Page 30 of Nest Of Lies

I wake up hours later to the scent of marshmallows. My hair is a tangled mess, and I’m exhausted and confused. My body doesn’t feel quite right, and I think I’m running a low grade fever. The dream haunts me. I want to be theirs so badly that I’d gladly, willingly wish to be an omega. How pathetic. How sad.

I wait all day.

No one comes.

Chapter ten

Mills

Zaden’s orders to stayaway from Lia has the pack in a furious standoff. Ranger is backing Zaden’s orders but very reluctantly. Ianto is watching in a surly silence that hasn’t broken in three weeks. While Valen has turned confrontational, picking fights with Zaden and Ranger to such a violent level that Ianto had to stop him from hitting Zaden.

I’m not taking it well; I’m dancing between furious and depressed. I keep finding myself on the porch, staring at her property, wishing she would come out.

She went on dates. Well, tried. That makes me ache inside. She’s trying to move on. In all this time, nothings changed, but now, Lia’s trying to leave us. That’s not okay, not even a little bit. Zaden is wrong.

What if she sneaks out with another alpha? What if she sneaks an alpha in?

The thought churns my insides.

I stop, finding myself halfway to her place. With a curse, I spin back the other way but just as fast find myself heading back in her direction. I glance back, wondering what Zaden will say, what he will do. I could just go and see her. The punishment would be severe, but I’m not scared of a little pain.

I never imagined this would be my life. My parents had high hopes I’d join an office pack and become a worthwhile addition to society. They dumped me so fast when I introduced them to Zaden. The ache of their loss still stings from time to time.

I’d been so madly in love with him. With the whole pack. So proud. My parents didn’t even try to hide their disgust. The day I met Zaden changed my life. I was eighteen, and it was love at first sight. I knew I was his. Fitting into his way of life and the MC was the most difficult thing I’ve done. But it was worth it. Freedom has a flavour, and it’s all Zaden.

But Lia feels like happily ever after.

The last time I spoke to my parents was the day they told me to abandon my pack and the MC or lose their numbers.

I put my hand on the door and jiggle it. Locked. I pull out the lock picks that Zaden bought me and unlock her door.

This is all levels of wrong. I’m not supposed to be here, and I’m invading her privacy. Caution rears its head, and for a moment, I’m frozen, struck with indecision.

But she could be dead. Or hurt. This is a big mansion, and she’s all alone.

I steal inside. It’s completely silent. There’s nothing. Not a sign of life.

It takes me twenty minutes to search the bottom floor, and by then, my anxiety is through the roof. I race up the stairs and collide with something soft.

Lia.

I catch her before she can fall and pull her upright.

“Mills!” she says, and her cheeks turn pink. She reaches up to pat her messy hair, but I don’t care. She’s the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen. Lia glances around nervously. “What are you doing here?”

“I was worried about you.”

“You were?”

“Lia, it’s been three weeks. Have you even left the mansion?”

She bites her bottom lip and shakes her head. “Where would I go?”

I let out a growl. This is worse than I thought. Why is she shutting down? Wait, she’s lost weight, and why is she so pale?

“You might go outside, see the world, check the weather, get some sun?”

“What for?”

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