In the gym, Molly ran after me with the syringe.
She said something about how she was glad I was okay and that we needed to be consistent with our muscle-growth regime.
Her words rubbed me wrong, and a snarl bubbled in my chest.
Why did I have to change myself to be good enough for the men?
I didn’t need to prove my strength to anyone.
Brushing past her, I stalked away without a word.
The sources of my consternation were waiting outside the building, but I purposely ignored them and climbed into the separate car I’d taken to the test.
The thousands of beasts hustling down the wide sidewalks no longer seemed interesting.
Gray skies and endless rain were depressing as fuck.
Just another realm with too many people.
Too much pain.
After the car sped back, I stumbled into the mansion, desperate to climb into my bed, smoke the pipe, and sleep till I had to fight.
If I never saw another man ever again, it would be too soon.
They were over me, and I needed to move on.
Of course, since this was my fucked-up life, three alphas and one man-whore omega ambushed me in the front entrance.
I marched past them. “I’m not talking to any of you.”
Jax grabbed my arm and easily stopped me as I tried to push past them and run up the grand stairway.
Up close, the scent of sugary cinnamon was nauseatingly intoxicating and made me want to scream, cry, gyrate, and lose my fucking mind.
Clarissa’s words cauterized my brain like battery acid.
I screamed, “Let me fucking go! I hate all of you.” Tears of frustration burned my eyes.
No matter how hard I tried to shove her words into the dark recess of my mind, they wouldn’t fucking disappear.
Jax grabbed both my biceps in his hands and held me so I couldn’t move. “Please, little alpha. Everything’s getting messed up. We need to talk.”
I kicked out like a petulant child and growled as panic welled in my chest.
“Xerxes invited me to his first heat.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Jax’s voice was frantic. “Calm down, Sadie. Please.”
I was trapped.
Focusing on the telltale tingle, I started transforming into my saber-toothed tiger. My clothes became painfully tight as my body enlarged.
“STOP SHIFTING!” Jax alpha-barked with a roar that shook the mansion.
My clothes loosened as my body instinctively stopped shifting.
“Fuck you.” I glared up at the large alpha who’d been nothing but nice and sweet.
Until he wasn’t.
A hiss rattled. “Why do you have a bruise on your cheek that you didn’t have twenty minutes ago?” Cobra asked.
I guffawed at his horrified expression. Clarissa’s backhand was the least painful thing that had happened to me today.
“What the fuck?” Cobra snarled.
Jax still restrained me, so Cobra easily grabbed my chin in his callused hand and forcibly turned my head so we were inches apart.
His frosty scent burned.
They’d already replaced me, yet they acted like a bruise was a big deal?
What was wrong with them?
Ascher and Xerxes walked up beside Cobra with scowls on their handsome faces. Ascher’s horns lengthened, and the flame tattoos on his neck jumped as he clenched his jaw.
Xerxes just stared at me with violence glinting in his purple eyes.
I could practically smell the malice directed toward me. He wanted to fight.
“Man-whore,” I spat at him.
Ascher smiled, then frowned when he realized I wasn’t talking to him. He raised his eyebrows and looked back and forth between Xerxes and me.
Cobra blocked my vision, emerald eyes on fire as he snarled. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know.”
His pale fingers were still gripping my chin, and he tightened his hold until the cold of his jewels bit into my skin. “You’re being a brat.”
I would have tilted my head back and laughed hysterically, but my head was immobilized by his tight grip.
My already broken voice was a gritty rasp as I struggled to move my jaw. “Thank the sun god I never bonded with an unfaithful prick like yourself. Now I can actually find some real alpha men who don’t act like man-whores.”
“Oh, you’re going to find some new men, are you?” Cobra’s eyes glowed bright green, and his pupils transformed into slits.
His red tongue lengthened and split into a fork.
Ever so slowly, he dragged his snake tongue across my face.
The scent of snow intensified until I was sure he left a trail of ice across my skin.
“Fucking creep,” I spat and kicked my legs to conceal the fact that my core had just spasmed.
Cobra’s fingers tightened around my jaw, and Jax’s hands tightened around my arms.
I kicked my legs harder, aiming to pop a fucking ball.
That would show them.
Jax growled. “We just want to talk to you. Things are getting out of control.”
The scent of sugary-sweet cinnamon spiked higher and twined around all of us.
Four sets of male eyes glowed.
It was the heat.
The thought was a bullet through my chest.
I sneered, “Clarissa already told me what you told her, Xerxes. There is nothing else I have to say to any of you. We’re done. Enjoy your lives.”
“What are you talking about?” Xerxes asked, purple eyes flashing with confusion.
Cobra’s voice was a slurred hiss. “Issss that who gave you the bruisssse?”
My jaw was going numb from the tightness of his fingers.
