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It didn’t matter, and neither did the shouting match the two Alphas engaged in. She saw what she needed and began the slow crawl towards it. A metal trash can, rimed with rust and other unspeakable things. It would suit her for the moment. Devin curled around it, hugging it to her chest as everything began to spin.
“I told you Chinese was too greasy. Should have gotten her a salad.”
“She’s too damn skinny.”
Beau snorted, his lips spread wide in a smile, though a feral light shone in his brilliant blue eyes. He kneeled behind Devin, fingers tripping up the visible knobs of her spine. “Maybe so, but she can take it like a champ. Besides, it’s not your job.”
Devin gagged, retching into the wastebasket as tears streamed from her eyes. Part of it was the bleakness she’d resigned herself to, but the twisting pain through her middle was responsible for most of it.
“How the fuck do you smell so good while puking?” Beau’s question seemed rhetorical, hands kneading her hips as he tugged at them, trying to pull Devin into a better position for his groping.
“This wasn’t part of the agreement, Beau.” Rey drew closer, hands clenched into fists so tight that the warmth of his golden amber skin blanched to near white.
“Just a quick rut, man. Won’t even knot her.”
“Out.”
Beau bellowed his rage as Rey hauled him to his feet. Pushed and shoved towards the door, the larger Alpha fought back. Fists met skin with wet smacks, their sounds of violence not arousing Devin this time at least. Too sick, too miserable, she vomited into her trashcan and crawled into the small space between a couch and side table. Pleading with the Gods that they would ignore her, that their violence would remain focused on the other male, she quaked. It sounded as if they ripped each other apart, though the coppery scent of blood only tainted the air. She’d expect it to drown her if they resorted to such physical harm, but what would she know? She smothered her scream behind her palm as the door slammed shut, someone pummeling the plank of wood from the wrong side. The door came open again, hinges screaming, before a primal roar was cut short. The floor shuddered beneath her, something heavy dropping.
“Where are you,” Rey barked, flipping the low coffee table across the room. Panting as wide, near black eyes searched, blood dripped from cuts on his cheek and smeared across his full lips. Knuckles split open, crimson droplets stained the carpet.
Devin couldn’t bring herself to give up her hiding space, but she didn’t dare ignore him. Peeking her ducked head out into the dingy light, she oozed submission. If he tried to take her now, he’d hurt her. No need to give him any reason to become angrier than that.
“You do not leave this place. You need food, you write a list. You need that fucking soap and shit, you put it on the list. Jackson gets it. Car comes at ten to pick you up. Jackson comes up for you. Same car, same guy brings you back. No one comes in. You do not leave.”
“Yes, okay. I don’t leave.”
Devin stared hard at the floor with her ears perked for the faintest creak of the worn floorboards. When it came, she thought herself prepared, but her chin shot up. She fixed the Alpha in her gaze, unwilling to not track his advance. To her complete amazement, he was stalking away, the door screeching over swollen wood with a touch of abused metal as he shut it behind him.
Devin held her breath, counting the seconds with her thundering heartbeat deafening her. She’d never hear him coming back, but no one stormed through the chipped black door. It didn’t go flying under anyone’s fists. Chest aching, she let the held breath out in a rush, dragging another in to starved lungs.
Devin regretted it the moment she did.
So many smells. Most human, some not, all of it foul. Multiple Betas. The soured sweetness of an Omega, maybe more than one, though well faded. The chemical stench of suppressants and false pheromones mingled with cheap perfume and unwashed bodies. Old sweat and rotting wood. Through it all, the smells of so many males, Devin couldn’t even begin to number them. Old and stale, fresh and potent, they assaulted her.
Devin dragged the wastebasket back to her chest and vomited again.
* * *
Stomach emptied hours ago, the single dingy light setting her nerves on edge, Devin uncurled herself and staggered around the space. Flipping every switch she could find, turning on every lamp, did nothing to brighten the small apartment. It was an apartment… at least, it was acting as one.
A small fridge, cart, and hot plate reigned in a cramped corner with a card table paired with cheap metal chairs. It looked like a microwave might have been included at some point, but now there was only a conspicuously clean rectangle left on the second shelf of the cart. A curtain could be pulled over the wide opening between the outside wall and the bathroom, which also only had a curtain for some measure of privacy. Just a toilet and sink, there was no shower to be found. A possible explanation for some of the more volatile smells filtering into the place.
The bed was set center stage with a limp, faded tapestry cloth hung from pushpins standing in for any real headboard. It had to be someone’s idea of a joke, the prancing deer in pink and fuchsia tie-dye fading to sickly green unable to be taken with any kind of seriousness. The couch was as old and threadbare as the one at her apartment, but it smelled of dampness and must, no other scent lingering on it. The same was true for the mattress, though it was bare. Bathroom shelves empty, she’d found nowhere else someone might hide a single sheet.
No amount of bed clothes would make her feel safe though. Not as the loud laughter and high-pitched trills started seeping through the gaping floorboards and under the door. Devin took a moment to thank the Gods she didn’t appear to share walls with any of these people.
There was no food in the fridge, and she had no idea how to ask this Jackson person to get her something. She’d left the remaining Chinese food in Rey’s car, not that she thought she could stomach it now. She felt rundown, sick beyond her churning stomach. As if some bug infected her, just waiting for the perfect moment to make her more miserable.
Heaving a weary sigh, Devin curled up on the dank mattress and covered her head with her arms. With the sounds muffled, she mumbled her prayers to the Gods that they’d let her sleep.
She had no such luck, even after the moans and cries stopped. While she had no window, Devin assumed the sun was coming up, though there was no way for her to tell. She lost her cellphone in the shuffle of her many treks and abuses, so she couldn’t check the time. Ashley was going to kill her for sure, but that was the least of her problems.
Devin had no clothes. Rey’s t-shirt was little defense against the damp chill coming off the water. She could hear it lapping at the docks, so it couldn’t be far. She’d thought being able to see it from the stairway at Bayside was far too close. There was no understanding the Alpha logic that found her deeper into dangerous areas. Maybe because they were the danger here, they saw no peril for her.
Sighing, Devin rolled onto her back, stretching out cramped muscles as she stared at the pitted ceiling. She’d tried to turn the lights off at one point, but every thump and groan had terrified her. The frail yellow glow kept the worst of her fears at bay even as she’d tried to sleep. Rolling ankles and wrists until she heard them pop, Devin wondered what fresh hell today would bring.
A quiet knock at the door yanked her from her thoughts and the bed. The squealing springs announced her actions in brilliant neon, but no one opened the door as she stood plastered to the wall, panting. Another polite knock came, though. Uncertainty pulling her shoulders to her ears, readying for a strike, Devin edged closer to the door.
