Frayed trust frayed book.., p.1
Frayed Trust: Frayed Book 1, page 1
Frayed Trust
Frayed Book 1
Olivia Lewin
Reber Media Company
Copyright © 2022 by Olivia Lewin
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents described within are either the product of the author's imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons is entirely coincidental.
This book is intended for readers 18+.
Published by Reber Media Company
Cover Design by Moonpress | www.moonpress.co
Contents
Dedication
Disclaimer
Warnings
Prologue
1. Chapter 1 Freya
2. Chapter 2 Shan
3. Chapter 3 Freya
4. Chapter 4 Freya
5. Chapter 5 Freya
6. Chapter 6 Caspian
7. Chapter 7 Caspian
8. Chapter 8 Freya
9. Chapter 9 Freya
10. Chapter 10 Shan
11. Chapter 11 Oswald
12. Chapter 12 Caspian
13. Chapter 13 Freya
14. Chapter 14 Shan
15. Chapter 15 Freya
16. Chapter 16 Freya
17. Chapter 17 Freya
18. Chapter 18 Caspian
19. Chapter 19 Shan
20. Chapter 20 Freya
21. Chapter 21 Freya
22. Chapter 22 Freya
23. Chapter 23 Caspian
24. Chapter 24 Freya
25. Chapter 25 Freya
26. Chapter 26 Shan
27. Chapter 27 Freya
28. Chapter 28 Emmett
Free bonus scene!
Acknowledgments
About Olivia
To my cats, who yelled at me every day to finish this book. (Or maybe they were yelling at me to give them more wet food?)
Disclaimer
Grammar, spelling, and regional differences
Please note this novel is written in Canadian English! Grammatically, it's similar to British English and for units of measurement, I'll be using primarily the metric system. However, when referring to height and weight, I'll use feet/inches and pounds. That's how I grew up and how everyone I personally know refers to height and weight. Since I live in the area of Canada that I've set my books in (for the ones on the mortal plane, at least), I'll stick with my personal authentic experience.
Warnings
Frayed Trust contains topics that may be sensitive for some readers.
Depictions of torture, murder, and attempted sexual assault. Mentions of sexual assault, slavery, and drug use. Brief mentions of potential self harm. Light sleep play between two consenting adults. Light knife play and a fighting/fucking/rough sex kink. Daddy kink (not involving age play). Spankings and other BDSM content.
Prologue
Freya - 10 Years Ago
Waves lapped gently at the shoreline, the tide sliding closer to our picnic blanket with every half hour. We’d set up out of range; the tide would go back down before it reached us. After years of sitting on this beach, in my sister’s favourite spot, we’d learned the hard way how far back we had to be. A patch of sand cleared of the sharp rocks dotting the rest of the shoreline was empty for us every day we came out to the ocean.
My mom held a phone out in front of our small group, grinning widely when Maisie’s face appeared on the screen. Our video call was grainy, and the wind pulled away the sound before I heard what was being said half the time. Maisie missed the beach, though, so mom brought the beach to her. “Darling! How’s the Omega Sanctuary? Have you been proposed to yet?” she asked, wrapping her free arm around my shoulders and pulling me close.
The smile that teased the edges of my lips was smaller, there and gone in a second. My smirk replaced the tiny grin. “It must be weird, having our parents obsessed with your sex life,” I said.
Maisie laughed, but my father flicked the back of my head with his finger. “There’s no need to be crude, Freya.”
“I’m right.”
Shrugging, I watched a seagull soar down with a shriek to grab a crab from the sand. No one else in my family enjoyed observing the circle of life. They thought it was sad when creatures died. In my mind, death was the way of the world. Predators won. Prey lost. Our society was the same. Mom would ban me from the computer if she figured out I was on supernatural news forums at fourteen. Her and dad avoided negativity like the plague. I doubted they were aware that Omegas were going missing at an alarming rate, and Alphas were more entitled and violent with every generation.
If Maisie hadn’t made it to the Sanctuary when she revealed, she would have vanished within a week to gods knew where.
My distracted brain caught up to the conversation when I caught a flash of anguish on my sister’s face. “No one else is courting me,” she explained. “Only… only the one.”
“Is he an asshole?”
The cuss word earned me another flick on the back of the head. My antics made Maisie laugh again, which was what mattered. “Sorry dad, but yeah. I’d use that word to describe him.”
I noted she didn’t actually use the word. Nineteen years old, thousands of kilometres away in some undisclosed location, and my older sister was still the goodie two shoes of the family. “Tell him to f—” Dad reached around and placed a hand over my mouth before I cursed. Mom chuckled.
“You’re too young to curse,” he said. “Use a different word.”
He released my mouth and I rolled my eyes. “Tell him to bugger off. Gods, I sound like grandpa.”
