Page 2 of Prey for Me

She licks her lips and averts her gaze, tucking her chin in as if Father will pop out to reprimand us for talking shit. Faith is too meek to fight against this cruel fate. As for me? I’ve long since given up trying to fight against the powers that be. A drug and alcohol-fueled rage was what made me do something as idiotic as I did last night, slapping a bodyguard and kicking another in the nuts.

After a flight attendant refills my flute with champagne, I stare out the window, tipping the glass to my dry lips. It’s hilarious to me that Foxcroft’s not too far away from a much more infamous island, a cruel and unforgiving chunk of rock that used to serve as a maximum security prison for notorious alphas.

“At least we’re going to the better island out here. Do you remember how mother used to joke we’d be shipped off to Providence if we kept acting up?” Faith tries to joke, slurring her words a bit. I guess the endless refills are getting to her. But instead of lifting it, her reminder sours my foul mood even further as I direct my gaze back to her wide eyes.

“Yes. She did, didn’t she? However, I don’t see Foxcroft as much better, considering it’s an open-air prison too. We have no worth in a war between alphas; even our father might not win, which is why he abandoned us, as if we were dead weight andnot his daughters. But, like you said, we’ll make the best of it. We always have.”

Faith’s jaw twists, but she doesn’t say anything else for a while. She knows it’s true just as much as I do. Rubbing her blurry eyes, she changes the topic after a pregnant pause with a bright smile like she’s trained to do. If being sour is looked down upon as an omega, for betas, it might as well be a crime. They’re forced into the happy-go-lucky mold even harder than we are in the upper echelons of society, dominated by alphas and omegas.

“We can swim with the dolphins! I saw that in the brochure Hoku managed to find, since this place doesn’t have a trace of information on the internet. Nothing reliable, anyway. Won’t that be fun?” Faith chimes as I audibly gag.

She cackles as I force a smile. I hate sea creatures. They haven’t done a damn thing to me yet, and I hate them. Father didn’t want to waste money on a private planeanda yacht to transfer us, but because of my phobia, traveling by boat was out of the question. And Faith just so happens to have an intense fear of heights. So flying in our private jet for more than a few hours wasn’t happening without drugging Faith within an inch of her life. And apparently, we’ll be forced to attend some party once we land to introduce ourselves.

I shake my head and snort. We’re two peas in a neurotic pod.

“It will be nice though,” she whispers, suddenly serious, her gaze misty and distant as she cups her eyes and stares at the brilliantly blue sky behind her.

“What will?” I ask softly.

“To be around girls like us. Perhaps a few omega males, as well. It will be nice to be around people who will understand,” she says, with a wistful expression as she leans on the railing, the picturesque views sailing by in a flash.

“Please fasten your seat belts,” one of the pilots calls overhead, and I jerk from a sudden spate of turbulence, the lights flickeringoff as one flight attendant walks crisply to her seat, heels clicking.

I do what I’m told, begrudgingly, and focus back on Faith, who looks slightly afraid. Or maybe disgusted? It’s hard to tell. She locks eyes on something or someone in front of her, off camera, and a loud bang later, she turns her face back to me.

“Faith?” I ask, and her big brown eyes go wide again, which reminds me so much of my own eyes and those of our mother.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I wish we didn’t have to bring these psycho’s along, is all,” she murmurs, and I know now she’s referring to the other elite bodyguards on the not-so-private yacht cruising to Foxcroft.

Father didn’t want to pay for two modes of transportation, despite being one of the wealthiest men on the planet. And ever the bastard, especially towards his beta daughter, he decided to use one of his superyachts as a luxury tax-write off. After all, it’s charity work to ferry other super wealthy omega women sentenced to the island as well. A win-win for him. I can’t stand the fact that she’s forced to be around so many strangers, but it was either that or an emergency landing on the open ocean when she inevitably fainted from the stress of being in the air.

“Back to what you were saying—” she cuts me off.

“It’ll be good, Grace. I can feel it in my spirit. They’ll be like us,” she whispers as I shake my head, “I mean, even if we’re not on the same boat, we’re on the same boat, you know? Maybe they’ll feel the same.”

Always an optimist,I lament silently.

“Look, Faith, don’t get your hopes up. Maybe the betas will be kind, but the only thing worse than an alpha is an omega. The social hierarchy will be worse, not better than before, at least for me. I’m a heatless omega from a heartless family. If we can’t figure out how to make our trust funds stretch, or a way off that island, soon we’ll be penniless too. A beta and a useless omegadon’t have a shot at a happy life,” I try to level set with her, but Faith shakes her head no vehemently.

“But one day you’ll find your pack. I know that for sure, Grace! I have faith that you will. And every year there’s an annual–”

“Open air zoo for us to find a mate. Yes, yes. I believe that as much as I believe in the tooth fairy. Who the hell would take the time to travel somewhere that remote for us? No one worthwhile to bond with,” I say, attempting to reason with her.

I don’t want to attend another matchmaking event for the rest of my life. When we were younger, we were presented as young astento potential partners, the young alpha heirs to industries and other royalty alike. Faith only had to endure one, and the details are hazy at best I imagine as she bored her teenaged match to tears rambling on about unicorns and if he preferred dolls or figurines. There were only one or two business moguls wealthy enough and interested enough to even offer their sons to a beta princess, and then our life fell apart so that was that.

As for me? I had to endurethree,each presentation–as they were called–more excruciating than the next. And worse of all was my thirteenth, when only a day after meeting the boy of my dreams, sharing my first kiss that carried the scent of lavender and eucalyptus, we heard the news of our mother’s untimely demise by the hands of a gruesome killer. Mother’s love. My first crush. My first heartbreak. I recline in my seat and ride out another brush with turbulence, wondering how I can go back to those simpler days. Back when Faith also used to listen to me without question.

No need to depress myself thinking about the impossible, like going back in time. I know well enough that any alpha worthy to bond with wouldn’t be desperate enough to show up on Foxcroft’s doors. Faith’s trying to make me entertain a delusion. And I’m not having any of it.

“But–” I don’t let her finish. I’ve had enough of her sales pitch.

I sigh and wave my free hand after placing my flute on the table in front of me, “Save the brochure speech for Madame Blu, please!”

“Fine, Mistress Wilder, I’ll mind my manners and wait for further instruction,” she says mockingly.

We burst out laughing all of a sudden, the tension dissipating as quickly as it had built. I don’t have time to try and argue with a brick wall. The last thing I want to do is drive a wedge between my sister and me. We’re in this together. We’re all we have, now that Mother is gone. We have to support each other. And more than anything, more than ever before, I have to protect my little sister.

“What’s so funny, girls?” a rugged, masculine voice asks off camera. And it pulls a small smile from me, as Faith looks up at the man like he brought her the sun and the moon.

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