I spun around, disoriented. I was standing at the mouth of an alleyway, the damp evening air carrying the scent of mold and mildew. Something about this place felt familiar, as if I’d been here before. Darkness was falling, and long shadows stretched their fingers over me, sending chills up my spine with their dark caress.
I squinted into the dimness, somehow knowing that I had to walk deeper into the alley and that nothing good would greet me there. I gritted my teeth, pushing back my fear even as a sick feeling grew in my stomach. Whatever it was, I would face it head-on.
As if sensing my movement, the air thickened, pushing back against me as I pressed further into the alley. My legs grew heavier, my muscles straining with each small step like I was walking through concrete. I forced myself to breathe steadily, counting in and out for eight counts—a trick I’d learned to stay centered on military missions.
A shrill scream pierced the night, breaking my calm facade. My body seized and my heart pounded so fast I was sure my chest would explode.
I knew that voice.
I tried to run towards her, but now I could barely lift my feet off the ground.
And then Ellie was in front of me. Her face was littered with bruises, her arm hung limply at her side, and her clothes were torn and disheveled. I cried her name, reaching out to her.
“Why didn’t you protect me?” she sobbed. Blood seeped through a wound on her stomach and I tried to get to her. But as I lurched towards her, I found my legs were frozen. I roared with rage, desperately trying to rip my feet off the ground, but it was hopeless.
My sister’s eyes grew unfocused and she collapsed on the ground. Blood pooled in a sinister circle around her, edging closer to my feet, which refused to budge. It grew large enough that it eventually touched the tips of my boots.
Agony ripped through my very soul. If only I could get to her, I could stop the bleeding. I was so close, just a few steps away. The more I struggled, the more trapped I felt. I couldn’t get to her. I would lose her again.
“Ellie, please, stay with me,” I begged.
“Why weren’t you there?” she whispered as her eyes fluttered shut.
My vision blurred with tears. My legs gave out underneath me, the weight on my chest too heavy to bear. Ellie whimpered and the sound spurred me on. I gritted my teeth and crawled to her, bloodying my fingernails as I gripped the ground with every painstaking move.
Finally, I reached out and turned her face towards mine. I jolted, falling back.
The face was Josie’s.
My mate stared back at me with empty eyes.
She was dead. And I had done nothing to save her.
I was ripped from my nightmare by a metallic clang—the only warning someone was about to enter my cell. My heart raced and my prison uniform was drenched with sweat. I struggled to get my feet underneath me, unable to shake the stark terror of the nightmare.
The door opened and I looked up from my crouched position to see Glen fucking Jacoby walk into my cell. Without thinking, I lunged at him. The manacles on my wrist tightened as I strained against the chains holding me to the wall.
Glen tilted his head, giving me a coy look before cackling, his laugh so maniacal and so sudden it shook me out of my blind rage.
Why was he here? To torture me? To beat me like the others? Had he already visited my brothers? My muscles tensed at the thought as fear and protectiveness rushed through me, but then I realized I would have felt it through the bond, even in my nightmare.
My nostrils flared as I worked air in and out, over and over, until a forced kind of calm overtook me. If the military had taught me anything, it was that mistakes happened when you let emotions drive you to act impulsively. Control. Control was what mattered.
I gave Glen a flat look, revealing none of the turmoil I felt as I sized up my enemy. He was wearing a perfectly tailored dark purple suit, but his tie was crooked and there was a stain on his white collared shirt. His hair was stringy with grease, his eyes were red-rimmed, and his skin was sallow. He reached up and slicked his hair over to the side, patting it to ensure it stayed in place before his eyes left mine to dart around the room in a frantic series of glances.
And that’s when shit got weird.
“The little birdies think they can fly the coop? Fly, little birds, fly,” he muttered, pacing back and forth. “Little birdy won’t stay hidden for long. Back to her cage she goes.”
A deep unease settled in my chest as I silently watched him unravel, muttering about cages and collars.
Glen whipped his head towards me, as if suddenly remembering I was there. Shakily, he raked his hair out of his eyes again before smiling, showing both rows of teeth.
“You think she belongs to you?”
He kept his smile pasted on as he stepped slightly closer. Even in this deranged state, I saw him glance at my shackles, making sure they were still firmly in place. I resisted the urge to pull against them. I couldn’t show how much I itched to wrap the chain around his neck and pull it tight.
“She’s mine, you know,” he said casually. “Has been from the beginning. Why else would she perfume so sweetly for me? It was like her omega knew we were meant to be.”
A low growl began in the depth of my chest as my training slipped away to expose the alpha I had refused to become: possessive, aggressive, dangerous. The kind Josie feared. The chains shook, metal pushing against my wrists as I struggled to break free. No one touched Josie. No one but me and my pack.
“What. Have. You. Done?” I roared.
But he stood still, just out of reach, taunting me with that stupid smile.
“So fiery, so sweet, good enough to eat,” Glen said in a sing-song voice as he reached down to his groin, cupping himself.
“My Josephine. Sweet, sweet, sweet. Can’t wait to sink into her—cock, fingers, and teeth,” he chanted as if reciting some sick nursery rhyme. A fiery haze overtook my eyes as rage, stronger than I’d ever felt, consumed me.
Then Glen’s gaze sharpened, as if momentarily coming back to reality. “I waited until it was my turn. Watched and waited. And studied. No one knows that little birdy’s cunt as well as me.” He held up his fingers, admiring them for a moment as he mimed an unmistakable motion.
“You. Asshole.” I could barely form words. I strained against the manacles. My skin broke where the metal bit into my wrists, but I didn’t care. I was nothing without my Josie. Nothing if I couldn’t protect her.
“Where is she?” I shouted, even though I knew it was useless. Glen Jacoby was looking up at the ceiling, flapping his arms like a bird. This man before me was a shell of his former self, and through my rage, I wondered what had happened to break him.
“My little bird tried to jump out of the nest. Silly little bird. She fell and fell and I had to rescue her. She belongs in her cage where she won’t hurt herself anymore.” Glen tutted, wagging his finger like he was scolding a child. “Little birdy thinks she can fly free, but she’ll have the biggest fall of all. Little bird will have to be punished. She’ll find out what happens to bad little birds, and so will you.”
With those parting words, he sketched a bow and knocked twice on the cell door.
I barely felt the strain of the chains anymore or the blood that dripped onto the floor. Something popped—maybe my shoulder—but still, I roared and strained. I felt a shift in the chain connected to my right arm, and with a loud screech, it ripped free from the wall.
I swung the chain at Glen, but the guards had already opened the door. He turned around at the noise, his eyes widening with fear before the guards pulled him out of the cell unscathed. The chain hit the metal door with a loud clang, but I was alone.
Alone with my sadness.
My guilt.
Today was the first day of our trial, and just like Ellie, I knew I would never see my Josie again.
