear any more of your lies. You won’t speak unless spoken to; I am done hearing your voice,” Thane snarls. I open my mouth to speak, yet nothing comes out. He made me mute!
Tears prick my eyes as he spins me around and shoves me toward the Den door. I move toward Raidon, but he takes a step back from me and points to the Den door. My eyes widen in horror. They aren’t going to help me. Are they going to let him lock me down there?
When I don’t move toward the door, Thane grips my arm roughly, jerking me toward it before ripping the door open.
He stomps down the steps, dragging me behind him before stopping at the bottom and shoving me into the vast underground room.
The only windows down here are slightly over a foot wide and maybe a little taller, but they are too high for me to reach.
There’s no natural light, no escape but the door we just came through.
“Make yourself comfortable. You will be spending the next four months down here,” he snaps before turning on his heel and heading up the steps.
I want to ask what he plans to do after the four months.
I know the answer, but I need to hear him say it.
Surely, he won’t rip my baby from my arms and kill me? He can’t be so cruel.
I chase after him climbing the steps two at a time. As he opens the door and I reach out for the handle, he slams it in my face and clicks the lock in place. I bang on the door, screaming out silently since I can’t speak.
I bang on the door for hours before giving up.
It is clear I’m not going anywhere. Trudging down the steps, I fall into the Den, knowing there is nothing down here to aid in my escape.
Yet I won’t stop trying, and Thane better hope I don’t get out of here, because if I do, I am coming for him first.