Chapter 25
LUCY
“You’re absolutely fine. Everything’s going to be fine,” I murmur to my reflection in the mirror, unsure whether I’m buying my own lies.
I’d spent the last twenty minutes tearing apart the bathroom and all my belongings for my emergency suppressants.
Thank God I found them at the bottom of my travel bag with my lip gloss.
And I chased them down with a Dr. Pepper.
Finally, those sharp aches deep in my belly are softening.
But the heat is still there, simmering just below the surface, waiting to burn through me.
It promises several hours of semi-control if I’m lucky, which is enough to shower and then head down to the heat clinic in town.
By the time I’m clean and dressed in leggings, a T-shirt, and sneakers, I remember that the car keys are downstairs. Part of me is excited to spend the night at the clinic instead of being alone here.
I grab my phone, which had fallen on the floor by the bed.
It’s flashing a missed call from a number I don’t recognize.
It might be one of the Alphas. There is no message, so I call it back and it rings out.
I shake my head and push my phone into my back pocket.
I’m waltzing out of my bedroom and into the hallway of the private wing.
When I reach for the light switch, a loud crash explodes downstairs.
My body ices over as my heart hits the back of my throat. I listen to every sound, and for a second, I’m hoping I’ve imagined it all, or that a branch struck the window.
But then the noise of thundering footsteps of someone climbing the stairs reaches me.
Someone’s in the house!
Is it one of my Alphas? But what caused that crash downstairs?
Rapidly, I cross the hallway and throw myself into the heavy shadows of an open room and crouch low inside. I press myself flat against the wall, leaving the door ajar for a perfect view of the main entrance to this wing.
I’m shaking violently, holding on to myself, reaching for my phone, when the door handle rattles. “Lucy,” he calls out, and instantly I know the voice. It’s the masked guy pretending to be a stripper. “I know you’re up here. I can smell your sweet Omega scent.”
Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck.
Frantically, I tap the phone and unlock it when the main door bursts open.
I flinch back, falling onto my ass, and desperately switch off the phone to hide the light.
I stuff it into my pocket and sit there in the pitch black.
There are splinters all over the place, the door barely hanging on its hinges, and in the doorway stands the asshole.
He has his hood up, and the moonlight from the window at the end of the hallway throws a silver hue across his face, revealing that same narrow face, the thin lips, the angry expression. He’s grinning, and I can’t stop trembling.
He inhales deeply, his nostrils flaring. “Ah, here you are. Little Omega all alone with her heat, but don’t worry. You need an Alpha cock, I’ll give you mine. How does that sound?” He reaches down and gropes his groin.
I almost vomit in my mouth.
The man scans the dark hallway, and I lower my head.
His footfalls stride past the room. I listen to him opening doors, then I creep forward and glance out, knowing I can’t wait here.
He’s going to check every room. And with him out of sight for that split second, I shove myself up to my feet and move quickly, slipping out through the broken door.
Then I’m flying down the curved staircase, breaths slamming out of me.
“There you are,” he growls farther behind me.
I almost miss a step but snatch the railing to catch myself while glancing back to see him racing down after me.
A cry spills past my lips as I dart down, taking two steps at once, my heart on fire in my chest. He thunders after me.
I scream, leaping off the final step, when he grabs me by my shirt, yanking me backward. My feet tangle, and I tumble, crashing into him. The asshole just recoils and lets me fall.
“You can’t escape me,” he snarls, reaching down and snatching me by an arm, hauling me to my feet. “Now, we’ve got unfinished business to deal with.”
I thrash against his grip. “Let me go! I want nothing to do with you.”
“Don’t fight me, Lucy, as you won’t like it when I retaliate. Trust me.” He glares at me, his grip squeezing.
Fear crawls up my spine, but I’m not going to let that make me weak. I stomp down on his foot with my heel and rip free from his grasp. I scramble toward the front door, which is smashed open.
Suddenly, someone huge rushes through the front door, another figure rising behind the window.
I scream, unsure where to go. Something sharp tugs at my hair, and I’m wrenched backward by the asshole. I cry out and fall.
In seconds, the creep is crouching in front of me, holding a blade. “Are we going to keep having a problem, Lucy?”
I shake my head, hugging myself.
“Good.” He pats my head like a damn dog. “So you’ll behave and do exactly as I tell you, and if you do that, you won’t get hurt. How does that sound?”
