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The stone is ice cold against the soles of my feet. When I glance behind me, I can’t help but notice that Vae and Dax found shoes to throw on at some point. Vae follows my gaze to his sneaker-clad feet and pointedly looks away. His hands clench into fists at his sides, and his scent warps and spikes into something sharp.
Shame. Or guilt, maybe. At what he’s allowing to happen. His body twitches, like he wants to reach for me. Then he looks at Daxen and stays where he is.
Coward.
The thought is vicious in a way that surprises me, but doesn’t make it any less true. My Mate is a coward. He knows this is wrong. He’s known for days that this is all wrong, but he refuses to say anything.
I want to point out that forgetting I’m barefoot is far from the worst part of this night, but I bite my tongue and take another step down. I keep moving until I get to the bottom landing. Dax reaches above my head to yank on a cord, and a dull, flickering fluorescent bulb buzzes to life overhead.
It’s a dungeon. An actual dungeon. Like my father’s
Another tear escapes, and I swipe at it angrily. Why do I keep allowing them to disappoint me?
“That one,” Dax points at the open cell on my right. With nowhere left to go, I walk through the door.
Both Alphas follow me in.
Exhausted, I take a seat on the built-in concrete slab that apparently passes for a bed, and tuck my shaking hands under my thighs.
It’s so, so cold down here.
My Mates loom over me like executioners, while I just sit here, waiting for the axe to fall.
Dax doesn’t waste any time.
“Tell us who you are.” How many times have we been through this?
“I’m Idril Varenthrall.” I sigh, exhaustion making my limbs heavy. “I’m twenty-two. I’m an Omega. My father is Jonathan. My mother was Annalise. She died soon after I presented. My father works in acquisitions. No, I don’t know what that means. Yes, he kept me prisoner in my home for almost a decade. No, I don’t know why.”
“Cut the shit,” Dax snaps. “Tell me who you are.”
”I don’t know what you’re asking! Just tell me what answers you want from me, and I’ll give them to you,” I beg.
He plants his hands on his hips and throws his head back like he needs to pray for patience.
Well, freaking same.
“Let me try,” Vae cuts in, crouching down in front of me. ”Why did your father have vials of your blood hidden in his study?”
I rear back, eyes wide. “What?”
“Don’t fucking—”
“Daxen,” Vae growls. “Shut the fuck up, godsdamnit. Let me talk to her.”
I can see how on edge he is. It’s hard not to notice the long, muscular lines of his back and torso, or the way they’re strung so tight I worry he might snap in half.
He turns his attention back to me, forcing a calmness he obviously doesn’t feel.
“Your father had vials of blood hidden in a freezer in his study. Blood that shimmered, and didn’t decay like normal blood.”
I blink, trying to wrap my mind around what he’s saying.
“What does that mean? How does blood decay? Isn’t it just… in your body?”
“It didn’t act the way blood was supposed to act,” he says, instead of answering. “The first time Caelan was at your home, he was on recon. The blood he found there had to be sent out for gene sequencing because it wasn’t behaving like blood should.”
Dax interrupts like he can’t help himself. “The person who ran the tests said she put a drop in soil. And flowers grew.”
