Page 124 of Filthy Royal

She might have left the position of prize behind, but she well remembered the powerlessness, the horror of anticipating her upcoming fate.

And now it was happening to her friends. They and the other prizes were being transported to the cargo hold for processing off-planet.

She’d gone missing, and Darvish was making good on his threats.

Oh Goddess, everything she’d done, everything she’d sacrificed, was unraveling.

She’d skirted the edge of disaster for a while, the ground beneath her feet far from steady, but appeasement had worked. Kind of.

Darvish had long ago sent Rose away as a lesson to Scarlett on the consequences of not following his demands, but she’d managed to keep her other two friends, and everyone else she loved, protected—until now.

More screams, more shuffling, and then, worst of all, silence.

Scarlett was shaking by the time Damien lifted his hand away, his expression angry again. “If you try that again—”

“We have to go after them.”

“Right.” He scoffed as if she’d attempted a bad joke. “You want me to expose myself and risk capture while returning you to the very guards searching for you. How stupid do you think I am?”

“I mean it, Damien.” She spoke fast, desperate to make him understand. “I-I’ll do whatever you want. But those are omega prizes, my friends, and Darvish is following through on a threat he made by sending them away. He knows I’ve been taken, and I don’t know if this is simple retaliation or the beginning of his efforts to tie up loose ends, but he’s having them shipped out of the Golden Dome to the brothels. We can’t let that happen.”

Damien studied her, and for an instant, heart slamming against her ribs, she had hope.

His features hardened. “You are unbelievable. Do you honestly expect me to give up my mission and help you, especially when all you’ve done is lie? Do you really expect me to believe in this sudden altruism of yours after what you did to me and Crex?”

Her head jerked back as if he’d slapped her, but, leashing her guilt, she focused on the matter at hand. “I don’t care what you believe. If you won’t help, let me go after them.”

“No.”

The extent of her helplessness—so familiar, so enraging—left her trembling, the darkness inside swirling back to wakefulness with a vengeance.

Scarlett strived for calm. “Damien, please.”

“I do like it when you beg.” He kept her pinned in place. “I’m curious to know, too, how you plan to stop them.”

Whatwouldshe do? “I-I’ll talk to them. I’ll say that Darvish rescinded the order. They know me. They’ll believe me.”

Damien’s expression grew uglier. “I bet theyknowyou.”

Hells. It had been the wrong thing to say, but she wasn’t thinking clearly. Those were her friends, and she’d promised to keep them safe.

“No, what I mean is—”

“I think you said exactly what you mean, lying, faithless omega.”

She barely maintained her cool. “If you refuse to help, I’m not sure I can ever forgive you.”

He froze as a flash of shock, then pain, then white-hot rage flashed through his eyes.

“Youforgiveme?” He grabbed her by the taming chain at her hips and yanked her forward and up until she barely stood on her tiptoes. “I don’t want or need your forgiveness. Because I already know I willneverforgive or forget what you did.”

He shoved her backward, sending her stumbling, though she managed to remain upright.

Pain washed through her. Followed by bleak resignation. And sheer, primal fury.

That was it. She was done.

She understood his hatred. Even accepted why his taming chain sat around her hips. He might be a little younger than her, but he was an Alpha and had his pride. She’d hurt him. Maybe even decimated him for a time.

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