He stepped closer. Too close, the scent of his aftershave, sharp and chemical filling her nose and making her want to sneeze. “I insist.”
"N-no, thank you, p-please–" She attempted to back away, but he was too quick, grabbing her arm, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her bicep.
His voice spoke to her like she was an unruly child flingingspitballs, like he thought he was an alpha with some command over her. “Don’t be stupid, Eden. Come with me. Now.”
The building was silent. No one else was there to hear her scream, no one to save her. Panic roared in her chest. “P-please, let go of me,” she begged again, her voice pathetically small and breathless. Weak.
He leaned in, his mouth inches from her ear. “You really wanna' do this the hard way, Eden?”
She didn't know what took over her then. Probably the same reckless part of her that made her choose to become a TA instead of settling down with a wealthy pack and living a life of luxury as their spoiled pet mate. But the surge of adrenaline took her, and with her free arm, she grabbed the closest thing she could reach on the desk–a pen–and drove it into his arm with all her strength.
He yelped, releasing her and giving her the opportunity to run.She did't waste any time. She took off, sprinting down the hallway and out the front door without looking back. Lungs burning, she took off down a side road, then another, her mind only focussed on putting space between herself and the aggressive beta male.
She didn't know how, or for how long she had run, but somehow Eden found herself back in front of her apartment building, every omega instinct inside of her screaming that she needed to be back in her nest. She'd be safe in her nest. Her nest was warm and secure and she'd be okay as long as she was burrowed under her blankets. Nothing would ever hurt her there.
She stumbled up the steps to her unit, nearly falling down several times as her jelly legs refused to hold her. Finally, her lock clicked shut behind her, and she sagged against the door.
She didn't go to work the next day, but he found her anyways.
???
She woke up to a pounding on the door and voices echoing down the hallway. She was still wearing the same clothes, her body still shaking with the after effects of the night before.
When she opened the door, two officers, uniforms sharp and creased and faces blank, stood waiting.
"Eden North," Officer Brett said, his voice dripping with burning acid. "You are under arrest for aggravated assault against a police officer."
She was handcuffed before she even knew what was happening, before she could even pull her shoes on. She didn't scream, blood rushing in her ears as heavy shock weighed her down like a wet blanket. Everything around her blurred. They read her out her rights with flat voices, but the droning words drifted in one ear and out the other.
A sharp cold stabbed through her socked feet as they pulled her across the sidewalk through the snow and slush to their parked car, the pain the only thing centring her in her body.
It was only when they pulled in front of a nondescript lawyer's office in a strip mall that she began to struggle with confusion.
There was no secretary, just a bell at a front desk which they rang once, the tone jarring. They addressed the alpha that came out of the back office as "judge," but the words didn't make any sense.
The lawyer–the judge?–looked her over, scrutinizing her like she was a show cow at a winter fair and not a criminal being arrested.
"Sturdy," he said approvingly. "She'll do. What did you get her for?"
"Bitch stabbed me," Officer Brett said, and Eden finally found hervoice.
"I-I was just defending myself–please, he–no, I didn't–please, you have to listen to me–" But the lawyer wasn't listening, her voice thin and useless even as she tried to call out after him as he walked away from them. He returned with a stack of papers in his hand.
"Marcus asked me if I could send some calming influences to Black Bay. We'll send her there."
"You mind if I uh–" Officer Brett cleared his throat meaningfully, "–have some time with her myself before she goes?"
The judge looked at Officer Brett with barely concealed disgust on his face. "She's not for you. Go to Bianca's to burn off some steam, if you must. I'll take it from here. Your money will be in your account by noon tomorrow."
As Eden watched the officers walk away, she wondered what fresh hell could possibly be awaiting her that could be worse than Officer Brett.
Chapter Two
Luke
???
Overcrowding in the women's jail, the guard had said. That was the reason they were throwing a female omega into the general population of the high security men's prison, built to house the worst of the worst alphas. Not separated, not put into administrative segregation or protective custody. They were tossing a female omega into a meat grinder.
