Page 10 of Filthy Beginnings

Which is why this time, she would take the risk alone—and then find her friends safe passageifshe was successful.

It was a gamble, yes, but if she stayed, if she let fear rule, if she let the consortium win, she would never escape her mother’s fate.

“Kadon Stormhart is a good male.” Luc’s growled words brought her back from her dark thoughts.

“I know.”

“You could do far worse.”

“I know that too.” She grabbed her brother’s hand. “But I don’t want him. He’s not right for me.”

His jaw clenched in warning. “Scarlett—”

“Don’t.” They’d gone over this so many times before.

But Luc was almost as stubborn as she. “I spoke with him. He’ll take you not just as a prize, but as his prime omega. You’ll have security. Protection. He’s the only one I trust to keep his word.”

Her brother and Kadon had been fighting against each other in tournaments since they were old enough to walk. They’d started out as enemies: a scrappy consortium-owned attack dog and a privileged Brotherhood heir who were consistently one another’s top competition. In the end, though, respect, and even trust, developed between them.

The vise around her chest tightened. “He doesn’t want me for a prime omega.”

“He’d be lucky to have you.”

“He loves another.”

A beat of silence. “Love has no place in the Anarcheim. We make our choices for survival. You know that.” Luc spoke from experience.

“Maybe,” she conceded, “but as you’ve told me many times, eldest sons like Kadon Stormhart make prime omega contracts with other powerful Brotherhood families with impeccable bloodlines. In this, he has no more choice than we have. His path is already laid out for him. His father will not allow it.”

“That was before you were called up to be a prize. You know Kadon considers you a friend too, Scarlett. He’s happy to do this, even if his father opposes it. He wants you safe.”

“At his expense. Because we both know that if he somehow convinced his father to take me as his prime omega rather than as a short-term prize to be rutted and tossed aside, such a sacrifice would only place Kadon more under his father’s thumb. I don’t want that for him or any of us.”

“Damned it, Scarlet.” Luc’s voice rose, anger sharpening his tone. “There is no other choice. There never was.”

Her heart squeezed again. She knew how hard this was for Luc.

He was always looking out for her.

She wanted to do the same for him.

To give him what he needed.

But she was as helpless to do that for him as he was for her.

All the power was in the hands of others who pulled their strings and made them dance.

So here she and her brother sat, suffocating under the consortium’s rules and demands, trapped in cages even harder to escape than the one they had her in now.

“Stormhart is a good male, and I consider him a friend as well.” Luc wasn’t giving up. “You need to be practical.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d told her that.

“It’s a good plan.” Luc’s big hand gripped hers. “Plus, Stormhart’s father might not be as against the match as you believe. Apparently, he’s been pushing for Kadon to take a position within the consortium to better manage their families’ interests—and Brotherhood crime bosses usually get what they want.”

“Even more reason to resist. Anything involving the Brotherhood is perilous, and staying connected to the consortium is the last thing I want. This company has already taken too much from us both.”

Luc swallowed hard, his expression almost pleading. “But if we plot to have Stormhart win, he could stay and work for the consortium. You wouldn’t be taken away. We could see each other. Stay a family.”

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