Minutes, hours, days, weeks. How much time passes, she's not sure. Ariadne slowly comes to, knowing immediately she's not in a spot where she'd fallen. Dark red drapes to her left, an ornate, golden door. The Omega pulls herself up, lying on a large, king-sized bed, sheets of red satin and lace. She's wearing different clothes, too, not the swat gear she'd fallen in. She's wearing a frilly, transparent nightgown and silk thigh highs socks. It's all oddly familiar. When Ariadne tries to get off, she finds one of her hands is handcuffed to the bedpost. She desperately wants to get out, though. She considers gnawing off her own limb to be a viable option. But why? And then it hits her. This is the same place where the six of them, Arthur, Arlo, Felix, Chester, Leonard, and Robin, had raped her. This is the same bed. That's the same door. This is the room where it happened. F*ck. Ariadne yanks with all her might, but she can't get free. She can't be in this room again. She'd rath

The Omega's heart slams against her ribs, pounding so hard that she's afraid she's going into cardiac arrest.It's suddenly a thousand degrees in that room, with Victor looking up at her softly, still kneeling there."If you're afraid," Victor whispers. "Then I'll go first. I'll go right now."Ariadne's fangs pop on their own as if her traitorous body didn't already do enough to discredit her every day."Victor, I just- what about waiting, what about waiting until after Harry's captured."Victor peers into her. It's clear he's at the end of his rope, with a hundred-foot fall to the bottom."I'm going crazy," the Alpha continues. "I'll take what I can get, whatever you're willing to give me. Please, baby. Anything."Ariadne turns and blows out the candles, immediately turning the room into a pitch. There's nothing but two glowing rubies in the night, staring at her intensely."Take me to bed," Ariadne says.Victor scoops her up, carrying her bridal style to the bedroom. The Alpha flick

It's hard to keep up with Edward sometimes. Victor decides it's best not to talk anymore. They ride the rest of the way in tense and tenuous silence. It's nearly dusk when they get there, the roped-off, still condemned building. The years have not been kind. The left face of the manor is crumbling and scorched black from the flames. The facade is weather-worn, with thick vines growing over the surface. The gate that runs along the front is still partly standing. Though it was a glossy black in Victor's memory, it is now more orange with a rust than its original color. The smell of rotted wood mingles with moss and ten-year-old char. It assaults the Alpha's nose, along with another fetid, familiar scent. Victor sees him from the car. It's Issac, hands folded together at the wrists, standing in the way that makes him as large as possible. He's guarding the half-caved-in entrance to the house. Victor steps out, dusts off his suit, then leaps over the gate in a single bound. Edward cl

"Victor, I had prepared dinner. At what time will you come home?" Ariadne speaks into the speaker."I'm not coming back today. I have work to do.""But-""Alright, gotta go" Victor hangs up the call."- you are in the pub right now..." Ariadne's eyes sting. "It's been eight months. I need you..." After the fight with the cold wolf, Ariadne loses her baby, and after that, Victor completely changes. He said he was mourning for the baby. But Ariadne is too.Victor starts to ignore Ariadne because she reminds him of his baby. The baby he lost because Ariadne F*cking came to the old house and fought with the cold wolf.His baby would be fine if she hadn't come, living the best life with Ariadne…But Ariadne endured all her sorrows and tried to stay happy in front of Victor so that he could forget about the past and move on. But that day still hasn't come.In these eight months, Victor came home drunk without any consciousness, but Ariadne never got hurt by his behavior. She knows how much

By the time Edward or any other could open their mouth to explain, Victor's spinning on his heels and headed out of the door. He sprints down the road blindly. He slams into the side of a wall. Stumbles back.Victor feels numb all over. All feeling lost, nerve-endings cut off. If he could feel, he'd realize he is ice-cold. Far enough to be dangerously close to forgetting what the warmth feels like."Are you okay?"Victor looks up. A stranger staring at him with a stricken expression. He must look a mess. He does look a mess."Are you okay?" the stranger re[eates, taking a step closer. Victor stumbles backward. He feels himself losing control of his limbs."N-no," he stutters, gripping his stomach with his left hand. It hurts. Everything hurts. It's funny the way one can physically feel the sadness. Victor clutches his stomach tighter. Something is piercing at it. And it won't let up.Victor side-steps as the stranger reaches out a hand. Resumes a blind sprint to the exit. The pain spr