Page 3 of Rage

I didn’t have the heart to tell her that a happy bond with an alpha was nothing more than a myth. A fairytale told to us when we were young to keep us docile and hopeful. I was proof of that.

“I have,” I told her. “What of them?”

Home, my brain whispered.

I told it to shut up.

“Oh.” Her face fell. Then she perked back up. “What did they look like?”

Three sets of eyes came back to me: cold, wintery grey, warm, glittering gold, and soft, dark brown. I shook my head to get rid of them.

“Big. Mean. Alpha-like,” I said shortly.

“Well, I heard that they refuse to take part in the…” she trailed off.

My chest clenched painfully. It couldn’t be true. No alpha would pass up on free, faux-willing pussy.

“The heats?” I asked, trying to keep my voice as gentle as possible for her.

She nodded. “Yeah. Marcy told Anna, who told me that when the guards were in orientation learning about them, they declared they wouldn’t take part in them, and almost came to blows with the warden.”

Now there was a vise gripping my heart, threatening to crush it.

“They must have an omega already,” I said, even though everything in me rejected it. But why? I had no claim on them. I wanted no claim. Or vice versa. It was good for us if they had an omega. Once an alpha claimed his omega, he couldn’t get it up for anyone else. It was why all the guards here were unbonded.

Except, probably, these three. God willing, their omega didn’t lead that horrible of a life.

My chest clenched again.

Because you want them, that annoying voice informed me.

I ignored it, forcing myself to chew and swallow the stale bread. I was going to need the energy when I escaped, even though I still had no plan.

“I don’t think so,” Belle whispered, glancing around. “Because, apparently, one of them was talking about an omega they met.” She looked at me meaningfully. “Referred to her as ‘ours.’”

Shit.

Everything stopped. The omegas eating at tables around us, the hum of the furnace somewhere far away. Just a terrifying stillness.

Not again.

That memory of a knot being forced inside me, the sting of a claiming bite.

Not again.

I breathed through my panic. It wouldn’t happen. I wouldn’tlet ithappen.

“Emma?” Belle reached a hand toward me. “Are you alright? You’ve just gone really pale.”

I needed to snap out of it. I needed to get out of here.

Actually.

A thought came to me.

Maybe I could use this to my advantage. They wanted an omega? They thought I was theirs? I’d give myself to them. Temporarily. For a price.

My freedom.

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