Page 25 of Rogue & Her Hunters
“I did.”
Fiorella tilts her head. “You aren’t going to beg for mercy…?”
“It wouldn’t work.”
“You always were an emotionless, strange one. An ice queen born without a heart. You’re right. You revealed your power to our enemies. It’s out of my hands. Damio has been on the phone with me, and I’ve never heard him so enraged. He’s not offering a bond match anymore. Now, he wants us to hand over Mars as a Rut Alpha…”
I twist my chin out of her grip. “No.”
I glance at my brother, who looks like he’s going to be sick.
A Rut Alpha has the lowest status in a pack. They are much like Nico, the Breeder Omega.
Mars would have been shamed before, but as a Rut Alpha, his life would be hell.
“If I don’t hand him over,” Fiorella says, “then Damio has threatened to tell the authorities that we are harboringyou. The entire pack will be executed.”
Now, I feel likeIwill be sick.
I raise my chin.
There is only one solution.
I hate it.
Why couldn’t Fiorella simply have torn out my throat? Quick and easy. I’ve been expecting it for most of my life.
“We both know that there is one way out of this. You hand me in to the authorities first yourself.” I straighten my shoulders. “Then the pack will be safe. You can pretend that you didn’t know about my powers.”
To my shock, Mars picks up the bowl of chicken broth and hurls it at the wall. The bowl smashes, and the broth sprays across the room.
I don’t even flinch.
I’m numb.
This is my nightmare.
Every night that I read and memorizedThe Rogue Scare: Dark Myths, Fables, and the Hunts,I have been terrified of my hidden identity being discovered. Then of being locked away because of it.
Fiorella has controlled me by holding this fear over me.
Strangely, there is a sense of freedom in the worst finally coming true.
The secret is out.
I can be who I was meant to be.
No more hiding.
“It was me who wasn’t good enough.” Mars is breathing hard. I know that he must be in agony. The cover has been pushed down, and red is blooming on his bandages, where his stitches have been pulled out. “I was the one who was rejected. I take ownership of this. It wasmyfault, not Ro’s. Send me to the Billionaires. But don’t you fucking dare make my sister do this.”
“What did you call her?” Fiorella demands.
“My sister,” Mars replies with a pride that makes my chest warm. “One of us is being sent away today, so I will finally claim her as my sister publicly. What’s the point in hiding it?”
Fiorella huffs a laugh. “Finally discovered your knot, huh? A little late now.”
I could place a bet that Fiorella wouldn’t allow me to address her asMom, despite her intending this to be the last time that we see each other.
