Page 68 of Sold to the Alphas

He came closer; his figure looming ominously in the dim light. His eyes gleamed with a sickening mixture of disdain and triumph.

“You should have learned by now, Elisabed. You’re nothing but a burden to me. You’re the lowest form of omega to exist, defective and defiant. I’ll deal with you the way I should have from the beginning. I’ll sell both of you to the humans down south. They won’t care that you can’t shift; maybe they’ll even get more pleasure from you that way.” Raol sneered, stepping closer to the cage, his face twisted into an expression of satisfaction.

I froze at his words. The dread I had been feeling turned into a sickening fear. He was going to sell us, just like that. I’d known itwas coming, but hearing him say it so coldly made it so real and impossible to deny.

Raol chuckled as if savoring the moment. “But before that,” he continued, his tone sharp and cruel, “I think I’ll have my own fun with you first. You’ve made things so difficult for me, Elisabed. I think it’s time you learned your place.”

I gritted my teeth, my fists trembling. I couldn’t let him do this. I couldn’t let him hurt Mily. I wouldn’t let him.

But there was nothing I could do. I was trapped. We both were. My dagger was lying somewhere on the forest floor. All I could do was stare at Raol in hatred, helplessness flooding me. He had taken everything from us.

“What about my alphas?” I asked, my voice hoarse but defiant. “What did you do to them? August, Marshall, and Finn. Are they dead? Did you kill them?”

Raol’s expression flickered for a moment, a hint of something—something I couldn’t place—passing through his eyes before his lips curled into a smile. A twisted, smug grin that made my blood run cold. Raol was incredibly influential in the council but wasn’t part of the official pact, meaning he could hurt them and walk away with his mind intact.

As intact as it usually was, anyway.

“The traitors?” he said venomously. “They’ve been taken care of. They’re no longer a threat.”

The room spun around me as my world dissolved into pieces.

My alphas. They were gone. Raol had killed them.

August, Marshall, and Finn—gone.

And I hadn’t even been able to say goodbye.

“No...” I whispered, shaking my head. “You...you killed them.”

Raol’s smile only widened. “I always deal with traitors swiftly. They won’t be bothering you anymore. You, however...” He leaned in closer, his face twisted with malice. “You’ll get to experience the same fate as all the others. You and your little sister will be sold off, and I’ll make sure to get my use out of you before that.”

I recoiled, a feeling of helplessness drowning me. My alphas were dead, and now we were nothing more than property to be sold. I wasn’t able to protect anyone. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. I could only stare at Raol as the world around me crumbled.

38

August

Every breath was a struggle, like the weight of everything I’d done and failed to do was finally crushing me beneath it.

I could feel the blood pulsing sluggishly through my veins, the throb of the wound Raol had inflicted still sharp despite my attempts to push it aside. It was nothing compared to the sting of regret that gnawed at my soul.

Regret. It consumed me. For all the times I pushed Elisabed away, for all the things I should’ve done but hadn’t, for how I stood there and let her fall into this. I should’ve protected her and kept her safe, but I’d let her fall back into Raol’s grasping hands again.

Images of her—beautiful, sweet, defiant—flashed through my mind.

I couldn’t protect her. I couldn’t save her.

I didn’t deserve to live.

I’d never been good enough, not for her or anyone. My entire life had been a series of mistakes, each one stacked on top of the other until they crushed me beneath their weight.

And yet, even as the blackness threatened to swallow me whole, some reckless, stubborn part of me clung to the thought of her, of Elisabed.

If I died here, at least I could die knowing I tried. That was the only thing left that mattered. I’d failed her in every way, but maybe, just maybe, if I could take Raol down, it would somehow make up for all of it.

Suddenly, my mind broke free from the darkness, and I found myself elsewhere. Somewhere warm, somewhere safe. It was so different from the cold stone of the prison, so different from the pain that had been eating at me.

It was a dream, but not just any dream. It felt real, real in a way that made my heart race and my body burn with longing.

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