Chapter 23 Jo
twenty-three
Jo
The abandoned wing is too easy to get into without anyone seeing me.
I know I said I wanted Hayden to serve as lookout, but this plan came to me in a whirlwind of improvisation, and I didn’t have time to get him.
It’ll be fine. I’ll go straight past where Hayden and I got to last time, and then go from there. If I hear someone coming, I’ll hide.
It’ll be easy.
That’s the thought that echoes in my mind as I carefully step over discarded bedsheets and broken glass with only the setting sun coming through the windows to light my way.
I’m really hoping they still have electricity running through this part of the building, or I’ll be in a world of trouble when the sun goes down.
The fluorescent lights on the ceiling are currently unlit, and I eye them warily as I walk.
Turnip makes a little noise in my pocket and I take her out, placing her on my shoulder.
I recognize the spot where I kissed Hayden for the first time, and smile slightly as I keep walking past it.
A creak nearly has me jumping out of my skin, my heart pounding wildly as my hand flies to my heart.
I look around, see nothing, and I huff out a laugh, slightly amused at my reaction.
If this place really is haunted by the ghosts of the pack that started the riot, I should be safe. I’m an omega, after all.
The sun outside is nearly all the way down, and the building grows darker by the second. Shadows that weren’t there before dance in the corners of my vision, and I break into a sweat on the back of my neck.
This is silly. I’m okay.
An omega ghost would want to keep a living omega safe, right? Unless…unless she wants to possess my body to come back to the land of the living. And then she’ll use her ghostly possession to get my guys down here so her alphas can take over their bodies—
A crackle and faint buzz has me jumping once again, my heart pounding wildly as the fluorescent lights kick on. None too soon, since almost all the light was gone.
Fuck. Why is it more creepy now?
Don’t think about ghosts.
I walk further into the building, maneuvering around another fallen gurney.
Think about my guys.
Nope. Guy. Not multiple. One. Hayden.
My sweet, eager little—
“Shit!” My foot catches on something, and the next thing I know, I’m lifting my hands in front of my face to break my fall. Groaning, I roll onto my back to catch my breath. Dammit. That hurt. My hands ache, and after a second, I push to sit up.
“Turnip?” I call out, not seeing the little rat anywhere. Then a squeak. I look over to Turnip, who has climbed up a nearly empty bookcase across the hall. Her little head pushes a book out of the way, and then her paws are on a small black button.
She must’ve sniffed it out, just like she sniffed out the bugs hidden in my room.
Before my very eyes, the empty bookcase rolls to the side like one of those haunted mansion movies and reveals a huge metal door. Turnip stands on her hind legs chittering proudly.
“What a clever girl you are,” I coo, getting up and walking towards the bookcase slowly, taking in every detail.
One look tells me that it's a heavy ass door, similar to one a safe might have. There’s a high tech keypad where a door handle should be, as well as what looks like an electromagnetic sensor for a keycard, like we have on our bedroom doors.
I had my suspicions, but now it’s confirmed. They’re hiding something down here. I just need to figure out what it is.
Suddenly, I hear footsteps coming down the hallway, the opposite of where I came from.
So, making as little noise as possible, I grab Turnip, press the same button that she pressed to hide the door again, and walk as quickly as I can back the way I came.
Turnip scrambles back into my pocket, not a fan of the speed I’m going.
My mind is racing as I make my escape, not even bothering to see who else is wandering down here. I was right.
My sister could be right on the other side of that door, and then I can get the fuck out of here.
I let out a sigh of relief as I reach the door and wrench it open, only to come face-to-face with Kole.
All the air wooshes from my lungs as I look up at the alpha, and if he’s surprised to see me, he doesn’t show it.
Instead, he grabs my arm and leads me back into the wing, out of the view of the cameras.
“What are you doing here, Lisichka?” he growls, leaning in close like he can’t help it.
I only raise a brow. “I could ask you the same thing, Sugar Bear.”
“Do you ever give a straight answer?” The corner of his lip tilts as he looks between my eyes. I want to trace my fingers over the scar that runs across his face, but luckily keep my hands to myself.
“Not if I can help it.” I grin up at him.
A little growl leaves him, but not the kind that puts my hackles up.
Nope. This is the kind of growl that makes my thighs clench together.
“You should not be here.” His voice is strained as he leans in closer.
My tongue darts across my lips as I look into his stormy blue eyes. “And why is that? After all, you’re here.”
His gaze darts to the motion of my tongue as he lets out a shuddering breath. His voice sounds pained as his eyes shut. “What are you doing to me, Little Fox?”
My heart stutters in my chest. What am I doing to him?
Asks the man that kissed me breathless a little more than twenty-four hours ago and then walked away, leaving me untethered and flying in the wind.
“I can’t dare say I know myself, Sugar Bear.
” I look up at him. “Considerin’ I can’t make heads or tales of what you’re thinkin’ half the time.
