003 | THAT'S MY SECRET

Scarlett’s POV

“It’s not a trick,” I snapped – only to immediately feel the hot rush of blood warming my cheeks and neck. My gaze dipped to the floor again, and I waited for my punishment to come. What would it be today? A kick? A smack? A punch?

“I don’t know what’s happening here,” said Enzo, his tone so cold I almost shivered. His hand wrapped tightly around my bicep – too tightly, hard enough to bruise – and he yanked me a step away from Alpha Ryker. “But I don’t want a mate that can’t shift.” He scoffed. “I’ve never heard of anything like that before. Are you sure you aren’t lying, Ryker? Do you want to keep her for yourself?”

He tugged me further back. I wanted to squirm free, but I let him manhandle me where he pleased. I’d been Ryker’s servant long enough to know that fighting back only hurt more in the long run.

“I’m not lying.” Ryker’s lips curled up into a sadistic grin. “Go on, Omega,” he purred, “shift for him. Prove me wrong.”

“I – I can’t,” I whispered, shame crawling up my spine. 

Enzo laughed, but the sound died on his lips. “You aren’t joking?” he said, and at last I looked up, both desperate to see and terrified of seeing if understanding or hatred shaped his features.

He was handsome. Strikingly so, in a way that was definitely intimidating and bordering on scary: he was so tall that he towered over us both – not that that was hard with Ryker in the room – with his black eyes narrowed and his full bottom lip pulled between his neat white teeth. The expression made his cheekbones look like those carved into an old Roman sculpture, set above a jaw and chin that were proud and strong.

Fuck, I wanted to go with him. I’d felt a glimmer of hope as I’d packed, haphazardly throwing my small selection of belongings into a single case. The bond pulsed between us; it was hard to ignore the compulsion to pull his mouth to mine, to rip his clothes from his hard-muscled body – 

“You aren’t joking,” he said again, a confirmation rather than a query. His face fell. “What am I going to do with a mate that can’t shift?”

His eyes flickered to mine. They were nothing like they’d been before: all the gentleness and warmth had been stripped from them. They were no longer the eyes of an enamoured stranger. They were the eyes of a man who had been wronged.

My breath snagged in my chest. “I can fight in this body,” I said, desperately trying to stop my voice from wavering. “And I can organise, and strategize, and plan–”

Ryker snorted. “She’s lying, Enzo. She’s no Luna. She’s an Omega, for God’s sake. All she’s good for is cooking and cleaning – and even then she’s no Nigella Lawson.”

Enzo frowned. “Nigella Lawson?”

“A human chef,” I muttered, fixing my gaze on my feet. My trainers were wearing through at the soles and toes. I’d been stupid to ever feel hope. This was all my life would ever be, now: Alpha Ryker and his cruelty, and horrible, old sneakers that I’d never be able to replace. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I don’t concern myself with human affairs,” Enzo drawled. Ryker shifted his weight uneasily, opening and closing his mouth without saying anything. Before he could speak, Enzo cut him off. “I’ve been tricked. I don’t know if you’re at fault, Ryker, or if this is all the work of your Omega.” 

He glowered at me, a muscle ticking in his temple. I forced myself to hold his gaze, unwilling to break before him so easily. If I wanted to prove that I could be any sort of a match for him, then I couldn’t fold at this. I couldn’t.

But as his dark eyes tightened, I started to wonder if going with him was the salvation I’d believed it to be. Alpha Enzo was renowned to be the cruellest Alpha in any of the four Wolven Realms – he made Ryker look like a puppy. 

“It’s all her, I assure you.” Ryker arched an eyebrow at me. “She means nothing to me. What use do I have for a wolf that can’t shift?”

“Exactly,” Enzo deadpanned. “And what use do I have for her either? You must want to get rid of her. Or maybe she is just so very bored of you and your strutting,” he paused, looking down at him and smirking, “poor little Alpha Ryker.”

Ryker squared up to him, his cheeks flushing bright red. “You can’t talk to me like that. Not in my own territory.”

“And yet I just did.” Enzo shrugged. “I’ll be taking the Omega with me. I can’t punish you without proof, little Ryker, but I can punish her.”

I pressed my lips together. Hard. I wouldn’t make a sound. I wouldn’t even let my face crumple. I’d survived before – so I could survive this. I hoped I could, anyway.

But what other choice did I have?

Alpha Enzo looped an arm around my waist. It took everything in me not to shudder. He still smelt like crisp night air and cedar and sea salt, like my mate, but it was turning sour in my lungs. Every inhalation made tears swell in my throat and prick at my eyes, but I refused to cry. 

Sure, my life was about to go from the pits of Hell to something somehow impossibly worse – but I wouldn’t cry. At least, I wouldn’t cry in front of them.

“No.”

I looked up, surprise pulling my brow taut. Ryker was… What was he doing, exactly?

“No?” Enzo’s lips twitched. Mine responded in kind – and what was I doing, exactly? This man – my mate – wanted to take me away to punish me. And here I was, grinning like an idiot at a joke he’d not even made.

