Page 148 of Caged Between the Beta & Alpha
I know, I messed up. Not speaking up was the issue from the start.
“Someone who can walk around with ease... mine was posted under the door when I stepped out of the bathroom that day,” he said quietly.
“Strange…”
“Yeah, so it’s possible it’s someone with ease of access to the packhouse.”
“Yeah, like someone who lives here…” he said. “Mind-link the others and tell them to come help out here. I don’t know, I feel the killer’s at this packhouse.”
I frowned, quickly linking the others to come as I removed the bottom drawer, checking behind it whilst Liam rolled the rug back, checking the floorboards. With wolfsbane in his system, he was far weaker than normal.
“How’s… the darkness?” I asked quietly. He tensed before glancing at me.
“It’s there… growing stronger… but I’m trying not to let it get to me,” he answered.
“Great.”
Fifteen minutes later, we moved to the next room, but I didn’t think a three-hour party was going to give us enough time. We wouldn’t even cover one floor at this rate. The other three had come; Damon was checking the omegas’ rooms on the bottom floor at the back of the packhouse while Zack and Taylor had taken the top floor. We moved on to the next room, not talking much as we worked fast.
“There’s less time, isn’t there,” Liam muttered, unlocking the door to Owen’s room. I wrinkled my nose, hit with the sweaty smell of male musk and unwashed gym wear.
“Yeah, let’s do what we can, I guess. Goddess, it stinks.”
I went over to the drawer and looked around. His room was such a mess, I was sure even if we ripped it apart, he wouldn’t notice. I kicked a discarded shirt to the side as I began opening the drawers. Nothing.
I sighed as I watched Liam move the bed slightly. It was a low wooden bed that was stuffed with boxes underneath. I frowned when I saw the slight pink patch on his shirt, realising it was blood.
“Liam, you’re straining your injuries!” I said, rushing over. I couldn’t smell the blood, but I knew that was due to the anti-scent spray.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not. Care to explain why your back was ripped apart again two days ago?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Liam!” I said, frustrated, and forced him back by his shoulder. He looked up at me from where he wascrouching. “Don’t lie to me!” He looked down.
“It’s nothing.”
“Liam... did you ask for your punishment to be completed?”
“It isn’t.”
“What?” I asked, sitting on the bed as I tried to get better eye contact with him. “Liam, what do you mean?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m just saying I didn’t get my full lashings. I haven’t.”
“Yet you want them?” I asked. My stomach clenched, and I felt sick as I tried to make sense of what he was saying. Suddenly the room felt very small.
“Raven… I need this for me. I can’t be let off lightly. I’m fine. Dad’s even broken it down. It’s not like I’m getting five hundred at once,” he said, his hands closing around my upper arms. The sparks of the bond made my heart calm a little, but it wasn’t enough.
“I told them to stop, meaning to forget about it!”
“I know, but this isn’t that easy, Raven. Why don’t you get it? I can’t live with myself knowing what I did... please,” he said quietly, cupping my face. My chest was heaving as I tried to calm down.
“I told you how to make it up to me,” I said softly.
“And I will, but let me do this for me, too. I need it, love,” he said quietly, looking down. His eyes flashed as they fell on my breasts before they snapped back up to mine.
