chapter 5

Chapter 5

Soraya

  

"Soraya, stop!" I heard Lucius yell behind me.

  

I didn't try stopping. I hit the front door of the Omega dorms with my shoulder, and for a second, my suppressed strength flickered. The heavy door flew off its hinges. I didn't have time to wonder if the triplets saw. I pulled my hoodie over my mouth and dove into the smoke.

  

The hallway was a literal furnace. I scrambled up the stairs, my wolf, Maya, finally clawing her way to the surface. She was lending me her sight, her speed, her sheer will to live.

  

"Mina!" I screamed, kicking in the door to her room.

  

She was curled in a corner, clutching a pillow, her eyes glazed over from the smoke. I didn't say a word. I scooped her up like she weighed nothing, having this need to just get her out alive and in one piece. 

  

I didn't take the stairs back down—they were gone. Instead, I tucked Mina’s head against my chest and sprinted for the window at the end of the hall. I hit the glass at full speed, shattering it into a thousand diamonds, and we fell toward the grass below.

  

I landed in a crouch, the impact vibrating through my bones, but I didn't break a single one—thankfully. I laid Mina down on the cool grass, a few yards away from the heat.

  

I looked up, gasping for air, and saw them.

  

The triplets were standing ten feet away, and they were looking at me. Their expressions were a mix of shock and something dark and hungry. 

  

They had seen it. They had seen me rip that door down. They knew I was no Omega.

  

"Get her," Silas said, his voice a low vibration that seemed to command the very air I breathed in. 

  

Before I could even twitch, Lucius and Jax were on either side of me. But at least the grab wasn't as rough as it was last time. I didn't have it in me to fight back. 

  

"The school is crawling with your father’s men, Soraya," Lucius muttered, pulling me toward the black SUVs parked in the shadows. "If you stay here, they'll finish what the fire started."

  

"I have to stay with Mina!" I tried arguing, but my strength was fading as the adrenaline crashed.

  

"She’ll be taken to the infirmary," Jax said, appearing in front of me and touching my cheek. "She’s safe. You aren't."

  

They whisked me away, the tires leaving a screeching sound behind us. 

  

They didn't drive us to the dorms or the main house. We drove out past the academy gates, deep into the private woods that surrounded the Blackwood estate. 

  

We stopped at a glass-fronted cabin that looked like it belonged on the cover of an architecture magazine. Of course. Their private haven. 

  

As soon as we stepped inside, I turned to face them, my back against the glass. "You saw, didn't you?"

  

"We saw a girl who’s been lying to us since the moment she walked into our bloody lives," Jax said, pacing like a caged animal. His eyes were pure gold. "You aren't a Beta, Soraya. No Beta moves like that."

  

"It doesn't matter what I am," I snapped, though my heart was racing for a reason that had nothing to do with the happenings of that night. "My father tried to kill me tonight. He’s going to keep trying until I’m dead."

  

Silas stepped into the center of the room, shedding his jacket. Underneath, his black shirt strained against his muscles. "He will. And the academy council is in his pocket. You have nowhere to go, Soraya. No pack, no family, and no law on your side."

  

They began to circle me silently. From their movements, you could tell it's something they did when they were lost in thoughts. Lucius on the left, Jax on the right, and Silas was behind them, leaning against the door, locking it with a soft click.

  

"So what?" I whispered. "I'm supposed to just hide here?"

  

"No," Lucius said, stepping closer until I could feel the heat radiating off his body. "You're going to accept our protection. But we don't protect strangers, and we don't protect servants."

  

"We protect what belongs to us," Silas added, reaching out to tilt my head back. His thumb brushed over the pulse point in my neck, which was thudding like a drum. "The only way you survive your father’s conspiracy is if you have the Blackwood name behind you. You need our mark. All three of us."

  

My wolf let out a low, submissive whine that made me want to scream in frustration. "You want to mark me? Like I’m some kind of prize?"

  

"Like you're our mate," Jax said from the shadows, his voice uncharacteristically serious. "Because that’s what you are, Soraya. Why do you think we haven't been able to leave you alone? Why do you think we’ve been tracking your father for weeks? It wasn't just for the politics. Infact, screw that. It was for you."

  

"Choose," Silas whispered, his face inches from mine. "You can walk out that door right now. You can run into the woods alone, with a target on your back and no one to hear you scream when they find you. Or you can stay. You can step into our arms, accept the mark, and we will burn the world down to keep you safe."

  

I looked at them—the three men who had humiliated me, teased me, and protected me all at once. My father had betrayed me for a title. These monsters were offering me a throne, but it came with chains of a different kind. 

  

I didn't know what to do. I knew that if I stayed, I might never be free again. But if I left, I’d never live long enough to see my father fall.

  

I took a shaky breath and looked at Silas. "If I stay... we do this my way. We kill him together."

  

A dark, satisfied smirk spread across Silas’s face. He reached out, his hand sliding into my hair, pulling me toward him.

  

"It's a deal, baby," he murmured. “You have yourself a goddamned deal.”