They obey without second guessing him, but Colson grabs my hand, needing to keep contact. “I can’t, Darrell. I’m never letting her out of my sight again.” My memory snaps back to when I was taken, it was Colson who was with me when I was taken.
“Well, thats too fucking bad. I need to ask her some questions, and I need you to leave the room. If you want to wait in the hallway, that’s fine. But you will leave this room.” Darrell steps to the side of the bed where Colson sits. “Now.”
Colson looks over at me, his eyes swell with worry. “I’m not going anywhere,” I say, pulling his hand up to my lips. “I’ll be right here, and as soon as he’s done, you can come back.” I offer him a soft smile, letting him know that everything will be fine.
He lets out a sigh, slowly releasing my hand. “I’ll be right outside,” he says, pushing up off the bed and avoiding all eye contact with Darrell.
We watch Colson leave the room, shutting the door behind him. “Hey, little one.” Darrell sits down on the bed and pulls me into his lap, hugging me tightly.I will not cry, I tell myself. “I’m sorry it took us so long to find you.” I feel his chin on my head. “Please tell me that they didn’t do anything to you.” He sighs, I hear his heart beat faster against his chest. “Aside from taking you. Did they…” I feel him take a deep breath.
Is he asking me if they forced me to do anything sexual? Or if anyone touched me?
“Did they force themselves on you?” he asks with a hitch in his breath.
“No,” I breathe softly. “I was just locked in the cage, without food or water.”
“Thank fuck.” He kisses the top of my head.
“I can tell you that I was much luckier than Holland. She was beaten, broken, raped, and starved. For two years.” I feel the lump in my throat, the one that usually appears right before you cry. “She couldn’t be sold or bid on because she wasn’t pure. So Sadie’s father used her every chance he got. Making sure that when she was in heat, she was locked up completely. He didn’t want any bastard children, so she was raped when she wasn’t in heat. He’d beat her if she cried or fought back. He broke her arm when she cried out for help.” The burn in my eyes worsens.
“Did any of the other Alphas in the house take advantage of her?” His voice is soft, but I hear the edges of anger trickling in.
“She said it was only their dad, Ian and Sadie didn’t come down there. Not until I showed up and Sadie brought me down.” I lift my head up to look up at Darrell. “I know everything about what she went through. I had to ask, I couldn’t let them get away with this. She says that they rotate Omegas in, lock them in the cages, rarely feed them, then when it was time for the bidding to start, they’d get them all dolled up and take them upstairs. Holland said that no one ever came back.”
“Why did they keep Holland so long? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad she's back home, but an Alpha would take a ruined Omega.” Darrell seems confused at the idea of them keeping an Omega in the cages under the house.
“She said it's because of who ruined her.” I feel my body tighten, my anger boil. I don’t even want to think about it, let alone say it out loud. I push off Darrell, finding the ground with my feet.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Darrell asks. “Why would who she was with be the issue?”
I run my fingers through my messy hair, catching a few knots in the tangled nightmare. “Because of his father. His father is a powerful Alpha, and the Mafia Alpha needs him gone.”
Facing the window, I stare out at the tree that I’ve used to escape this house numerous times. “Who’s his father? ” I turn and look at Darrell with pain in my eyes. If what Holland says is correct then, Darrell is in more danger than I am.
“You are,” I say, sitting down in the chair next to the window. “It was Mitch. Holland thought Mitch would come for her, but he never did. Then when Sadie’s father learned that it was Mitch that ruined her, and he started putting something in motion. She doesn’t know what it is exactly. She just knows that you are the focus of whatever he’s planning.”
“That’s fine, little one. He can’t hurt me. Now that Holland is out, I can take this to the Council, and we can get him out of the game.”
“Because he hurt Omegas?”
“That and sold them. An Alpha is supposed to cherish the Omega, not abuse and use them. There are laws for a reason. Otherwise Alphas would just rut and force themselves on any Omega instead of trying to find their mate.” Darrell moves toward me, kneeling between my legs, scooping my hands into his. I stare into his blue eyes and see the pain he’s feeling. “An Omega is an Alphas gift from the goddess.”
“We go to Beta Church. Wouldn't it be a gift from God?” I ask with my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“We keep up appearances. I have to remain the face of trust to whomever might need my services. So on Sundays we attend the Beta Church, and then every full moon, I attend the Lunar Church.” Darrell kisses my hands. “I do what I need to keep up appearances. Just like you did after your mother died.” He raises an eyebrow at me.
“I don’t like going to the Beta Church.”
He laughs. “I’m fully aware of that.” He pushes up from the floor. “I’ll get it taken care of, little one. Don’t you worry about me.”
“I uh.” I pause. Do I ask him?
“Say what's on your mind.”
“Did you really go to the Royal Courts?” I interlock my fingers together.
“Sure as fuck did. I wasn’t above walking in there and threatening that damn shit head of a King,” Darrell says, cracking his knuckle.
“Yeah, but you’re not in prison for threatening him. So what actually happened?” I ask, standing up out of the chair.