Chapter 31
Chapter
Thirty-One
WINTER
I have sat in this cage for what feels like hours, trying to keep breathing as Bellamy holds his breath underwater.
I wish I could be his oxygen, but that’s not how the soul bond works.
Once Cassidy was able to shake off the sedative and saw the silent tears running down my cheeks, she asked me about what was happening.
I explained everything I knew, watching as the horror grew in her eyes. She was taken walking out of the bathroom to check on Bellamy by another of Madam Clara’s men.
God, I fucking hate Clara so much. This was planned, and not at all a random occurrence. Greig and Jake were told in advance about where we were going, and Jake used his insider knowledge to fuck us over.
I hate that I don’t know why, but at the same time, what does it really change? Every piece of information simply solidifies how fucked we really are.
Neither of us have seen anyone while we sat here, naked, wondering what’s going to happen next. The sides of the cages are electrified, and Cassidy has been doing her best to keep it together, yet I see the tears shimmering in her gorgeous green eyes.
“This is going to be so bad,” I whisper. “Bell is bleeding everywhere. I think he’s out of the water now.”
“Why do that to him?” Cassidy wonders. “Punishment?”
“Madam Clara always has a reason for the things she does,” I say cryptically. “We’re definitely going to be punished for no longer being at The Hug Project.”
Whatever Bellamy knows about this, he hasn’t had a chance to tell me as he fights for his life. He’s being hunted, and the advantage lies on the hunter’s side.
“You couldn’t stay there,” she hisses at me.
“I know that, but that’s not how Madam Clara’s brain works,” I mutter.
The sound of footsteps, one of them being the click-clack of high heels gets my attention, and I press my finger to my lips. Cassidy hears what I do as well, and her body stiffens with worry.
I know in my soul that no one can help us here. We’re on Madam Clara’s turf, which means the rules will always change to suit her, and we won’t ever be able to beat her.
I can feel the threads of my bond inside of me, but the emotions are too muted due to distance. We were just finding happiness, I don’t know how to grieve its loss quite yet. I suppose it’s enough to know I have the bonds, and that they may find us again at some point if we’re all still alive.
Maybe that’s the romantic inside me. I know that hope can be weaponized, which is why I refuse to call it that. Instead, I’ll let the spark of whatever this is inside of me burn until it’s extinguished by force for as long as I can. Nameless though it may be.
Bellamy’s body is dragged in by his arms, and I recognize Jake as one of the people pulling him. He purposely refuses to make eye contact, though he flinches visibly when he hears Cassidy’s growl.
“Look, we’re all together again,” Madam Clara says gleefully as she looks around.
“I see you know my newest employee, Jake. I don’t pay him, and yet he’s a model minion.
Maybe ‘slave’ is a better name? It may not be due to circumstances he likes or wants, but holding a loved one’s life in the palm of my hand has a certain je ne sais quoi. Don’t you think so?”
“Is that why you betrayed us?” Cassidy asks, her voice low and guttural. She’s fucking pissed, while I’m emotionally rung out. “We could have helped you.”
Bellamy is passed out on the ground, probably from exhaustion. There’s blood dripping from multiple wounds across his pale skin, and if I couldn't feel him inside of me, I’d worry he was dead.
“They have my mom,” Jake says under his breath.
“I’ve met your fucking mother, Jake! She would die from the embarrassment of having you as a son if she knew about this,” Cassidy snarls, making me wince.
“That’s enough,” Avery sighs, waving her hand in the air as if to dispel the tension. “I have work to do. Shall we, Clara?”
“Proceed,” she says, smirking. “If we’re going to break their scent matched bonds before the auction, it needs to be done soon.”
“Break?” Cassidy asks, blinking at Madam Clara in confusion.
Avery bows in water splashed clothes without care, her crop top and pants too sparse for the cool building. My heart pounds steadily, scared to death of what she’s going to say.
I can’t even worry about how cold I am, or the fact that my ass is numb from sitting in the same position for too long as dread fills my veins.
This is going to suck.
“I can break any bond between omegas and alphas,” Avery announces. “It just has to be done when the omega is vulnerable. Now, Clara. Do you have any employees who have been very good boys?”
“I do, but I rarely allow them to fuck the inventory,” she drawls. “Why, what are you planning?”
“The alpha is too strong for anyone to want her,” Avery says with a shrug. “I don’t want to kill her yet, but I think she’ll be useful. Why don’t we give your employees a sweet treat to break her? What are your plans for her at the auction?”
