Page 6 of Branded By Shadow
We emerged in the Omega Suite deep beneath my estate. Designed to calm, rather than threaten, it had been built after the preferences Persephone herself had left behind. Or at least, so I hoped. It was probably nowhere near as welcoming as Hades’s queen would have preferred, but that, only a real Omega could do.
I laid Dr. Ellis carefully on the bed, noting her steady breathing. Alexander could mobilize political resources, call in favors, involve human authorities. But House Hades had perfected the art of making valuable things disappear.
She was mine now. Soon, her heat would break through the failing suppressants. And she would understand then what Alexander had tried to steal from her, the choice of which Alpha would provide for her first.
House Zeus might win through lies and manipulation, but House Hades understood the simple truth of possession.
3
Captive
Cora
Someone had touched me. The moment I opened my eyes, the knowledge hit me, brutal and undeniable.
I bolted upright in the unfamiliar sheets, the slide of silk against my bare legs foreign and expensive. The outfit I’d chosen for the conference was gone, replaced by a delicate nightgown I’d never seen before. A cold dread, deeper than any stage fright I’d ever felt, washed over me.
My hands instantly flew to my neck. It would have been so easy for an Alpha to claim me while I’d been out cold. My stomach turned as I processed how vulnerable I’d been, how completely at someone’s mercy.
A bright purple bruise was on my upper arm, and I still felt a little light-headed. But there was no mark on my neck, nothing to hint I’d been violated in the worst possible way.
I took a few moments to catch my breath, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. “Hello?”
The word came out weak, swallowed by stone walls that gave nothing back. “Is anybody here? Can anyone hear me?”
Still nothing. The silence was absolute, a dead weight in the air. I snapped my mouth shut, feeling like one of those idiotic horror movie heroines who practically dared the villain to come find her. Clearly, whoever had brought me here had no intention of helping me. It’d be up to me to get out.
I forced my weak legs over the edge of the bed. My bare feet sank into carpet so plush it had to cost more than my entire year’s rent. Everything here screamed money and power, the kind that didn’t just buy silence, but erased the questions entirely.
A door stood across the room and I stumbled toward it, a fragile, stupid hope fluttering in my chest. I reached for the handle. It turned easily under my grip, swinging open to reveal… a bathroom. Wonderful.
The space looked like something from a spa magazine, all gleaming marble and a shower big enough for four. The counters were lined with expensive products, still sealed. Someone had prepared this cage with meticulous care, stocked it like they wereexpecting a pampered guest instead of a prisoner. The thought was somehow more chilling than a bare cell would have been.
I spun back to the bedroom, my chest heaving with a mix of panic and exhaustion. On the other side of the room, I spotted another, heavier door. Sheer spite carried me there. I grabbed the second handle and twisted it.
Locked solid.
“Dammit!” I slammed my palm against the surface so hard pain shot up my arm. The door didn’t even rattle. It didn’t give me a single shred of hope.
Something inside me shattered. I tore through the suite, yanking open every drawer, every cabinet. Nothing useful appeared, just beautiful furniture and soft fabrics. Nowhere to go and no way to call for help.
The windows were lies, floor-to-ceiling screens playing forest scenes with a resolution so perfect it was scary. Just another layer of meticulous, soul-crushing deception. Complete panic finally broke through my shock, and I crumpled to the floor. Hugging my knees to my chest, I tried to think through the terror. The walls seemed to close in tighter with each breath I managed to take.
Movement in the corner froze every muscle in my body. One moment nothing occupied that dark space, and the next, a man stood there. Tall and broad with dark hair and pitch-black eyes, he exuded power through every pore. His expensive suit fitperfectly across his shoulders in that way only an Alpha could ever pull off.
I scrambled backward across the carpet, trying to put distance between myself and this new threat. The bed frame stopped my retreat.
He tilted his head at me like a curious bird, but his face remained completely unreadable. “You’re awake. Good.”
Three words in that deep voice, and the memories came flooding back. The conference. Alexander Stormwright and his supernatural charm. This man intervening, stepping in before Alexander could pull me away. Shadows and lightning, his arms, and then… Everything going black.
“Damon Blackwood.” I grabbed the edge of the bed and hauled myself upright. “You’re the one at the conference…” My mind fumbled for words, for a way to describe what he had done. Instead, I settled on, “Where am I?”
“You’re in my estate,” he answered. “The Omega Suite. I brought you here after the incident at the pharmaceutical center.”
The casual way he said it made my stomach turn. Normal. As if people got kidnapped and woke up in luxury prisons every day. “This is absurd. You can’t… You can’t just bring me here without my consent.”
He arched a brow, the unspoken “Can’t I?” hanging in the air between us. “Alexander Stormwright was claiming you,” he answered. “I stopped him.”
