Page 25 of Mercy & Her Devils

I still feel like the strength has been drained from my body, but finally, I’m able to look around and see where I’ve been living for weeks.

The Brok Cell is in the basement of the Institute.

With a sickening flood of memories, everything that Fletcher has told me about this place comes back to me.

This is where the Discipline Rooms are, along with the cells for the most resistant of Omegas who rebel even against the Institute’s training.

This is the place that his family designed every Omega to fear ending up. When they first arrive, they’re brought on a tour of the basement to make them grateful for what they do have and to work hard because they don’t want to become one of the poor unfortunates locked below, unable to even see the sky.

Apparently, fear is one of the best motivators.

Fletcher said that with a laugh.

How could he?

Brok Cell is tiny and dark. It’s bleak and harsh. The floors, walls, and ceiling are built of unforgiving concrete.

No longer ravaged by the worst of the Broken Bond Syndrome, I shiver. I can see my breath puffing in mists into the freezing air.

Isn’t there any heating?

There’s no furniture in the cell, only a single stained mattress, which I’m lying on in the corner. In the opposite corner is a stinking bucket.

My eyes widen in horror.

Fuck, Lark must have been helping me not only to drink and wash but to…

I flush.

How can I repay this man?

I knew, for fleeting moments between the pain, that I was dying.

But the scent match connection, the attentive and loving touches, the purring, and Lark’s sometimes desperate voice calling to me, brought me back from the brink.

I feel like I’m bonded to him, and that bond, is what’s started to mend my Soul.

There aren’t any windows in the cell, and the only light comes from outside the cell through the bars on one wall that lead into a narrow concrete corridor with cold strip lighting that’s flickering.

Now, I truly do feel like a bird in a cage.

Has Fletcher been watching me? Am I part of his case study?

Claustrophobic, I try to steady my breathing.

Lark’s jacket is tucked over me like a blanket. It’s the only thing that’s keeping me warm, and it cocoons me in its plum scent.

It makes me feel safe, when I know that I’m anything but. This other Omega, who my bonded Alpha has tormented, has done that for me.

He’s nursed me through my broken bond, when he’s suffering too.

My chest is tight.

I can’t let him find out. I’m trapped in this cell with him.

I can’t escape. I’m his enemy.

What will he do, when he discovers what pack I used to be from?

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