He Knows Something

+ Medora

I hope I can swallow something down today.

Breakfast was suffocating. I sat near the foot of the massive wooden table. My PJsr swallowed my hands. I kept them hidden in my lap, twisting my cold fingers together. I stared at the porcelain plate in front of me. Two eggs. A thick slice of ham. Toast. It looked like gravel. The rich, heavy smell of roasted meat made my anxious stomach roll over.

Kaz sat at the head of the table. He ate his food with sharp, mechanical precision. The knife sliced through the ham in perfect, even lines. But he wasn't looking at his plate. He was looking at me.

His heavy, dark stare pinned me to the high-backed chair. I kept my chin tucked down. I focused on the intricate blue pattern painted on the edge of my plate. I refused to meet his eyes.

Every time I blinked, my exhausted brain dragged me right back to the nightmare. I saw the thick rope binding my wrists. I felt the rough bark of the pine tree against my spine. I smelled the sharp pine needles and the fresh, hot blood. I heard his rough voice scraping against the dark walls of the hallway, making that terrifying promise to use me up and discard me in the dirt.

Why would a monster stroke to my name?

My brain scrambled for a logical reason. Maybe he was going into a rut. Alphas went feral during a heat cycle. Their brains shut down entirely. 

Their bodies just needed a target to burn off the violence. I was the newest female in the house. I was just the closest biological target he could latch onto in the dark. 

I repeated that to myself. Just biology. Not a threat. Just a random misfire in an executioner's brain.

I tried to focus on the toast. I picked up a silver fork with a shaking hand. I forced my breathing to slow down. If I just kept my head down and played the quiet, invisible Omega, he would eventually get bored and look away.

He didn't look away.

The scrape of his knife against the porcelain plate stopped. The loud clatter echoed off the high ceiling. The dining room went dead silent. Kol didn't move a single muscle by the window. Kenzo stopped chewing his food. The only sound left in the room was the heavy ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner.

"Did you step out of your room last night?" Kaz asked.

His voice was a flat, cold slab of ice. It dropped right into the middle of the table.

My heart stopped beating. The blood drained completely out of my head. The silver fork slipped out of my numb fingers and hit my plate with a sharp crack.

He knew.

He heard my bare footsteps in the hallway. He knew I stood outside his study. He knew I caught him at his absolute most unhinged.

Executioners didn't like witnesses. They erased loose ends. They buried mistakes in the woods.

"I --" I started. My throat clamped shut. It was full of dry sand. I couldn't push the air out. "I just... I didn't..."

Kaz leaned forward. He rested his thick forearms on the edge of the dark wood. The heavy muscles shifted under his skin. He tilted his head a fraction of an inch. "You didn't what, Medora?"

I gripped the edge of my wooden seat. My knuckles turned stark white. My chest heaved. I couldn't pull oxygen past my teeth. The edges of the dining room started turning a fuzzy, dark gray. I was going to pass out right in the middle of breakfast. I was going to die in this chair.

A chair screeched loudly against the hardwood floor.

Kai stood up. He tossed his white cloth napkin onto his half-empty plate. He didn't look at me. He looked directly down the length of the table at his older brother.

"Back off, Kaz," Kai rumbled. His low voice vibrated the heavy silverware. "Give the girl a break. She is hyperventilating."

I dragged a ragged, desperate breath into my lungs. The gray fog at the edges of my vision receded just a fraction of an inch. I kept my eyes pinned to the table. I silently praised Kai. A massive, towering wave of gratitude washed over my shaking hands. He actually stepped in. He stopped the executioner from cornering me.

Kaz's jaw ticked. A thick muscle jumped right under his ear. He stared at Kai for one long, heavy second. A silent, violent conversation passed between them. The air pressure in the room dropped completely.

Kaz sat back. He picked up his knife. He looked away from me.

The invisible chain around my throat completely snapped.

I didn't wait for another question. I grabbed the piece of dry toast. I shoved it into my mouth. It tasted exactly like ash, but I chewed it twice and forced it down my dry throat. I needed to prove I was complying with the rules.

The legs of my chair scraped loudly as I stood up, but I didn't care. I didn't ask for permission to leave the table.

I turned around and bolted out the dining room doors.

Took the stairs two at a time. I listened for the sound of his heavy steps following me, but the house stayed quiet. I reached my room, slammed the door shut, and locked the heavy deadbolt.

I ripped the oversized gray sweater over my head. I threw on a dark long-sleeve shirt and my thick winter coat. I grabbed my canvas backpack from the floor. My hands shook so badly I could barely pull the zipper shut.

I didn't look in the mirror. I didn't care about the massive dark circles under my eyes or my pale skin. I just needed to get out of the house. I needed to put miles of asphalt between me and Kaz.

I unlocked the door and ran back down the stairs. I didn't look toward the dining room archway. I practically threw myself out the heavy front doors.

The freezing mountain air hit my face. It smelled like snow and sharp pine. The black SUV was idling at the bottom of the porch steps. The exhaust plumed white in the brutal cold. The driver stood by the open back door, completely silent.

I scrambled down the icy wood steps. I dove straight into the leather back seat.

The driver shut the door. The loud click of the lock sounded like the greatest thing I ever heard in my entire life. I slumped back against the soft upholstery. My chest heaved with pure, ragged relief. I survived the morning. I didn't get dragged into the woods. I didn't get my neck snapped for seeing something I shouldn't have seen.

The driver put the car in gear. The heavy tires crunched loudly on the packed snow as we pulled away from the stone house.

I turned my head and looked out the tinted window.

Kaz stood on the front porch. He wore no coat. Just the dark shirt. The freezing wind whipped his collar against his neck, but he didn't seem to feel the cold at all. He stood right on the edge of the top step. He was watching the SUV pull away.

His dark eyes locked directly onto my window. He saw right through the tint.

He looked like he knew exactly what I did.

I ducked immediately. I slid all the way down the leather seat until my knees hit the floorboard. I curled my arms tightly around my backpack.

"Just great, Medora," I whispered to the empty car. "On your second day, and you got the lead Alpha on your tail."