Page 72 of Sold to the Alphas

I didn’t respond, but I was already working through my options. I couldn’t let him see my fear. I couldn’t let him know how desperate I was.

“Tell you what,” I said, my voice steady despite the fear choking my throat. “If you’re going to kill me, why not untie my hands? Let’s see how well you fare against me.”

Raol raised an eyebrow, amusement flickering in his eyes. “You really think I’m stupid enough to fall for that? You don’t stand a chance, little omega. You never did.”

I was bluffing, but it was the only idea I had. Raol was stronger than I was—far stronger. The first time I had managed to get the better of him had been pure luck. He hadn’t seen the dagger coming and hadn’t expected me to have any fight left in me after years of abuse. I wasn’t foolish enough to think I could win again, but I had to try.

Raol grinned at me. “You’re lucky I don’t need to kill you just yet,” he said, his voice low with contempt. “But you’ll wish I had by the time I’m done with you.”

He stepped closer, and I braced myself, my heart pounding against my ribs. I couldn’t stop what was coming. I knew that now. I had been fighting for so long, but this wasn’t something I could escape. Not this time. Not without help. But my alphas were dead, and my only weapon was long gone.

He leaned in close, his breath hot against my ear. “You’re going to suffer. I’ll make sure of it.”

Then came the first cut.

Raol’s knife flashed in the dim light, too quick for me to react. He pressed it into my skin just above my elbow, and I cried out as the blade sliced through flesh. He didn’t go deep, just enough to draw blood and make sure I felt every second of it. I could feel the warm trickle of blood running down my arm, the sting of the cut sharp against the cold air.

“Such a beautiful little thing,” he said, his voice mocking as he watched the blood drip slowly from my arm. “But so fragile. So easy to break.”

I wanted to scream, to fight back, but I didn’t. I couldn’t, not with Mily in the room and my baby growing inside me. I had to be strong for all of us—but it wasn’t easy. It never was with Raol.

His fingers pressed deeper into the wound, making me gasp. He pulled away and inspected the blood on his hand with a look of disgust.

“You’re worthless,” he sneered, wiping the blood on the front of my dress. “Just like your alphas. Worthless.”

I didn’t answer. My mind was spiraling, filled with a hundred dark thoughts, and the last thing I needed was to show Raol any more of my weakness.

He started to speak, his voice cold and steady, as if savoring every word. “Do you want to know exactly how it happened—how your alphas died? How your precious August, Marshall, and Finn met their end? I didn’t even wait for a trial, you see.”

The words struck me like a blow to the stomach. The thought of them—my alphas—suffering...the idea of them in pain...it brought a rush of bile to my throat.

I could feel the tears gathering in my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall. I had to stay strong. For Mily. For the baby.

Raol didn’t wait for a response. “August begged me to finish him,” he mocked, his voice cruel and cold. “He couldn’t stand the pain. He begged for death. But I wasn’t finished with him. I made him watch as I took Finn apart, piece by piece. And Marshall...he tried to fight back. But that only made it more fun for me.”

Every word hit me like a physical blow.

“Marshall fought back, but I made him watch as I broke August. The look in his eyes when I took him apart... he couldn’t handle it. I saved him for last. He begged me for mercy, too.”

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. The images of my alphas, of August, of Marshall, of Finn—dying slowly, begging for mercy, helpless in Raol’s grip—tore through me like a razor blade. I felt like I was suffocating. The world spun around me, and I thought I might faint.

The council was going to let him get away with this. There was nothing I could do.

Raol circled behind me, his movements deliberate. I could hear his heavy breathing, the sick satisfaction in his voice as he spoke. “You think your alphas were brave, don’t you? That they died fighting for you and their pack. But the truth is, they died like cowards. They begged for their lives, every single one of them.”

But then, through the haze of my fear, through the pain of the cuts and the sickness in my stomach, I saw Mily.

She wasn’t where she was supposed to be.

She was moving. Quietly, slowly, so carefully that Raol hadn’t noticed yet. She was making her way behind Raol, the dagger I gifted her years ago held tight in her little hand.

41

Finn

The air in the trial chamber was thick with tension, and I could feel every pair of eyes on us, the three alphas chained and shackled in front of a room full of corrupt wolves.

None of them were ever my allies. They were never anyone I could trust. They were self-serving, cutthroat, and barely managed to tolerate each other.

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