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“You chased me out of your office, accusing me of terrible things. I wasn’t in the mood to share after that.”
“I did,” Wilder replied. “And for that, I’m sorry. Forgive me?”
Vaughn was silent a moment. He nodded. “Forgiven and forgotten.”
Wilder wasn’t so sure it was forgotten. He grinned wanly. “Perhaps you should come along to my meeting with the Green Trust. My head’s not exactly in the right place today, and I don’t want to blow it.” He released a shuddered breath.“I can’t…blow it.”
Vaughn stared a moment, as if he was sizing Wilder up. Suddenly, he snatched the file from Wilder’s hand. “We’ll need to review this. We’ll take your car. We can discuss your plans on the way.” He spun and headed for the door.
He stopped and looked over his shoulder, where Wilder stood there smiling.
Vaughn returned his smile. “Are you coming or not?”
“Yeah… I’m coming,” Wilder said before following his little brother out the door.
* * *
Awareness slowly came over Avery.He opened his eyes and came face to face with Vero hovering close. Warm, stagnant breath washed over his face, and his stomach clenched. Panic set in as he stared at the omega’s dead, dull eyes. “G-good morning?”
Vero’s face was mere inches from his. No emotion filled the omega’s features, just a desolate sense of numbness that seemed to suck the very joy from Avery’s being.
“Do you need help?” Avery whispered.
Vero cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes.
Fear rippled through him. He whispered, “Just tell me what you need. I’ll try to help.”
Vero twisted slightly, lying beside Avery. He caressed Avery’s stomach and cooed.
Avery frowned, unsure what the omega was doing.
“So sweet…” Vero whispered.
“What?”
Instead of giving an answer, Vero leapt from Avery’s space and raced up the triple bunk. He hid under his covers so fast that Avery wasn’t sure it hadn’t been a dream. Avery remained in his bunk, breathing hard, his heart slamming inside his ribs, and dread singing in his veins. He hadn’t liked the vulnerability he’d felt. What if Vero had hurt him? The omega was clearly unwell…
Was he dangerous?
He cast a look around the cell, realizing that desperation brought on danger. They all had it in them to cause pain if the need was great enough. How much pain was Vero in?
Thoughts of danger led him to once again think of Gideon. He lay there, watching as the pale shaft of light streaming in through the lone, tiny window high on the wall brightened and filled the small cell, waiting for the rest of his comrades in arms to awaken.
Once they did, he posed the question. “Why didn’t Gideon come back? Do you think he was freed?”
The other three looked to one another, as if they held a secret they didn’t wish to share.
“Well?”
“He was sentenced to No Man’s Land,” Medjul answered, not looking at Avery.
“No Man’s Land?” Avery’s eyes widened. “Theyexiledhim?”
“He murdered his alpha. I suppose they considered him too dangerous to remain here, so… they sent him away,” Ash murmured.
No Man’s Land was all the space outside the massive walls surrounding the provinces. There were multiple provinces in the realm, scattered mostly along the coasts, but there were a few in the center. In between the outer walls was the wild, unpoliced land where few lived. They were told there were wild men who populated the area, hence the reason for the towering outer walls. Avery had never heard tell of anyone attacking, yet those outer walls were monitored by guards at regular intervals at all times. Farmland surrounded the outside of the walls, for a mile or so, with beta workers who lived just outside, protected by those guards, and returned inside at night. Past that, was the stuff of nightmares.
Or so they’d been told.
