Chapter 18: Now Alpha Is Angry

The slave tunnel corridor was fifty feet away when she spoke.

"Please."

Her voice was soft. The word was quiet enough that the hallway could have swallowed it.

The man stopped mid-step and looked down at her, every muscle locked tight.

He set her down softly. The way you set down something you fully intend to pick back up. The second her boots hit the floor, her knees almost buckled.

His hand hovered at her waist until she steadied, then withdrew like it cost him something to let go.

Still holding the ice pack, she took a step towards the tunnel entrance. Then another. His boots followed. She glanced back and he was right there, close enough that his shadow covered hers, moving like a man who had already decided that the distance between them was a suggestion he was choosing to ignore.

She didn’t know if Starborne had sent him or why he’d come to the locker room. Didn’t know his name, his rank, or what he wanted from her. What she did know was that something in her gut was screaming at her to open her mouth.

She stopped.

The feeling hit her sideways, hot and disorienting. Déjà vu so strong it tasted like metal. Like she’d stood in a hallway with a stranger before and failed to say the thing that mattered and the failure had followed her here.

She opened her mouth. Closed it.

The man looked down at her.

"What is it? You can tell me."

His voice was soft. He was close enough to touch her. Both of his hands twitched at his sides like they were losing an argument with the rest of him.

She wanted to tell him. The words were right there, stacked behind her teeth, pressing against the backs of her lips like passengers trying to exit a burning building.

Something is wrong. There are bombs. You need to leave.

But the bomber said if she told anyone, they detonate. Telling this man could kill everyone.

She swallowed. "Don’t react to it."

She didn’t know where the words came from or why she said them. Or why she thought he would react to anything because of her. All she knew was that she needed to tell him that right now.

"There you are."

Nova’s blood ran cold. Kai Starborne’s voice rang from the opposite end of the corridor, the slave tunnel side, as he rounded the corner. His jaw was set, his eyes were burning wolf-gold, and he held a small black clicker in his palm.

She recognized it before she recognized his face. The manual controller. Override frequency. The one they used when the automated system was too slow or too merciful.

CLICK.

She heard it. That was the sound that should have preceded another corrective shock.

But it didn’t arrive. She glanced down at her cuffs confused. They were vibrating again too on top of it.

"7709. Where the fuck have you been," Kai gritted. "And WHY aren’t you on the ground. I will just have to turn this up."

CLICK.

Nova blinked, debating if she should fall on the ground now or if it was too late and that would be too obvious. Then she looked back up at Kai who was most definitely turning up the intensity. She let out a sigh and fell to the ground along with her dignity.

"Finally."

He closed the distance in four strides.

"Say please and I’ll stop."

Nova was well aware this probably looked absolutely insane to the Thunderfang man who was standing there. Her face burned. This was her life.

"Please, Your Highness," Nova said, pushing herself up to all fours.

She didn’t need to lift her head to know that he was still holding down the button. So she waited.

"Fine."

Kai grabbed her arm hard enough to bruise, and yanked her off the floor. Then his eyes flicked up to the man standing three feet away. His posture shifted from fury to formality so fast it should have caused whiplash.

He gave a curt nod. Practiced. The kind of respect you perform because your father told you to, not because you mean it.

"Thunderfang."

Nova’s stomach dropped through the floor. Her face went from flushed to nuclear. That was either Alpha Thunderfang or someone in the Alpha’s family and she had just played dead for Kai in front of him.

"What the hell is this, 7709?" Kai grabbed Nova’s chin hard, looking at the bruise Celeste had left her on her cheek. "I thought I made myself clear."

He pushed her chin away, then yanked her down the hall.

"Marks make you ugly. Ugly means cheap. Cheap means Alpha loses money. Now Alpha is angry."

The elevator doors opened. Kai shoved her inside. The last thing she saw was that man watching at the end of the hall. Then the elevator doors shut.

Her hands were shaking. Her eyes were watering. The bar for her day had officially descended below sea level and was currently accepting applications from the earth’s core.

The elevator opened into a lounge that smelled like old money and new smoke. Dark leather seating. Low amber lighting. Crystal on every surface. This was nicer than a clubhouse. Nicer than anything she’d seen outside of the Starborne manor. Every wall whispered private and every chair whispered permanent.

One thing she noticed immediately was that everyone was masked.

Men in tailored suits sat in clusters with cigars between their fingers and drinks sweating on side tables. Conversations she couldn’t hear happening behind faces she couldn’t see. The masks weren’t ceremonial. They were transactional. Whatever happened in this room, the participants had paid good money to make sure their identities stayed hidden.

Alpha Starborne sat in the center of the room like the room had been built around him. His legs were crossed. His drink was full. His expression said he’d been expecting her the way a spider expects a schedule.

Nova bowed on instinct. Full submission. Head down. Hands at her sides.

"Bring her."