Keeping Their Dark Rose by Jessica & Jane

Chapter 16

However, it makes me wonder how I will get my hands on my suppressants. I have some back at the caravan. I knew I should have taken them before we left. But I had been rationing them, trying to make them last. I haven’t had any in days. I was waiting for the withdrawals to get bad. I never trusted Drake. He could be cruel. Last time I withdrew, we hit the warehouse, but Drake gambled every scent and left me withdrawing on the floor.

He almost sent me into heat. He’s lucky I didn’t shift. Not that he would allow that, he always comes up with a way to get my pills before that happened. A shudder runs through me at the thought of what he made me do to get them. The pharmacist’s son is a sick ba stard.

The last thing I need is to go into Heat around my stepbrothers, who hate my guts. I doubt they’ll let me leave to go get some, and if I ask, they’ll question why I am taking them, which I know won’t go down well. They’ll force my heat and make me shift, then use my own instincts against me.

Even now, I can feel the pain of withdrawal creeping up on me. Clawing at my skin and making my hands tremble as I tuck them beneath the blanket that is wrapped around me.

I know that I need to find more soon that and the suppressants. Going into heat around Ethan and Max would be a horrible thing. They were alphas, and I was an omega. They would mark me and mate with me, and I would have no control over anything in my life anymore.

At least with Drake, I could pretend like I had some control. With my step-brothers, that would all be gone. They would take over every part of my life. Keeping me under lock and key if I were mated to them.

“Rose.” Max says my name, pulling me out of my thoughts. “You don’t need the descenter around us. I’ve always liked your scent… I missed it.” His lips tilt into that handsome half smile that shouldn’t make my heart flutter, but it still does, even

after all this time.

“You’re supposed to like my scent. You’re an alpha. I’m omega, which is exactly my point,” I whisper, sucking my lower lip between my teeth. “I’m an omega.”

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“It’s not just that, Rose, I-” He starts to say but stops himself.

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“Forget it. Come down to breakfast when you’re hungry. Or don’t, they can always drag you downstairs.”

Turning away, he leaves the room, and I let out a shaking breath. There are some things that I don’t want to talk about, and the descenter and suppressants are one of them. It’s not something I want to share with him. He’s been away from my life for too long, and I don’t want to burden him with my problems. But soon I won’t have a choice if I can’t get away.

I was already running low, and now I don’t have any of it with me. The few pills I had left were back at Drake’s.

That is just one of my worries. My stomach growls, and I know that I can’t put off breakfast. I can’t hide here, well, I could, but we didn’t eat yesterday and the allure of food is almost enough to make me welcome facing Ethan and his mate.

Almost.

I still don’t know how much Colt hates me for sending Ethan to prison and betraying all of them. It wasn’t like I wanted to, but I had no other choice.

Pulling the covers back, I look down at the gauze covering my thigh. The wound aches but the pain pills help some and slowly, I swing my legs over the side of the bed. I carefully place my foot on the ground and push myself to stand. Letting out a hiss as pain lances through me, making my head spin.

Reaching for the headboard, I steady myself as I breathe through the pain. It will heal. It’s just going to be slow. I couldn’t shift when we were in the city, not when I knew that anyone who looked at me would be able to tell that I was an omega.

My wolf was smaller than most, weaker and better able to appeal to an alpha’s more dominant side. They would want to protect me. It is in their DNA.

That wasn’t what I needed. I already knew what alphas were like. I had seen how my father had treated my mother, how everyone around her viewed her as weak. I wasn’t going to be the same. It was better for everyone if I kept taking the suppressants and used the descenter.

At least that was something that I could control.

I slowly made my way to the bathroom, resting my hands on the cool marble

Chapter 16

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countertop before I turned on the taps. Letting the water warm up as I looked into the mirror. I grimace at my reflection; I look like hell.

My skin was pale. Far paler than it should be from the blood loss. There is a bruise blooming across my cheek, and my lip is split from when Drake struck me. My hair is a mess. It’s tangled from sleep.

Reaching up, I comb my fingers through it. Trying to get it back into some kind of order. It doesn’t work and I reach down, opening the drawer. It’s stocked with a toothbrush and toothpaste still in their package, a hairbrush, and several hair ties, along with a few other toiletries.

They must have it ready for their omega. I hadn’t smelled one yet, but that didn’t mean that Ethan and others don’t have one. Or one that they have their eyes on.

For some reason, that sends a sharp spi ke of pain through my chest. I try not to focus on it as I grab one of the hair ties and pull my hair back into a ponytail. I splash my face with the water, drying it off with the fluffy white hand towel that hangs neatly beneath the sink. It smells like laundry soap, and it makes me long for

a home like this.