“Come in.” It was Chad, and a shiver of disgust ran through Lexi as she heard his voice.
One of the men opened the door. The space beyond was huge, a massive meeting hall that had always reminded Lexi as some kind of rustic throne room. The room was imposing, a large hall that led up to a grand chair like a throne, two arched windows behind looking out onto the woods.
And right on the throne was Chad. Seated on the ground on both sides of him were two women that Lexi didn’t recognize—likely shifter women taken from other packs.
He grinned as he saw her.
“Well, well, well,” he said, one leg kicked over one armrest of the throne. “My girl’s come back.”
Lexi stayed firm. “You look like a little kid sitting there,” she said. “Like any moment, your dad’s going to come in and tell you to stop screwing around.”
One of the women chuckled, the other holding back a grin. The looks on the men’s faces suggested they were shocked as hell Lexi had said something. Shana appeared worried.
He pointed down to the laughing woman. “Take her downstairs,” he said. “This one still needs to learn some respect.”
One of the men hurried forward, yanked the woman up by her arm, and led her out of the room as she struggled.
“Bring her here,” said Chad, his eyes on Lexi.
“What about her?” asked one of the men, referring to Shana.
“Downstairs. She’s outlived her usefulness.”
“Wait!” shouted Shana. But before she could say another word, one of the men took her by the wrist and out of the room.
Then another pushed Lexi forward with a shove to her lower back. Lexi stepped closer to Chad, who looked at her with a sly grin and narrowed eyes.
“You have any idea how much time I’ve spent trying to track you down?” he asked. “I mean, I knew you’d run off with that prick Jason. But man, is it hard to find someone in Seattle. I knew I’d get you eventually.”
“Where’s Sam? Where’s my family?”
He grinned. “They’re fine. For now. And since you did the smart thing and came back here to me, they might live a little bit longer. See how things can work out when you play by the rules?”
“I’m not doing anything until you prove to me they’re safe.”
Chad was unperturbed. “Here’s the thing, gorgeous. You need to start understanding that nothing you say matters now. You’re an omega, but the moment you stepped over the boundary for my territory, you became mine. You don’t give orders—you follow them.”
“And you think you’re capable of giving orders?”
“Of course I do. I’m the alpha, remember? My dad left me the pack, and I’m going to run it as I see fit.”
“Yeah, with torture and murder.”
He scoffed. “My pack is going to learn how to play by the rules. All that shit my dad was so big on, giving everyone a voice, doing things like they’ve always been done? That’s gone. We play by my rules now. And the first is that my omega does what I say.”
He hopped off the throne and came over to Lexi. Chad loomed over her, staring down at her like a piece of meat. Then he sniffed the air slowly. Fear boiled in Lexi’s stomach as she worried he might detect her pregnancy right then and there.
But he only grinned.
“You’ve got no idea how long I’ve been waiting to get you back to me. And now that you’re finally here, I’ve got some big, big plans.”
He glanced over her shoulder at the men, dismissing them with an upward flick of his chin. Once they and the remaining woman had left, he kept on grinning.
“That was bad of you to leave,” he said. “Embarrassing me on the night before our wedding. What were you thinking, Lexi?”
“I was thinking there was no way in hell I was going to marry a man like you. You’re a piece of shit, Chad, and everything you’ve done since taking over has made that totally clear.”
But he didn’t seem bothered by her words. “Yeah, I figured you’d say something like that. But here’s the thing, Lexi, the thing you’re going to have to really get used to—and that’s that you don’t get any single bit of say in what happens to your life from here on out. You’re my omega. You’re my property. I tell you to drop to your knees and make me come on the spot, you do it, and you do it