She holds me tight, and I hear her heart beating steadily in her chest.

Why did—

Thrust after thrust, the voice grows weaker and weaker until it’s replaced with hers.

“Alpha, oh god,Alpha!Will you come for me?” Her back arches and her nails claw down my back as she cries, “Please, please, come with me.”

And I do, finally listening to the only voice that matters.

1. “The Hills” by The Weeknd

2. “Silhouette” (feat. Ellie Goulding) by Active Child, Ellie Goulding

Chapter 20

Things They Bury

Ecker

There’s a knock at our front door, and this time, we’re expecting it. Rather than jumping into attack mode, I casually get up from the couch and open the door. Because I’m too busy working on my automatic gag reflex upon seeing her perky face, I don’t step aside right away to let her in.

Merigold stares at me expectantly, then looks behind her nervously. “Well, are you going to let me in, or do you want to get both of us killed?”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic.” I sigh, letting her pass. “Who is going to see you? I’m pretty sure your alphas would burn everysingle one of their beloved pastel polos before stepping foot anywhere near our wing.”

“Easy for you to say,” she scoffs. “You don’t have to sleep next to the bastards every night.”

“Fair enough,” I concede and sit back down with my brothers and Sinclair while Merigold takes the armchair that is quickly becoming her favorite spot.

She’s snuck over while her alphas went to the gym the past two days so we can strategize Yves’s demise—which personally, I can’t fucking wait for. The little shithead has more than earned what’s coming to him.

After watching Sinclair deal with Vincent so mercilessly, I can’t wait to see another woman take down her abuser. Of course, it won’t be nearly as beautiful and bloody, but hey, everyone has their own style of revenge.

“So what did you decide?” Bishop asks her, referring to the question we left yesterday’s meeting on.

“The Induction Ball is in four days.” Merigold’s lips twitch a smug smile. “Everyone will be there to celebrate the end of the Trials and welcome the new packs as full-fledged members.”

“That should be fun,” Titus deadpans.

“But I will need you guys to have my back.” She sounds genuinely worried. “I don’t know how they will react, but it won’t be good.”

“You show up for us, we’ll show up for you,” Titus says in seriousness. “And speaking of: do you have any new information for us?”

“Yes.” She sighs and seems to turn off her concern like a light switch or putting on a mask. I wonder how often she needs that same mask around her alphas, how often she has to act unfazed when she’s truly terrified. “I found out the vault is in the root cellar of the guest cottage, and the only people who have keys sit on the Elders’ council.”

“It’s only locked with a key?” Bishop asks skeptically. “You’d think something that safekeeps all thesecretsfor asecretorganization would be a little better guarded.”

“Don’t you get it?” Merigold scoffs, and I feel Sinclair’s ire light up our bond—god, I love it when she gets all protective of us.“The contents of the vault are a secret, but that it exists? Hardly. It doesn’t need to be because they think they’re untouchable. The idea of someone trying to break into something that is theirs? Laughable.”

“Then considering me rolling on the floor,” Sinclair responds boldly, crossing her arms. “Because we’re going after it. We’re going after them,allof them.”

Merigold told us yesterday that the Elders with access to the vault always wear their keys around their necks. After she left, Titus reached out to Majestic, a girl he knows from his time working security at Opulence, asking if she ever saw one of her clients wearing a chain necklace with a key.

We must have gotten lucky because she calls him back first thing this morning.

“Good morning, handsome.” Her raspy voice comes through his phone.

“Maj,” he greets flatly yet slightly amused—probably more from Sinclair glowering at the phone like she wants to throw it across the room than from Majestic’s endearment.