After Six Alphas Called Me Cheap, I Took Their Pack

"Tripwire goes here," a voice mumbled from the edge of the roof.

I froze, my hand hovering over the metal hatch. I had just retrieved my canvas backpack from the tar surface. Inside were my only lifelines in Blackwood Manor: a battered five-year-old laptop, three stale protein bars, and a faded Polaroid of my mother.

"No, a pressure plate is better," the voice continued, echoing off the brick. "She steps on it, the net drops. But I want her to walk in willingly."

"Who are you talking to?" I called out.

I crept to the ledge and peered over.

Leo crouched on the second-floor balcony directly below. He wore a faded gray hoodie, blending into the masonry like a ghost. He dragged a piece of red chalk across the stone floor, sketching an intricate maze.

"Are you building a trap for me?" I demanded.

Leo dropped the chalk. He grabbed the iron railing, swung his body upward, and vaulted onto the roof in one fluid motion.

"Stay back," I warned, stumbling away from the ledge.

He backed me right into the brick chimney. His gray eyes, flecked with bright gold, scanned my face. He studied me like a locked puzzle box he wanted to pry apart.

"You forgot your bag," Leo said.

"And you're drawing booby traps on the balcony," I shot back.

"I like puzzles," he murmured. "Jax claimed your shoulder."

"I didn't ask him to."

He reached out and tapped my collarbone. "Kade claimed your neck."

"He assaulted me."

His fingers trailed down to my right arm. "Griffin claimed your wrist."

I slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me."

"That leaves plenty of territory," he finished.

"I am not a map for you to divide up," I snapped. "I belong to myself."

"Not anymore."

Before I could dart past him, he grabbed my left arm. He yanked it upward.

"Let go of me!" I snapped, aiming a kick straight at his shin.

He ignored the blows. He lowered his face to my exposed left wrist.

"Stop!" I shrieked.

His jaws opened. His canines pierced my skin.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the tearing pain I felt with Kade. It didn't come. Leo didn't rip. He pressed. His teeth sank deep into the muscle and held firm. A cold, numbing sensation spread through my veins, leaving a dark, bruised ring of purple around the puncture wounds. A stamp of ownership.

He released my arm. A single drop of blood smeared across his lower lip. He flicked his tongue and licked it clean.

"Are you insane?" I gasped, clutching the fresh wound.

He didn't speak aloud. The words materialized directly inside my skull.

*Run, Ava. I love watching prey run.*

The mental whisper scratched against the inside of my brain.

"Get out of my head!" I screamed.

I shoved past him. I sprinted for the roof hatch, practically throwing myself down the ladder.

"Leave me alone!" I shouted at the empty stairwell.

I didn't stop until I burst through the back patio doors.

The garden was gone.

Yesterday, it was an open lawn of dead grass. Today, towering walls of black thorns twisted ten feet into the air. A living labyrinth.

"What did you do?" I whispered to the empty air.

*I made you a playground.* His voice echoed in my mind again.

I plunged into the narrow dirt path. Thorns tore at my jeans. I took a left. A dead end. I spun around, taking a right. The hedges shifted, closing the gap behind me with a sickening rustle of dry leaves.

"Open up!" I screamed at the briars.

The maze was herding me. Every wrong turn forced me deeper into the center.

The thorny walls parted, dumping me onto a patch of crushed gravel. A small stone chapel stood in the center of the clearing. Its iron doors hung half-open.

I rushed inside. I collapsed onto the cold stone floor, my knees hitting the gravelly surface near the altar. My lungs burned. My hands shook violently.

"Please, just stop," I prayed to the empty room.

The heavy iron doors groaned.

Leo strolled into the chapel.

The moment his sneakers touched the stone, the ground hissed. Plumes of white smoke curled around his ankles. The consecrated earth literally burned him.

He didn't stop. He smiled, his gray eyes shining in the dim light.

"You invited me in," Leo whispered, taking another agonizing step forward. "How polite."

"I didn't invite anyone!" I scrambled backward until my spine hit the wooden pews. "Get out!"

"The maze brought you right to me," he said.

"Because you forced the walls to move!"

"A good puzzle adapts to the player," Leo countered.

"I am not playing a game with you."

"You don't have a choice, Ava."

He lunged. His cold hands wrapped around my windpipe.

I clawed at his fingers. My vision blurred.

*CRACK.*

The sound of shattering timber and stone exploded through the chapel.

Leo released my throat instantly. He spun around.

Silas stood in the doorway.

The massive Alpha blocked the moonlight. His knuckles dripped with fresh, dark blood. Dust coated his shoulders, as if he had punched straight through the masonry to get here.

"Silas," Leo murmured, his voice tight.

Silas didn't utter a single syllable. The silence was heavier than a scream. His blood-red eyes locked onto Leo.

Leo's smile vanished. He raised both hands in the air, a silent surrender. He took a slow step backward, then another, retreating out of the chapel and into the maze.

I gasped for air, clutching my bruised throat. "Thank you."

Silas remained perfectly still. His red gaze dropped to my bleeding left arm. He examined the fresh bite on my wrist. He watched the vein pulse against the purple bruise.

Then, he looked down at his own bloody fists.

"Are you hurt?" I asked, my voice barely a croak.

He didn't offer a hand. He didn't answer my question.

He turned on his heel and melted into the shadows.

I knelt alone on the gravel. A violent shiver racked my spine.

The truth hit me like a physical blow.

Silas didn't track me down to save my life.

He came to see which of his brothers was playing with his favorite toy.