One minute you’re kissin’ me, the next you’re leavin’ and then you’re tellin’ me you’ll put my safety before your own life.
” I throw my hands up. “Maybe if you tell me what exactly has you so hot and cold, I can figure it out.”
His eyes fly open, and then the words are pouring out like he can’t stop them
“You are everywhere. Every moment is filled with thoughts of you. I can’t even say every waking moment, because you haunt my dreams as well.
There is never time my eyes are not on you, I constantly have to talk myself out of following you everywhere you go.
I am utterly obsessed, and I cannot seem to stop it. Part of me wants to stop trying.”
My throat is dry, my breathing shallow as I stare into his desperate eyes. “What’s holding you back?”
“I tend to make stupid decisions when I am around omegas, it seems.” His face gives nothing away as to what that actually means, and I feel my hackles raise at the thought of him around any other omegas.
He must see it in my eyes because he’s quick to soothe me.
“Be calm, Lisichka,” he clicks his tongue at me, gripping my chin and making my breath hitch, “I did not come here the way you usually would. I am guessing you are the same, yes?”
How on Earth did he figure that? I mean, he’s right, but still. “You could say that.”
I brace for the questions, but Kole only nods, as if he never thought for a moment that I would protest his assumption.
He doesn’t press further, he just keeps explaining himself.
“Something we have in common is neither of our fathers would ever be considered good men. I…am not a good man, though admittedly, I do have slightly more morals when it comes to trafficking omegas.”
A gasp leaves me. It shouldn’t shock me, hearing him say that with what I know of the Vasiliev family, but it does, and I ache to soothe the hurt he so clearly has. “What happened?”
“I was put in charge of moving some cargo. I did not realize at the time what we were moving—or, should I say, who. The job was to move the van, and then leave. But when I heard crying in the back…” his eyes screw shut, and he sighs before opening them again.
“I found twelve omegas packed in the back, all broken and sad. I couldn’t do it.
I drove to the nearest omega shelter and left them there.
When father found out…well, I cost him a lot of money, and as it turns out, they were being delivered here.
So, Father sold me to them instead. One alpha is not worth twelve omegas, but I suppose being the son of the head of the Vasiliev family carries its weight around here—even if I am a bastard. ”
He…he risked himself, his place with his family, all to help some omegas that he didn’t know and would never see again?
“That was not a stupid decision,” I say fiercely.
“It was the right one. You may not be a good man, Kole, but you are a good alpha. The only stupid decision you’re makin’ is pushin’ me away.
My omega may be all but useless right now, but if I know one thing, it’s that you’re mine, Kole Vasiliev.
I don’t know how I know it, but I do. As much as I know that the sky outside is blue, and that the grass is green. Anythin’ else is just delusion.”
Kole groans softly, dropping my chin as he runs his nose up my neck. “I cannot smell you anymore, and it is driving me crazy. I believe you are mine as well.”
“Believe?” I pull back, challenging him. “Because I’m not interested in maybes, and I don’t need to scent you to know you belong to me.”
He smirks, then tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “I know. You are mine, Lisichka, and I protect what’s mine, whether you like it or not.”
His words have my heart soaring, and I throw my arms around his neck to meet his lips. The touch of his tongue on mine sends bolts of lighting through my veins, and a whimper of need leaves me.
Gently, he pulls away, his brows furrowed.
Anger snaps through me at the sudden loss of him. “I swear to fuck, Sugar Bear, if you run away again—”
He quickly shakes his head. “No, no. I am not running, but I am late. You don’t want them knowing you were down here.”
“Late?” I frown. “Late for what?”
“There is more I will tell you later, but…the instinct inhibitors do not work on me. I am in full possession of my alpha. They run tests on me—no, don’t do that.
” He chastises as a small growl leaves me.
“I will explain tomorrow, yes? Before I leave, Lisichka, please tell me what Lars said to you yesterday.”
I gulp, hating how the memory of the words makes me want to vomit.
But...I know that he doesn’t think I’m weak.
I can tell him. “He…” I take a deep breath.
“He told me that if he didn’t have the instinct inhibitor injection every week, he'd bite and bond me whether I liked it or not, and he'd keep me quiet with a dick down my throat and my hands tied behind my back. "
Kole’s eyes go dark. “He will regret saying that to you.”
“Pretty sure he already does.” I laugh weakly. “I think I did some permanent damage to his alpha-jewels.”
Kole kisses me again, quick and rough, before he pulls back, his pupils blown. Not in lust, but in rage.
“Then he will regret it even more.” He nods once. “Go back out that door and go straight to your room, yes?”
I’m not usually a fan of alphas bossing me around, but when Kole does it? It damn near makes my knees weak.
When I nod, he kisses my temple in a strangely intimate gesture, then disappears down the hall.
It’s not until I make it back to my room that I think about Kole’s story and how he ended up here. It makes me wonder if the experiments they’re doing on Kole might have anything to do with what this place is doing to my sister.