Page 11 of Vallaverse: Twist
“Kris!”
Oh god. I can't do this again.
“Kris!”
I told her not to let this happen again. I told her it was too painful. I told her it was too hard on my body and my mind.
“Kris!” My voice breaks, but I keep yelling as I struggle to get up onto my hands and knees. “Kris! Where are you? Kris!”
I force my eyes to open and find the sheets spotted and splashed with blood. It's happening. I can feel him. He's in my head. The nauseating pull is already firmly in place. “Fuck! Kris! KRIS!”
I try to move my trembling limbs. I need to get out of this room. I have to find Kris so she can stop this before it gets worse. Where is she? She's supposed to be within earshot. That's the deal. She takes care of me and protects me from the clients, and I make sure she gets what she needs from their bank accounts. She should be running in here to help me. That's the agreement.
I've consented to a bond before, just a few times. I've allowed Alphas to leave their mark on me, but the cost has always been astronomical, and there was always,alwaysconsent. I agreed to it before I let Kris send me under. There were verbal and physical contracts. I signed them. I didn't consent to shit this time.
I manage to get my arms and legs to propel me forward. I want to leave. I have to find Kris so she can get me to a clinic before it's too late. The longer a bond festers, the harder it is to remove it. And it hurts so much more.
Where is the bite?
I stop long enough to reach a hand up to examine my neck. Not there. Nothing on my wrists. Not on my shoulders. I don't feel anything on my chest. The higher I rise out of the muddled fog of R, the more everything hurts. Genuinely hurts. More than the usual ache.
Where is the mark? I need ice. And a phone. Where the fuck is my phone?
“Kris!” I call again, but it's weak and broken.
My thigh. I can feel it now. High up on my inner thigh. I drop back onto my ass and spread my legs. There it is. Bruised and still raw, pulsing in time with my panicked heart rate. Rage and sorrow beat away the rest of my blurred state. A bite on the neck or shoulder could be explained away as a mistake that happened in the moment, but a bite on the thigh takes thought. It takes planning and cooperation from me. Anything, especially being claimed and marked, sounds like the best thing in the world when I'm on R. That's why Kris and I have the agreement. She protects me from my own stupidity.
The pull from the Alpha leads me out into the hallway, and I crawl toward it, scrubbing my knees on the carpet and then my elbows when weakness forces me to drop down onto them. It feels like it takes excruciating hours for me to drag myself down the hall to the door to Kris's office, but I get there. I raise my hand to twist the knob but stop when I hear Kris's voice.
“There will be an extra fee to have it removed.”
“You never said anything about having it removed.”
She laughs. “Did you think you'd keep him? Don't be stupid. Give me the money. Now. He'll wake up soon, and I don't want to have to explain anything.”
“And if I don't?”
“I'll call the police.”
Now the Alpha laughs, and the involuntary pleasure that rolls through me at the sound makes me gag. “You'll call the police? And tell them what, exactly? The law is on my side. I claimed an Omega, and you're keeping him from me.”
“There's no contract. There's nothing proving that he agreed to your bond. There is, however, miles and miles of paperwork documenting my authority to make the choice for him andprevious contracts from when he did agree to a mark. He didn't agree to your bond, you took it without consent. You will be charged. Period.”
“I'll wake him up. I'm his Alpha. He will choose to go with me.”
Kris laughs again. “No, he won't. He doesn't want an Alpha or a bond. All he wants is to forget his own name, and I make sure he does. You knew the rules when we made our arrangement.”
“I'll tell him.”
“Okay. Then it's my word against yours. Who do you really think he'll believe? I've been dealing with him for years. I keep him supplied with R. You're just some piece of shit who put a mark on him that he didn't want.”
“This is fucked.”
“You agreed to pay the price.”
“One price,” he fumes. “Not an additional price.”
“Pay up, or I will give your name to the clinic when I take him to have your little bite removed. The clinic doctors will relish sending a rapist into the system.”
