Chapter 31
thirty-one
Jo
Sam and West startle at the sound of Hayden’s voice, jumping to face us with a guilty look before they quickly school their features. “What are you guys doing here?” Sam asks, a scowl on his face as he looks to where my hand is in Hayden’s. “Shouldn’t you be eating dinner?”
“I had a hankerin’ to make some macaroni art,” I deadpan, sliding past Hayden and taking a look around the room. It has different stations for different kinds of art, everything from paints to modeling clay. “Damn, this is better than what we had at my high school.”
Hayden comes next to me. “Yeah, Meadow likes to make sure we have a ‘creative outlet’ for our murderous tendencies.”
I chuckle, and shoot Sam a glare when I hear his derisive snort. “Did you come here to make art too, fellas?”
Sam fixes his own glare on me. “You can’t be in here. You’re certainly not doing arts and fucking crafts right now.”
Hayden’s brows shoot up like he’s never heard Sammy-boy talk like that to a patient before. Which, he probably hasn’t.
I just have a way of bringing out the best in people.
“Is there some kind of rule that says we can’t make art while we eat dinner?” I challenge, my hands on my hips.
He whips his head around, like he’s searching for a sign somewhere that says, “No Food in the Craft Room” or even, “Fuck off, Jo Harding”, but fortunately comes up blank.
“I suppose not,” he grits out. I don’t know what his problem is, but I know I’m not the one who pissed in his porridge so he needs to stop looking at me like that.
Sticking my tongue out at him like a mature adult, I start looking through little drawers until I find some thread. Perfect.
“Lisichka, I grabbed a double helping for you, you’ll need it after—” Kole stops in the doorway, his brows furrowed as he takes in Sam and West, standing awkwardly to the side.
“What the fuck are you two doing here?” His Russian accent makes him sound even more threatening than his deep timbre, and if he wasn’t my Sugar Bear, I might be shaking in my boots—err, institution-issued white sneakers.
My hand flies up to cover my snort.
“Need it after what?” Sam asks sharply, looking between the three of us.
I smirk. “After the absolute spit-roastin’ these two gave me earlier. I burned a lot of calories, you know.”
Hayden chokes on a laugh, and Kole shakes his head. “Lisichka…”
Nobody spit-roasted me, but it’s too satisfying seeing the looks on their faces. I can tell West’s cheeks are flushed despite his dark complexion, and Sam looks like he’s about to combust.
“What?” I ask innocently. “Is it against the rules to get spit-roasted by my boyfriends before dinner?”
Sam’s jaw looks like it’s about to break with how hard he’s clenching. “Fraternization is frowned upon—”
“But not against the rules as long as the behavior is not pack related. And it’s not.” I shrug. “I’m just a slut for my boys’ cocks. Bein’ an omega has nothin’ to do with it.”
Lies. He doesn’t need to know that.
“Come on, Sam,” West says quietly. “We'll finish our…craft later.”
Sam nods once before heading for the door and sliding past Kole. “Aw, were you guys makin’ friendship bracelets?” I call out excitedly, and cackle when West has to physically drag Sam out behind him.
“You sure do love riling them up.” Hayden grins at me, then frowns. “Wait. Why didn’t I want to rip their heads off for being near you?”
I quickly divert his attention from that particular subject by turning to Kole. “Hey there, Sugar Bear. Thanks for dinner.”
He arches a brow at me as I take the tray that holds both mine and Hayden’s food. “Do you want to explain why you are tormenting the only decent orderly around here, and the psychologist I actually like?”
I shrug. “What? He was being an ass.”
“Fireballll,” Hayden draws out the nickname as he sits down next to me, “do you like them?”
“Wait.” I let Turnip out of my pocket. “Go see if you can find any more bugs, girl.” She squeaks, then scurries around the room, her nose lifting in the air every once in a while to scent the air.
Kole lets out a little shiver. He still hasn’t quite warmed up to Turnip. Apparently it has something to do with the fact that he’s used rats to torture people back when he was in the mafia. Seeing the big bad wolf be afraid of a little thing like Turnip always has me suppressing a giggle.
Turnip returns a minute later, and I reward her with a piece of salami from my Italian salad.
“Good girl.” Turnip chitters, then scurries off the table, onto the floor, and to the air vent in the corner of the room.
She looks at me expectantly. “Alright then.” I get up, popping the cover off the vent and letting her through before closing it again.
