Page 17 of Verses and Blooms
Then the medicine began to move in my veins.
At first it was subtle… a dull ache starting in my muscles, before a fever rose beneath my skin. Then it spread in a slow but steady intensity until I felt like I was burning alive. The air around me felt like it was growing colder, almost icy now against my sweaty skin.
Just like he’d promised, my body ached for a knot, core throbbing angrily. My omega strained against me, desperate, but I swore to myself I wouldneverlet them touch me.
By the time the cramps tore through me I was already falling apart. I doubled over, clutching my stomach, biting my lip until I tasted blood. A whimper tried to escape but I choked it back.
They would not hear me suffer. I refused to let them see me weak.
The heat continued to creep closer, coiling tighter with each passing minute, threatening to drag me under.
But I wouldn’t break. Not for them. Not for anyone.
The door creaked open, dragging me from the pit I was falling into.
Footsteps were trailed by the scent of stale coffee and cigars. My captor and someone else that smelled like spices that tickled my nose and made my omega want to recoil.
They moved closer and I bared my teeth, the omega inside me clawing forward, feral and ready to defend us.
“Don’t be like that, sugar,” the alpha crooned, laughter spilling from his throat like poison as I crouched in a defensive stance.
He thought this was a game.
I wanted to rip him apart, tear into his throat and shred it so thoroughly he could never use that mocking voice against me again.
The new alpha edged closer, hands raised in mock surrender, like I was a frightened animal he could soothe.
“Don’t touch me,” I warned him as I braced myself, ready to tear into him if he tried.
“You’ll be begging me for this knot in a minute,” he drawled, smug and certain as he grabbed his crotch. “Begging me to give you what you need. To ease the pain.”
Beg. Forhim?
That would be a cold day in hell.
“Don’t come any closer,” I snarled again. It was his last fucking warning.
He simply laughed. That condescending, dismissive laugh, the one that said,you’re nothing but a toy. Something to break. Something to use.I’d heard it far too often during my time as their captive.
It was always followed by them taking what they wanted from me, what they paid my captor for.
Sickness churned in me. Rage blistered hotter than the drugs tearing through my blood. He thought we were playthings. Flesh to get him off.
I wanted him to die. Even more? I wanted to do it myself. I’d never been violent, but I was desperate now. There was no reality where I let them take this from me now.
Not after having a pack. Even in the small capacity we were able to be in ARC.
The alpha spun around as the door slammed open again, lips pulling back in a snarl, ready to fight for what he thought was his.
“Sorry,” a voice cut in, firm and icy. “You’re out. Someone outbid you. I told you to wait for the final number.”
The alpha stiffened. “What do you mean? I paid fair and square. You’re not taking her from me.”
“You’ve paid nothing to us. The bid was still ongoing for another twenty minutes when you tried to call it. It seemed unlikely, so we gave you a little taste. Now, leave. You don’t get the choice to stay, you were heavily outbid.”
My captor stepped forward, gun already raised. I’d never bothered to learn his name, what was the point? He was my nightmare, nothing more.
The other alpha barely blinked before the gun fired. There was no time for a warning or reaction when the loud crack split the heavy silence.
