Page 40 of Bitter Truths

I make it to the parking lot before I realize I don’t want to go home and sit in that cottage counting hours until I can sleep.

But there’s nowhere else to go. So I start walking.

I’m thinking about what I heard in group when footsteps echo behind me.

By the time I notice, it’s too late.

“Well, well. Look what we have here.”

Three alphas step out from between cars. They smell wrong—sour and aggressive. Nothing like... nothing like the scents I used to know.

Everything in me seizes. I can’t even take a breath.

“Pretty little omega, all alone,” the tall one says. His voice is deceptively casual, but his eyes aren’t. “Saw you leaving that omega meeting. Figured you might need some real alpha attention.”

They’ve been watching me.

“She’s scared,” says another one, stocky with a shaved head. “Look at her shaking. Perfect.”

The third one licks his lips. “Been watching you for days, little omega. Same therapy schedule every week. Predictable.”

“Please don’t.” I try to sound firm but it comes out weak, soft, pitiful.

The tall alpha’s eyebrows go up. “Oh, it talks. Say it again. Beg.”

I drop the stuff I’m carrying. It scatters across the street.

“Please. I just want to go home.”

“Home,” the stocky one laughs. “Maybe we should take you home. Show you a good time.”

The tall alpha’s eyes go dark. “Kneel,” he barks, and the word lands somewhere deep in my brain that makes my body scream to obey.

My knees slam into the pavement. Pain explodes through both legs as I hit glass. I scream.

It hurts. God, it hurts so bad. Blood soaks through my jeans. Glass grinds deeper every time I shake.

“That’s better,” the tall alpha says, reaching for his belt. “Now you’re where you belong.”

A hand clamps over my mouth. “Shut the fuck up. You want everyone to hear?”

The street’s empty. No one’s coming.

This is happening.

The tall alpha steps closer. “You’re gonna be real quiet now. Real good.”

I close my eyes and try to think about anything else.

“Look at me,” he demands. “I want to see⁠—”

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!”

The hand over my mouth jerks away.

Ezra and Megan are running toward us. They have metal pipes. Behind them, more people spread out.

“Back off,” the stocky alpha growls, but he sounds less sure now.