50. Delilah
Chapter fifty
Siren’s words hang in the air for a long time, but I can’t get my mind to move fast enough to form words to say.
Looking at them now, I feel so stupid for not recognizing the similarities before.
Roman and Siren have the exact same eye color and shape, their noses are almost the same.
Obviously, Siren looks slightly more feminine, having been assigned female at birth, but it’s like I’m seeing my old alpha reborn.
My eyes water, and I press my hands to my lips.
“Hey, don’t cry. I’m sorry. I didn’t—please don’t cry,” Siren says, taking a few steps toward me with their hands out in a gesture of peace.
I stiffen as their scent carries toward me. More roses than leather today, but there are subtle undertones that I’m catching now that I know the connection. And all of a sudden, it’s like something clicks in my mind. A newfound understanding. Siren hasn’t been lashing out at me for no reason.
“How long have you known?” I ask in a hoarse whisper.
Siren’s shoulders droop, their hands dropping slightly. “Since before Joker broke you out of the facility.”
I flinch and look away. The whole time I’ve been here, I’ve just been a constant reminder of the brother they lost. No wonder they’ve been treating me like a burden, because I am. Have they only kept me around out of some weird obligation to their brother?
I nod and get to my feet, barely holding back the guilty tears.
I don’t want to impose my emotions on Siren any more than I already have.
They call after me as I make my way down the hall, not to the nest room, but back to the storage room.
I close and lock the door before going to the pitiful nest I’d made when I first arrived.
I’ve kept it intact, maybe out of some weird survival instinct.
I don’t know if the good will of this pack is going to last much longer once Siren tells them about Roman.
I sit on the floor in the corner, pulling my knees to my chest and burying my face in them.
I try to breathe through the tears, but all I can see when I close my eyes is Roman.
His smile and the way his eyes—Siren’s eyes—light up.
Roman’s laugh, the way he’d purr for me when I needed him most. A wave of homesickness comes over me, making the tears fall.
I miss them, probably always will. But my presence got them killed.
They were perfectly happy before I barged into their lives, but then my nature made Tyler go insane.
It’s my fault they died. It’s my fault Siren doesn’t have a brother anymore.
“It’s all your fault, you know.”
The voice quavers with emotion. Roman’s mother, Deborah, sits at my bedside, clutching her purse like a lifeline. I look at her, my thoughts moving like molasses over snow.
She sniffs again. “If you hadn’t come along, my baby would still be here. If you hadn’t been in his ear, manipulating him with your…omega nature, he wouldn’t have cut me, his own mother, out of his life.”
“I didn’t…that’s not what happened…”
My words slur. The drugs they’ve given me to keep me from having panic attacks making me feel like I’m underwater.
“Oh, yes, it is, you harpy. And now you’re even more useless. You can’t even make up for what you did by catching the monster who did this. Pathetic.”
Her words cut like poisoned daggers into my skin and soul. I want to help, to tell her, but my voice dies in my throat every time. I can’t even explain why I can’t tell her, or the police, or anyone what happened. Maybe it’s the meds, but it feels like something else.
Deborah gets to her feet, looking down her nose at me like something she stepped in. “I will pray every night that you never find peace. Not after what you’ve done to my family. I hope you live a long, lonely life, Delilah Montgomery.”
With that curse, she sweeps from the hospital room, letting the door slam behind her.
Well, you got your wish, Debby. I’ve not known a day of peace or security since she slammed that door. Everything I do only brings me more misery. I should just leave now before I cause more trouble. Or worse. Before I let any of them get hurt trying to protect me.
I sit in the storage room, time slipping away in my despair. I hear footsteps approach the door at one point, but no one knocks. They just turn away and leave me alone. I let out a sigh. It’s for the best really. I should have moved on a while ago, honestly. I’m too much trouble.
The house settles down after a few hours, and I hear the others getting ready for bed.
One by one, doors close throughout the house, and I wait even longer than that before I finally get up, not bothering to take anything with me, knowing it’ll only slow me down.
I sneak down the hall, skipping the squeaky boards like I’ve learned to do over the last couple months until I reach the living room.
My shoes slide on easily, and I ease open the back door, slipping out into the night.
I’m just going to get some air. The house feels too oppressive right now, and I can’t stand it.
It takes me a few seconds to see the shape in the darkness, a squarish lump resting halfway between the house and the barn. I approach cautiously, but by the time I think better of it, I’m already frozen in place, horror turning my blood to ice.
The lump is a live animal trap, with rusty metal rods spaced just far enough apart for me to see the clumps of fur inside.
Four of them. A cautious step forward, and it’s clear that they’re rabbits, and not stuffed animals either.
