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But his voice was low and just for me. “They don’t seem particularly interested, do they?”
He absently tapped his phone screen again, the threat clear as day: put on the necklace or fight off dark bonds long before my mates could find me.
And we both knew the conclusion I had come to last night, the one that hadn’t changed. Whatever threat Dusk posed wasn’t greater than a dark bond. Because it was the one thinghehadn’t done. He hadn’t even threatened it.
His grip on my waist became vice-like as I continued to stare at the necklace.
“And smile for me,” he whispered.
I couldn’t manage that.
As I reached for the necklace, my world crumbled. My movement became familiar and mechanical, and there was no smile on my face. I remained perfectly neutral.
I sunk against Dusk as I broke inside, the cool metal of the necklace a weight on my skin. A chain.
A cage.
And I knew, as Dusk nudged me in an indication to stand, the cage was closing.
Just like before.
“You have to hide it all, girl.”
“I don’t want this. I want to be like you.” Aunty Lauren was an omega, too, but she was poised and smelled like fresh linen. Uncle liked her scent. He couldn’t take his eyes off her when she walked into the room.
“I know, Little One. But you can’t be. Do you know how hard I had to work to get him to let you stay here? The Institute is calling.”
I hugged myself tighter, almost splitting my lip with how hard I bit it. “Why am I like this?” I whined.
Why couldn’t I remember anything from before the Institute?
I’d woken up in white-hot agony one day, and now I was here at an Estate. It was better here; I was no longer buried in the smothering silence of drugs that stole my time… my mind… my everything. But now I was ruled by instincts I was fighting to keep in check so I could follow rules I couldn’t grasp.
“I’m sorry, Little One. Stay small and don’tdraw attention to yourself. He’s doing his best, but the Institute will take you back at any sign of trouble.”
“I don’tmeanto be trouble.” I was trying so hard. I knew nothing but the place I’d come from. Everything here was foreign, overwhelming, scents and sounds and people I didn’t know.
“I know you don’t, but it’s your scent—your instincts. You can’t go destroying the room I worked so hard to convince him to give you.”
“It wasn’t on purpose.”
I just... I couldn’t make it right. I don’t know what happened. They’d given me such a nice room, but the very walls, it seemed, had come for me. When I’d come to, the room was in pieces, and my blood still burned with fury I couldn’t remember.
“No nesting. No scents,” Aunty Lauren was saying. “We have to keep it all down.”
“What about heats?” My voice was so quiet she almost didn’t hear it.
“You tell me the moment you think you might be close. Drugs, it’ll have to?—”
She cut off at the low frightened moan in my chest. “No more drugs.”
“Shatter, look at me. Youhaveto listen. If you don’t make this work, we’ll have to send you back. Institute won’t allow you in the world by yourself.”
I’d find a way to escape Dusk, like I’d escaped the Estate. Bites were rare in first term, which meant that I still had time to reveal myself to my mates.
I could wait thisout.
He nudged me to stand again. I couldn’t help staring at the Lincoln pack as he got to his feet at my side, arm still possessively around my waist.
