Chapter 34

34

I woke up the day of my eighteenth birthday chained to a furnace.

Okay, more like Remy’s arm had a vise grip around my waist, pressing my back against his bare chest that gave off more heat than the damn sun.

Definitely not the worst way to wake up on a day I spent almost my entire life dreading.

I traced the back of his hand absently, feathering my fingers across the knotted terrain of knuckles and muscle. A small scar marred the skin just above his thumb, a silvery white blemish on tanned skin.

I didn’t know the origins of that scar. Depending on how the day went, I might never know.

Fear swooped low in my gut, snatching the momentary peace I had known waking up.

Would this be the last morning I woke up like this?

Maybe the joke was on me all along; my eighteenth birthday would be the worst day of my life, but not for the reasons I believed for so many years. Maybe I could have handled life as an omega in Long Mesa if I didn’t know what it meant to be Remy Holt’s mate.

But now I knew, and the change was irrevocable.

After we had come back to the cabin and filled Gabe in on what happened at the club, I had gone upstairs to let Remy and his father talk. I could have stayed with them, but I needed to take a shower.

I stood under the scalding spray of water until my skin turned red and shriveled. I used almost the entire bottle of body wash I had brought scrubbing my skin, taking time to thoroughly scour the places Preston had touched.

I had stayed in the shower until Remy silently joined me, taking the loofah out of my hands and rinsing away the last of the suds. He pulled me out of the shower and into the hazy fog of the bathroom, drying me off with a fluffy towel before helping me pull on my clothes and taking the time to brush out my hair before drying himself off.

We were both locked in our own heads, trapped in our own memories, as we got ready for bed.

As soon as we slid between the cotton sheets, his arm locked around my waist and hauled me to him. I finally fell asleep after I felt his breaths even out, the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest at my back leeching the last bit of tension from my bones.

We hadn’t moved throughout the night, a fact that my hip and shoulder were currently protesting, but I would stay here all day with the dull throbbing in my joints if it meant we never had to leave.

The press of his mouth against my neck was the first indication he was awake.

“Happy birthday, baby.”

The words rolled through me, a thousand reactions hitting me at the same time. But the one that overwhelmed me the most?

Love.

I was loved.

Remy’s arm tightened around my waist, and I rolled over to face him. My hand came up, tracing the stubble shadowing his jaw.

His dark eyes studied me, missing nothing.

“It’s all going to be fine,” he promised.

I bit my lower lip. “What if it isn’t? What if this is the last time—”

He cut me off with a slow, drugging kiss. “It isn’t,” he vowed when he pulled back. “It’s you and me forever. Not even the Council could keep me away from you.”

“When you say that, I believe it.” I smoothed a thumb across the curve of his cheek.

“When you’re done telling Linden to go to hell,” he said, a small smile hooking up the corner of his lips, “we’ll do whatever you want tonight.”

A shiver rippled across me leaving a delicious awareness in its wake. “Whatever I want?”

His eyes smoldered, heating and darkening. “Whatever you want, babe.” His hand tightened on my hip as his grip turned possessive.

I raised myself up onto my elbow and leaned over him, pressing my lips against his. His mouth opened as he rolled onto his back, letting me take the lead as I stroked my tongue against his.

Nerve endings fired to life as I moved over him, straddling his lower stomach, and wishing like hell there were a few less layers of clothes between us.

A soft knock at the door cut through the start of my favorite birthday yet.

“One hour warning, guys,” Gabe’s voice called through the door.

One hour until I saw Linden and tried to convince the Council he was a lying, maniacal sadist who thrived on torture and violence.

It was more effective than a gallon of ice water being dumped on me.

I sat up and climbed off Remy and out of the bed.

“We should get ready,” I muttered, my back to him as I headed for the dresser.

What exactly did someone wear to bare her soul to the devil?

“Hey.” Remy came up behind me, his arms sliding around the front of me. “You’re going to be fine.”

I leaned into him, letting myself absorb his strength and confidence. “I hope so.”

“I know so,” he countered firmly. He turned me around so I couldn’t hide from him.

“I’m scared,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper.

“You already did the hard part,” he reminded me. “You escaped, you survived. Don’t let Linden or anyone else control you. If you’re scared, use it. Channel it into making sure no one else ever feels this scared because of them again.”

Use it.

I could do that. For me, for Bella, for my mom... for all the omegas who came before me.

A sick feeling filled the pit of my stomach.

There were probably new omegas still in Long Mesa. Killing Maisie and Shane after my mom and I escaped would have been a temporary solution. No way Linden’s inner circle, especially people like Allan Loomis, would go without the release omegas provided.

“What?” Remy asked, pulling me back to the present.

I blinked, my gaze connecting with his. “They have to have omegas there now. People who are being...” I swallowed, unable to finish the thought.

His face didn’t show any surprise. He had already assumed the same thing.

Fresh resolve settled in my bones, hardening my purpose. “Okay. Let’s get ready.”

We got ready quickly, taking turns in the bathroom. I stood in front of the mirror and braided my hair, pulling it out of my face so I wouldn’t be tempted to hide behind it or use it as a buffer between Linden and myself.

