She could have had a reason for the violence. A neighbour attacking her, or an abusive family member. The thought had crossed my mind that she might have been protecting herself.
But stabbing Ambrose hadn’t been protecting herself, so why was I making up excuses for her?
“I thought…” She trailed off.
Ambrose slumped against the counter and I rushed to him, leaving her. He was more injured than her after all. His eyelids were drooping shut. “Hey, stay conscious. Jasper is on his way. He’s a doctor. We’ll get you patched up.”
He didn’t answer, his breathing heavy. I helped him lower down to the tile floor and he laid down, pressing his cheek to it. “Everything’s burning,” he mumbled.
It wasn’t. There was a chill in the air, even. I kept the air conditioning to a crisp temperature, fighting off the mid summer heat. When I pressed my hand to his forehead he was hot though, his body struggling to close the wound and fix whatever it had nicked.
“Nothing is burning,” I soothed. “You’re going to be fine. We’ll cool you down when the doctor gets here.”
My fingers stroked his dark hair back from his forehead, giving me a clear look into his eyes. His gaze was flitting around, unfocused. He was disoriented, his jaw tight and eyebrows pulled together.
“No, it’s burning,” he said.
I was about to correct him again when a breeze brushed past me, footsteps clapping against the tile. Kiara sprinted for the door barefoot. Her breaths came in laboured wheezes, and she’d snatched up her knife on the way past.
The front door was still open, leaving her with the perfect escape.
I froze, glancing between the spot where she’d just been, and Ambrose’s delirious form. The urge to follow her was almost unbearable, and it wasn’t because Soren had told me to keep her here. He could get fucked for all I cared in this moment.
I just didn’t want her wandering around New Oxford barefoot without getting her injuries checked over. Ambrose’s wound had turned out more serious than we’d thought at first glance, and hers could be too.
Reaching down I put pressure on his wound again, the towel squelching from the amount of blood he’d lost. My heart stuttered as I watched the door. There was no good answer—following her would leave Ambrose alone. Staying with Ambrose would have her running around the city alone and vulnerable.
What the fuck was I supposed to do?
Ambrose mumbled something unintelligible beneath me and I yanked open a nearby drawer, putting a fresh towel on his wound. The flow was staunching. Slowly. Pressing down, I cursed and prayed that Liberty and Jasper would get here soon.
EIGHT
KIARA
It hadn’t worked.
More than not working, it had backfired severely.
My life had flashed before my eyes when Ambrose’s hand had tightened around my throat. Black had teased the edges of my vision as Tobias’s taunts invaded my final moments of consciousness.
“You’re going to die young, sis. Young and alone. I’ll make sure of it.”
“No one could ever love you. Omegas are toys, not people.”
“Remember me when the life is bleeding out of you, sis. Remember how I helped you out and warned you about how it was going to happen.”
That first gasping breath had me sobbing with relief, but that wasn’t the end of it. I needed the dark bond. Father always said dangerous omegas got dark bonded, so I’d made sure I was dangerous.
And didn’t alphaswantdark bonds? Weren’t they more appealing? They were the only kind of bond a lone alpha like Leighton could give.
Leighton had still said no.
I was so sure—so absolutely certain—that Father hadn’t lied about that. It made so much sense. Control erratic omegas with commands they can’t deny. The dark bond was a perfect solution.
But apparently they didn’t use dark bonds as a form of control in the real world. Without her bond, I was too vulnerable to be taken into custody.
Father would find me in an instant. I’d be back in his hands.
