Page 211 of Bliss & Her Idols

“Willingly.” Aran laughs.

Philomena casts him a quailing look.

Aran edges behind his brother.

Philomena looks pointedly at Immortal. “Idol, push your ridiculous hair out of your face and look at me.”

Slowly, Immortal does.

I startle.

Immortal’s eyes are flat and dead in the same way that Jin’s were on the night of the Pack Bonds opening ceremony.

“Your career is over,” Philomena continues icily. Once, I thought Torin was only capable of coldness, but there was a fire inside him that rages hotter than any man I know.This is real coldness.Philomena is destroying a man’s life like it’s nothing. The hairs rise on the back of my neck. “You’ll be locked in the Re-education House in solitary without food. Devin and Aran, no more playing. If I see a single extra mark on him, then I’ll make you put the same marks on each other. And no, that’s not ajoke. Then tomorrow night, a music executive from LA, who has been petitioning me to bond with you for years now, will come and pick you up, Idol. Soon, you’ll be gone and someone else’s toy.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Torin’s Bedroom, Idol Estate

Ipace Torin’s bedroom, as anxiety swirls through me.

How many Idols have been thrown out of the pack as easily as Philomena is planning to get rid of the beautiful Immortal?

Torin needed to force Jin outside by the scruff of the neck and away from the glass mirror that looked through into the dance studio.

Jin’s expression had been murderous, as if he’d been about to shatter the wall and use the shards to slash Philomena’s throat.

I didn’t blame him.

Philomena had been talking about a forced bond.

It’s everything that I stand against — what she intended to do to Jin, if Cricket and I hadn’t been able to match up with Torin and win Jin in the Pack Bonds contest.

“Calm down.” Torin shook Jin, before shoving him against the building’s wall. “You can’t ruin the entire plan now.”

“But Zero…” Jin sounded wrecked.

“We’ll break him out. If he’s in solitary with no food, then no one will notice that he’s gone missing.” Torin twirled to me. “Return to the manor and make sure that Cricket is safe. It will be less suspicious if my Omegas are in my bedroom, in case anyone checks. If we’re all missing, then it’ll set off red flags.”

“But what if you don’t come back?” I grasped onto his arm.

Torin’s smile was sharp. “I will. And when I do, we’ll finally be able to introduce you to our best friend. Then together, we’ll kick my siblings’ asses and free every Idol.”

Cricket is dusting the furniture with focused concentration like housework is his safe space.

He’s dressed in nothing but a pair of black briefs and an oversized white shirt, which hangs to his thighs because his borrowed pants were so loose that they slipped off him.

He looks adorable.

I wasn’t sure whether I would hurt his feelings or boost his ego by telling him that I’d love to always see him walking around in nothing butourAlpha’s deliciously scented large shirt.

Cricket has good legs.

I sigh, when my phone vibrates again.

It’ll be another panicking text from Piper. The threat to Immortal being force bonded has hit my younger brother harder than I thought it would.

I should have realized that Piper feels that Immortal is his Beta, as much as I’ve felt for years like Jin is mine.