Chapter 4: The Monster's Past

I can't sleep.

How can I, knowing what I know now? Kane didn't just buy me he's been systematically hunting women who look like his dead mate, trying to recreate something that can never be replaced. And I'm number eight in a line of broken, dead, or insane women.

But Elena's offer keeps echoing in my mind. Help her destroy Kane's obsession, and I go free. Refuse, and I end up like Rebecca dead because I tried to leave.

At three in the morning, I hear footsteps in the hallway above. Kane's back from whatever business took him away, and from the sound of it, he's not alone.

" told you this was a mistake " A male voice, unfamiliar.

"Don't lecture me about mistakes, Thomas." Kane's voice is cold, deadly. "You're the one who let Rebecca get too close to the border."

Rebecca. The sixth girl. The one he killed rather than let escape.

"Alpha, with respect, this pattern of yours "

"Is none of your fucking business." I hear a door slam, then silence.

An hour later, I hear something else. Screaming.

It's coming from upstairs a man's voice, raw with agony. I slip out of my room and creep toward the stairs, following the sound to a heavy wooden door I haven't seen before.

Through a crack in the wood, I see Kane in what looks like a torture chamber. The man called Thomas is chained to the wall, blood streaming down his face, and Kane is holding a silver-tipped whip.

"You let her get away," Kane snarls, bringing the whip down across Thomas's chest. "You were supposed to be watching her!"

"Alpha, please!" Thomas screams. "I didn't know she would run! She seemed happy "

"Happy?" Kane's laugh is pure madness. "She was trying to leave me! Just like Sarah tried to leave!"

The whip cracks again, and Thomas's scream echoes off the stone walls.

"Sarah didn't try to leave you," Thomas gasps. "She died protecting the pack children "

"LIAR!" Kane roars, and this time the whip catches Thomas across the throat. Blood spurts, and the man's body goes limp.

Dead. Kane just killed a man for speaking the truth about his mate.

I back away from the door, my heart hammering against my ribs. This is the real Kane Morrison not the controlled Alpha who bought me, not the grief-stricken widower having nightmares. This is a madman who's rewritten history in his own mind to justify his obsession.

"Enjoying the show?"

I spin around to find Kane standing behind me, still holding the bloody whip. His clothes are splattered with Thomas's blood, his eyes wild with the aftermath of violence.

"I I heard screaming "

"And you came to investigate. Curious little omega, aren't you?" He steps closer, and I catch the metallic scent of blood mixed with his usual pine and leather. "What did you see?"

I could lie. Should lie. But something in his eyes a desperate, hungry need for understanding makes me tell the truth.

"I saw you torture and kill a man for telling you the truth about your mate."

Kane goes very still. "What truth?"

"That Sarah didn't try to leave you. That she died protecting children, not running away from you." I force myself to meet his gaze. "You've rewritten her death in your mind to justify what you're doing to women like me."

For a moment, I think he's going to kill me. His hand tightens on the whip handle, his jaw clenches, and I see murder in his eyes.

Then, unexpectedly, he laughs.

"Very good," he says, tossing the whip aside. "Most of them never figure it out. They just accept whatever story I tell them and try to play along."

"Most of them?"

"The others. Rebecca, Emma, all the rest." Kane moves closer, backing me against the wall. "But you're different, aren't you? You see through the lies."

"Because they are lies. Sarah never tried to leave you "

"SARAH IS DEAD!" The words explode out of him with such force that I flinch. "Dead because she chose those children over our bond! Dead because she put everyone else before me, before us!"

"She saved innocent lives "

"She abandoned me!" Kane's hand slams into the wall beside my head. "Left me alone with nothing but grief and rage and the desperate need to feel whole again. Do you know what that's like, Zara? To have half your soul ripped away?"

Despite everything the torture chamber, the dead man, the seven women before me I feel a flicker of sympathy for the broken man in front of me.

"No," I whisper. "But I know what it's like to lose the person who matters most."

Something in Kane's expression shifts. "Your mother."

I nod, surprised he remembers. "She died when I was seventeen. Cancer. I held her hand while she..." I can't finish the sentence.

"Did you hate her for leaving?"

The question catches me off guard. "What? No! She didn't choose to die "

"Didn't she?" Kane's voice is soft, dangerous. "She could have fought harder. Could have tried experimental treatments, sold everything to afford better doctors. Instead, she gave up. Left you alone with a stepfather who sold you at auction."

"That's not she did everything she could "

"Did she? Or did she take the easy way out and abandon you to face the world alone?" His thumb traces over my cheekbone with mock tenderness. "Just like Sarah abandoned me."

"Sarah died saving children! That's not abandonment, that's heroism "

Kane's hand moves to my throat, not squeezing but threatening. "Don't. You don't get to defend her. You don't get to tell me how I should remember my own mate."

"But you're not remembering her! You're creating some twisted version that justifies "

"That justifies what? Finding someone to fill the void she left behind?" His grip tightens slightly. "Trying to build something new from the ashes of what I lost?"

"It justifies torturing innocent women! Killing them when they don't measure up to your fantasy!" I'm shaking now, terror and anger warring in my chest. "Rebecca didn't deserve to die because she wasn't Sarah!"

Kane goes very still. "How do you know about Rebecca?"

Shit. Elena told me that in confidence, and now I've blown it.

"I... someone mentioned her..."

"Who?" His voice drops to that deadly whisper. "Who told you about Rebecca?"

When I don't answer, his hand moves from my throat to my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes.

"It was my mother, wasn't it? Elena's been filling your head with stories." Kane's smile turns predatory. "What else did she tell you, little omega?"

"Nothing. I don't know what you're talking about"

"Don't lie to me." His Alpha command slams into me, and the truth spills out before I can stop it.

"She offered to help me escape if I help her destroy your obsession with Sarah."

Kane stares at me for a long moment, then throws back his head and laughs. The sound echoes off the stone walls, wild and unhinged.

"Of course she did. My dear mother, always trying to manage my life." He looks at me again, and his eyes are terrifyingly calm. "And what did you tell her?"

"I... I said I'd think about it."

"Smart girl. Because here's what's going to happen." Kane leans closer, his breath hot against my ear. "You're going to tell my mother that you accept her offer. You're going to pretend to help her while really serving me. And when this is all over..."

"When this is all over, what?"

Kane's smile is pure evil. "When this is all over, I'm going to claim you in front of her. Make her watch as I bond with my new mate. And then I'm going to kill her for trying to interfere."

Horror floods through me. "You'd kill your own mother?"

"I'd kill anyone who tries to take what's mine." His hand slides down to rest over my rapidly beating heart. "And you, little omega, are going to help me do it."