Then I turn back to Hayden. “I don’t like them. But…”
“But?” Kole prods, a knowing look in his eyes.
“I have a feeling…” I sigh, running a hand over my face. “Basically, since I got here and received my injection, the only men I’ve been able to scent were you two…” I swallow, looking down, “and now…them.”
“Even West?” Hayden’s brows shoot up. “I mean, I can scent him now, but not when I was on inhibitors.”
“He is not your true scent match,” Kole interjects, his eyes never leaving mine. “Lisichka, are you thinking…”
“That the three of you are also my scent matches and we’re destined to be a pack, even though the three of us are patients in an insane asylum and the two of them are employees we don’t know if we can trust ?” I swallow roughly, nodding once. “That’d be the gist of it.”
“Fuck.” Hayden runs a hand through his hair.
Yeah. Same.
Kole grits his teeth but doesn’t say anything. He understood when I told him we couldn’t risk him full-blown scenting me right now, but I still feel bad, like I chose Hayden over Kole. It’s not like we thought the bite would actually result in a bond.
Then Hayden bumps my shoulder with his. “So…we taking them when we blow this pop stand?”
I bark a laugh. “We talkin’ kidnappin’, or…?”
Hayden smirks. “What’s a little kidnapping between packmates?”
That breaks the tension, and I find myself relaxing. After we finish eating, I pull out Lars’ canine teeth from my pocket and put them on a table.
“Oh, shit,” Hayden gapes looking at the teeth. “You actually tore out his teeth?”
“Did you think I was being metaphorical when I said I pulled his canines from his mouth with a pair of rusty pliers?” Kole raises a brow, an amused smile on his face.
Kole had given us a play-by-play yesterday after Hayden’s phone call with his daddy, and to my surprise, Hayden was all for the torture of someone who would threaten me like that.
I had thought I might be a bit too violent for his tastes, but it turns out he’s a bit darker than I originally thought.
“Speakin’ of, Sugar Bear, how did you not get in trouble for that?” I frown.
“Do you remember how I told you the drugs don’t work on me?” He asks, and I nod. “Well, they have my cooperation with their testing on me to figure out why as long as they stay out of my way. It’s much easier to test on a compliant alpha than one kicking and screaming.” He gives me a feral grin.
Hayden shivers. “I don’t want to think about what kind of tests.”
Kole shrugs. “It is not such a big deal. I recover in a few hours.”
My frown deepens. “Well, when we get out of here, you won’t have to worry about it anymore,” I say with finality, and Kole gives me an appeasing smile.
“Whatever you say, Lisichka.”
I know they probably think I’m a little cuckoo for thinking I’m getting out of here, but as soon as they meet Declan, they’ll understand.
“Kole?” I ask, suddenly remembering how he was on his way into the abandoned wing when I was coming out the other day. “The place they run their tests…is it behind a door that’s hidden by a bookcase in the abandoned wing?”
His brows raise, and he tilts his head. “Yes. Why?”
I frown, my heart sinking. If that’s where he’s taken, it’s unlikely that's where the omegas are. “I just…I thought maybe that’s where they were keepin’ my sister. I haven' t had a chance to tell you yet, but…she’s the reason I’m here.”
His expression softens. “Oh, Little Fox, what happened?”
I manage to make it through recounting coming home one day to find Mabel gone, and how I killed Daddy.
How it took me two years to track her down, but when I did, she had already been accused of killing her alphas and sent here with no trial.
How the next three years were spent building my kill-list and carrying it out.
I don’t mention anything about Declan just yet, just because that’s a whole other can of worms I don’t want to get into at the moment.
When Kole had told me his story yesterday, it briefly crossed my mind that maybe Mabel was one of the omegas he rescued from being sent here, but if he took them to a center, she would have reached out to me.
His brows furrow. “Well…it is still possible that she’s being held there. Upon entering the door, there are two more doors, also with keypads. There’s always a doctor to let me into the door on the left. I’ve never been inside the one on the right.”
“I don’t suppose you know which staff members work inside that right-hand door, do you?” I ask sweetly, fluttering my lashes.
“I am afraid I do not, Lisichka.” Kole shakes his head. “But we can always find a way to uncover this information, yes?”
Nodding, I give my alpha a quick kiss. Regardless of whether or not he had the answers I need, I’m still closer to finding Mabel than I was before. Maybe I can torture the information I need out of Banesworth before I kill him.