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Fuck.
Was I making it up—delusional as I climbed the corpses of a million dreams?
But… thathadbeen him.
Ithadbeen, because the next thing, the bathroom door was flung open to reveal Umbra, and through the bond from him, there was a bright flash of hope.
“You felt him?” I asked.
At the barrage of new scents and sounds, however, Ransom broke.
Too close and unprepared, I didn’t react in time when his aura split the air. There was a snarl on his face, his eyes nothing but wild voids once more as he flung himself at me, a vicious sound in his chest.
No—Fuck.
I grappled with him, my own aura hitting the air just in time for my body to crash into the vanity behind us.
And then the world went black.
SIXTEEN
SHATTER
I had a plan.
It was one that, if nothing else worked, would get me to my mates in the end. I’d scent marked a dozen of my scrunchies and stashed them in a little box under my bed.
I didn’t know when Dusk would let me off the scent blockers again, but an item like that should hold my scent for a while. At least, I thought it should.
Now I just needed to find a way to smuggle it out. I was glad that I didn’t make an attempt on day one.
Dusk was as neurotic as I expected.
As he served me (Umbra-made) toast, he leaned close and I noticed the faint traces of a bruise that cascaded down the side of his whole face, though it looked to be covered with makeup.
I opened my mouth to ask, then closed it, unsure. Where the hell did analphaget a bruise like that?
Had he gone out last night?
When I finished eating, Dusk turned my chair to examine me like a doll again. I guess that was our morning routine, now.
He held the scent-blocking pill, but I snatched it from him so he wouldn’t force feed it to me in front of Umbra.
“The uniforms fit okay?” he asked as I swallowed the pill with orange juice. I nodded, pursing my lips. Not a single item that wasn’t perfect, dammit.
“Do I need to get anything to add to the nest?”
“No.”
“So, it’s good?”
“It’s…” I swallowed, resenting the sparkle in his eyes as he gauged my reaction.“Adequate.”
Dusk’s grin was charming. “Good. Well, this is for you.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out a little silver charm.
I squinted, lips parting.“No.”
It was a star. A star beside the moon pendant on my necklace meant the pack wereofficiallycourting their omega. Courting wasn’t mandatory; any omega selected for a pack would retain their place in the academy no matter what. But a lot of packs kept their omega purely on a contractual basis. Some even switched out their omegas between terms, as permitted.
