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He dragged me from the Hummer kicking and screaming. His arms held me so tightly, I couldn’t get away. I tried to scream, but he covered my mouth. My eyes darted side to side, but there was no one on the streets. It was eerily empty except for us and the other Hummer that Alpha Brown was forcing me into. He shoved me into the back seat.
I clambered across and tried to open the other side, but like the alpha that had brought me home all those months ago, he had engaged the child locks and the door wouldn’t budge. I pounded on the window, trying fruitlessly to break it. Alpha Brown climbed into the front seat and before his door was even closed, he was racing away.
I stared out the back window until I couldn’t see the Hummer any longer, tears clinging to my lashes. Storm had to be okay. I knew she was alive because my bond with her was still intact. I had that to comfort me at least. As Alpha Brown drove erratically out of town, I clung to that thought.
Turning around, I scanned the interior of the car, looking for anything that I could use as a weapon against him. There was nothing except some fast-food wrappers and empty cans on the front passenger seat floor.
We hit a bump and it jostled the phone in my pocket. I snapped my eyes to the rearview mirror, scared that he had somehow found I had it, even though I knew that wasn’t possible. I slipped my hand into my pocket as discreetly as I could. I had to keep this hidden from Alpha Brown in any way possible. Shoving it farther down into my pocket, I put my hands back in my lap.
“We are almost home, omega.”
“That’s not my home. And my name is Riley,” I snapped.
He chuckled. “Your name is whatever I tell you it is,omega. I am your alpha now. Those idiots may have stolen your first heat from me, but they didn’t even bond you. They are going to regret that mistake. As soon as your next heat starts, you’ll be mine. Permanently.”
“No.”
“It’s cute how you think you have a choice. My last omega thought the same. I showed her how wrong that was. Then she had the nerve to give me a useless beta child.” He scoffed. “You won’t do that, will you? You’re a good omega. I can tell. You’ll give me alpha sons. Ones I can be proud of.”
Fear formed a lump in my throat, my panic spreading through my system. I couldn’t let this man anywhere near me. From what it sounded like, he had forced a bond with Ryan’s mother. I couldn’t let that happen to me. I wouldn’t. Storm was already mine, and I fully intended to claim the other three members of my pack. They already had proven they were good men. Alpha Brown would not get his teeth into me.
His SUV screeched to a halt and he jumped from it. He moved to open the back door, and I shuffled along the back seat as far from him as I could get. Snarling, he leaned in and grabbed me by the ankles, pulling me back to his side. I kicked and smacked at him, but he remained unfazed.
Getting me to the edge of the seat, he grabbed me around my middle and hefted me up over his shoulder. He grunted as I let my dead weight collapse into him, hoping to throw him off balance. Unfortunately, he stayed upright. I lashed out with my legs, trying to connect with anything I could. My fists beat down on his back.
I couldn’t believe this was happening again.
At the door, Alpha Brown swung it open and then slammed it shut, locking it. The entire time we had been walking in, I had been screaming at him to let me go. He growled angrily and made his way downstairs into the basement. At the foot of the stairs, my cries died out as pure, unadulterated horror consumed me.
Lined up on either side were cells. There had to be dozens. Alpha Brown headed straight for one and tossed me carelessly inside, onto a thin mattress. The door clanged shut, and I heard keys jingle as he locked it.
“Stay in here and think about how much worse this could be for you, omega. I’ll be back.”
He turned and stamped up the stairs, snapping the light off and plunging me into darkness. The door at the top of the stairs shut, and I heard the click of him turning that lock as well. Trapped. What the fuck was I going to do?
Frantic, I finally remembered the phone in my pocket. Desperately, I dug it out and tapped the screen to wake it up. On the display were several messages from Victor and Declan. Keeping one eye on the basement door, I clicked one and swiped to the “call” symbol. Frantically, I tapped it, trying to call one of them.
“Come on, come on, come on!” I pleaded.
The phone lit up with Victor’s picture and then beeped. Call failed. There was too much concrete down here. It couldn’t find a signal. Tears clung to my lashes, and I tried again and again, but the phone steadfastly refused to connect. A sob pulled from my throat. This couldn’t be happening.
Chapter43
Ryan
Victor and Declan were running around, looking for something to wear. Storm was standing by the front door, quiet sobs shaking her shoulders while tears tracked down her cheeks. My eyes darted over everyone and my frazzled brain tried to make sense of it all. My father had taken Riley. My father hadtakenRiley.My father.
Panic clawed at my chest. My skin was hot, tight, and I felt like there was a forty-ton elephant sitting on my chest. I slid down the wall behind me, slumping to the floor. This was all my fault. I should have known my father wasn’t just going to go away after everything he had done.
He was a terrible man and an even worse alpha. No one would contest that. He beat my mother and me regularly. He said it was to toughen me up when I “inevitably presented as an alpha.” But then I didn’t. Things went from bad to worse. He always talked down to me about being “just a beta.” It was a huge point of contention between us. He hated that I wasn’t an alpha. To him, I was useless. My mother bore the brunt of his anger, however.
After I was born, she had some complications, which meant she could never have another child. My father saw her as a broken omega at that point. He told her that her only purpose was to give him, an alpha, as many children as he wanted. The fact that she couldn’t meant she was incompetent at herjob.For years, he belittled her, and then, as time went on, he became physically abusive.
I had tried to stand up to him multiple times, but I was no match for his strength. He was an alpha and, as he loved to point out to me, I was just a weak beta. There was nothing I could do. Then one day, he snapped. He had been drinking quite heavily. He came home in a fit, smashing things, punching the walls, everything.
My mother tried to calm him down and he backhanded her, making her fall to the floor. Something in me that day finally had enough. I remember screaming and charging at him, and I somehow knocked him off his feet. Of course, I couldn’t keep him down. He roared in anger and tossed me across the room.
Dizzy, I looked up from where I had landed to see him running toward me, brandishing a knife. I put my hands up to protect myself, but he never connected. My mother jumped in front of him, protecting me, and the knife sliced right into her stomach. She bled out in minutes, right in front of me.