“That’s what I said, isn’t it?” Ryker stepped forward and shoved Enzo on the chest. Enzo didn’t even flinch. “I said no.”

“You just said you had no purpose for a wolf that can’t shift.”

Ryker’s mouth flapped uselessly. I felt smug for all of two seconds before he turned his glare on me.

“Don’t you smirk at me, Omega. I’m doing you a favour.” His fists clenched at his sides. I shrank back in on myself, shame at my cowardice rolling in my belly and making bile rise in my throat.

“How, exactly?” Enzo sounded amused. Too amused.

For once, it seemed like Ryker and I were on the same page. My lip curled at the thought. “Is this a joke to you?”

“Well, where do I begin?” Enzo yanked me back to him. My heart raced at the contact, even as my mouth tried to pull into a scowl. “I’ve come to your Mating Ball – only to find that you and this Omega have tricked me into thinking my mate is this useless scrap of a thing that can’t even shift. Now, I wish to leave with it,” he looked down at me then, with such disgust in his eyes that my stomach clenched, “and administer my own punishment. And you,” he arched an eyebrow at Ryker, “are trying to stop me? Let me leave with the Omega, little Ryker – else you’ll regret it.”

“Fine,” Ryker scoffed. “Take her. Punish her. God only knows she deserves a beating after all she’s put us through tonight.”

I stared resolutely at the space between his eyebrows. His skin had turned an ugly shade of puce and spittle clung to the corners of his lips. If he’s the frying pan, then I’ll gladly take the fire, I thought. Enzo might be scarier than Ryker, but at least he’s handsome. It was a slim consolation, but a consolation nonetheless. And I damn well needed to find a positive to focus on.

“Come on,” Enzo said flatly, grabbing my case with one hand and me with the other. “I’ve wasted enough time on you tonight. Let’s go.”

I glanced back at Alpha Ryker as Enzo marched me away from the Desert Oak pack. It hadn’t felt like home to me in a long time but, as I was faced with the reality of leaving it behind for the unknown of Enzo’s territory, my heart broke anew – and it threatened to break me along with it.

* * *

We walked in silence to the portal. I wrestled my emotions away, keeping my expression neutral and my breathing calm. As we neared the portal, however, it became easy to keep my feelings in check.

I’d never been allowed to come near it before. My parents had warned me to stay away from it as a child with hyperbolic cautionary tales, and Ryker had told me I’d find no better home than the one he provided me with. As Ryker’s slave, I’d chosen to bend the knee rather than risk suffering through more of his punishments.

Purple-gold light filled a large onyx rectangle. It shimmered and darted across the space, both real and unreal at once, glistening like morning dew as the light rolled in waves down its own surface.

I opened my mouth to speak, lost in its beauty, but I slammed my lips shut before I could. 

Enzo slid his hand down from my bicep and gripped my hand instead, pulling me to a gentle halt in front of the portal. His hand – it was trembling. “Are you all right?” he murmured.

I flicked my eyes up to meet his. With his cheekbones and jaw cast in the ethereal purple light, he looked more striking than ever. “I’m fine, Alpha Enzo,” I whispered, embarrassed to hear my voice catching in my too-thick throat.

“I’m so sorry.” His chin dimpled. “You have to know I didn’t mean any of that, right, Scarlett? You are my mate, wolf or not.” His palm came up to caress my cheek. “I just needed a way to get you away from Ryker,” his nose wrinkled as he said his name, “and that was the only way I could think of. I don’t know what’s happened between you two, but I know it isn’t good.” His expression darkened, and his palm quivered against my flushed face.

I frowned. “You – you didn’t mean it?”

“Of course not.” His eyebrows pulled taut. “I would never hurt you. But… he has, hasn’t he?”

I gulped. “No,” I lied. I didn’t know why. I shook my head. “You really don’t mind?”

His fingertips toyed with the curve of my jaw. “No. You’re everything I want and more. I don’t know how I know. I just… do.”

My lips pulled hesitantly into a small smile. “Yeah. Me, too.”

He wrapped me in his strong arms, holding me close. “You can’t tell anyone else, though," he whispered. "My pack has a reputation. I have a reputation. I don’t think my wolves will take kindly to you if they know the truth. Wrong as it is for me to ask you of this, you have to promise me, Scarlett. Don’t tell anyone that you don’t have a wolf.” He pulled back, dropping his gaze to mine; it smouldered, so intense that I felt my core heating. “Please?”

I nodded, dazed. “I won’t tell anyone.”

He nodded, his jaw going slack with relief. “Thank you.” He dropped a kiss to the top of my head; I shivered lightly, pleasant tingles rolling in waves down my spine. “Come on.” He took my hand in his and squeezed. “Let’s go home.”

I glanced back one last time, my chest aching at the memories of my family that I was leaving behind. Enzo waited, his hand steady on mine.

And then we stepped forward into the portal as one.