Chapter 6

Chapter Six

FREYA

I s there a life for me outside of this? Outside of this pain and loneliness? At this point, I've gotten so used to the abuse and attempted brainwashing that it's hard to see a future beyond it.

It feels like it's been long enough that my guys should be safe. Nobody has taunted me with my mates or gloated that they figured out what triggered my heat.

Surely, they either got away with it or got away before something could happen to them. Right?

I hate the guilt that gnaws at me when sadness descends like a hurricane of torment. Yes, I want, no, need , my mates to be okay, but there is so much of me that wishes they will save me. That, even though we never bonded, maybe they care enough about me to fight for me.

I want someone on my side. Someone to protect me and my omega. It's been us against everything for so long, that the desire for the safety of my alphas and my beta is overwhelming at times. Especially the moments when hope flickers. Those are the hardest. Hope brings forth the pesky what-if questions that make me yearn for an escape.

Like right now.

What if they come for me? What if I do have a future with my mates? What if I get out of here? What if I finally get to experience freedom with the men I've deemed my best friends?

What-if questions make the dreams I smother in darkness blaze to life. Thoughts of the house we would buy on the ocean, the simple coffee shop I would work at, and the dates they would take me on tease me relentlessly.

I want to live by the ocean so badly. I wonder if they would make it happen for me . I don't ever want to be surrounded by trees again. I need a cozy pack home out in the open with a constant, fresh breeze rolling through the open windows. And have nights in bed with saltwater coating my skin. I won't have to shower because I will never be forced to if I don't want to. Then I'll wake up to my skin feeling like leather and it will be fucking glorious.

The coffee shop Ronan will try to dissuade me from working at will be on the boardwalk in our little town. I might humor my alpha when he tells me the dangers of caffeine and how being surrounded by it all day will be too tempting to an omega who has been deprived of sweets for too long, but I'll kiss him and soothe his worries. Will I drink sugar with a dash of espresso? Probably, but that's what freedom is.

Casey will drop in to get an afternoon snack for us just as my shift ends. Then he'll take me on a walk down the boardwalk, holding my hand the whole time. Our house will be too far to walk to, so my beta will tug me down onto the beach, and we would snuggle eating donuts as the waves lap at the shore. Maybe we will stay out until sunset and things will get a little... spicy. It would be our thing, our time together.

Ronan's thing will be making sure we are all home for family dinner most of the week, because as much as he might grumble about everyone doing their own thing, he can't force a schedule all the time.

Maybe I'll take up rollerblading. I bet I can make a friend at the coffee shop who would go on adventures with me. It would take a while, but I bet I could convince my pack that I am safe and can spend alone time with my friends too. I will have a phone and can contact them all the time.

I don't think I'll ever go back to a school. Maybe I could do online classes, but I never want to see the inside of a campus ever again. If I see some creepy walls or buildings, I might bolt the other way.

Hmm, I wonder if I'll be able to handle going to the doctor. Maybe if we make enough money, we can pay for in home visits, so I never have to see the inside of a clinic ever again or smell the stale chemical scent they pump into every crevice of this place.

I wonder if one of my mates wants to be a doctor. That's something I feel like I should know. Guilt stabs my heart once again as I think about everything I've missed out on with them over the years.

"Guess what?" a loud voice booms as the heavy locked door of my room slams open.

The shackles around my wrists clank together as I jolt in fear from the sudden visit. I was so lost in my daydreams I didn't hear anyone approaching through the door.

When my eyes clear, dread pools in my tummy and a whimper slips free from my chapped lips. The fancy beta who threatened to find my mates has a sick grin in place as his shiny shoes clack against the polished white tiles.

"You, my little test subject, have been hiding a secret. Four of them, to be exact," he accuses, crouching in front of me and gripping my jaw in his cold hands painfully.

Panic has my chest heaving and my eyes burning. "No, no, please!" I cry, hoping like hell he doesn't mean what I think he does.

But when has hope ever helped me before?

The fancy beta tuts at me. "Shh. Your purpose is finally beginning, pet. Don't worry, you won't be alone." His eyes sparkle maliciously. "Your mates will be here soon."

I shake my head, refusing to believe this monster. Tears fall freely down my cheeks in a scorching path of misery. The beta's chuckles sound far away as I am swept into hysterics.

Then the door slams closed, the lock flips, trapping me in this fucking prison, unable to help my mates. Locking my future in place. And it's not the future I was dreaming about. It's a nightmare.