“I’m not going along with this! You can’t just—”
The brutal crack of the back of his hand against my cheek cut my words short. The force of it stunned me—my face went numb, and my vision blurred as my eyes fought to focus. No one had ever struck me like that before. It wasn’t correction. It was violence. In that moment, I longed for the sting of Ryker’s discipline instead, painful, yes, but never cruel.
“What the hell do you think they were doing to discipline this one? She’s absolutely feral. Gonna take a lot of work to make this bitch submissive,” Finn said, laughing.
“Your permission is not required. You will go along with it because you have no other choice. Now walk, or I will make you sorry that you didn’t,” Jayden said as he turned to me with hardened eyes.
I whimpered as my legs carried me unwillingly in the direction they pulled me. My cheek burned, my head thudded, and the fever, which had been ravaging my body, made me dizzy and nauseated.
“Please, I don't feel well,” I begged, trying to reason with them and appeal to any better nature they may have possessed.
“Move. Now,” was all Jayden said.
His voice was low and final as he forced me toward the basement door at the bottom of the stairwell. Behind us, Finn followed with a wicked gleam in his eye. He was practically humming with malicious intent.
Whenever I watched true crime documentaries, the interviewed officers always said, “Never let them move you to a second location.”
I knew if they led me through that door, and down the steps of the basement, there would be no going back. No one would rescue me, and my fate would be sealed. But with no choice left, I descended, each step an echo of regret, into the fate I had so foolishly woven for myself.
When we finally reached the bottom of the stairs, a long, dark hallway unfurled before us. Doors stood like sentinels along its length, while a distant fluorescent light flickered and buzzed overhead, casting sharp shadows that danced against the walls. An ominous feeling unfurled in my gut, and every step felt as though I had lead feet. Jayden kept a painfully tight grip on my bicep, occasionally nudging me in the lower back when I slowed my pace.
“Where are we going?” Finn asked him.
“I don’t know. Try the doors. Find somewhere unlocked and quiet.”
The redhead set off in search of an unlocked door.He tried several until finally one clicked, turning and swinging open. There was a sign next to the door that said Storage 083, which led me to believe it was a utility closet.
As we crossed the threshold, I froze. The sight of a few filthy, old mattresses and dismantled furniture pieces struck me like a warning. A new cold surge of fear welled up inside me, and tears leaked silently from the corners of my eyes.
“How perfect. Now we don’t have to fuck her on the floor,” Finn said as he moved the furniture pieces away and flipped one of the stained mattresses onto the recently cleared area of concrete floor. He also dragged a broken, crooked office chair to the mattress’ edge.
Jayden released my arm, pushing me forward to the center of the room. “Let’s see what we're working with, Omega. Strip and then lay on the mattress,” he said callously, ignoring the tears that now freely streamed down my face. His voice was devoid of any empathy. When I hesitated, his patience snapped.
“STRIP!” he barked, his voice cracking like a whip as spit flew from his mouth.
I tried to stifle my sobs, knowing that they wouldn’t buy me any mercy or compassion. These men were impervious to my plight, deaf to the silent cries of my despair, and utterly indifferent to my suffering.
As I removed my clothing, I lost myself in memories of my alphas, imagining that I was about to be with them instead. Maybe I could disassociate to help guard myself from what was about to happen.
My eyes screwed shut as images flooded my mind; Cade’s gentle smile reserved solely for me, the fierce devotion burning in Killian’s eyes as I rode him, Ryker’s solemn vow to burn down the world for me, if only I asked, the raw intensity in Talon’s gaze, and the magnetic pull of his beast drawing me closer.
I stood in the room, cold and bare, trying desperately to cover my most intimate parts. They moved around me like shadows, stealing glimpses of my flesh that did not belong to them.
“You’ll do,” Jayden said dismissively, grabbing my breast and pinching my nipple harshly.
A cry of pain left my mouth as he did it again, only harder this time. His eyes burned with a savage pleasure drawn from my torment. While Talon also reveled in causing pain, he tempered it with moments of passion and tenderness, allowing mepleasure to balance it. Jayden’s, however, was pure, unfiltered cruelty.
He gripped my shoulder and shoved me harshly to the ground. My back slammed against the mattress as the bitter truth washed over me at the reality of what was happening. Their hands closed around me, each touch burning like acid searing through my skin. I recoiled from them, desperate and pleading to be allowed to return to my dorm. Tears streamed down my face as nausea churned in my throat and a fever set my body ablaze.
Suddenly, agonizing pain erupted through my limbs, as if my skin was being torn from my flesh. What was happening to me? Overwhelmed by fear and confusion, I screamed. I was so consumed by terror and pain, that I couldn’t even force my eyes open. Jayden and Finn backed away from me.
“What the fuck is wrong with her?” Finn snapped at his packmate, his eyes filled with disgust as he looked down at me.
I was curled on the floor, trembling and writhing in unbearable pain, pleading for any kind of mercy or help. But instead of compassion, all I saw was cold indifference. It cut deeper than the agony coursing through my body.
“Help, please,” were the last desperate words I managed to whisper.
I stretched my hand out, trembling and weak, reaching for anything, anyone, before darkness swallowed me whole, dragging me into a void where sound and pain ceased to exist.
