Page 68 of Alpha Reid

“That depends,” I breathe, buttoning my slacks and arching a brow in her direction. “Are you ever gonna stop trying to push my buttons?”

A sly smirk creeps across Serena’s lips. “Unlikely.”

I growl, reaching out to grab her by the waist. She kicks her legs out as I lift her from the ground, her back against my front.

“Reid!” Serena giggles, but I pay no attention to her feigned resistance- I just carry her toward the front walk of the packhouse, bound for my room.

If it’s a bed she wants, it’s a bed she’ll get.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Serena

“Serena…”

That rough, scratchy voice sends a wave of dread rushing through me. I grasp through the dark trying to find a way out of the cell, but my hands land on nothing but cold concrete walls.

“You can’t run from me…”

His voice again, hard and strained, like his throat is bleeding. Like he’s swallowed nails. I’m panting, frantically searching for a way out, but that voice just keeps getting closer. The voice of a monster. My fingernails scrape against the concrete walls as I desperately claw for an escape through the pitch black.

“Serena…”

I’m in full-blown panic mode when my hands land upon something fleshy. A figure pushes forward, dim light catching his face through the shadows. I see those eyes- so dark they’re almost black, completely devoid of any emotion, like they’re dead. The eyes of a monster. Hands wrap around my arms, pulling me with him into the darkness.

“No!” I scream, thrashing to free myself from his grip. “No no no!”

“Serena,” he growls with a sinister grin, but his voice isn’t his own. It’s…

“Serena!” Reid calls, a little louder this time.

My eyes snap open and Reid’s face comes into view, hovering over mine. I can’t stop the tears that immediately spring to my eyes, spilling out the corners as my chest heaves.

“Reid?” I croak, reality slowly replacing the terrifying landscape of my nightmare. My heart is pounding hard against my ribs, the bedsheets sticking to the sweat on my body. My vision is blurry through my tears, but I can make out the interior of Reid’s bedroom at the packhouse. I’m not in that cell with that monster. It was just a nightmare.

“I’m here, baby. I’m right here,” Reid says gently, stroking my hair back off of my sticky forehead.

His reassurance only makes me cry harder. My body shudders as I sob in relief, Reid’s arms coming around me as I turn to bury my face in his chest. He’s here. I’m here.I’m safe.

Reid rubs my back soothingly, pressing tender kisses to my hair. Holding me tight and allowing me to just cry it out. I do, and after a few minutes, the tears taper off and my breathing starts to return to normal.

“I’m sorry…” I murmur against Reid’s chest once I’ve sufficiently calmed down, face still buried in the warmth of his strong, broad pecs.

“Don’t,” he says quickly, pressing a kiss to the crown of my head. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

He’s wrong. I have a lot to be sorry for- it seems he’s already forgotten about the web of lies I wove when I first arrived here. He was so quick to forgive my deception and betrayal, though I’m not near as fast to forgive myself. I’ll be trying to make it up to him for a long time.

“You wanna talk about it?” he asks, stroking his fingertips down the curve of my spine. “Maybe it’ll help.”

Maybe so, but I don’t know where to begin. I blow out a shaky breath, pulling back and tilting my head up to look at Reid. The compassion and sincerity in his eyes disarms me, my heart clenching, throat tightening. He’s so, so good. So patient, so understanding. Fate must’ve fucked this one up, because I’ll never deserve a man like Reid Raines.

“They kept me in a cell, under guard,” I murmur, gaze fluttering down to stare at Reid’s muscular chest. “Not as if I could’ve gone anywhere. They injected me with wolfsbane, took my wolf away and kept me weak. And the guards were all bigger and stronger than I am.”

I swallow hard, struggling for words. I’ve already told Reid some of this, but that’s the only other time I’ve said it out loud. Saying it out loud is like finally admitting it was real.

“I had a few different guards, but one was above the rest. I got the feeling he was in charge of things there,” I continue, my eyes falling closed. “He loved inflicting pain. Mentally, physically. However he could. It was like he got off on it.”

I grit my teeth, taking a beat as I feel the sting of tears forming behind my eyes. I force them back before I continue, drawing a few deep breaths. “When he brought me here and set me on my mission, I thought I was finally free of him. But then the nightmares started, and I realized I’ll never get away. Every time I go to sleep, I’ll still hear his voice, see those dead eyes of his…” my voice breaks as I trail off, sinking my teeth into my lower lip.

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