Page 6 of Mercy & Her Devils

My breath stutters.

I can’t hear over the sudden roaring pulse in my ears.

I stare at the door but I can’t take a step toward it.

I’m shaking, terrified.

“Are you okay?” Thomas’ concerned voice, as he glances over his shoulder at me, sounds very far away.

I try to reach out for the door knob.

But I can’t.

My hand is trembling. A sob is wrenched from me.

My lungs feel like they’re being crushed.

I’m suffocating.

“Bad,” I whisper. “I’m being a bad Omega. What if my Alpha rejects me or breaks…?”

I can’t force any more words out between my gasped breaths.

It feels like I’m dying.

CHAPTER TWO

Ace Hall, Haven

Collapsed on the cold, marble floor, I take frantic breaths.

Shit, am I dying?

My heart is beating fast. My chest hurts, and sweat drips down my back.

I’m trembling.

“You may be having a panic attack,” my brother’s voice is steady and calming, but I know him well enough to hear the concern in it. “Just concentrate on breathing deeply. You’re safe. I’m here and I won’t leave you.”

A panic attack?

I was trying to break the rules.

What the hell was I thinking?

Perhaps, I am as rebellious deep down as Fletcher says I am in that lecturing tone of his.

I take painful, deep breaths.

Thomas’ pheromones are thick in the air like he’s wrapping me in his scent because he’s not allowed to wrap me in a hug.

He’s crouching over me as closely as he dares and he’s vibrating with tension.

I know that it must be as painful for him not to nuzzle at my neck, as it is for me not to nuzzle at his.

He’ll always be my pack, no matter what my new Alpha says.

“Is there anything that I can do?” Thomas whispers.

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