Page 50 of Capturing Sin

I was already a leashed pet.

Turning from the feast I’d been denied, I made my way stiffly back out.

“What’s the matter, Dozer? Heading off for another nap on the job instead?” a male voice called out, and laughter returned to the small canteen. “Or does the princess not only think she’s too good for alpha squad but to even eat with the rest of us?”

Another male spoke up, “I heard she faked her injuries for attention, and that’s why Leo finally dumped her.”

“Tia told me he’d had enough of picking up the slack from having her in alpha,” a feminine voice replied.

I glared over my shoulder, eyeing the mouthy bastards from gamma squad, and bashed into something hard, bouncing off before firm hands caught me around the shoulders.

I peered up at the last person I wanted to see.

“Whoa, easy there, Dozer.” Leo’s navy eyes scanned me from head to toe as he held me in place. “You look like shit. Maybe you should head back in there, put some meat on your bones.”

At one point, I might have mistaken his words for caring, but the satisfied smirk on his lips outed them for the pure insult they were.

“I’m not hungry, but I am busy,” I said curtly, hoping he’d take the hint and let me go without causing a scene.

Framed in the canteen doorway, we were in full view of the leering hunters.

“You sure? Nobody wants to fuck a skeleton, babe.” He snickered, like it was just a good-natured ribbing between friends. “And you were pretty lifeless in bed as it was.”

His words reached the rest of the canteen, and their laughter followed his. Hoots and catcalls piled onto my humiliation until my cheeks burned.

I gritted my teeth against the urge to slam the heel of my palm into my ex’s nose and watch his blood arc crimson through the air. Maybe if I broke his face, I’d feel less anger over my broken heart.

My head still throbbed from bouncing it off the floor, and my limbs felt heavy enough to drag. It numbed me to the sting of his childish taunts. I was half starving to death, and the other half was being drained by an infuriating bloodsucker.

Ironically, it put a lot of things into perspective.

“Oh no, the two-pump chump thinks I’m bad in bed,” I drawled with feigned nonchalance, shrugging out of his grip as his face purpled with rage. “Excuse me while I go cry myself to sleep over it.”

I brushed past my ex, leaving the mocking hunters behind.

I needed to return to my lab.

But I couldn’t face the demon who waited for me.

Sin.

He’d know. Somehow, my failure would be written all over me and he’d just know.

I didn’t examine why that was such an issue for me.

Instead, I took the cowardly route, gathered my meagre belongings from the lockers, and fled the compound, heading home to the nutritious packet of ramen noodles that waited for me.

My uncle would hear that I’d left early—hell, he’d see it for himself on one of the many cameras he had watching me—but in that moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care.

Chapter 21

“You’re not trying hard enough!”

My uncle’s roar boomed through the tense office, scraping my brittle nerves.

I went rigid in the flimsy chair, knowing the slightest twitch could set him off.

He loomed over the desk, pinning me with an arctic glare. “Do you have any idea how many good men we’ve lost this week?” His voice dropped to a lethal octave that never boded well for me. “Of course you don’t. Too busy cowering in your fucking lab while the rest of us make real sacrifices.”

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