Real rabbits. Four of them. Three with their heads detached, and a fourth in the center.
I gag as I see the way the poor creature is laid out, its chest and ribs wide open to reveal a heart that’s ripped out and stuffed into its mouth.
“Oh, my god,” I breathe, my eyes burning from tears and terror.
I turn to go back into the house, but I have to freeze again as a massive brown animal comes lumbering and snuffling out from the tree line. Darla.
I back up several steps, heart hammering in my chest. She growls low in her throat and advances on me, making goosebumps break out over my skin. I try to recall anything I learned in scouts as a kid. Do you run from grizzlies or do you play dead?
Darla bellows at me, taking two steps in my direction and instinct kicks in.
I turn and run, crashing into the woods.
My shoes slip and slide on the damp earth, flying off my feet completely.
But I don’t stop to put them back on, pushing past the pain of pine needles and rocks stabbing the soles of my feet.
I’m breathing too loud to hear if the bear is following me, but I just keep moving, wanting to put as much distance between us as I can.
But when I finally come to a stop and look behind me, my body goes cold.
I can’t see the light from the house anymore.
I can barely see anything in the darkness of the forest.
“Little rabbit, lost in the woods…”
The voice of my nightmares whispers through the trees and I stop, turning on my heel, trying to find any landmark I can, or even the source of the voice so I can run in the opposite direction. This was so stupid.
“Did you like my presents, little rabbit?”
The voice again. This time closer. I move before I can think, turning back and sprinting through the woods back the way I came.
Or at least I hope it is. Everything is grey, trees coming out of the darkness that I could swear weren’t there before.
I stumble and crash my way through the woods, trying to find the light of the house.
“Oooh, run for me, little rabbit. I love the chase.”
I pant, my lungs screaming as I move more than I have in years. Adrenaline pushes me on, through branches that try to grab, and brambles that snag on my clothes. There’s a growl close by, a low rumble that I don’t recognize. I skid to a stop in a clearing, trying to see through the darkness.
“Delilah!”
Joker’s voice rips through the night like lightning, and I whip around, heading toward it. “Joker!” I scream, not thinking.
Flickering beams of light ahead. Flashlights.
“Oh, no you don’t!”
A hand grabs at my shirt from behind and I scream, moving faster. With that little bit of light, I have a direction and I push myself toward it. More voices calling for me through the trees. But I can feel someone getting closer to me from behind. I sob and scream, trying to draw them to me.
“Delilah! Get down!” Bones screams, appearing like a spirit from behind a tree.
I don’t hesitate to obey, dropping to the forest floor like I’ve been magnetized to it. A gunshot fills the air, and I scream, covering my head.
“Where did he go? I just saw him?” Phantom yells, appearing next to me, practically standing over me.
“Come out, you bloody coward!” Joker roars, moving to stand at my feet.
“Honey, get up. You’re safe. We’ve got you.”
I stand up and run to Cross, colliding with his solid chest, letting out dry, terrified sobs. One of his arms wraps around me, holding me to him while the other points his handgun into the forest.
“Get back to the house. Now.” Bones orders.
Cross keeps his hold on me as the others take up formation around me.
Siren leads the way with Phantom on one side, Joker on the other, and Bones walking backwards to cover the rear approach.
After a surprisingly short walk, we emerge from the tree line next to the barn, heading right toward the house again.
The bear is long gone, as is the cage of dead rabbits, which is a small relief.
Once the door is locked, Bones rips his mask off and turns toward me.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he growls.
“I’m s-sorry. There was a cage and a bear and—” I cut myself off, sobbing.
I brace for the lecture, but Bones simply pulls me from Cross and wraps me in his embrace, holding me tight. He presses his face into my hair and breathes. “Scared the shit out of us, princess. Lucky Rin was watching cameras on their tablet.”
“Wh-what? You’re not mad?” I ask through my sniffles.
“No, of course not,” the prime alpha replies.
“Speak for yourself,” Phantom grumbles, stomping away from the door and unloading the bullets from his gun.
I flinch, biting my lip. Phantom looks back at me and lets out a sigh, shaking his head. “We’ll talk later, baby doll. Let me cool off.”
I nod, snuggling into Bones’s arms. My bare feet ache, but I don’t move away. I’m safe where I am, even if I’m in pain.
“He’s bold, trying to grab her like that,” Siren mumbles, moving toward the living room and leaning backwards against the back of the couch.
“And leaving that…cage in the yard? Absolute fucking monster. He must have known we weren’t watching outside,” Joker snarls, setting my shoes down next to the back door.
“Which means he’s been watching us. Close,” Cross answers with a sigh. “This location is fully compromised.”
“Agreed,” Bones grunts, squeezing me tight. “We move tomorrow.”