I want to shove my fist into his throat for patronizing me, but I just nod, gritting my teeth, hating how close he’s holding that knife to me. My attention swings to the two new men who’ve entered the lodge, my home, each carrying a sledgehammer.
“What’s going on? Why are you doing this?” I plead.
He grabs my arm and yanks me to my feet, dragging me over to the couches, and shoves me down on one. I curl up in the corner, watching as the two muscle men swing their hammers like wrecking balls into the walls and vases. And anything else in their way.
My heart sinks as they demolish what my grandma so lovingly created.
“This lodge is fucking rotten. It’s only brought misery.”
“Then leave. No one wants you here,” I snap, remembering I have my phone in my pocket, and if I could just get two seconds alone, I’d call the police.
He sits across from me on the other couch, legs spread, elbows resting on his thighs, with that hood throwing shadows across his face. “You have any idea what it’s like to be rejected?”
I blink at him, not saying a word.
“I watched my best friend toss away his future for a shit Omega like you.” His stare burns into me, and I hug myself harder, keeping my lips tight.
“Jerry and I had a life of luxury all planned out. Heists that would give us easy money, then we’d have all the Omegas we could dream of.
But then he met you.” His words are venomous, spitting toward me.
“You know what he told me? ‘Bryan, you can go fuck off because my future’s with Lucy.’ ”
Behind him, the other two keep slamming the hammers, the sound booming through the dark house. My head is whirling, as I have no idea where he’s going with this. He was jealous that Jerry and I got together? Is that why he’s here? What the fuck?
“Well, Bryan, I can’t help you. I didn’t even know you existed. Jerry never mentioned anyone called Bryan to me.”
“See, that’s the issue. He never even spoke about me!
” he hollers, and I flinch. “Because of you, he cut me out of his life. Back then, I would set up plans for him and me, including a deal with a gang to get some cash, but then he shoved me aside. And guess who was left to pay back the debt? They beat me short of dying.”
“How is that Jerry’s or my fault?”
“Shut the fuck up!” he yells, shoulders rising, then he settles back down and cracks his neck.
“As I was explaining,” he says in a soft tone.
“You have no clue who Jerry really was, the kind of man he’d been.
Once I called him a friend, and when he turned on me, I had only one option.
” He grins, and a shiver rolls down my back at hearing his words.
“You know how easy it was to make his death look like an accident?”
The world spins around me, heart throbbing in my temples. “Wait!” I breathe out. “You were responsible for Jerry’s death?”
He chuckles, and I shake furiously, hands curling in my lap. “Technically, the tree killed him. I guess I just helped it fall. Same trick I tried at your place, just a pity it missed the house.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You son of a bitch! And what, after five years, you’re still bitter? Killing him wasn’t enough, you bastard?” I grab the small vase of plastic flowers on the coffee table without thinking and hurl it at him.
He knocks it aside with his arm, and it hits the floor, smashing. Much like the damage those beasts are doing to the lodge. I grieved for Jerry for five years, and I had no idea this asshole in front of me murdered him and destroyed my life.
“Listen here, bitch.” He inches forward. “An eye for an eye. You took my life away from me, so I took yours.”
Rage climbs through me, twisting on the inside, tearing me apart. “Then why the hell have you returned?”
He reaches into the pocket of his jeans and pulls out a cell phone. “I ain’t finished with you yet. Now, we can do this quick and easy, or the hard way. Your call.”
I just glare at him.
“Okay, call your grandmother and tell her you’re leaving town tonight and not returning. You’re going to convince her it’s in her best interest to sell the lodge.”
My shoulders shoot back, and anger roars through me. “No, I’m not doing that.”
The sledgehammer crashes through a side table by the wall, sending shards everywhere. Bryan grins, shoving the phone toward me. “Call her. You do anything to tip her off or anything else, and she won’t survive the night. Someone’s with her.”
I swallow the thickness in my throat, my stomach rolling with dread. “W-why do you want the lodge?”
He narrows his gaze at me, his phone still between us. “Fuck if I want this craphole. I get paid for this job, and that’s what I care about.”
“Who’s in charge?” I ask quickly.
Bryan chuckles. “Call your grandmother before I start breaking bones.”
A deep, guttural scream erupts from the front of the house, sharp and loud. I jump in my own skin.