You’re probably wondering how I ended up here.
Somehow, through my stupid-ass actions, my dark, depressing life kept getting worse.
It turned out it was a lot harder to hit rock bottom than you would think. I’d thought I’d hit it in the fae realm, but I’d been wrong.
The abyss of suffering truly had no end.
Yes, I was being dramatic.
No, I would not stop feeling sorry for myself, because at this point, it was the only constant in my life.
In one second, I was about to have a mental breakdown of monumental proportions.
All for what? An alpha snake shifter who was aggravating.
“Stupid damn fucking unwell snakes,” I grumbled as I swung back and forth.
Yep, swung.
Not in a fun, flirty, playground way.
Nope. My wrists were tied above my head and attached to a metal hook that hung from the ceiling by a single chain.
I kicked out my feet aimlessly and twisted as my shoulder blades burned from the strain of holding up my body.
The only blessing was that I was shorter than the men.
Cobra, Ascher, Jax, and Xerxes hung from their wrists next to me in the dark room. They grunted and groaned occasionally, their biceps straining to hold up the weight of their much larger bodies.
The narrow walls glowed with a soft light-blue tinge, and I’d bet all my money it was the same stupid enchantment that stopped shifters from transforming.
No matter how hard I concentrated, I didn’t feel the telltale tingle of my saber-toothed tiger shifting.
Not that I would shift even if I could.
I had a feeling that was not the point of Mafia initiation, or whatever the hell the don had called this little experience.
To add to the room’s lovely ambiance, there was a single neon light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
It flickered incessantly and cast creepy shadows around the room.
We were in a literal skyscraper, a marvel of engineering, and they couldn’t make the light stop flickering?
“I’m gonna have a seizure,” I muttered with annoyance as sweat streaked down my temples and added to my growing discomfort.
The temperature in the room was ungodly hot, and I gasped at the clammy air.
We weren’t the only lucky folks hanging from creepy hooks.
Two large, muscular men covered in tattoos, that weren’t as cool or extensive as Ascher’s, swung back and forth next to us.
They said nothing. Just silently dripped sweat like the rest of us.
I didn’t know how long I’d been hanging, because there were no windows or clocks to mark the passage of time.
It could have been minutes or hours.
All I knew was my shoulder blades were burning, and the pain was slowly consuming my every thought.
Just yesterday, I’d been fighting for my life against a vampyre and an evil fae queen in a gladiator arena.
Sun god help me, there was still sand crusted onto my skin. I hadn’t even showered, and now I was hanging from the ceiling.
At this point, I would murder someone for a hot bath and a smutty book.
“Could this suck any more?” I groaned and kicked my legs back and forth through the air, desperate to relieve the ache in my arms. “Also, I hate to say it, but your dad kinda sucks.”
Snake eyes glowed in the dark next to me and jeweled skin twinkled under the flickering light.
Cobra’s voice crackled with menace. “If you’d listened to me, you wouldn’t be here.” He mumbled under his breath, “Fucking disobedient kitten.”
I growled and kicked my legs aimlessly in his direction. “Stop calling me Kitten. Also, I’m so fucking sorry that I didn’t just abandon you to handle creepy gang initiation all by yourself.”
“I’m going to kill you for this.” Cobra’s words slurred with anger, and a rattling hiss shook through his chest.
“Get in line,” I mumbled and twisted toward him as ire built in my chest. “Also, grow up. It’s called being a teammate.”
I threw Jinx’s earlier words back at him.
My shadow snake sent a streak of pain across my back. Like it had zapped me. It was the first time it had sent me anything other than love and encouragement.
Cobra snarled, “We’re not a fucking team.”
His words hurt more than the physical pain that was ripping through my arms.
Cobra glared at me with intensity as his slit pupils glowed brightly in the dark. “I own you. This is not fucking safe, and I forbade you. You disobeyed me.”
I took the mature route.
Scrunching up my face, I mocked him. “You disobeyed me.”
I made eye contact with Xerxes, who hung from the ceiling on my other side. The omega was silent, but he looked at me with understanding in his purple eyes.
Like he knew how hurtful Cobra’s words were.
Ascher cracked his neck loudly. “Don’t talk to Sadie like that.”
Cobra didn’t look chastised. “Why the fuck are all of you here?” he shouted and panted as he tipped his dark head backward like his rage was overwhelming.
“Sadie is right. We’re a team. We won’t abandon you,” Jax said quietly. His massive biceps strained to hold up his heavy body, but, like usual, his demeanor was calm.
Cobra flung his head forward and hissed. “Really? Because Ascher betrayed us, and literally one fucking day ago, Xerxes was working for the fae queen against us.”
Ascher’s amber eyes glowed in the darkness as his handsome face contorted into a scowl. “I’ve apologized a million times. I’ve explained that I thought I was helping you guys. Have I not fucking proven myself?”
Xerxes rolled his eyes. “I still hate all of you. I’m doing this for personal reasons.”
I scoffed. “Bullshit. You totally think we’re cool.”
