Chapter 27

Ollie’s POV

I’m not jealous. No. Not at all. Not even a little bit.

If Hugh wants to go out and sleep his way through every available woman in town, it’s none of my business and I couldn’t care less.

The fact that I can’t sleep that night is entirely related. I keep tossing and turning as my wolf Scarlet paces endlessly inside of my mind.

“This is ridiculous,” I tell her. “We don’t care what he’s doing, or who. It never bothered us before. Why would it now?”

“He is out there because you rejected him,” Scarlet reminds me. “He could be with us right now…”

“After what he and the others did to us? I’m not going near them with a ten-foot pole. At least, not as their mate…”

Despite how much I want to avoid them as myself, I can’t. As an Omega, I have limited rights and will need their permission for almost anything. Yet, even if I had been declared a Gamma, I would still be expected to serve them while I lived in this house.

Until I could move out of the pack, I would never be totally free.

I roll over with a grumble, pulling the covers up over my head. I will find sleep tonight, I don’t care what my silly heart says or how much it hurts.

I repeat this mantra in my mind for another hour, before I throw back the covers and begrudgingly rise from the bed.

Maybe Hugh is back by now. It’s been a few hours. If I head over to his room and see that he’s here, then I can go back to sleep and actually find peace today.

That’s the lie I tell myself, as I sneak out of my door and head to the stairs. I exit the stairwell onto Hugh’s floor and know right away from the darkness and the silence that he’s not home.

He doesn’t keep the same hours as the rest of us. In fact, for a while, I thought he might be nocturnal, sometimes gone all night. It seems tonight is going to be another repeat of that experience – unless he actually is asleep.

It seems like a longshot, but I decide to check just to be sure.

Keeping my footsteps as light as possible, I creep down the hallway, eventually making it to Hugh’s bedroom. The door is cracked, and there is darkness within.

My heart hammers in my chest, being so close to the place where he sleeps. Where he lives. Where he sometimes brings his lovers to dole pleasure upon them which I am very familiar with.

What would it be like for him to lead me into this bedroom, for him to push me down on his satin sheets and tease me like he did in the cabin?

I stretch my hand out, touching the wood of the door. Yet, just as I’m about to push it open, a harsh voice barks out a firm command.

“Stop.”

That wasn’t Hugh’s voice, but Declan’s. The coldness in it sends a shiver all the way down my spine to my toes.

Though he hasn’t touched me, I snap back from the door like I’ve been yanked. Turning toward him, I press my back to the wall beside the door. Immediately, he steps into me, crowding me. I straighten my back, pushing against the wall as much as I can, careful not to touch him.

Declan doesn’t seem to care about that, or maybe he’s enjoying watching me squirm, because he inches closer still. Towering over me, he stares down at me with cold eyes. In the dim light of the hallway, I can see the frozen blizzard in the depths of his blue eyes.

For a long while, he just stands there staring at me, allowing his presence to menace me more than his words.

Then, his voice low and clipped, he asks, “What are you doing here?”

I could ask him the same question, though he has more reason to be here than I do. The brothers can go wherever they want, whereas I have to explain myself when I want to be somewhere I probably shouldn’t be.

While I haven’t been banned from anywhere in the estate, it’s been more understood than not that I have no reason to be certain places anymore. Showing up at random on one of the brothers’ floors is probably a bad look for me.

Especially when it’s Hugh’s floor. Especially this late at night.

My face burns hot at the sudden realization. Is that what Declan thinks? That I’ve come here for some sort of late night booty call. I was the one who rejected Hugh earlier today! Though I can’t tell Declan that.

I can’t really explain myself at all.

“I just wanted to see if Hugh was home yet,” I say.

“Why?” Declan asks.

“Uh… I have something to ask him…”

Declan narrows his gaze. “You are a shit liar.”

My words clog up in my throat. Whatever reasoning I was about to make up gets lost there and I’m speechless for a moment.

In that moment, Declan places his hands on the wall on either side of me. Then, he leans down, his face so near mine. My gaze is prisoner to his. I crane my neck up to look at him. Our noses are only an inch apart.

“Tell me,” he says, his voice low and rough, like he’s furious. “Do you often come to Hugh’s floor in the middle of the night?”

Why would he be angry about that, even if it was true?

“No,” I tell him.

He must be able to see it’s the truth this time, though his expression doesn’t change. It remains hard-edged, the cold in his eyes freezing me over.

I wait on edge for a long few seconds, before with a dismissive chuff, he steps back from me. Immediately, he turns his body away so that he isn’t even looking at me anymore.

“Get the hell out of here. Go back to bed where you belong,” he said.

He doesn’t have to tell me twice. Quickly I scurry away.

Though, strangely, as I rush into the stairwell, a hint of disappointment washes over me.

Had I wanted something else to happen with Declan?

I stay in bed, unable to sleep, staring at the ceiling until I’m called to help make breakfast for the brothers.

I suppose this is my lot in life now. Even more than before, I will be called on to serve the Alphas. While the future seems bleak for me, at the moment, I’m happy just to have something to do to distract myself.

I like the servants too, usually, though they are quiet towards me today. I wonder if this is part of my new life, if no one of any social ranking with want to associate with me. I feel like some kind of pariah.

When the dishes are ready, I’m given Conrad’s plate of pancakes and fruit to take out to the dining room and the main table where the brothers, Sylvia, and Diana are already seated. Peeking out, I notice that Hugh isn’t among them.

He still hasn’t returned from last night?

Fresh worry cooks up inside of me. No one else seems particularly alarmed by his absence, but to me, the thought of him in some kind of sex-addled haze has my entire chest tied up in knots.

One of the servants pushes me toward the door. “Go, before it gets cold.”

Realizing what I’m doing, and what I need to do, I hurry forward toward the table. No one even looks at me.

My chest hurts so much, the pain seems to pang through the rest of my body.

My feet feel sluggish. My strength is leaving me. Everything’s going dark around the edges.

Just as I reach the edge of the table, I start to fall.

I see Conrad move towards me.

Then, nothing.