Luna
Icalled Astrid's name the second I saw her, stumbling outside and ignoring the breathless, raspy quality of my voice. I'd screamed myself hoarse, not that it had saved me. Anatoly might have disliked screaming, but it hadn't deterred him.
Vomit rushed up my throat as Astrid threw herself down the path towards me, her arms open. The closer she got, the worse I felt. Part of me wanted to go back inside so she'd never know what had happened to me. She must have been able to smell the alpha's scent all over me. Unless the rank odour coming from the house covered it…?
I stumbled forward a step, wanting to hug her so badly, needing that comfort more than I could say, but so afraid that she'd take one look at me and know. My whole body shook when I finally collapsed into her arms. Sucking down gasps of herfamiliar scent, I finally accepted what Priest had told me inside the house.
I was safe.
Tears spilled from my eyes as Astrid murmured, "It's okay, you're okay, I'm here now."
I shook harder when her arms tightened, her worry for me obvious.
"Come on, let's get you home," she said, stroking my arm.
But if we went home, she'd know something was wrong with me. She'd smell the change in my scent soon enough, even if she hadn't realised Anatoly's vile smell covered me yet. It tainted deep inside me, where I could never get it out. All my muscles tightened at that thought.
Astrid had been through enough, and … I didn't want her to look at me the way Priest had upstairs. I didn't want her to call me a victim or say I'd been through an ordeal. I just wanted to go back to normal, and shut out everything that had happened in that sickening room on the third floor.
Priest had offered me somewhere safe to stay on the way down the stairs. The Alpha Knights had a place that was surrounded by an electrified fence and guarded day and night. Anatoly wouldn't get anywhere near me.
I knew I was hurting Astrid by leaving her, but I was protecting her from the truth, too. And protecting my own pride.
I paused when she guided me to the gate, swallowing the lump in my throat when she gave me a look of confusion.
"I'm…" I wet my bottom lip, my mouth dry. "Astrid, I'm gonna go with these guys."
I glanced at the bikers waiting on the pavement, watching the road with alertness like they were a leather-clad army.
"They're your mate's friends, right?"
Astrid nodded, watching me too closely, seeing too much.
My skin itched. I wanted to run, to hide from everything.
"Good," I breathed, swallowing. "Okay. Then we can trust them. They … I can go back with them and stay at their place. Apparently there's a fence and guards and everything."
I tried so hard to smile, to show her the Luna I'd been before I was grabbed in the park and chained to a bed so an alpha could—
"That all sounds pretty damn good to me," I finished, trying to be light. But judging by the brittle quality of my sister’s expression, and the way her eyes were wide with sympathy and dread, I'd done a shit job of it.
"I'm fine," I lied, rolling my eyes as if she was overreacting and not rightfully worried about me. "Really. I won't be gone long. And anyway," I added, hooking my arm around hers, the red of my coat as violent as what I'd just been through.
I guided her past the gate, giving some of the bikers a wary look and making sure they were keeping their distance. I spotted Astrid's mate, and I knew Priest was still at my back, a silent, supportive shadow.
I joked, "I'll be surrounded by big, muscly, protective men. It's not exactly a chore."
That was the old me talking, but instinct told me I wouldn't be at risk with the knights. If I was, Giant would have hurt Astrid by now, and Priest would have taken advantage of me being chained to a bed.
"I'm coming with you," Astrid blurted when I took a step back, and my stomach cramped in horror.
"No, Astrid, I'm fine—" I needed space to compartmentalise what had happened so I could function again. As awful as I felt for thinking it, I needed time away from my family.
Fuck, if Dad ever found out…
No, he couldneverfind out.
"I—ah." Astrid shifted her weight from foot to foot, her face flushing. No, she was already flushed, the stress making her facebead with sweat, too. "I need to go to the compound anyway," she murmured.