Page 33 of Bait Wolf
I’d thought that in my own home, my omega would be safe, that no one would dare challenge me over something so important. I’d been a fool.
ChapterThirteen
Ember
The longer I waited for Coal, the more I began toitch.
It was one thing when he had been here distracting me from my thoughts but being alone in this big house made room for my mind to race.
I explored every room, even peeking into little Asha’s room. Her bed was small and still rumpled from when she’d last climbed out of it, so it felt wrong to enter, like I might disrupt the place.
Eventually, I ended up sitting curled up on the couch, not daring to touch the TV or the fridge, even though I didn’t think Coal would mind if I did.
Apparently, being locked in a cell with no autonomy whatsoever did something to a person’s confidence. Who would have thought.
I snorted, berating myself silently, but unable to shake the feelings settling over me as I tried unsuccessfully to process what I had been through.
I didn’t think I was okay... I didn’t think I ever would be again.
And now that I’d been separated from the life I’d lived before being kidnapped, I didn’t think I ever had been okay to begin with.
My life had been a train wreck from step one. Aside from my brother, I wondered if anyone had ever loved me or cared for me.
Coal was offering me that now, and I found that I wanted it, but everything else kept hitting me over the head in the meantime.
How was I supposed to get over everything and just move on as though it hadn’t happened?
How was I supposed to relish the sunlight with the shadows clearly around me?
I couldn’t even bring myself to pick up the remote, for god’s sake. Mostly because I didn’t know if I was allowed, but I also couldn’t face the vapid worlds on the screen. The sitcoms and pretend dramas... Real life was far darker than anything seen on TV.
A softclickin the stillness of the house made me jump. And then I held my breath.
That wasn’t a normal sound. It was distinctly the sound of the front door lock being touched or tinkered with.
I remained dead still, listening with all my shifter hearing for the sound of a key sliding in. I may have been too weak to shift as recently as I’d tried, but my ears seemed to be getting stronger, even in human form. Perhaps the warm food and comfortable rest was working fast to replenish me.
There was a moment of silence. Then that clicking sound again, quickly followed by a scratching.
It wasn’t Coal returning home. Someone was trying to break in.
And Iknewthat it was someone looking for me.
Suddenly, I was moving, my entire body trembling with a burst of adrenaline as I shot to my feet and spun around, looking for somewhere to hide. Then, without thinking, I bolted up the stairs.
Coal’s room was soaked in our scents. Maybe they wouldn’t notice me in there. Maybe they would just think our scents lingered there together.
I threw myself into the room, then into the open closet, pulling it shut behind me, trying to remain quiet just as I heard the door swing open downstairs.
My heart was thudding so hard that it drowned out all noise until I heard a voice.
“Come out, come out wherever you are.”
A chill traveled over me, quickly followed by an overwhelming sense of understanding.
Of course. The universe didn’t want me to have this. Not the house, or the money. Not the family. Not Coal.
I’d never been given anything good in life, soof coursesomeone would arrive now to take it all away from me.