“Live snuff porn,” Madam Clara sniffs.
I’m well aware of her cruelty, and I can’t stop shaking as I listen to her. This is worse than death, knowing Cassidy’s history. I sneak a glance at my alpha, but her face is impassive and her eyes are dead.
She’s listening but refusing to give them anything they can use against her. God, there’s no one like this woman. I want to beg them to leave her alone, but I know it’ll make things worse.
Bellamy is still lying prone on the ground, not moving at all. Cassidy’s gaze shifts to him from time to time to check on him. I know she cares, despite pretending to care for nothing.
I can’t allow myself to think any differently, because Madam Clara will do her best to tear us apart. I don’t need to give her any help.
“The auction will get a live view of what their holes can do while people bid. I heard your mother used to do this and it was successful,” Madam Clara says.
“I mean, outside of the last one, it was very successful,” Avery agrees, sadness sliding through her gaze.
I refuse to feel sorry for her. Absolutely not! I bet her mother was even worse than she is. Her death was probably a wonderful event for all omegas everywhere.
“I guess we should see how much stamina she has, huh?” Avery adds cruelly, reassuring me that she is exactly as terrible as she’s previously presented herself.
“Jake, why don’t you call in whoever is around,” Madam Clara says with a grin.
“Sure, sure. I don’t have to participate, right? I’m gay,” he says.
Cassidy snorts in derision, and I get the feeling that’s a lie.
“Every asshole feels the same when you fuck it, doesn’t it?” Madam Clara sighs. “Just go. You can help get her out of the cage after and then fuck off to clean the auction room.”
Nodding curtly, Jake rushes out of the room just as Bell groans softly from the ground.
“Ah, he’s waking up. Lovely,” she murmurs.
Avery walks over and plops herself on Bell’s back, making him yell in pain. I can feel as well as see the way his body flops like a fish out of water, and I have to force myself to keep breathing, even though I want to gasp for air.
The less they know about how close our bond is, the better.
“Secure his arms behind his back, Avery,” Clara mutters, tossing a pair of zip ties to her.
There’s no please, simply an order to ensure her command is followed. My arms and wrists burn as Bellamy’s arms are yanked back, and I can feel myself begin to drift from reality.
It’s too much, the world is just too fucking awful.
Forcing a breath into my lungs, I blink my eyes and dig my nails into the palms of my hands until I ground myself. Bellamy weakly raises his head to look at me and I shake my head in sadness.
His gray eyes give me compassion I don’t feel I deserve, and I realize my eyes are wet.
I’ve begun to cry again.
A table is pulled into the room by a group of men, and Clara raises her brows as they cheer.
“What, were we supposed to fuck her on the ground?” one of the men asks. “I wonder how well she’ll be able to take a knot.”
Jake turns pale at the thought, and I think about how his discomfort is too little, too late.
The table lowers as they set it up, and then a section toward the top opens with straps.
It quickly becomes clear that they’re to immobilize someone’s arms, and then there’s a rod on the other side with fucking ankle cuffs.
I almost collapse in shock against the cage walls, but force myself to lean to the side as I hold my weight up. This is going to be so fucking bad.
Madam Clara has upped her game, as have her employees. I never really saw them much while I was under her “care” before. We were too valuable for that, she used to say.
Jake opens the cage door Cass is in, wincing as Cassidy fucking hisses at him.
“This’ll hurt me more than it’ll hurt you, boss lady,” he whispers, reaching in to grab her ankles. Jake yanks her out, while someone else grabs her wrists once she’s free of the cage walls.
Cassidy fights like an alley cat, screaming and contorting so they’ll drop her. Instead, Jake and the other man lift her body high into the air, before slamming her onto the table on her stomach, effectively driving the breath out of her lungs as she gasps for oxygen.
My jaw drops at the violence, and Jake quickly ties down her arms while the other man gets her ankles into the contraption on the ground. She doesn’t even have a chance at fighting them off.
“Jake, be a dear and shove this in her mouth,” Madam Clara says, handing him a leather gag.
She left the room at some point, and I didn’t even fucking notice until I heard her speak. I’m definitely still spacing out.
The gag is long and cylindrical, and meant to keep the mouth open. The Hug Project used to use this in their back rooms, and I can still taste the leather as I gag at the memory.
“No one wants to lose their dick when they shove it into her mouth,” she adds sweetly.