Page 42 of The Silver Pact

Ian stands silently beside me, while Ross is beside him. We are a wall of hate, and this bitch of an omega hasn’t even realised it. Dylan, Onyx’s omega, has a hand on her shoulder like he’s anchoring her or holding her from breaking. Falcon watches from the door frame, his fury making the room inhospitable. Silas and Grayson stepped out at Falcon’s snapped command. But, still, this woman that fate saw fit to give us as ours smiles as she rips away the blindfold and reveals the true wounds that Silver carries. Each word steals the air from my lungs and replaces it with an ache that pushes me towards insanity. It’s all I can do to listen, to bear witness.

Brandy lifts the cup of tea I reluctantly brought her and smiles into it. I see that smile, and I hate her. She thinks she’s won. Sitting in our home, having chased off our omega, with part of our pack standing here dancing attendance upon her. As soon as she’s gone, I want this couch torched. At Ian’s order, I’ve kept Brandy here until Pack Treyfield arrived. I didn’t like it, but I could see his reasoning. She’s too self-centered to realise we’re all simmering in a homicidal rage. A low growl vibrates in my throat as Onyx lifts her own tea cup but sets it down without drinking. I see a tremor in her hands.

“So, you’re telling me my sister was raped a few weeks before the fire that killed my parents occurred? She went to the police, but no one believed her. Even my father? And you know this because your pack told you.” Onyx glances back at Dylan. “I had no idea about any of this.”

Brandy smirks and shifts her weight, sipping from the china cup. I really want to smash her face into it, but Ross is right. We can restore what Silver lost if we play this right. I just hope West finds her in time. Meanwhile, it’s taking everything I have not to strangle this omega in front of me.

“Oh, there’s more.”

“There’s more?” Onyx asks. Her chin trembles, but she manages a smile. “Tell me.”

“Well, there was talk about how you could go to her house to be serviced.”

Onyx turns her gaze away, helplessly looking to Silas. Her face is chalk white. “While I was at work? They came to her while I was working? Oh, my god. Who went to the house?”

“Oh, there was a pack. One of them was at the Omega Meet. You’d know them. Really respectable. And Ryan from my pack. He went there a lot. Said he only had her once.”

I close my eyes. The reason she ran from us has suddenly become clear. We went to the Omega Meet pretending we had nothing, no connections, no money. We wanted love. She needed connections. She needed our power. When her nightmare showed up in real life, she ran straight into the arms of Treyfield.

And they, we all, threw her to the wolves.

“I’ve had enough,” Onyx says in a voice that sounds like Falcon. “Quint, Ian. I’d like a word.”

I follow the beta out of the lounge room. My stomach is roiling. The fear, the pain she must have gone through. I want to set this fucking city on fire.

Shouts come from the room we’ve just left, but Simon Shultz is a professional. You don’t become the Treyfield Pack general manager without some skills. Brandy is no longer our problem. She’ll be lucky to be anyone’s problem. Treyfield will take care of her now.

Onyx turns, her omega standing close enough to touch. He keeps a protective hand on her back.

“Where is she?” Onyx’s stark tone slices through the air.

“She ran,” Ross says quietly. “West is trying to find her. We’ll leave in a minute. But we needed you to hear what they’ve been saying. We want Silver to have her life back.”

“And do you believe it?” Onyx snarls almost savagely. Her eyes are shiny with tears of fury.

I hesitate. “A few weeks ago, I might have believed it, but Silver is honest. The real Silver is kind and smart and wounded. Whatever happened in the past, I don’t think it was her fault, and I believe her.”

Onyx sags. “Me, too.”

“She was going to choose us,” Ian says softly. “At the Omega Meet. She was going to choose us.”

“But she got scared and desperate. Why didn’t she just tell me?” Onyx whispers. “Why didn’t she just let me help her?”

“She tried telling people; no one believed her,” I say bitterly.

Onyx picks up her phone and rapidly fires off a message. In twenty seconds, her phone is ringing.

“I need you to find Silver. No, she hasn’t, no! Look, listen, we were wrong. We need to find her and make sure she’s safe. Yes. It’s urgent,” Onyx says.

“Who did you call?” I ask when she hangs up.

She looks up, her eyes filled with pain. “I called everyone.”

I answer the phone call as quickly as I can.

“Hello, is this Quinton of Pack Vore?”

“Yes. Speaking.”