Page 2 of Verses and Blooms
Make it back to them.
My mouth opened, a song I used to sing rasping out of me. It echoed around the room, making it seem eerie and dark instead of the sweet melody it once was.
It was a song my grandmother used to sing in the kitchen. I hadn’t thought of her in so long. She was a huge part of my childhood. Anytime my parents needed time alone, she took me in with open arms.
Her voice wasn’t as soulful as mine, but the two contrasting tones always went together well when I sang along with her. The kitchen was her favorite stage, and food was her love language. My grandfathers always came in to listen to her voice, dance heraround the room, only leaving crumbs behind and one happy omega.
I loved their dynamic. It had been years since I thought of her. When I got out and learned she died not knowing what happened to me was too painful to dwell on.
The feeling of loneliness that news left behind was soul crushing.
She taught me every song I knew, loved to hear me play my violin and always said I inherited her talent. She was humble, but knew damn well she was talented. I loved that she owned that.
What would she think of me now? I had been through so much that there was very little of that girl she knew left behind.
Yet, her music had saved me so many times.
I went back to the mattress, curling into the corner and closing my eyes as I thought of my pack. Ansel’s sweet voice and touch ghosted over me as I sank into that mindset, dissociating from my harsh reality with the life I was trying desperately to build.
My voice faded to silence as sleep took me again. A reprieve that I desperately hoped didn’t end in a nightmare.
Chapter Two
Ares
My alpha was in a frenzy. Audrey was missing and I believed Rydell when he said Malik had her.
I also knew that we needed backup. If I ignored the Chief now and ruined the connections and career that I’d built, then how could I take care of them when we got out of here?
Those twenty minutes while we waited for the Alliance to arrive were pure fucking hell. Ansel was curled into a ball in her bed, her pillow clutched to his chest. Not a tear fell, he was beyond that now. His eyes were vacant and terrified. Empty.
My alpha hated that we couldn’t help him.
Kane and Caspian were talking, heads together and voices low, both trying to reassure the other.
Rydell and Ledger were ready for war.
Caspian finally broke away from the others and approached me. His face was hard, and he was looking more fierce than I’d ever seen. Finding out about his daughter had truly changed him.
“Teach me to spar. To fight. I’m not staying here while you’re out there. Kane is going to watch over Ansel for us.” He was ready to fight now, to find his omega. Good. We’d need everyone we could get.
“I’ve got you,” Ledger said, rolling his head side to side to stretch out his neck. “Otherwise I might break and call my dad in.”
That was more of a warning for me. I knew damn well who his father was before I even walked inside.
Draven D’Angelo was one of the biggest Mafia bosses in the region. He was ruthless, and untouchable. Somehow always ready with an iron-clad alibi and answers for everything. He was cocky and calm in every interview I’d seen. His reach was far and wide for a reason.
That was not a path we needed to traverse.
Though, we would keep it in mind as a last resort.
Because that man was a monster. I’d seen the mangled corpses he left in his wake. The destruction and lives torn apart on a whim.
This would be no different, only he’d have something to hold over our heads. Especially Ledger.
I expected his son to be similar but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Ledger had integrity. He was every bit the weapon his father honed him to be, only he made his own judgments and had a moral compass that rested on the side of morally gray justice.
The way he talked about karma made it clear that he had his own version that he fully intended to follow through with.
