The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 7: Chapter 7

I stepped away, staggering into the small bathroom connected to my room, and washed off. It was quiet, outside at least- the voices in my head were a whole other story. They were bashing against my skull and scraping at my sanity. Starved demons begging for the scraps of the little joy I would occasionally allow myself to feel.
Looking in the mirror now there was no trace of mascara or tears, red patches formed on my cheek from the excessive rubbing, but it wasn’t too noticeable.
It looked fine enough for people not to ask questions- which they rarely did regardless because nobody really gives a shit.
My head fell, and I raised my shoulders to my ears when I circled my fingers around the sink, cracking the polished porcelain.
One loud bang sounded in my bedroom- if they broke down that door I was fucked, my mom would kill me.
Another loud bang and the door slammed into the wall, no doubt leaving behind a mess I’d have to explain but they didn’t care about that. I was the inconvenience that entered their lives because my mom was fucking their dad and Noah’s father couldn’t wait to step down the second Noah came back so he could be with my mother.
The carpet under my feet felt like thorns when I ran out to assess the damage but there they were, Noah and Logan, standing in my room and the door wasn’t just latched in the wall by its handle, it was off its hinges and flakes covered the threshold in a puddle of regret- why did I have to lock it.
Logan’s lips pulled back as he stalked toward me, and no matter how badly I wanted to, I wouldn’t step back. This was my house now, I had to live with them, which meant I couldn’t allow myself to be intimidated by their presence or large stature. But it was large. Like, fucking huge.
“You washed your face,” he grinned.
“Nothing gets past you,” sarcasm dripped from my words, and I flickered my eyes back and forth between him and Noah- making sure I left nothing to chance.
“That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble,” he cocked his head, “unless it already has,” that sadistic glint in his brown eyes was what put me on edge. It was the same look he had when he evaluated his victims, assessed which buttons to push, and the response he gained- he was trying to find my weak links.
See, the funny part there is that every single part of me was a weak link, and they slither and form at the center of my core into a fucked-up entity that somehow breathes and smiles like she isn’t already done for it.
But I’ll be damned if I break apart on his hands.
A puff of air left his lungs and his face softened, it was never a good sign when Logan displayed empathy, mostly because it wasn’t part of his nature, which meant he pretended to further his cause.
“Landon came back all victorious after he dragged you off. What happened out there?”
Noah observed behind his brother. His eyes hadn’t left me for a second, but he didn’t step in to stake his position or pry information from me, which meant they were doing what they always did- Logan traps the prey, has his fun with the poking and prying and then Noah steps in when it is time for the kill. I’d seen it a hundred times and yet this was different. I wasn’t a spectator; I was the prey.
I stepped closed and tilted my head back to get a good look at his face and pierce his eyes with my own. That was the look my mother called defiant; it was always responded with a slap that sent me flying across the floor.
Let’s just say that I wasn’t easily intimidated considering I grew up with Satan.
“Why don’t you stop worrying your little head so much, we both know there’s limited capacity up there,”
The soft smile that shadowed his upper lip twisted into a snarl that sent a calming chill down my back. There he is.
I knew these guys; their tricks wouldn’t work on me.
“Do you know what the Alphas learn at the academy?” Logan asked and stepped back. “All sorts of neat little tricks.” He disappeared into the back, his dark gaze glancing at Noah who stepped out from his cemented spot on the sidelines and was now joining the game.
His eyes glowed yellow, choking energy exuded from around him and he dragged his fingers up my shoulders and circled them around my throat.
They rested there with a light squeeze that didn’t obstruct my breathing, but I had to close my eyes, the voices in my head, the searching and bleeding of my mind… everything was silenced.
“Look at me.” The order wasn’t Noah, it was the Alpha. This man would rule our pack, and here he was, playing games like he was still seventeen years old. It seemed that turning twenty-two didn’t guarantee maturity, or maybe his brain is just as fucked up as mine. My hopes of an evolved sense of self with age were withering when I watched him stand in all his glory, about to coerce a truth I didn’t want to tell.
Every day I told myself that it would be different when I had my wolf. I’d be stronger, faster, more dominant, and in control of my life in ways I’ve never been.
My mind turned blank when Noah added pressure to my throat and my lips parted as I gazed into his swirling yellow eyes.
My fog-filled head weighed on my shoulders and my toes curled to find balance. I felt him in me, it sounded weird, but it was like I felt him in my head, in my body, touching my nerves and twisting my consciousness.
“What happened in the woods with Landon?” his words came out in dark growls that probed in the corners where I hid the shit I didn’t want to deal with. One by one he pulled them out, forcing them out of hiding and the words formed on my lips.
“He showed me a sex tape he made of us,” I was entranced by his deep yellow eyes, and I don’t think I even blinked.
“What is he going to do with it?”
“Leak it to everyone in the pack if I don’t do what he says,” my voice turned low and my stomach churned, pushing everything up to my throat.
Noah’s defined jaw clicked, and his brows hunched but his eyes were unreadable. There was no way to decipher the emotions under his mask, but his chest rose and fell with each heavy breath he forced.
My body relaxed when he released my throat, but his fingers rested on my neck.
“We can help you,” he said and stepped back, his hand fell to his side in a controlled motion, always controlled, everything he did was meticulous.
But the loss of his touch awoke the voices that for once were drowned without the aid of alcohol or pain. It was by his presence.
“No.” I felt my eyes harden on the brothers. They wouldn’t help, they would make everything twenty times worse by interfering and if this came out and people found out, I was screwed. I had a plan: Get my wolf, work my ass off in training, get my grades, and join the Auburn Academy. I would return an Elite, lead the warriors, and live as one of the greats. That plan was the only thing keeping me upright some days, I needed everything to go smoothly until then.
Logan joined us and I could read him like an open book, every emotion that swirled in his eyes, like a playground of insanity and his face was too glum to hide his true intentions.
“You realize what he’ll put you through, right? He will continue to fuck his way through the pack, but he won’t wait until you’re broken up. Not when he has this leverage. He will use it over your head until you can’t take it anymore and when he’s done, he’ll release it for everyone to see,” he smiled. “And hear. Your moans will be the pack anthem. I wouldn’t be surprised if he puts the film on a big screen in the town for a drive-through cinematic event.”
No matter how many times I told myself that it wouldn’t happen, I knew that Logan was right. The only reason Landon would pull himself together every once in a while was because I dumped his ass. With this, he knew I wouldn’t go anywhere; it was either my pride or my future.
One thing had to go but I wasn’t prepared to lose either, they were all I had. Okay, maybe I didn’t have a lot of pride, but I was keen on preserving the crumbs that were left.
But accepting help from spawn one and two wouldn’t magically fix the situation- they were his friends first, my help second and I didn’t trust them.
“But then again,” Logan shrugged a shoulder. “it’s not like your mom would care if your name was dragged through the dirt, she already has a comfortable life.” Oh no, she’d care. I wouldn’t put it past her to lock me away and pretend that I died in some horrible accident just so she could gain their sympathy and relieve herself from the shame that is her daughter.
“Let us help,” Noah said.
“At what cost?” I asked.
His lips pulled back in a tense line and a cloud of melancholy circled me as my feet sunk into the floor.