“That’s because your grandpa is polite enough to not use foul language,” Mom said. “I’m sure he’ll appreciate if you sound more like him the next time we visit.”
I would never be as perfect as Maisie, so I’d given up on trying to impress my extended family members. I wasn’t jealous of her likability and how easily she could be the perfect daughter. My place as the black sheep — or rather, the silver sheep because of my uncommonly coloured hair — was more comfortable. No one had expectations of me and I didn’t have to be nice. I’d helped Maisie out plenty of times when she’d been too nice to say no to someone when she should have, and I’d spoken for her in groups since we were children. Our pair was perfectly matched.
Sadly, since she’d revealed, we were separated. At least until she could find a suitable Alpha or pack to claim her. Our parents were hoping she’d marry some European prince, but she’d told me all she wanted was a man who would be a wonderful father. Someone who would let her come back here, to the East Coast where we’d lived our whole lives, and raise a family.
It was quaint, but very Maisie. Personally, I couldn’t imagine kids or a husband. Or the annoyance of being an Omega. If I was lucky, I would reveal as an Alpha, even though female Alphas were rare, but more likely I’d stay a Beta.
The conversation had moved on without me again, my family used to my constant zoning in and out. “What about the lovely man you mentioned last week?” Dad asked. Our side of the screen was tiny in the bottom corner, but with his hair curled and flapping oddly in the wind it was easy to spot. “The fae noble from Apilion. Have you gone on that date?”
She grimaced. “No, he cancelled.”
“Why would anyone cancel a date with you?” I asked.
She was little miss perfect, after all. Polite, kind, gorgeous. Her hair was the same colour as our parents’, a honey golden brown, and curled in naturally perfect beach swept waves. The strands didn’t hang flat and tangled when wet like mine did. Maisie had inherited the nymph genes a lot more than I had. I’d taken to the witch side of myself more. Her eyes were a blue-purple that shone in the dark when she took on her water form, wide and innocent alongside her freckled cheeks. My eyes were purple, but more red-purple. Yet another trait that set me apart from the family.
“Duke Cunning told him not to take me out, so he stepped back from the arrangement.”
Both my parents stiffened, Mom’s arm falling from my shoulders as she reached out to steady her shaky grip on the phone. “Oh, that’s a shame,” she said.
Neither one of them continued. I’d heard about Duke Cunning on previous calls and my sister didn’t like him one bit. But clearly he mattered more than I’d thought, if he was able to sabotage Maisie’s other potential suitors. He had to lose interest, eventually.
Then again, she’d been at the Omega Sanctuary for six months, and had told us about him on her first phone call.
“Has he done that a lot?” I asked.
“No, no. Not often.”
She didn’t look at the camera, her gaze darting off to the side. When she called us it was at a monitored phone in what they called the lounge, a vast, high-ceilinged room with a variety of plush chairs and soft pillows and blankets. Gauzy curtains closed off each set of chairs when someone was using them, and she had a pale blue curtain pulled around her now. Maisie had nothing of interest to look at off in the distance.
“You’re lying.”
Pulling her lip between her teeth, she said nothing. Mom placed a hand on the small of my back. She was trying to indicate that I should stop talking. I could pretend I didn’t register the non-verbal cue — I never listened to them, and Mom thought I was socially underdeveloped by now. “Is he making it difficult to find a mate?
“Sweetie, the Sanctuary only has so much power over what goes on in the world outside their compound,” Dad said.
I was focused on Maisie. The anguish I’d seen on her face before was back. No longer a flash, but overtaking her expression. “But Maisie is on their compound. They should be able to set her up with dates, and not only with one unsuitable Alpha.”
“Duke Cunning is powerful in Zemterra. He has… connections. Maisie will get other suitors once he’s realized that she’s not a good fit.”
“He’s not going to realize that.”
My sister’s voice was carried off by a sudden howl of the wind and I had no idea if I’d heard her correctly. I hoped I hadn’t. “What?”
“He’s not going to decide that I’m not a good fit. I found out why he wants me. Sorry, Mom, I was going to tell you once Freya got off the call, but… she was going to find out sometime. You know she’s smarter than you give her credit for.”
The wind howled again, or it might have been the blood rushing in my ears. Why did she look so sad? Hopeless? That wasn’t how Maisie looked. I’d been the pessimistic one since we were kids. She was the embodiment of sunshine and glittering ocean waves and morning dewdrops on the long grass in the field beside our house.
“All I knew until recently was that he was a demon. I didn’t know what kind. But some of the other women were talking about him yesterday, and I asked. He’s a merdemon, the Duke of the Depths. According to them, he’s been searching for an Omega who can survive his underwater world for over a hundred years. There aren’t many like me. They looked at me with so much pity. After waiting so long, he won’t give me up.”
“Can’t the Omega Sanctuary do something? He can’t just claim an Omega who doesn’t want him,” I said, my voice rising in pitch as anger took the reins of the surge of emotions swirling in me.