Xerxes arched his eyebrow but said nothing.
Maybe I was reading into it, but I could have sworn his lips curved up like we were sharing an inside joke.
Jax twisted to Ascher with a grunt. “You’re going to have to prove yourself. I don’t hold a grudge, but trust has to be earned.”
Ascher nodded. “I will earn it.”
“I definitely still hold a grudge,” Cobra sneered.
“Same. Just a little,” I said honestly as I swung back and forth from the ceiling.
Ascher nodded his horned head toward me. “Princess, I will earn your forgiveness.”
“Can’t wait,” I mumbled as the burning in my shoulders intensified.
One of the two random tattooed dudes who was also hanging next to us spat on the ground. “Y’all are all fucking nuts.”
“Drama queen.” I rolled my eyes at him.
“What the fuck did you say to me, bitch?”
Jax’s, Cobra’s, Ascher’s, and Xerxes’s eyes all glowed brightly.
“Don’t talk to her,” Xerxes said softly.
“Oh fucking please, from what I’ve seen, you’re all gonna be fucking dead by the end of this trial. Fucking wimpy bitches. No alpha beast with self-respect would ever be such a fucking simp toward a girl. It’s an honor to be here.”
He said “girl” like I was the scum under his boots.
I sighed and kicked my legs out harder, trying to shift my weight from my arms. The patriarchy really just didn’t quit.
Jax roared with a ferocity that made all the hair on my body stand up.
I narrowed my eyes at my bound hands and pondered the merits of trying to gouge myself with one of my toenails so I could fling my blood at someone and free myself.
We were in the beast realm; they definitely enchanted the room to stop alphas from shifting. Not blood fae.
After a long moment, I shook my head. It would take way too much work to kick off my shoes and socks.
“Just ignore him,” I mumbled at Jax, who was still growling like a maniac. “He probably just has a little dick.”
Xerxes whined softly, like the sound was stressing him out.
Ascher and Jax chuckled, Xerxes calmed down, and Cobra just glared at the man like he was fantasizing about dismembering him.
I whistled poorly as I swung back and forth from the ceiling and tried to pretend that I was lying in a sunny field of flowers.
The stench of sweat and fear saturated the small space and made it very difficult to imagine anything other than death, pain, and suffering.
My shoulders tingled, and I was 30 percent certain my arms were going to snap off.
“Why would anyone willingly go through this?” I mumbled incoherently at Xerxes.
Xerxes grimaced. “The Mafia runs the city and maintains peace among ABOs. If you’re not in the Mafia, you’re an independent alpha.”
Xerxes paused as if he was lost in his memories. “There are only a few thousand alphas in the entire city, and only a few dozen aren’t in the Mafia. Every single one of them is involved in heinous practices that would make your skin crawl. The Mafia keeps order in a society filled with weak nulls and violent alphas.”
I shivered at the intensity in Xerxes’s voice.
He’d flung daggers with pinpoint precision into a vampyre’s skull and worked as the right hand of the evil queen.
I couldn’t even imagine the horrors that would intimidate him.
“Why did he say omegas didn’t need to be initiated?” I asked quietly as I tried to distract myself from the overwhelming pain.
“Omegas are revered breeders who are guarded and treated like possessions.” Xerxes spat the last words. “As soon as they transform, they’re automatically protected by the Mafia. Betas work for the alphas and don’t need to be initiated because they rely on the don’s protection. Otherwise, they’d be destroyed by rabid alphas.”
“Lucky them.” I kicked my legs.
Xerxes shook his head. “You don’t understand. Alphas must pass initiation. It’s the only check on the immense power that they have in the city.”
There was a long silence as all of us let Xerxes’s words sink in.
Still didn’t understand how making me hang from the ceiling proved anything, but I got the gist.
“Then why would you do it?” I mumbled groggily.
The flickering fluorescent light was making my eyes hurt, and I struggled to focus on his handsome face as he flashed in and out of shadows.
Xerxes pulled back his upper lip, and he scowled with more emotion than I’d ever seen on his face. “Because if I’m going to be in this fucking realm, it will not be as a fucking possession. Never again.”
The silence in the room was deafening.
My heart hurt for Xerxes.
Across the room, the asshole alpha snarled, “A fucking omega is trying to get initiated. What a fucking joke.”
Before any of us could sneer back, a door was flung open, and a giant stepped into the room.
He rivaled Jax for size. But instead of being handsome and fit like Jax, the man was bald and half his face was disfigured, like it had been smashed repeatedly. His body was enormous, with bulging muscles.
“Loyalty” was tattooed across his forehead.
It was the same tattoo as on the don’s neck.
The giant’s voice was deep and grating. “My name is Spike. I will ask you a question. First one to answer gets to leave.”
Maybe this won’t be so bad?
Spike raised his hand and showcased, in the creepy, flickering light, a colossal needle and syringe.
Scratch that.
This was literally the worst-case scenario.
Also, who was named Spike unironically?
Not a good sign.
