Page 50 of Queen of Diamonds

I gritted my teeth, not showing any tears to Zed.

I was never going to see them again.

Shoving the thought away, I scrambled for a solution. This was bad timing. Even if I escaped them, I couldn’t access my bank. Ace might be watching. The rest of my money was hidden back in my room, which might be being watched. And if, by some miracle, I managed to escape here and get hold of the drugs, what then?

Find a safe hole to crawl into and pray no side effects hit—ones Jade would treat if they came up—heat fever or SRS were no joke. Fever I might be able to ride out, but unmanaged Sedation Rejection Syndrome could kill me if I was more than halfway through the heat. Those sorts of things were rare, though. Were they rare enough that I could risk it once?

“They might be tracking you,” Zed said at last into the tense silence. “But I can get Kyan to put an insurance claim through without tripping any?—”

“Can he get my money from my bank?” I asked.

“Not easily, not if they are watching. Insurance will be safer?—”

“There is no insurance.” I winced when the words tumbled out.

I desperately ran my fingers through my hair, then realised how crazy it made me look. He narrowed his eyes, and I hated the million calculations that flashed across his expression as he digested that.

Another silence stretched, and I felt more vulnerable than I ever had—like he was seeing through everything and looking right at who I really was. The broken, lonely, terrified Omega who’d stumbled from Ace’s mansion all those years ago, still feeling the aftershocks of what my body had suffered in that place.

“We’ll get the meds,” he said.

I frowned at him, unsure if I was relieved or pissed that he was offering to bail me out. But there was one thing that made me pause, that made it impossible for me to take my gaze from him. First, it had been Knight, now Zed; the truth was unavoidable.

My mates wouldn’t abuse my heat.

I took a breath, finally forcing out a bitter laugh so I wouldn’t burst into tears. The universe played some twisted jokes, sometimes. “You parked your beat-up old truck in murder-alley, I don’t think?—”

“Parking is a matter of principle,” he snapped. “We can afford the fucking meds.” He dropped his folded arms and took a step back to the door. “Eat and get dressed. I’ll be back.”

“Back?”

“You said you needed to get out of this room.”

“What does that mean?”

He just gave me a cold smile, before he slammed the door behind him.

18

ZED

Ireturned later that evening, slipping into Glade’s cell to find she hadn’t got dressed at all. Still wearing no pants, she’d reduced her outfit to a lacy tank-top-like thing with cups that pressed her full breasts into obscene cleavage. Other than that, she wore a pair of black panties and a thin silk night robe.

I tried really hard not to stare as she peered up at me from the mattress with an icy smile on her face.

“Why are you dressed like that?” I asked.

“These are my only nightclothes,” she said, as if it were obvious. “Usually, I dress down, but Kyan packed my bag, so…” She shrugged. “If you plan on taking me out somewhere, you might draw a bit of attention.”

“Fit right in on The Strip,” I said coolly.

“Are we going to The Strip?” she asked.

I laughed. She’d sorely misunderstood the meaning of my earlier statement. My issue was that I didn’t trust Kyan one bit, and the spare key to this room was predictably missing.

“Get up,” I said.

She looked like she was considering ignoring me, but finally got to her feet.

---