Mom and Dad didn’t answer, and I avoided watching their expressions in the tiny reflection of us. My focus was still on Maisie. She shook her head. “Technically, he’s not. There aren’t any concrete rules against using political connections to manipulate people. I don’t have to accept him. All he’s done is made it so there aren’t any other options if I want an Alpha.”
The alternative was left unsaid. Living without an Alpha was dangerous. Even with the help of the Sanctuary, her heats would increase in intensity every time she went through one without an Alpha. Omegas had died of heart failure or from killing themselves when the pain got to be too intense.
“Come home. You’ll find an Alpha here, someone who can’t be manipulated by a Zemterran Duke.”
My mom’s hand on my back clenched into a fist. She hid her emotions well, but Maisie’s situation was tearing her apart. They’d known about it a hell of a lot longer than I had.
“You know why that’s too risky,” Maisie said softly.
She’d be stolen within days, sold on the black market to anyone in Zemterra who could afford to pay. The predicament I’d thought about minutes ago, before I’d learned that Omegas being safe at the Sanctuary was a lie. A con sold to us so they had a supply of societies rarest designation to sell off to nobility like Duke Cunning. Except they didn’t sell them so overtly. No, they hid behind a facade of rules that helped no one but the strong. The predators. Omegas were prey to them, too.
“We can protect you, there’s an entire community of witches here. Our family and extended family. We could keep you safe.” The plea fell off my lips, but it was a lie. Family would help, it was what we did. But twenty or so witches and nymphs wouldn’t be a match against an inter-realm web of Omega traffickers. Ones who knew what Maisie was because she had records at the Sanctuary.
“I’m going to accept his proposal.”
“No!”
Her smile was thin, false, nothing like what it should look like. The colour of her skin, rich from years of playing on the beach, was sallow and grey-hued. How had I not noticed it the second she’d gotten on the call? How had I not noticed it months ago? “We’re meeting for lunch in the parlour in an hour. I’m going to accept. I’m sorry, Freya, but I’ve thought through every option I have. Unless the Sanctuary suddenly changes their stance and protects me, I’m better off going willingly. Being the perfect Omega wife. He’s entitled and rude, but he’s given no indication of being violent. There are worse ways to live.”
The man didn’t have a chance to get violent under the watchful eyes of the Sanctuary. Every inch of that place was covered by cameras for the safety of the residents. Maisie had joked about it when she first arrived. Now, I doubted the cameras were for safety. Watching them was to make sure the Omegas were behaving as the rare and beautiful possessions they were.
“How are you going to talk to us if you’re living in Zemterra? Isn’t it primitive? We need to check on you,” I said.
“I’m going to talk to him about it,” she reassured me. “He’ll understand.”
No, he wouldn’t. Bringing his wife to Earth every couple of weeks so she could call her family had to be on the bottom of the list of things he gave a shit about. He may promise it to get her to agree, to pull her out from the Sanctuary’s influence, but it was a promise he wouldn’t keep. I’d never met Duke Cunning, but his type wasn’t hard to peg. They were the apex predators of our ecosystem. Status kept them above other Alphas and leagues above plain Betas.
“He’ll be reasonable,” Mom said. I wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince. Herself, me, or Maisie. Maybe all of us. Her hand behind my back was still clenched, the one holding up the phone wavering.
“If he’s not reasonable, report him to the Sanctuary,” Dad added.
What would that do? We’d determined that they wouldn’t protect her from him now, so why would they start once he had his teeth sunk in? Literally. Once he marked her, he’d cement his influence over her.
“I will, Dad. They send people to check up on the pairings every couple of months for the first few years. If he does anything, I’ll tell them.”
The Duke paid off or terrified every other suitor who’d walked through the doors of the Omega Sanctuary. He would have no trouble paying off a lowly official. My family’s optimism made me want to scream, but I wouldn’t. They needed their belief that it would be OK. Especially Maisie. All I needed was my anger, rage, and fury. Grasping negative emotions and creating an armour of negativity around my heart was how I would survive.
“Will you call again before you leave for Zemterra?” I asked, speaking through gritted teeth.
“Of course. It’s not like we’ll go immediately. In a few days, I’ll let you all know how lunch at the parlour went, and what the plan is for our family calls in the future. Mom, can we speak privately?”
When Mom moved the phone toward her, I placed my hand on her arm to stop her, keeping all three of our faces on the screen. “I need to talk to Mom, Freya,” she said, tugging on a strand of her hair.
“You can. But I want to say a proper goodbye.”
“I’ll call again.”
My gut told me she wouldn’t.
“Just in case.”
Sighing, she smiled. This smile showed her teeth, the widest and most genuine one since the beginning of the call. “You’re so paranoid, Freya. It’s a wonder we came from the same parents.”
