Total pages in book: 202
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
“Explain, Luke. Plainly.”
“The betas who train get their reward.” He gestures to the building and looks at me like he can’t understand why I don’t immediately get it. “Three rooms with beds in there. Bathroom. That’s all. He has the girls ready while we’re training and the best of us each session get time with a girl. Also if you do something he wants to reward you for, you also get time in there with a girl.”
Linc’s expression hardens even further, and our gazes connect.
My mate’s pose of defeat the night I identified her flashes in my mind. Braced, on all fours, waiting for my claiming to be over and done with.
The look of fear and resignation in her gaze as she bent over me licking the droplet of syrup from my shaft.
Ronnie’s voice rings in my ears.
“I’m sorry to tell you this, but she’s been very badly abused, Grey. Badly.”
“Fuck!” I roar.
“Grey,” Linc clips, probably because fiery red sparks burst from the atmosphere around me and my immediate urge is to shift and rip shit up. The urge is so overwhelming, I’m having trouble not shifting.
“Reel it in, Grey,” Linc says, “C’mon. One step at a time.”
Linc gets it.
I’m having trouble. I’m trembling with absolute fucking fury. I feel more pressure in my head and the warm trickle of blood coming from my eyes.
“Fuck!” I bark out again. Gutturally.
Linc squeezes my shoulder. I jerk and very nearly shift, a growl flying out of my mouth.
“Back off!”
“Yeah, man, got you, but c’mon and let’s go. We need to get to the people, assess, lock down any threats, then get Cat in here with medicine. You can lose it later when the fucknut responsible for your anger is within reach.”
He waits, then calls out my name.
Right.
We make eye contact and I nod, then push air out of my lungs and draw more air in. But the air I draw in is putrid. Foul. I don’t want to reel anything in. I want to unleash it all. On the fucker responsible for this shit.
Luke looks frightened and confused. Larry is looking away.
“All good in there?” Jase asks through my phone.
“We’re moving along,” Mitch says and gives me a look that shows he understands.
“First thing we do is round up every male in this place and keep them in one place,” I snap.
“Yup,” Linc agrees.
My eyes are on Mitch. He nods.
I swallow bile and my urges, pulling the map Stacy drew out of my pocket. “You guys, round everyone up, please, and get them in one place. The big building on this, will it work?” I ask Luke.
“Yeah. Our mess hall is the biggest building. It’ll hold the whole pack for sure.”
“Start knocking on doors, Luke. You too, Larry. Tell everyone to get to the mess hall immediately and in an orderly fashion.”
35
Stacy
Jase’s truck pulls up and it’s just him in it.
It’s been forever, it seems, waiting here for news.
“C’mon, everybody.” He gestures to be followed. “You’re with me, Stacy,” he adds, getting out of his truck, moving around and opening the door for me. His expression is grim.
It’s been a long while of waiting here, feeling fidgety, worrying about what might be happening on the other side of the fences.
I’ve been feeling pulsing tension from Grey in my chest at an extreme level, so I know whatever is on the other side isn’t good.
“Cat?” Jase calls. “Drive the van to the front gate but stay inside until one of ours comes out for you, please, yeah?”
“Got it, Jason,” she replies, already on the move.
“Gus? Lock up Jared’s camper and tow it with us. Follow with everyone else, will ya? Nothing left behind here.”
“Yup,” Gus says.
I shakily clip my seatbelt.
Jase looks angry. Very.
***
“Watch where you’re walking. Right behind me, yeah? We had to snip some trip wires, and I don’t want to take any chances in case any were missed. There’s noisemakers out here, too and I don’t know if we got ‘em all.”
“Okay,” I say, anxiety pulsing inside me as we go through opened back gates. It definitely smells worse here than it did when I was last here.
“Everyone’s in the big building with all the tables,” Jase tells me.
“Mess hall?” I ask.
“Yup,” he replies, expression harder than I’ve ever seen it. “Rounded ‘em all up so we’ve got everyone in a central zone.”
I follow Jase past the training area, some of the storage buildings, and the canteen where the men drink and get rowdy, and I’m passing more piles of twisted metal, junk, and debris than even before, past Wyatt’s house and that dreaded cabin behind it. It’s painted what used to be a sunny-looking yellow, or so I thought when I was too young to know what went on in there, too young to be sent into the now grayish with peeling yellow paint building that feels like it sits under a permanent cloud.