I rolled my eyes. “Oh my sun god, drop the fucking act. I know Xerxes already asked Clarissa to join his heat. Congrats, you successfully replaced me, not that we were anything to begin with.”
My neck wrenched to the side as I tried to glance away from the too-handsome omega. It hurt to look at him.
Cobra’s fingers tightened. I couldn’t move an inch, and my face throbbed.
“You’re hurting me,” I whispered.
Instantly, Jax dropped me, and Cobra pulled his hand away.
Surprised by the sudden release, I would have fallen to the floor if not for Ascher lunging forward and catching me.
He cradled me against his chest, and a low bleat rattled as his tattooed arms cocooned me.
Was he alpha-purring? It was more of a bleat, but the low vibrations instantly calmed me.
Suddenly, I was too tired to deal with the tension.
Like a coward, I kept my face pressed against Ascher’s chest and inhaled his musky pine scent that I loved so much.
It reminded me of the forest I’d grown up playing in.
Outside the warmth of Ascher’s chest, there was a loud hiss, then a crashing noise. Another hiss followed, and I debated just falling asleep in Ascher’s arms and pretending I didn’t care what was happening.
Holding me with one arm, Ascher reached up with his other and rubbed his chest like it hurt.
My heart pinched with worry at the thought of the men in pain.
Fucking pack dynamics were making everything worse.
I squirmed out of Ascher’s tattooed arms and amazing pine scent in time to watch Cobra lift Xerxes and throw him into a wall like he weighed nothing.
“What the fuck issss wrong with you?” Cobra stalked toward him.
Instantly, Xerxes was on his feet with two wickedly sharp knives twirling through his fingers. “I never said that to Clarissa.” His honeyed accent was steel.
Cobra’s eyes flickered to slit pupils. “Why should I believe the fae queen’sss lapdog?”
He moved forward with startling speed, but Xerxes dodged in time and slashed Cobra’s arm with his knife.
Blood splattered across the white floor.
Jax roared at the cut that bloomed across Cobra’s arm, and he charged at the omega.
Ascher threw me to the side and put himself in Jax’s path. He fell to his knees just in time to avoid the massive hand that would have chucked him into the wall.
While Ascher slid across the marble floor, he slammed his fists into Jax’s knee so the big man stumbled out of the path of Xerxes, who was lunging forward, daggers ready.
Rain pounded outside, and the wind screamed as it slammed into the mansion.
The beast realm sucked.
For a split second, I debated running up the stairs and hiding in the bedroom.
Blood dripped down Cobra’s arm, and he smiled at Xerxes like he was disemboweling him in his mind.
Xerxes’s eyes glowed bright purple, and the heartless assassin swirled daggers impossibly fast through his fingers.
Someone was going to get hurt.
Even if they didn’t want me anymore…romantically, it didn’t negate the fact that they’d saved my life countless times.
Why did I have to be such a good person?
I better be nominated for sainthood. I gnashed down on my inner cheek until a copper tang flooded my mouth.
Focusing on the center of churning darkness in my mind, I smiled as the blood in my mouth vibrated with the electricity.
It was pure power.
In slow motion, Cobra’s jewels flashed into shadow snakes and streamed toward Xerxes, who pulled his arm back and shifted his weight to throw a dagger.
Ascher clawed at Jax, who grabbed him and lifted him as he turned to chuck him into the wall.
I opened my mouth.
Four droplets of blood flung through the air and slammed into each man.
The small droplets sank deep through layers of skin, tissue, muscles, and veins as they sought the sources of their power like heat-seeking missiles.
Unlike the fae queen, who’d been covered in enchantments and centuries-old protections, they had no defenses.
“Freeze!” I ordered.
Immediately, they froze.
Last time I’d used my powers, I’d been bleeding out after being almost sucked dry by a vampyre of lore. I’d thought it would always hurt to use them.
How wrong I’d been.
Sheer joy bubbled through my chest, and a giddy laugh escaped my mouth as power strummed through me like a live wire.
A heady rush filled my brain until it felt like I was levitating off the ground.
It was everything.
They were at my mercy.
“Bow.”
There was a loud crack as they fell to their knees, and four foreheads touched the marble as they prostrated themselves at my feet.
“APOLOGIZE.”
“I am sorry,” they chorused with no inflection.
I frowned as they stared at me with glassy eyes. It was slightly creepy.
“APOLOGIZE WITH SINCERITY.”
“I am truly sorry.”
It still felt insincere. I sighed heavily, because as much as I was enjoying the electric life-forces pumping through my veins, I was still aware this was wrong.
“Do jumping jacks.”
I grinned as they leaped to their feet and immediately pumped out some of the most athletically impressive jumping jacks I’d ever seen.
“Stop. Now hug each other and apologize to each other.”
