Page 142 of Queen of Diamonds

Because, no matter what I’d suffered, I wouldn’t trade that for their lives.

It was as freeing, as it was terrifying, realising that.

That I would do it again.

Not would. Will…

I shoved the cruel voice away, trying to believe in his promise.

We’d stayed on that garden bench for an hour, and he’d just held me while the pizza got cold, but I didn’t mind.

I was going to believe him. I had to find a way or I would never nest, and I didn’t know how I would survive this heat—I was far past the safe hormone balance levels for out-of-hospital sedation.

No.

This heat was going to find me, one way or another.

I woke to the vibration of Kyan’s burner phone alarm, as silent as I could make it so the others wouldn’t wake. I rolled over in the dark, eyelids heavy, feeling the weight of one of my alpha’s arms around me.

This was always the tricky part—slipping out without waking them. It was Knight, tonight, and I tucked a pillow carefully beneath his arm and ducked away without too much trouble.

Zed was sleeping chaotically across the bed, and Kyan was buried beneath a pile of blankets and pillows. I made my way to the bathroom, shutting the door carefully behind me before I flipped the light switch.

I blearily cracked the drawer that held the bottle of suppressants, halfway to reaching in when I froze, my blood turning to ice.

It took a long, long time for me to gather the courage to reach into the drawer and pull out the playing card waiting for me.

It was happening again.

Again.

And again.

And I realised that it always would.

This week, I knew at last, was a gift. Nothing more, as I turned the ace of diamonds in my trembling hand, and read what was scrawled across the back.

Found you, Omega. You have an hour to get to the Gilded Lily Theatre without them.

You have one more chance to negotiate.

This time, you’ll give me everything.

It’ll be my name on your back.

49

GLADE

For an hour, I sat curled up in the driver’s seat of the black car I’d taken from the mansion. I was across the road from the large, deserted parking lot of a theatre. It was closed right now, though the doors, I knew, would be unlocked.

But I was running out of time as fast as I was running out of conviction. My fingers shook as I clutched my temple, nausea turning my stomach, a breath of desperation slipping out as I tried to gather myself.

I’d left them again, sleeping in our bed. I hadn’t had much time to consider, knowing they could wake up any moment. But in the end, there was no choice.

Tears leaked down my cheeks, terror and hormones colliding like a storm.

“I don’t…” My voice cracked as I hugged myself. “I don’t want to leave…”

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