Page 99 of Feeling the Heat: Part Two
“No.” I should try to run, but I can’t get my limbs to move. Everything inside me is shutting down as panic makes my vision tunnel.
“Get on your knees, slut.”
The alpha bark snaps me back to my senses. Rather than compel me to do his bidding, it reminds me of River’s lessons. Reminds me that I’m strong enough to resist and that my pack will come for me.
When I don’t listen, Holden blinks at me in confusion, and I spring into action, attempting to bolt past him, but I’m not fast enough. He snags me by my hair and yanks me back. Pain sears through my neck and scalp, then my legs, as the force of it throws me to the ground.
“I saidkneel!” he barks again, gripping my hair tighter as he forces me up to my knees because he can’t make me obey.
As Holden looms over me, the strangest urge to laugh overtakes me. I let it out, not caring how crazy it makes me seem. “You’re pathetic,” I say, glaring up at him. “You can’t get an omega, so you stalk and assault me, and then your bark doesn’t even work on me.”
“Shut the fuck up, bitch.” His slap makes my teeth clack together as pain bursts behind my eyes, and I fall over to my side. I taste blood from where I’ve bitten my lip, but he lets go of me.
I look up at Megan, who is staring at us, pale-faced. I don’t bother begging her for help. There’s nothing there behind her eyes. She’s checked herself out from this horrific reality like she always does.
“Ready to change your mind and do what you’re good for?” Holden asks, voice saccharine. “Because you can either give me what I want or I can take it. You fucking omegas think you’re in control, but you’re not.”
“Neither are you,” I bite back, cradling my bruised jaw.
He lets out a humorless laugh. “Oh yeah? If I’m not in control, then why did you get fired? If I’m not in control, then why have you been hiding away with your whipped pack?” Theevil smile on his face as he kneels down in front of me is clearly meant to terrify me.
“All it took was a talk with my uncle to get the omega cocktease fired because she was a stuck-up bitch who thought she was too good for me. Then a chat with some fellow upstanding alphas to get your story to AlphaNet.”He lowers his voice, and I have to choke back my yelp of pain as he grips my jaw. “I’m. In. Control.”
Rage floods my system at his confession. I don’t care if he hurts me more. I refuse to let this monster think he’s won. I spit right in his smirking face.
He recoils on instinct, and I scramble backward, putting the bed between us as he lets out a murderous sound of rage.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the glint of metal from a half-eaten tray of room service food. I lunge for it, brandishing the steak knife in front of me as Holden advances. “Try to touch me again and I’ll cut off your cock, fucker.”
“That won’t be necessary. He’s leaving.”
For the first time in my life, I’m almost relieved to hear my brother-in-law’s voice.
Holden spins to face Bryce, who holds the door to the room open and inclines his chin toward it. “What? No way. I haven’t gotten what we agreed on!”
Bryce looks down at his fingernails like he’s bored by the alpha’s tantrum. “Not my fault you couldn’t get an omega to behave. Now,get out.” Unlike Holden’s weak bark, Bryce’s makes my omega tremble and has Holden spitting out more curses as he brushes past him and out the door.
Any feeble hope of my sister’s husband not being as much of a monster as Holden vanishes as he locks the door.
He steps into the room, casting a glance at Megan, who is crying again. Bryce sneers at her like her tears are a nuisance,and she stiffens, putting a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound of her shaky breaths and sniffles.
My omega’s panic renews as he approaches me. Unlike Holden, he doesn’t sneer or posture. Bryce watches me with the dead-eyed stare of a serial killer, and any of my remaining rage-fueled courage sputters out.
“Drop the knife.”
The steak knife clatters out of my hand before I can even register his bark.
“If y-you’re trying to scare me, you succeeded,” I say, voice trembling as defeat sets in. “I’ll leave you alone. I’ll never talk to Megan again. Just let me go and?—.”
The alpha’s eyes narrow, and he points at the edge of the bed. “Sit down and shut up.”
I try to fight it with everything I have left, but my omega is too terrified to hold my ground. She’s telling me to listen to the alpha so I don’t get hurt, my instincts betraying me. My stomach cramps as I sit, and tears slide down my feverish cheeks as I silently beg this alpha to let me leave, unable to even whine because of his bark.
“Good omegas don’t speak unless given permission. Don’t worry, you’ll learn.”
My eyes flare wider, and I turn to look at Megan, who trembles and weeps.
“She’s pathetic, isn’t she?” Bryce asks. “Your sister tries her best, but she’ll never be enough for what an alpha like me needs. She understands the rightful order of things. Meg knows how unnatural it is for an omega to live without the protection of a strong, commanding alpha. That’s why she agreed to help me get you here.”