I needed to look him in the eye, Alpha or not, and tell the world what he did.

Or the Council, at least.

The last piece of armor I put on was my necklace before giving Remy a grim nod.

He smiled softly back at me before opening the door.

Gabe and Griffin were waiting for us in the living room as we came down the stairs, both looking up at us. With his dark blonde hair and blue eyes, Griffin could have been Gabe’s younger brother.

Griffin’s eyes caught mine. “How are you doing, Skye?”

“Good,” I replied. The knot from where I hit my head on the brick was almost completely gone, and the bruising around my wrist from where Preston had grabbed me was faded into a sickly yellow.

“Tell me you have something,” Remy said, his attention to Griffin.

Griffin frowned, shaking his head. “The surveillance tapes were scrubbed. Probably when we were all in the alley.”

“Shit,” Remy muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. Anger flashed across his features.

“Surveillance tapes?” I repeated, looking at each of the men in the room.

“We were planning to use the surveillance footage of Preston grabbing you last night to help your case,” Griffin explained. “But it looks like the same guy who helped Preston get in also erased the footage of him grabbing you outside the bathrooms and attacking you in the alley.”

My shoulders sagged. Yeah, that video definitely would have helped.

“Any idea who did it?” Remy asked.

“New guy named Deeks,” Griffin replied. “Kace said he started a few weeks ago. He had an apartment close to the club, but it’s been cleared out. No sign of him.”

“Great.” Remy sighed heavily, jaw clenched.

“Daniel showed up,” I offered. “He saw what happened.”

Griffin gave me a sideways glance. “Yeah. Unfortunately for us, he came down the alley in time to see you deck Preston. Without the video to show what happened beforehand, it looks like you assaulted an alpha. Preston would have been within his rights to... You know.”

Beat the hell out of me?

Sometimes shifter rules sucked.

“It changes nothing,” Gabe said firmly, his eyes on me.

I nodded mutely.

“You should eat,” Remy said softly to me.

“I’m not hungry.” The idea of food made me nauseous.

“Rem’s right,” Griffin added. “There’s no telling how long the interview will take. You need your energy.”

Sighing, I walked to the fruit bowl and fished out an apple, taking a bite before giving them a pointed look. “Happy?”

“Ecstatic,” Remy deadpanned.

“I should go,” Griffin said, starting towards the door. “I have a meeting that I need to prepare for.”

“Thanks for your help,” Gabe told him, walking him to the front door.

Griffin nodded and looked over Gabe’s shoulder to me. “I’d say good luck, but I don’t think you need it.”

A smile ghosted over my lips. “Thank you.”

Gabe closed the door and started back towards us, gesturing for us to sit down.

Once I was sitting on the sofa next to Remy, he said, “Any questions about how this goes?”

I shook my head slowly. “I think I got it. It’ll just be me, Linden, and a couple of Alphas from the Council.”

Gabe nodded. “This is just the preliminary hearing. If they think there’s enough evidence, they’ll move forward with Linden’s claim and the entire Council will vote on the matter.”

I exhaled hard, resisting the urge to look away. “Right. And you guys are going to be questioned by someone else on the Council while that’s happening, right?”

“Yeah.” Gabe leaned back in his chair. “We’ll be questioned separately. They need to make sure our stories match before they make a decision.”

A decision that would determine the rest of my life.

No pressure.

Remy’s hand curled around my knee. “We’re mates, babe. They’re not going to separate us.”

I flashed him what I hoped was a confident smile in return. “I know. It’s just... There’s that small chance of them not seeing it our way. What if they send us back?”

“They won’t,” he replied fiercely.

A sliver of desperation slipped through the crack in the wall of my confidence. “But what if they do?”

“Then we put you on a plane, go back to Blackwater, and demand an appeal,” Gabe said bluntly.

I jerked, stunned, as I looked at him.

Gabe smiled grimly. “There’s enough allies here to help us get you home if it comes to that. We could sneak you out and have you halfway to Washington before they realize you’re gone.”

“You would do that?” I whispered, somewhere between overwhelmingly touched and amazed. My hand fluttered to my mouth.

Gabe leaned forward. “Absolutely. Over my dead body will you go back to that hellhole, Skye. You, Addie, Zara, and Bella will never go back there again while I’m still alive.”

“Even if the Council doesn’t find in our favor for this,” Remy started slowly, pulling my attention to him, “they still have to hear our shifter rights violation claim. That’s scheduled in a couple of days.”

“And if that fails?” I asked, a sick need to exhaust and work through all possible scenarios eating away at me. I set the half-eaten apple on the table beside me.

Gabe and Remy exchanged looks, but it was the Alpha who spoke.

“We’ll figure that out when the time comes,” Gabe answered. “But, honey, you’re never going back.” A smile stretched across his face. “I can’t lose one of my favorite kids.”

I couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face. “Okay.”

Gabe stood up. “We should get going. Remy and I will walk you over, but then we have to go to our meeting.”

Exhaling, I stood up and linked my fingers with Remy’s. “Let’s do it.”