Four six-foot-five warriors embraced one another in a big circle. “I’m so sorry for hurting you,” they said at once.
I laughed with elation.
“Now cry as you apologize.”
They wept as they clung to one another and apologized.
“Now danc—
Aran cut me off. “Sadie. What in the moon goddess’s fucking tits are you doing? Also, did you pass the test?”
I slowly turned to her and nodded.
Her eyes widened as she took in my bloody mouth and the four warriors crying and embracing one another like zombies.
Then she threw her hands up in the air. “Fuck yeah, I knew you’d pass. I’m the best teacher ever.”
Walter stood behind her and gaped like the don himself was murdering someone in the foyer.
“Um…,” I started to explain, then pursed my lips as I struggled to describe what was going on without sounding absolutely unhinged.
Instead of coming up with a believable lie, I arched my lips into a manic smile, heady pleasure still making my head spin.
“The girls are coming. You must stop this,” Walter said with horror, his gray eyebrows quivering.
Aran sighed. “Don’t ruin it. I think this would be an excellent learning opportunity for them. A life lesson, if you will.”
Lucinda. The thought of my sister staring at me in horror was like being drenched in a bucket of cold water.
She needed someone she could look up to.
Before I could let the bloodlust overtake my common sense, I reached my palm out. Like I’d done with the fae queen, I pulled at the droplets of blood, dragging them back through the layers of flesh until they slammed into my outstretched hand.
With a snap, the electric tether among all five of us broke, and I crashed to my knees, heaving.
The men stumbled away from one another, and I ducked my head as I dry-heaved bile across the floor.
The aftermath was like falling from the stars and face-planting into the dirt.
My body ached as it re-acclimated to the shaky existence of surviving without another’s life-force.
“They’re back!” Jess said with excitement from the top of the stairs.
After a long dry heave, I stumbled back to my feet, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the foyer.
“I’ll call the maids,” Walter mumbled and ran down the hall.
Suddenly, I was hyperaware of four sets of eyes staring at me.
Violence cackled.
Slowly, I turned to face the men I’d just joyfully enslaved with my blood.
From the tense jaws and tightened fists, they weren’t happy.
Aran backed up the grand stairs. “Girls, this is a good lesson about how to deal with angry alphas. We need to give them some space.”
“What happened to them? Why are they so mad?” Lucinda asked innocently.
There was a long, awkward pause, then Aran said, “Sadie got a little carried away showing off.”
I opened my mouth to apologize to the men.
“Xerxes invited me to his first heat. Said it should be soon and he needed a female alpha present.”
Fresh indignation filled me. “I’m not sorry.”
Eyes glowed.
Cobra whispered, “You’re going to be.”
“Run for your lives!” Aran screamed at the girls as she scrambled up the stairs.
I didn’t need to be told twice.
As fast as I could, I bolted after her, feet slapping against the marble as I ran like a vampyre was chasing me.
There was silence behind me.
Then the crashing sound of four pissed-off men sprinting after me.
“Save yourselves!” I yelled at the girls, who I’d quickly overtaken in my mad dash. I pushed them into an open door as I sprinted past.
Aran was farther down the massive hall and shrieked as she looked over her shoulder.
It was the only warning I got before callused hands forcibly grabbed me and tossed me into a room like I weighed nothing.
There was a loud crash as someone slammed the door shut with so much force it fell off its hinges.
“We should talk about this. Like adults,” I pleaded as I was tossed onto the bed.
“We’re done talking,” Jax roared.
Cobra and Ascher picked up the silk sheet and ripped it cleanly in half, and both of them kept ripping until they had several long strips.
“Um, what are you—”
Jax cut me off my grabbing me and easily pushing me against the headboard while Cobra and Ascher wrapped the strips around my wrists.
“You know you can’t actually restrain me. I could just bite down on my tongue and infect you with my blood.”
The four men stilled.
I cursed my unfiltered tongue.
Xerxes slammed his dagger through the ends of the strips around my hands so I was pinned to the headboard.
Cobra took another strip and wrapped it around my mouth. He tied it behind my head.
“You’re a bitch,” he hissed into my ear.
He tightened it so I couldn’t talk.
I wrinkled my nose at him and told him with my eyes that I was going to infect him with my blood again, but this time, I’d make him my bitch for the day.
“Now. We’re going to talk,” Jax said as he stepped back to admire their work.
I pulled at the makeshift restraints and screamed in frustration.
Xerxes had burrowed his daggers through the headboard and into the wall, so only the hilts were visible.
I was pinned.
My eyes widened as I realized the gag around my mouth was so tight I couldn’t move my jaw to bite down and release my blood.
I was truly at the mercy of four beasts.
Ascher adjusted his pants, and the other three followed.
I was at the mercy of four very turned on beasts.
