The suite Rowan got is extravagant, but it’s only a tiny pocket in the endless sprawl I can see gleaming through the windows. I might be on top of the world, but I’m less than a speck of dust on that distant mountain, my pain no more important than the blare of horns I can hear through the thick glass.How will Kane find me if there are a hundred rooms like this one spread across the city?
I don’t want to give in to the panic clawing in my chest, but the walls feel like they’re closing in on me. Need and pain weave through my body like poison, and I suck harder on the cherry soother. But nothing can cut through the fear in my mind, and with a pitiful mewl I drop the sucker and crawl under the coffee table.
Wedged into the tight shelter of chrome and glass, I pull the blanket over my head, trying to burrow down into the familiar scent. But instead of bringing me comfort, a memory swoops in on oily wings. It’s a flashback, I think, to another table, when I was small and helpless and all I could do was cower in the dark…
A man – my father? – is arguing with someone, his voice hitched in a whine that makes my hands shake as they cover my eyes. When he pushed me under the kitchen table, he told me to stay silent, to curl up like a sleepy snail in its shell. I don’t want to disappoint him, but I almost bite through my tongue at the first violent slap. He cries out, but the next sound is the heavier thud of a fist, and I screw my eyes tighter as my father begsfor more time. I can taste his omega scent – rose petals crushed under a careless boot – and my heart hammers as I peek out past the tattered tablecloth.
He's on his knees, his thin, white hands scraping over the dirty denim of a man’s thighs. He’s talking fast, his voice tight and panicky, and I realize he’s offering himself up to the foul alpha who stinks of sweat and grimy skin. It’s the voice he uses when we run short at the corner store, when we can’t pay rent, or we have to borrow the neighbor’s stove because our electricity is turned off. Most people just give my father a tight-lipped smile, but the alpha kicks him aside, a wad of spit raining down on his bow head.
My father hits the floor hard, but as he gathers himself to crawl back to the alpha, he sees me huddled under the table. Did he forget I was here? He’s always digging me out of tight places, laughing and tickling his sweet, sleepy snail. But now a dark light flashes in his eyes that I haven’t seen before, and even to a child’s mind, it's a warning. He licks a dribble of blood from his dry lips and then he murmurs something, his face like crumpled paper as he stares up at the alpha. It sounds like ‘sweeten the pot’, but I don’t know what that means, or why the silence stretches like a noose around my neck. I want to crawl to him, to shelter in his thin arms, but before I can move, a thick, rough thumb presses down on my frail ankle bone…
I jerk at the thud of a fist on wood, heavy enough to echo loudly in my tiny hiding place. The scent of unwashed alpha makes me gag, and I bury my face in my blanket. When I choke down another breath, sweet cookies and vanilla honey flood my senses, and I realize I’m not huddled in the past, but right here, curled under the coffee table.
“When we agreed to ‘a conversation’, we didn’t mean having it through a damn door!”
It has to be an alpha voice, the authority in each cutting word making my head tuck tighter under the blanket. And then it’s answered by a low growl, as haunting to my heart as the howl of a lonely wolf. “Diana! Can you hear me?”
Kane?
Instead of rushing to him like I want to, I’m frozen, an unmoving glob of flesh in a fragile shell. He’s not alone – I can hear at least three voices, all raised in anger.Who’s out there with him? Why would he bring other alphas to my door?
I shrink in on myself as racing feet slide over the floorboards, someone huffing curses under their breath. “Shit. No, I can’t see her. Where could she be? Wait. Sweetheart, are you hiding somewhere?”
It’s Dex.Relief courses through me, but even without seeing his face, I know it’s creased with worry.
He circles my hiding spot like he’s looking for a way in, and I try to lift the blanket edge in invitation, but my limbs are locked in place.
“Why are you out here, sweetheart?” I sense him ducking closer, sniffing the air around us. He moves back a step, and I hear him mutter, “Oh. She’s… she’s just taking a little break.”
The last thing I ever want to do is make him worry, and my heart clenches at his exasperated sigh. “No, you can’t come in. Listen, fuckface. She’s… under the table. She smells… scared. No, I won’t fucking put her on the phone…”
There are more angry sounds, both from outside the door and from where Dex is pacing in front of me. The panic in my belly is now a fist lodged in my throat, because they’refighting, threats and insults peppering the air. I whimper as I realize they’re arguing aboutme. It’s an omega’s place to make her mates happy, not let them growl and snap at each other like feral dogs.
“Dex?”
I peek out of the blanket just enough to see his face swim into view. I was right. He doesn’t just look exhausted; now I’ve made him worry, too. “Sweetheart, are you alright?” I want to tell him yes, but I promised I’d never lie about my feelings, so I shake my head. He taps his phone against his thigh and gives me a careful smile. “Do you want to see Kane, Diana?”
“Alpha.”
The word throbs as it leaves my scratchy throat, and Dex nods. “Yes. Do you want to invite Kane in here with you?”
“Please.” I don’t want my alpha to see me like this, but I don’t think I can put myself back together without him. “I need him, Dex.”
He gives me another nod, his lips tight as he sits back on his heels. I watch him press the phone back to his ear, his gaze never leaving mine as he says, “Kennedy, you can let him in now, but keep your gun handy.”
The word ‘gun’ is still ricocheting around in my head when heavy feet stomp into the room, and I peek out to see Kane bearing down on us. He’s a vision in denim and leather, his eyes like black coals as they burn into mine. Dex nudged the sofa back from the table, but it’s still a tight squeeze, Kane’s broad frame blocking out everything else in the room as he crouches at my side. The scent ofalphawafts over me, and then a big hand curls around my thigh. He’s so close I can feel the brush of his jeans, and I think of that other table, and the alpha who grabbed my ankle when I was small and helpless. But instead of a dirty chuckle, there’s a purr, and I tilt my head, listening.
“It’s okay, baby.” That’s Kane’s voice, low and hypnotic,so who is purring?It’s like warm honey dripping on my skin, and my mouth waters with the urge to lick it up. I want to crawl inside the rumbling echo and stay there until it’s sunk deep into my bones. “Can I pull you out, or do you want to stay in there a little longer?”
I wiggle, the table now as constricting as a cage, and he grins as he lifts me free. The blanket comes too, and he keeps it wrapped around me as he sinks onto the sofa. I’m vaguely aware of Dex and Kennedy standing close by, but Kane’s thumbs are sweeping over my damp cheeks, and it’s hard to look away from the black fire in his eyes. “No tears, Omega. You’ve given enough of your sweetness to this shitty world.”
There’s a hitch in the purring sound and I try to swallow the tears back, staring through watery eyes at another alpha. He’s standing in the middle of the room, his hands twitching at his sides. He’s wearing a suit that matches his dark hair, but all I can see are shocked eyes the color of the sky and flaring nostrils in a pale face. “Who are you?”
“Jake.”
The gravelly caress of his voice makes me twitch, and Kane’s chest vibrates beneath me.He’s laughing, I realize dazedly, but when his fingers dig into my chin, turning my focus his way, my alpha’s face is stern. “Miss me, Omega?”
“Yes.” I choke on a sob, finally giving in to the barrage of emotions and burying my face in his neck. “Kane. Why did you take so long to come find me?”
