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I take the rope. I’m surprised to find it smooth and soft. I put it around my neck and tie it there. “I thought there wasn’t any sound on the nighttime stuff.”
“I don’t fuckin’ know, I just do what they tell me,” the guard replies. He gestures for me to go first up the path to the door. “I must say, I’m glad to see you go, Reese,” he says casually.
“That so?”
“Fucking guards never shut up about your damned knot. Never give a damned beta the time of day with a dick like yours around.”
I grunt in response, trying not to react. Like I need this asshole to remind me that I’m nothing more than a knot.
“Course none of the guards who drop their slacks for you even know your name,” the guard continues with a snort. “Couldn’t care less that you’re a murderer if you’re putting your cock inside them, huh?”
I clench my jaw against his words. I shouldn’t let it get to me. It’s not like I haven’t thought the same thing about myself a hundred times… but I still want to punch this guy in the face for saying it.
“Knock,” the guard orders as we reach the door. He licks his lips and looks around nervously. Some people get spooked in places where the Current is strong. Apparently it feels like bugs crawling on their skin. Not to me. I can feel the prickle of the magic around me, touching on my skin in that playful way it has. No prisons in magical cities; makes it harder for people to harness magic and use it to escape. I haven’t felt the Current since I was 18 years old. Almost fifteen years ago. I’d forgotten how much I liked it, even if the closest thing I have to magic is in my pants.
I pound my fist against the door, letting anyone inside know that someone is unhappy out here. Someone who wants nothing to do with any of this.
The door swings open, and all my bravado fades away. The sweet scent of lemons wraps around me as I look into a pair of deep blue eyes. Red lips, big breasts—fuck, I love big breasts—and wide hips that were made for me to hold.
Sweetest thing I ever saw in my damned life.
She blinks at me with those bright eyes, her full mouth lifting in a shy smile. “Reese?” she asks, holding out her hand.
Before I can recover from the intense sensation of standing in front of her enough to take her hand, the guard behind me laughs loudly.
“Wow, I can see why they didn’t pick you for the big house, huh? You’re pretty enough but… well, I guess, more cushion for the pushin’, am I right?”
The omega’s smile fades. She turns her gaze to him, those brilliant eyes turning sad as she glances at me, apparently believing that I must be thinking the same thing.
The guard claps me on the shoulder and cackles. “Don’t worry, though, this one ain’t picky. He’s been through most of the guards and some of the prisoners back home. Go on now, killer, in you go. Do your job.”
He gives me a gentle shove forward, and my blood runs cold. I whip around and snarl at him. Before he can do anything about it, I punch him hard in the nose, drawing blood. I hear a sharp intake of breath from the omega behind me.
I glower at her as I turn to step into the house, slamming the door in the guard’s face. I can hear him cursing me out, but there’s nothing he can do about it. His power over me is done. It feels good to end that shit with blood and pain. If I’m gonna be here anyway, I might as well enjoy the benefits of being out of prison.
Flexing my aching fist, which is splattered with that asshole’s blood, I scan the space in front of me. There’s a steep staircase against the left wall, a sitting room on the right, and a narrow hallway through the middle, lit only by a shoddy looking lamp on a sad little side table. A far cry from the living conditions I’ve seen on the main show, but a hell of a lot nicer than prison.
Peering straight ahead, I can see that the hallway leads into a wider living area. Glancing at the sweet little creature at my side, I stride down the hall, interested to see the rest of the space. The omega trots at my heels, her heady scent buzzing through my body.
The hallway opens into a small foyer, with a bigger living room to the left. The living room is sunk down by two steps, and it’s darkened with shadows.
It takes me a few seconds to notice the lone camera with a cameraman sitting behind it. A few more seconds for his scent to reach me. When it does, I breathe in deeply.It can’t be. That wild, rainstorm smell has haunted me for years and years. Jaw twitching, I turn to face the cameraman, narrowing my eyes as I take him in.It really can’t be, I think again.
But it is. Arlo mother-fucking Cassa.
Roaring, I storm toward him, ready to tear him limb from limb. “You son of a bitch,” I growl.
Arlo doesn’t raise his head at first. Instead he re-focuses the camera to account for my movement. He’s wearing a dark three-piece suit over a light blue shirt, his hair swept back in a bun. His style accentuates the refined look he was only just starting to cultivate when we were kids. Now, he’s a man, there’s no getting around that. A fucking good-looking man with carefully groomed stubble on his chin. The asshole looks like he’s never spent a day in his life doing something he didn’t want to do.
Finally, he lifts his eyes to mine, giving me that same blank stare he had as a kid — the same fucking stare he gave me as he watched me get arrested for a crime he knew I didn’t commit.
With a violent snarl, I circle around the camera and grab him by the collar, lifting him off his feet. The omega gasps behind me again as I turn and throw him away from me. Arlo flies through the air into the sunken living room, where he lands on the coffee table, breaking it into a thousand tiny splinters.
“Arlo!” the omega exclaims, racing forward. “Are you all right?” She offers him a hand, which he takes, looking into her eyes for a moment as he gets to his feet. There’s a flash of something between them; something intense and sexual and fuck, why do I find that so interesting?
With a groan, Arlo presses his hand into his lower back, cracking it before turning to face me.
“Hello, Reese,” he says. “I’m glad to see you.”
