“I don’t give a flying fuck what you were just trying to do. We told you not to do something, and you did it anyway. So fucking stupid!”
“Rin! Enough!”
A male voice shouts, trying to enter the room, but I can’t move. I can’t look up, can’t do anything except sit there and take it. Because I am pathetic and stupid and useless and every terrible thing Siren is calling me.
And suddenly it’s not their voice above me, but another voice. A male voice, not one that belongs to anyone here. A voice I was told to forget. But one so familiar and terrifying that I gasp for air, my lungs too tight. I can’t breathe, can’t move. Alpha pheromones past and present keeping me down. My stomach churns and I gag, just managing to keep what little food I’d had today down.
“If you puke on my fucking floor, you’re going to lick it up, omega. What are you even still doing here? Get the fuck out of my fucking room!”
Siren’s shout has me scrambling on my hands and knees, crawling over feet until I’m out of the room and sobbing on the hallway floor. Hands try to touch me, but I yelp and shove them away, my vision too blurry to tell past demons from present kindness.
“Aww is the baby going to cry some more? That’s all you fucking do. Cry and whine and take up space,” Siren mocks, their fake baby voice cutting me deep.
“Siren, that is enough. Delilah, go back to your room,” Phantom snaps, his accent thick with his rage.
I get to my feet, stumbling as I blindly retreat to my pathetic nest, curling up into a shaking ball. I can hear more shouting, but my sobs drown out the words. They’re probably discussing my punishment, or where to dump me, or worse. My mind spirals deeper and deeper into panic that I can’t breathe again. There are no comforting scents here to ground me, no soft materials to nuzzle. Nothing. Just like I’m nothing to these people.
I don’t know when I cry myself to sleep, but sometime later, a hand shakes me awake. I jolt, scrambling away from the person and covering my head with my arms.
“It’s okay, honey. It’s just me,” a soft voice says. Cross.
I lower my arms and try to wipe the dried tears from my face. He’s here to deliver my judgment. I keep my eyes down, trying to contain the urge to beg. I doubt it would do any good anyway.
“Are you okay?” Cross asks gently, far more gently than I deserve.
“Yes, Beta Cross,” I murmur, not looking up.
He lets out a soft sigh, and I flinch, feeling the disappointment in his stare.
“Siren was out of line tonight. We’ve talked to them and they won’t talk to you like that again,” he goes on, tone somber.
“I should apologize,” I say, starting to get up.
Cross reaches out and pulls me back down to my cot. “No, honey. If anything, they should apologize to you. You barely did anything wrong and they overreacted.”
I look up in confusion. “I broke a rule. I need to apologize and accept my punishment.”
Cross’s expression darkens and I flinch back, biting my lower lip.
“Is that what would happen in your old pack? You would make a simple mistake and they would punish you?” Cross asks lowly.
I nod. “If I broke a rule, then yes.”
“How many rules did you have, honey?” Cross’s question comes quick, but I don’t know how to interpret his tone.
I shrug with one shoulder. “I don’t remember. But they weren’t crazy. Not really. And I was good about following them, so punishments weren’t a regular thing.”
I swear I hear Cross’s teeth grind and he clenches his jaw and visibly swallows. I drop my eyes again. Great. Now I’ve messed this up, too.
“You aren’t going to be punished, honey. I’ll make sure of it,” Cross says firmly.
Before I can stop him, he turns on his heel and marches out of the room. He closes my door gently, leaving me in the darkness, more confused than ever.
Chapter twenty-eight
Myheartstillhammerseven after that little scrap of an omega leaves my line of sight. My instincts are a jumble of confusing inputs. Protective and territorial. Anger and regret. Grief and something I don’t dare name. Seeing Delilah scared of me satisfied me too much, probably. But maybe she needed a healthy dose of fear. Don’t want her to get too comfortable.
“You are way the fuck out of line, Rin,” Phantom growls at me the moment Delilah tucks herself away in the storage room.