Page 58 of Alpha’s Possession

"The apartment you were evicted from?" Thane asks, and I chew on my lip, trying to find a way out of the lie I just told.

"Don't lie to me. I detest liars. I know you're homeless, Zara," Thane says, setting his wineglass down. He looks at my plate before looking up at me. "Eat."

"I'm not hungry, I…"

Raidon clears his throat loudly, and I glance at him, only for him to nod at my plate in some silent message I can't understand. Looking at Rhen, he appears to do the same.

"If you give me my handbag, I can just go, and I’ll see you at work." I rise from my seat, but the look Thane gives me makes me drop back down. He presses his lips in a line.

"No one leaves the table until the last person is finished eating. So eat," he commands. I look around the table to see if he’s joking. By the looks on their faces, this is the law in his household. My hands tremble as I pick up the fork, the metal rattling against the plate as I try to scoop up some rice. I feel like throwing up as they watch me.

Once I put the forkful in my mouth, Raidon's and Rhen's shoulders relax, and they turn their attention back to Thane. So do I, and I see him reach to grab something off the floor. I nearly drop my fork when he sets the bag I left in the storage room on the table in front of him.

"Now, as I was saying, Zara, you will remain here. It is not a question, or a request," Thane states.

Chapter Fifty

~Harlow~

I swallow the bile that threatens to creep up my throat and spill onto the plate in front of me. My eyes are glued to the bag that contains every belonging I have left in this world as well as the diary where I keep the only photo I have of my twin sister. A diary filled with my darkest secrets, the only one I hadn't lost over the years.

"The key you had cut?" Thane says, and I blink at him. The key? Who gives a fuck about a key? He holds my entire world with that bag.

"Where did you get that?" I blurt, even though I already know. It’s a dumb question, yet it’s the only one my mind can conjure at this exact moment. My brain has turned to mush and threatens to melt out my damn ears as I try to come up with something, anything that will dig me out of the crater that has opened up at my feet, trying to suck me in. Thane growls, annoyed, and starts ripping stuff out of the bag. I shriek, lurching across the table to snatch the bag from him.

My heart thuds against my chest when Thane leans forward, plucking the bag effortlessly from my grip. My fingers desperately cling to the fabric of the handle. I don't know if I will throw up or pass out. Either way, with how fast my heart is beating, I am dangerously at risk of a heart attack.

"What the fuck, Zara?" Thane bellows as he glares down at me. It’s only then that I realize everyone is standing, and I notice the fork embedded in the webbing between my thumb and index finger. Staring down, the plates and cutlery are on the ground, the table is a mess, and my hand is bleeding as I try to figure out how I stabbed myself with a fork.

Still, I feel nothing except dread and panic. No pain. Nothing. I pull the fork out, drop it on the table, and look up. I’m an idiot. I should have remained calm, because now, Thane’s looking at the bag he’s holding as if it contains a bomb, or something equally dangerous.

I realize my mistake too late. He may have grabbed all of my stuff from the storage locker, but he didn’t go through it. He rips everything out of the bag, and my eyes widen in horror when I see the diary fall onto the table. My hands snatch it before he does, and he growls. His aura washes over me with the weight of a damn elephant, and I am the peanut beneath its foot, about to be crushed to smithereens.

"Hand it over," Thane snarls. Yet, in my panic, I refuse and keep a death grip on the diary as he tries to pry it from my fingers. His command is excruciating, but I would rather his command kill me than hand it over. Either way: I’ll be dead if he opens it, dead if he doesn't.

"Zara!" he bellows, yanking it out of my hands. He snarls, wiping it on his pants to clean my blood from the cover. The moment his aura drops, I lunge, trying to tackle him. Only he is quicker and swats me away.

Raidon grips my arm before I hit the ground. Thane is furious. Fuck him. Fuck my job. I couldn't care less. All I care about is that diary and the photo inside it. It is the only photo I have. Zara and I took it in one of those photo booths in a shopping center, the one time we were able to sneak out of that horrible place.

"We try to help you, and you carry on like this?" he snarls, his teeth turning to sharp points as his canines extend. Seeing his face half-morphed into a monster is terrifying. He looks demonic, his black eyes so dark they look like the bottomless pits of hell.

"Please," I beg, my eyes on the diary, and he looks at it in his hand.

"I didn't read it, but by your desperate attempt to keep it from me, I probably should," he snaps, gripping it in both hands, about to open it. I step forward, about to snatch it back, when Raidon yanks me away.

"Are you insane?" he growls at me as Thane opens it. The photo slips out from between the pages, falling to the floor. He moves to grab it, and I shake out of Raidon's grip. My knee lifts as Thane bends down to pick it up and connects with his face, hard.

I honestly didn't mean to do that, but the sickening crunch is loud. I hear them gasp before Thane clutches his face and roars. He drops the diary. I snatch it and the photo, bolting out of there while Rhen, Leon, and Raidon stand stunned.

I catch a glimpse of them as I slide on the tiles in the hall, before careening into the wall. My bare feet grab traction, and I run for the front doors. My hand twists on the handle. I yank it, but it’s locked. I fumble with the locking system when I hear the table getting upended.

The loud bang makes the door rattle. I finally get it open and rip it wide, only for his hands to grip my hair and pull me back. My feet are yanked out from under me. I hit the ground hard, staring up at Thane, whose feet are now on either side of my head.

I blink up at him. He snatches the diary from my hands, only for it to be ripped out of his. Rhen backs away from him, holding the diary, until his back hits the open door.

"Calm down, Thane," Rhen murmurs.

"Give me the damn thing," Thane snarls, holding out his hand. Rhen's eyes dart to mine as I sit up.