Chapter 6

Fiona’s POV

No matter how much I thought about this, it made no sense. He had a motive, that alone was certain. If not why would he act any different. I was a nobody yet here I was sitting in Jin’s room while he dressed my wounds with such care that left me feeling wary and highly uneasy. The sensation of his hand wrapped around my injured wrist had me flinching at the barest sensation of our hands touching. And it was not in a good way.

“Hold still!” he ordered, tightening his grip around my wrist for good measure and my panic tripled.

“What if he lied to you and this was just an excuse to get you under him?” A twisted voice in my mind whispered. “You’d scream and no one would hear you.”

Instinctively, I tightened my grip on the knife, my palm suddenly felt clammy.

“I can basically hear your thoughts, Fiona.” Jin spoke, meeting my gaze squarely. “I gave you my word that nothing will happen to you.”

“And I told you that your word means nothing.” I replied smartly, resisting the shudder of repulsion coursing my body. There was something hidden in Jin’s gaze. Something off that I couldn’t place a finger on. I just wished he’d hurry up so I can get the fuck out of here.

“I gave you the knife, didn’t I?” he asked softly.

A bitter smile curled my lips at that. “You did. Even though I want nothing more than to slice your throat open, I’m no fool to think I’ll go scot-free. Your mother will murder me on the spot in the most gruesome way possible.”

“Or you could kill yourself after killing me? That’s the only way you’d truly be free, I guess.” He supplied with an idle smile that I didn’t share.

Jin had always had a sick, twisted sense of humor. It was something I had learned the bitter way. Everything always seemed or felt like a joke to him, and I was no different. I could feel his gaze on me even as he tended to my wounds cleaning the cuts with alcohol— I barely registered the stings. I was fixated on bolting out of his room. “Aren’t you done?” I asked, unable to keep the irritation out of my voice.

“Not yet.”

I wanted to slice that indulgent smile off his lips with the knife I held. The gruesome thought brought me a level of satisfaction. But really, I wanted to leave.

“There’s something I feel I must tell you—” Jin began after a long period of silence, setting down the forceps amongst the tiny shards of glass and bloodied cotton balls on the small metal tray before reaching for a roll of gauze in the first aid box, only to be interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

“Jin? Are you there?” Soren’s muffled voice came from behind the door.

“What do you mean? Of course he’s inside there. I can smell him.” Lyn snarked, pushing the door open without warning.

My heart plummeted to the ground and my eyes widened more in fear and less in surprise as the three alphas spilled into Jin’s room.

“Oh…” Lyn said belatedly, his surprise vanished quickly as he narrowed his gaze to Jin’s hand on my wrist, putting two and two together. “I didn’t know you had company.” He said to Jin before sparing me a bright smile. “Hello, Fiona.”

My guts shriveled up and died at the mention of my name spilling from his lips. I swallowed tightly against the lump in my throat then fell silent, suddenly feeling suffocated. Their collective gaze pressed heavy on me, a tight weight on my chest and I imagined for a wild moment making a dash for a window and falling to my death. Better that than being stuck in the same room with these four, breathing the same air as they did.

“Is there something wrong?” Jin asked with a slight frown.

“We were looking for you.” Kai replied. “You were gone so we went looking for you.”

“Well I’m here. Why would you abandon a party held in your honor?” Jin questioned, gently unraveling the roll of gauze which he used to bandage my hand. There was a lazy air about him that didn’t fool me one bit.

“It was also held in your honor too you bastard.” Lyn replied with a good-natured chuckle, striding lazily towards us.

I must given some sort of sign body-wise because Jin held up a hand to halt Lyn from coming closer, his fingers rubbed what I assumed to be soothing circles at the back of my palm.

“Is something wrong?” Lyn asked, sounding defensive.

Jin’s gaze met mine and held briefly before replying to Lyn. “Fiona’s a bit scared of you, aren’t you darling?”

My eyes remained pointedly fixed on the weapon I held in a death grip and fell silent. None out of the four alphas were saints; they were all evil, but I feared Lyn the most. The was something always predatory and sinister about him. His aura was… off.

The soothing circles at the back of my palm ceased as Jin wrapped my wounds with calm focus. I couldn’t explain it— this feeling—not in any way that made sense. There was this tension, this pull, something deep and unknown, that felt nothing like the cold curiosity I’d known as a child when I was an object of their twisted fascination. This wasn’t like that at all. This was a warmth I didn’t recognize, something that stirred beneath the surface and reached out, stretching like fingers toward me.

Was it love? I couldn’t say. It was softer, gentler.

Every glance my direction felt like a secret, something precious and fragile yet dark and morbid. Part of me was terrified of it—this feeling, this vulnerability I didn’t know how to handle. And I didn’t want anything to do with.

What the hell, no!? I shook my head mentally at the thought, dispelling the thought, disgusted and angry with myself for even thinking like that.

Jin lost his patience at last. “Could you leave? I want to talk to Fiona about something.”

Lyn relaxed his hip against on of the pillars in the room with an amused smile stretching his lips. “Since when do we keep secrets from each other? There’s nothing to hide is there?”

A muscle pulsed on Jin’s jaw, his patience was thinning. I could feel it despite the lazy aura he had. What gave off as a sign of his anger was the glare he shot at Lyn. “Leave. All of you.”

Lyn stood to his feet in anger at Jin’s condescending tone. “You can’t do this. You know she belongs to the four of us!” he snapped, the vein on his forehead pulsing in anger.