A planet on intergalactic waters, with the combined jurisdiction of the Court.
Dante's voice echoed.
Protected enough to keep her in to be researched on, and yet open enough for them to find her. We will ambush those Titans and capture one alive.
Fucking assholes.
Stairs spiralled down into darkness, smelling of mildew and old salt. And she staggered down them barefoot, gripping the railing like it might kill her; every step echoed. At the very least, she did not have to repel herself down. She'd considered it, had wondered if that was the rope's purpose, only to find the trapdoor on the ground.
They were giving her free rein on the island. The entire place was her prison.
She was beginning to understand their strategy. They must be watching her like some kind of zoo animal in her own natural habitat. She scoffed at that. But even animals need food or water. But maybe that was their strategy too: starve her out so that the Titans, the Lonely, those insects might fly in to save her. Well, whatever it was, shouldn't they have said something to her?
Didn't she deserve a warning?
The worst part of all this was that they put her there. He put her here. She was going through the seven stages of grief, and anger was now thrumming through her veins. Dante's words were the final verdict, the fucking gavel.
Some part of her knew that it wasn't so simple, that there were people to please, politicians to suck up to. She understood truly. But she was feeling fucking irrational, like she deserved something. And his silence in that fucking seat was heavy, so fucking heavy that it weighed on her shoulders. And the others? Her fucking 'true mates'? Where were they? She slammed her hand against the railing with a growl.
They all chose.
Every fucking day, they were choosing.
And none of them had chosen her. Pack or not, claim or not. She understood them enough to know that in that Court, they'd been convinced. They believed that she had used her voodoo, alien magic to seduce them. And all Rue had done was exist. From the very beginning, they were the ones who sought her out. She was the one who ran.
They were the ones who wanted her.
Why was everything her fault?
Why hadn't they fought harder?
And why should they fight harder for her?
She was the one who rejected D, their pack Alpha. She was the one who had commanded him, had used her powers on him. It was all her fault.
You won't smell me. You won't hear me. You won't be able to see me.
In your eyes, there will be no Rue, but you will feel my absence, and you will know my pain.
You will remember my Omega. You will remember that you bit me, and you will remember that I reject you. But you will not be able to find me. Because you're not worthy to be my pack Alpha. You're not worthy of me. You're not worthy of my bite. I reject you, and I will tear your pack apart.
Famous last fucking words.
She'd been so full of herself then. How could she have done that knowing what the Alphas could have done to her? Rue had been so fucking naïve, so goddamn stupid. She was an idiot for trying to protect herself, for trying to spite an Alpha.
She was an idiot for believing she had any power in this world.
She felt a prick of understanding then, a deep wallow of sorrow. Of course, they shouldn't fight for a lowly Omega. They didn't want her that much anyway. Her heart fell then, oddly cracking, oddly depressed. She was being stupid after the whole thing with Edmund. She had seen their despair and had truly believed it was real. That their love was real.
A naïve part of her collapsed then, spiralling into oblivion, crashing into the stars. As much as she shat on the concept, pissed on the whole Alpha and Omega dream. As archaic as it was, the claim was special. And one given by the pack Alpha was supposed to be godly. It should be able to carry lovers through war, through death, through anything. But all it took was one council chamber, one angry papa's order spoken, and they crumbled like dust. Was she that much of a threat? A monster? Maybe that was why she was so fucking mad. It was all because of that true-mate bullshit.
She believed it.
Rue was practically their real pack mate, and had a claim on her neck to prove it. But now the bond felt as dry as a fucking desert, and she was losing her mind. The memory burned her, sliced deep, clawed deeper into her throat. But she ignored it, hope still boiling within. Valentino would save her. Valentino would try.
Valentino said he loved her.
He would come.
He must.
She was fucking spiralling.
She was losing her shit.
But in the midst of it all, what was she? An Omega, a monster, or bait? A tool. She'd lost all self-respect for herself, Rue realised. Hoping for the love and help from Alphas. Dante didn't want her. And Dante was the emperor.
That was all.
Oddly, something within her wailed at the thought. Something hurt, something burned. Her Omega's pain seemed to echo. She didn't need Dante; she had not wanted to be his mate. She had rejected him. She had been pleased by that decision. If she had another chance to refuse his bite, she would have stopped it. But now she felt like she was dying, like she'd had her wings ripped off, guts cut open like a dead fish in the market.
Being alone was her breaking point; being alone made her honest. And the pain was a gaping hole in her chest. Everything that held her up, that kept her going, was ripping apart. The pain remained, glowing in her throat, throbbing, alive. It seemed to surge only harder; it itched at her throat. She scratched hard; her nails gave way to blood.
Alphas left me here.
Alphas are gone.
Alphas do not want me.
I'm not enough for the pack.
I'm worthless.
Rue cursed, fingers sticky. How many Omegas were in packs? How many Omegas were wanted? She had to push through, had to stop her heart from sputtering. There was no telling where she would go from here, what they would do to her. Her body quivered. She couldn't let herself think about that.
She could not let her mind break, could not allow herself to pick apart at her past. She could not think of her regrets, of what she could have done better. She could not think of how badly she wanted to be loved. How much she cared about those fucking Alphas.
For now, she would try to make sense of the island.
She ran when her feet touched the ground. Ran across the sand, lungs tearing, she reached the edge of the trees and pushed forward, branches slicing at her arms, her hair catching in its jagged leaves. She stood now on the beach. The ocean was a deep tar even as it licked at the edges of the beach.
The wind howled. The lighthouse's beam swept over her again, a pale white stripe across her face. She could try to swim. She stepped forward, toes touching the water. It sloshed around her ankles, icy around her skin. It stung at her wounds; the salt hurting raw flesh. It looked disgusting, unnaturally thick like oil. She stepped further. She wondered then if they were looking.
Maybe they were always watching.
A crazy thought burned in her head.
What if she kept going? What if she drowned? She continued forward.
Then it hit.
Something snapped around her ankle. And now it burned. A hard, cold light, bright enough to sting her eyes. It erupted from under the dark sea like the sun's rays. And then it pulled. She was yanked backward so hard she slammed into the sand, her breath knocked out of her as her chin bumped into soft dunes. The ring's glow flared, revealing tendrils of light like chains that sank into the ground.
She was chained to the island itself.
"No," Rue gasped, clawing at the sand, nails digging. It continued pulling. "No, no, no—"
The ring tugged again. Harder. She screamed and dragged herself forward, muscles straining, but the light only wound tighter. It was like an invisible leash buried in her bones. And she knew where it was going; it was dragging her back to the lighthouse.
"Let me go!" she screamed, voice breaking, throat raw.
She clawed at the light, tried to pry it off, but there was nothing there, seamless against her body. Her skin smoked where her fingers touched it. It was hurting her. The leash didn't stop until she was back at the edge of the lighthouse, until her hands had scrapes and her knees were bruised. The glow dimmed and then ceased, leaving behind a fiery ring of flesh around her ankle.
She choked back a snarl.
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