Page 108 of Broken Dreams

Makayla isn’t here, I’ve searched every cage for her. I know Linus would never be parted from her for long, so there must be a reason she’s not here. As I watch him dance, I can tell he’s angry.

His lips snarl as he throws himself through the movements, appearing a bit unhinged as he flips in the cage. I didn’t think there was enough space for that, and yet he’s proving there is.

Everyone’s eyes are on him, and I find myself feeling protective. Why is he here? Is he being exploited by the manager? I’ll be damned if he escaped only to be hurt again.

I’m a hypocrite. I fucking know it. I have been part of the problem for the past ten years, and I want to show Linus and Makayla that I understand now that I was wrong. I should have done so many things, yet didn’t.

My heart has been in tatters as I’ve been searching for both of them. It feels like I have permanent heartburn from the pain, and when I’m alone I’ve noticed that I’ll rub my chest absently. It feels as if I’ve been stabbed repeatedly, but there’s no evidence of it.

At night, my dreams are filled with my time with them, and I wake up screaming their names. I’m so fucked up.

While I know the two of them didn’t say the words to reject me, we’ve never been bonded, I still feel as if they have cut themselves off from me. If they’d actually said what is necessary to disintegrate our scent match, then maybe I wouldn’t hurt so much.

I’m already moving to catch up with him before I can convince myself that it’s the wrong move. I’m certain he doesn’t want to see me, and this is selfish. I’m the one who needs this, he probably wouldn’t mind if I jumped off a cliff.

Stop being dramatic, Christian.It would be wonderful if I could take my own advice.

“Linus!” I scream, hurrying after him and the large guard.

Why is there a guard?I’m unable to process this. I’ve watched them walk the other dancers back and forth, but my experience with guards is that they’re there to keep people from leaving. What the fuck kind of sweat shop is Cerenity Quinn running?

The thoughts are moving so quickly through my mind, it’s difficult to hold onto any one for long. Forcing myself to breathe, my fingers tear through my hair before I can stop them. I’m sure I look fucking unhinged as I try to catch up to them.

Linus’ feet seem to remain planted where they currently are in the middle of the club as he begins to turn. The guard continues on, not noticing that his charge has stopped. Hurrying, I find myself squeezing my body through to get to him.

The mass of people seems to be swallowing him up, and that can’t happen.

And then… I’m in front of the man I’ve been searching for non-stop, and my mind feels at peace. The pain of being away from him also ends abruptly, and I breathe this beautiful, sweaty man in.

“Linus,” I breathe. “Are you okay? Why are you here?”

“You found me,” he says dully, the blood running out of his face. “How?”

“I followed the breadcrumbs. It doesn’t matter, are you safe?” I ask, my eyes moving over him as if searching for wounds.

“You care about if I’m safe now?” he asks, laughing in disgust and disbelief.

“I deserve that,” I admit. “I didn’t try hard enough, and I was terrified that any attempt to get you out would get you and Makayla killed. I offered Bret everything I could, but he refused to sell you to me.”

At his dead, green-eyed gaze, I shake my head. “The only thing that man understands is money. I would never hold you as property. I’ve never seen either of you like that.”

“You’re too late,” he says, anger beginning to fill his gaze. “I have scent matches who care about me, and I don’t need you to fuck that up.”

“I don’t want to fuck that up. I want to be a part of it,” I beg. Ever since the day where I was hung up on and barred contact, I’ve had to do a lot of soul searching.

It’s normal in our society to share omegas in a pack. I’ve been a very solitary person for a long time. My parents have been dead for years, which means loneliness has made me a selfish curmudgeon, more so than I ever realized until very recently.

“It’s too goddamned late!” Linus roars, and a fist comes flying at my face.

Could I catch it? Absolutely, but I stand there and take it. Blocking or grabbing his fist mid-air could potentially hurt him. I’d never do that in a million years.

The emotional hurt he’s holding is clearly more than I knew. I deserve this, so I let him hit me so hard my face twists hard to the side. My neck will even be sore for a few days. It also seems that I need to thank someone for teaching Linus how to throw a punch.

Fuck, that hurt. I’ll be lucky if he didn’t break my nose. The blood that follows tells me that at the very least, I’ll be really bruised. Ugh, I can’t breathe out of my nose, either.

The business end of a bat is shoved into my side, forcing me to grunt as the guard returns for Linus.

“I’m really sorry, Miss Cerenity,” he says. Well, that explains who's trying to see how many more bruises she can add to my body. “I didn’t realize he’d stopped.”

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