Chapter 27
Six days until appeal
KARMA
I was the one who meandered out of our cell first thing in the morning to ask the Emerald pack when they were ready to head down to breakfast.
I stretched my neck, which was stiff, but if my neck ached from having no pillow, it was a point of pride for me. My omega had a nest.
Crescent was in good spirits, and had cuddled Sin all night.
I’d shared a look with Phantom and Vandle, and we’d decided not to disturb them.
Never, in all my time being bonded to Sin, had I felt him as scared as he had been yesterday before the cage.
Whatever Crescent had said to him beforehand, it had calmed him down. But I got the impression that Sin was more traumatized about the whole situation than she was.
So, we’d left her to patch him up, since she was so good at that.
The Emerald pack alphas did not seem nearly as tense as I was. Bug looked fresh and irritatingly tired as he leaned against the door, his lumberjack frame taking up nearly the whole thing.
They’d definitely had a busy night.
Justin was a very flexible omega when it came to kinks, and I was absolutely sure the show from last night had rewarded his alphas handsomely.
I straightened the bitterness out of my expression as Bug exchanged a few words with his pack within, deciding on a time to go for breakfast.
My eyes wandered down the hall as they talked, thinking of the night before. It had been impossible not to rub one out to the memories in the bathroom at least once during the night.
My omegas could get me horny, they just weren’t supposed to be getting other packs horny.
Still, if we made it to our appeal, we’d have them all to our—
My thoughts cut off sharply as my eyes snagged on the wall beside our cell door.
Upon it was a mural I’d worked on for days. It had been a huge galaxy with made up planets, and spaceships.
But it had been ruined.
In the middle, there had been a huge moon, one I’d painted over the other day, turning it from full, to a crescent.
My Crescent moon.
Finnian had made fun of me for being sappy, and I’d given him a black eye.
But now, white lines surrounded it, depicting a rudimentary cage locking it in.
Beneath it were the words: ‘She’s never getting out’.
“So.” Bug’s voice was distant against the ringing in my ears. “We shouldn’t have much trouble now you have the Redgrave deal, right? I know Sterling’s paranoid—but they're Wakefields, so what’s new—”
He cut off as he saw the ruined mural.
“It’s just a threat.” Phantom’s voice was tight. “Everyone is tense after last night. Redgrave said they’d give us protection at the same time as they put a target on our back by putting you both in that cage.”
Right. Everyone had seen our omegas far too up close.
Crescent was currently in my arms as I sat in her nest.
The Emerald pack had sent a few alphas to get breakfast, but we were staying near the cell today. We weren’t risking shit, Redgrave protection or not.
When they returned, they gave us an update. The Redgraves had had a few alphas around the area overnight, but no one had seen who did it.
“We keep our heads down for now, let everyone cool off after last night,” Vandle said.
I nodded, then jumped at a squeak. “Sorry,” I whispered, having squeezed Crescent a little too tight. But it was hard not to be worried.
“The Redgrave protection, it’s enough to deal with Holden, right?” Crescent asked, looking around at us.
“Best protection there is,” Sin replied. “But not everyone in this place is… rational, so we have to be on guard.”
Of all the alphas in here, Holden’s pack was gunning for us the most. But it also meant the Redgrave watchdogs would have noticed if they’d been prowling around last night.
“He’ll be killed if he tries,” Phantom added. “Dweller or not, he doesn’t have enough allies to go up against the Redgraves. No one does. It’s why they came at night—they’re not bold enough to do it in the open.”
Politics was all about allies, and who was connected to who—and we had one of the most powerful packs on our side thanks to the damned show.
“I’d feel more comfortable with better planning,” Vandle said.
“The Wakefields often leave the cell open overnight, right?” Phantom asked. “We could ask them to keep an eye out.”
Sin nodded. “Six days to go. Our job from now on is to keep our heads down. Only go to the gym if we need to keep balanced, and avoid busy areas with Crescent unless we have enough allies available.”
