I gazed into the blue eyes of my tormentor, cool and callous and without one ounce of remorse for the things he’d done—or the things he was promising to do. A whimper escaped me, trapped behind the duct tape plastered across my mouth. His grin only grew wider, his fingers snaring in my hair to yank my head back.

All I could smell was the sour stink of his breath on my face. I squirmed against the chair I was strapped to and growled. His fist cracked against my cheekbone hard enough that I saw stars and I yelped again. “Omega bitch,” Bones sneered. “Know your place, boy. You might be pretty, but you’re nothing but a slut, just like him.”

Locked away in the other side of the house, Dresden’s sobs ripped my chest open. Something thumped against the far wall and Bones snarled, his teeth bared. “I’ll kill the whelp.” His words were a dark promise and I went cold, whimpering when his lips brushed my ear. A chill raced down my spine, but I went still. Compliant.

“Once I get rid of Chance and his brute of an Alpha, you’ll be all mine. I think you’d make a good replacement, a nice warm body to dip my cock in.” He laughed and his breath whooshed hot against my cheek. He slapped it, then drew my gaze back up by grasping my chin between two fingers. “Pretty little slut. Maybe you’ll be the lucky Omega to bear my spawn, hmm?”

Panic gripped me hard, flipping my stomach over. No… I couldn’t stop the tears from welling up and sliding down my cheeks, but I knew they pleased him. His lips twisted into a cruel smile as he patted my still-stinging cheek. “Oh, don’t cry, precious. You’ll learn to love it.”

I woke screaming loud enough that my throat went dry. Strong hands gripped my arms, dragging me back down. Shrieking, I clawed at the sheets in a frantic attempt to get away. “Stop! Stop! Don’t touch me, you bastard!”

“Soren! Soren, hey—it’s me. It’s me.” Arms wrapped around my body and drew me up against a broad chest, but it was the voice that pierced through the panicked haze in my skull. Hunter. Not Bones. Bones was dead. He was gone. I began to shake violently, but Hunter’s lips placed gentle kisses behind my ear between whispers. “Easy, baby. Just a dream. It was just a dream. You’re safe.”

I grasped his arms with both hands and clung to the stag, whose woodsy pine scent infiltrated my senses. “Hunter,” I squeaked out before bursting into noisy tears. It’d felt so real. It always did, though, down to the very smells of that day. I swallowed hard and turned my face to burrow it into the side of Hunter’s neck.

“It’s okay. I’m right here,” he promised. He held me like that until my trembling eased and I went lax in his grip. When I stopped whimpering, he kissed my jaw and made a worried sound at the back of his throat. “What happened, Sor? Was it your uncle?”

“N-No,” I said bitterly. “Not this time. This time it was Bones.”

Usually, my dreams were of Erick and my father hunting me down like prey, their paws pounding the earth behind me as cold rain poured from the sky. Usually I succumbed to their attacks and woke up in physical pain, my skin burning as if their bites were real and not just a nightmare.

I hadn’t told anyone of what Bones said to me that night. Not even Huxley—especially not Huxley. The last thing he needed after being brutalized by a crowbar was for me to unload on him. No one knew Bones’s dark promise. I couldn’t put that burden on my family, not after everything they’d been through, so I suffered it alone.

Now, in the dark quiet of night, it all came bubbling free. “It shouldn’t even matter,” I whispered. “He’s dead. I saw them wheel his bloodied body out of the house, smelled the silver in his blood. I know he’ll never hurt me, and yet I was so damn scared, Hunter. I felt helpless.”

Hunter kissed my temple and cuddled me closer, tugging the blankets up around us. “It’s over. You’re safe here. I’ll protect you from whatever threatens you. I’m right here.” He squeezed me close and my breath caught in my throat at the promise.

Did he mean it, only for tonight? Or did he mean it for good? I squeezed my eyes shut and allowed his deep breaths to lull me back to sleep. My dreams were blessedly empty.