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I wince, not realising I’ve been walking backwards until my back hits the wall.
“Jet,” I whisper.
“I’ll send your belongings over,” Taylor says as he turns away.
“Just a fucking minute, Knight.” I snarl. I’m almost rabid. Almost feral. But I have to keep control. I just want what’s mine. “The price. I want my price.”
Taylor stiffens, and I see his jaw clench. “Give her the blanket. Barren created it for you. I took it from his studio last week. Specially handcrafted just for you, per the terms of the agreement. And now, we are done.” He smiles, the prick has the audacity to smile at me.
Gold stalks stiffly towards me and gives me the blanket. “Don’t fucking come back. You’ve already caused enough damage to our omega. He just needs to forget you exist. We all just need to forget you exist.”
I slap him across the face. The sound echoes around the room, all eyes on us. He knows I can see it in his face. He knows those are the words our parents said to me before they kicked me out. I know because I told him. He’s the only person I ever told. The breach of trust is too much.
I’m done.
“Don’t fucking come back. You’ve already caused enough damage to our family. I just need to forget you exist. We all just need to forget you exist.” My father sneers down at me and shoves a bundle of my clothes into my arms. That was the last time I saw him.
Will this be the last time I see Gold? How can I never see him again? A deep well of grief rips open. I’m losing my family a second time. The water rises, threatening to drown me. What did I do wrong?
Barren.
I feel something inside me tearing. Breaking. My inner self wobbles, spiderweb cracks start to break my control. I can feel myself screaming inside. A howl that comes from years of loneliness and longing for home and family.
But then there’s this liquid silk wrapping around me, making me whole again. I frown in confusion until it dawns on me that it’s the bond with Barren. Love shines through like a warm blanket. Memories of him smiling, laughing, his touch, his taste. There is one person on this planet that loves me, and that gives me strength.
It hurts, but I have to leave. I have to leave him. It would be easier to rend myself in two. How can I? How can I walk away from them? But he is loved, by all of us, and that is one thing they can’t take away from me or him. We all love Barren, and as long as I know he’s safe and loved, I can leave him. But knowing that and doing it are two different things.
I scan their faces one more time. The cool, expressionless masks on Jet and Taylor. The furious scowl of Gold, and Acton, who can’t look at me. What happened?
“I love you.” I say the words softly. I don’t know if they hear me or not. It doesn’t matter. It’s out there in the world now.
I clutch the fabric under one arm and sidestep until I’m far enough away that I can turn and race for the doors.
Then I run. Because if I don’t, I’ll go back. Because that omega is mine, and that pack is mine.
And all of this is wrong.
So I run, and I don’t stop.
twenty-eight
Gold
I’m slammed back against the wall, but I don’t care about the pain. I don’t care about anything.
She loves me. She loves us. Even after everything we said, she loves us. Oh, god, I can’t lose her again.
“Get it the fuck together,” Taylor hisses in my face. “Gold! Pull your head out of your ass. She’s safe. Now we have to save him!”
That wakes me up. I refocus, ignoring the pain, pushing that deep well of aching sorrow aside and blinking back into reality. I wipe tears off my face and then turn and vomit against the wall.
Taylor stays with me, stroking my back.
“Good. Now stay with me. We need to work out a plan.”
“She’ll try to get him alone.” I say in a dead voice.
“So we make sure he’s never alone.” Acton growls. His hands tremble, and I notice the way the vein in his temple throbs. He’s as close as I am to losing it.