The ‘we’ in that sentence I knew translated to me. The buzzing insanity, always lurking on the edge of my mind, it was louder now, since the cage and the threat.
I had Crescent in my arms, and even just touching her made it quieter, but I wasn’t like Vandle—one bond with a scent match to banish the insanity. She was making me better, but an inch at a time.
Still, he looked tense.
I understood.
Paranoia was taking over. I didn’t even want to trust the Emerald pack right now.
The deal with the Redgraves felt like the only one that would hold.
A deal couldn’t save us if I messed up the appeal.
Was there a way to stop this feral cycle from overtaking me?
I’d done some fighting in the hall outside our cell, letting off steam with the Emerald pack. Stood under cold streams of water until my skin ached. Spent time cuddling Crescent.
Usually I’d go to the gym to burn off the energy, or sign up for a rut fight, but it wasn’t something we could risk.
After a threat like the caged crescent moon, we needed to lay low until we figured out what was going on.
But if I lost myself again, I dreaded what would happen—even without the possibility of it fucking up our appeal.
What if I touched my mate and then forgot her?
My aura was constantly trembling, instincts threatening to dive in and take me back to that place where there was only want and need and blood.
It had happened before. Even the grounding of a pack bond hadn’t been enough to make me remember who Phantom was after a particularly bad rut.
I’d had to meet him all over again. I had never regained any memories back of the months we’d known each other before that happened.
One day I’d forget again and they’d leave me behind.
And so would she.
Now, on the top bunk above the nest, with the rest of the pack handling the confinement far better than me, I fought for something—anything—to keep me grounded.
I kept my fist curled around the hard length of my cock through my thick sweatpants, squeezing the life out of it to keep my erection down.
My knees were spread wide, and it would be so easy to make myself come and get some goddamn relief, but Crescent was in her nest in the bottom bunk, right below me.
Even if I shut myself out of the bond, she would scent me.
Eyes closed, I tried to think of anything but her, but what else was there to think of?
The rut fights? Bloodshed? A chunk of my time was spent feral and the rest was trying to make sure I didn’t lose myself again.
Unsuccessfully, because my aura didn’t stabilize when I bonded Sin, so why would it stabilize at all?
A gentle throat clearing had me snapping my eyes open, meeting Crescent’s golden gaze. She’d popped her head over the railings, and her teeth nibbled her bottom lip as she tried and failed to avoid looking at my hand gripping my cock.
“Need something, Moonlight?” I didn’t move, mainly because I liked the pink flush to her cheeks as she glanced down to my crotch.
She cleared her throat, her hands coming up to grab at the bar of the upper bunk. She could barely see over the edge of the mattress, and I bet she was already on her toes. Maybe even standing on the bottom bunk’s frame.
“Can we go walk around the wing? My legs are stiff.”
Her legs weren’t the only things that were stiff.
I nodded, reluctantly releasing my clothed cock and adjusting my sweats so they didn’t accentuate the bulge.
Swinging my legs over the edge of the bunk, I jumped down to the ground.
She nearly fell over trying to jump down from the frame of the bottom bunk, but I caught her around the waist.
Her breath hitched, my cock jumped, and we froze in tandem for a long beat.
Fuck, she was pretty.
Pouty lips, soft features, the chaos of her white hair falling in waves around her. Her baggy clothes nearly swallowed her whole, but with my arm around her I could feel the curve of her waist and hips.
I was leaning in before I thought better of it, giving in to my instincts.
My lips brushed hers and she gasped. Velvet rose and cocoa perfumed our cell, creating a haze of her arousal. All my efforts to keep my cock from hardening were lost in an instant, and I growled as the edges of my vision bled black.
Omega.
Mine.
She didn’t try to retreat, her small hand reaching up to clutch at my shoulder. I pressed closer, tongue flicking out to taste her, and she whined deep in her chest.
Fuck. Me.
Maybe this would help tide me over until we’d gotten through the appeal.
And even if it didn’t… I was desperate for her after watching her in that cage with Sin.
I lowered her down to her back on the bed, deepening our kiss.