Page 103 of Petals and Strings
He was fucking getting off on this. Creating fear. Holding onto control he had no fucking right to.
Fuck this man.
“Come on, Ares,” Ansel said under his breath. It was so quiet but Malik still heard, a laugh bursting out.
“Oh, you think your new therapist is going to save you? He has no sway here, nor is he allowed in during these procedures. I ensured the board agreed with me on that. In fact, he’s in a meeting right now figuring that out.”
“We won’t be taking anything new,” Rydell finally spoke up. He stood, widening his stance to take up even more space. He made this man look like a child in comparison. Malik reached in his pocket on instinct, but Rydell’s grin only widened. “You can’t sedate me anymore. I suggest you think very carefully about how you proceed. We will be staying as a group in all things.”
“You will comply or you lose your spot here,” Malik challenged.
“Last time I checked you don’t get to overrule the court,” Ledger said calmly. “Nor is the board going to lose out on the money we bring in.”
Malik turned sharply, grabbing a tray with a set of syringes waiting. The fact they were all the same stuck out. Color, size, needle, nothing varied. That was a red flag. Not one of our conditions was the exact same. Giving us all the same medication was not only dangerous, but unhinged.
“Chad, the door,” Malik said, ignoring us completely now. The fact he was brave enough to turn his back on Rydell was equally as suspicious.
Why was he so confident?
My answer came the moment the lock clicked. A hissing sound filled the air right as Malik and Chad stepped through the door on the other side.
“What the fuck is that?” Ledger growled, standing up and heading for the door. The moment he tried to twist the lock, it didn’t budge. “Rydell?!”
The bigger alpha surged forward, the metal groaning as he twisted, the knob eventually snapping off completely and falling uselessly to the ground.
My head was spinning, panic hitting me hard enough my vision was pulsing in time with my erratic heartbeat.
The air had a sterile scent now. When none of us fell to the ground or reacted, I realized exactly what this was.
A warning.
We were pushing back at his control and he didn’t like it. This was him showing us that this could end very differently next time if we didn’t watch ourselves.
Until then, we were trapped. Merely prey waiting for the predator to come back in.
Only, that wasn’t accurate. We were stronger together. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so desperate.
It felt like we had the upper hand, and he was trying to fix that. We were unharmed now but next time… we wouldn’t be.
We’d have to be even more vigilant than before, staying together as much as possible, or we’d be left in Malik’s grasp.
I had a very strong feeling he wasn’t the only one behind this, either. Men like that never worked alone. He was too comfortable here to be running the show under Cross’ nose.
A loud banging on the door had Malik sauntering back out like he had no care in the world. He shot us a smirk before the hissing stopped and he moved to the door. He pressed his thumb to the side of the lock, revealing why it hadn’t clicked. It protested, but eventually shifted, the door swinging open so violently it sent him stumbling back.
All hints of amusement were gone as Ares burst in. His gaze roamed over us, lingering on me, then back to the doctor.
“You’ve started something I assure you that you are not ready for, Malik,” Ares warned. “My group is exempt. Your little tactic to regain control didn’t fucking work. It was denied.”
The doctor had the balls to laugh in Ares’s face. I watched my alpha’s body tense in response. Ares leaned in, keeping his voice measured as he laid out his thoughts on Malik’s actions.
“You know, it’s always the puny alphas that think they’ve got the upper hand. Don’t worry, Malik. It always comes crashing down around you. Just know, when it starts, that I’ll be the one making sure it causes more pain than necessary.”
He stepped back, ignoring the venomous gaze Malik was shooting his way now. With a nod of his head we were moving, rushing out of the office and straight to our wing. I didn’t stop until we were past the threshold.
“Holy shit,” Caspian burst out, hands gripping his long, blond hair in frustration. “What the hell was that?!”
“Since when does he give shots?” Ledger added, just as agitated.
