Tilly

My heart pounded, seeing her waltz across the garden as though she hadn’t a care in the world. I wanted to scream. I wanted to run from my hidden lair and tell her to flee.

My heartbeat pounded in my ears as my hand slid down the doorframe to release the catch to get me out of here. But my finger trembled over the switch as I contemplated for a split second that saving her meant sacrificing myself.

I had to help. She was my sister.

But at hearing the click of the door to my bedroom, I took my finger off the catch and pressed my ear to the wall. My breath caught at the back of my throat and my hands trembled as I listened and waited for the touch on the lock to the panelled door of this room. There was a quiet step into my room, as though the person was trying to catch me hiding under the bed or behind the door.

I sighed and went to the CCTV to turn the view to my bedroom. My hand clapped over my mouth, seeing a tall figure dressed in black with the same balaclava hat on his head. He viewed my sketch on the easel for a moment before he leaned forward and picked up my pillow, pushing his nose against the fabric as he inhaled with his eyes shut.

He walked around the room, looking at my clothes in the wardrobe, before he glanced out of the window.

He strolled to the centre of the room, and he suddenly spun and stared into the camera. His eyes, the palest of grey as he stared back at me.

Was he goading me?

Was he aware I was watching him?

The air in this box felt repressed. My deep breathing sapped the surrounding air. There was no sound from the CCTV. All I could hear was the rush of my pulse as my blood pounded through my veins.

He strode to my hiding place. His hand coasted over the grey panelled wood, pushing delicately now and then. And I felt as the invisible noose cramped around my neck, getting tighter with each gentle push he made.

And with each second he stood there, I sat and waited to be found.

And all I could smell was him.

He was big, and he was masculine. He was an alpha—no doubt.

The diffuser in the room was to mask the omega perfume, but it wasn’t masking his smooth dulcet scent, the smell of hot, sweet popcorn.

It wasn’t long ago that I presented as an omega, and for that reason, Mum ensured we took lots of precautions and I was taking suppressants to block out the alpha scent and prevent my perfume from emitting. So why did I smell him?

Or was I imagining his scent?

But I knew I wasn’t. It was seeping through the gaps and shrouding the air inside my hidden room.

My breath hitched as I sucked in a gasp and held it in my chest, my hand around my throat, just trying to gather control.

He can’t get in here. He can’t...

I repeated the words in my head over and over as I watched him continue pressing against the wood, before an ear-piercing scream sounded everywhere and my heart beat marched in double time.

I turned and whimpered, frantically clicking at the screen. When my bedroom door slammed, I stopped, and a sob rose from my chest. I slid down on my bed, my vision blurred as tears rose to my eyes.

Heavy footsteps marched across the wooden floor of the hallway outside, and all I could do was watch my sister being taken away. My blood thrashed in my veins at hearing her screams. I’d heard them enough times, and I didn’t need to turn up the sound on the CCTV for that awful sound.

“Where is your sister?” one man growled from the screen in front of me.

“She isn’t here. She’s away on a college trip.” Georgie’s voice was a mix of desperation and strange matter of fact lies that sounded very truthful. And I wondered if she and mum had rehearsed something like this.

“You better be telling the truth,” the man growled again.

“Leave her alone, Ryker, we need to get away,” another deep voice said.

“Don’t say my fucking name... Tez,” Ryker hissed.

Georgie pulled her arm away from Ryker. “My sister isn’t an omega. Her designation came through and she is a beta.”

Georgie spun and stared into the living room. “Oh my god, Dad, what have they done to you?”

She rushed into the room, and I switched the camera view to my father. He sat on a dining room chair, his ankles strapped to the chair legs and his arms wrapped around his back, I assumed held in place with the same tie wraps that were around his ankles.

“Just do as you’re asked, Georgie. We’ll find you,” Dad said.

“Don’t you dare hurt him,” Georgie yelled. Her hands curled into fists at the side of her hips.

“Let’s get her out of here before the police turn up,” the man at the door said.

“We need to take one last look. I was told there would be two girls,” Ryker said.

“I’ll look,” the smooth voiced guy said.

“I told you she isn’t here,” Georgie yelled.

There was a grumbling from Ryker as he nodded to the smooth voice guy. “Be quick. We need to get out of here. If she is hiding, I’m sure she has notified the police.”

“You leave and I’ll get back after one last look around the house,” the man with a smooth voice said.

My body shook as fear riddled me again. I squirted the de-scenting spray around the room because I knew my omega perfume was spiking along with my heart rate.

As I followed him on the cameras, my breath sputtered, my hands clasped my neck at the feeling my throat had tightened. This was it. This was when he’d find me. He ascended the staircase with too much confidence. His hand hovered over my parents’ bedroom door. His hand froze, and he turned and walked down the hallway, pushing the door to my bedroom.