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“No means no! The omega declined your advances. You leave him alone and let him go.” How was consent a difficult concept for him?
“You dare stand up to your Alpha? You deny me what I am taking, what I rightfully deserve?” His eyes blazed with fire.
It was in me to submit to him. He was my Alpha, his word was law. But I’d never let another person harm another. Not if I could stop it. My beast no longer recognized him as Alpha, and that had a chill running through me.
“You can’t take an omega against their will. He said no.” It was his job to protect his pride. But who protected them when the danger was him?
He laughed cruelly, and in his eyes, I saw the sinister truth—he probably had done so countless times. How many omegas had suffered under his hands?
“Silas, don’t. He’ll kill you,” Nathan warned. He was probably right, but in that moment, I couldn’t pretend to care. I also couldn’t let Jerome see my fear. I had one chance to do this right, and if I messed up, it would be Nathan who’d end up paying.
“Kill me? That’s extreme,” I replied, trying to remain resolute.
“Quiet, omega. You’ll get what’s coming to you,” Jerome threatened.
“I’m not letting you go after him,” I declared, still standing between the Alpha and Nathan.
“Do you have a crush on the little omega? Is that what this is about? I promise you can have him after me. Alpha first.”
My beast was ready for blood. I was too. But we had to be smart about things. One thing was for sure, I refused to back down from his taunts.
“If you know what is good for you, Silas. You’ll turn and walk away now. This will not end well for you,” he said.
I flicked my phone and unlocked it, then handed it to Nathan. “Call for help,” I said. “You know who.”
It was part of an omega’s education who to call in a situation like this. Well, sort of like this. No one prepared us for what to do when it was our Alpha who was the danger. Or maybe at one time, it had been a given. With power comes corruption and all of that. But times were better now. Or so I’d thought.
I never thought Nathan would need to use that knowledge. I hated that he had to use it now. It was, in theory, rare for omegas to be treated this way in packs nowadays, but apparently, it was our reality with this Alpha in charge.
“I’m going to enjoy killing you, Silas,” the Alpha seethed, his teeth bared, though he hadn’t shifted.
I wasn’t prepared for the attack. I should’ve been. It wasn’t like I couldn’t see him getting worked up. But I’d never been attacked before and let myself think of him as being in a rational state of mind. He wasn’t. Thank goddess that fighting was something ingrained in most lions’ education. Even our omegas were taught to fight.
Sadly, it was yet another area I didn’t excel in back then. But today? Today it was do or die… literally. And I had an itching feeling it would be the latter. Without the element of surprise my victory was doomed from the start. Unless… unless I could “out brain” him.
I only needed to distract the Alpha long enough for Nathan to get away. As long as I could keep him occupied that long, I’d be happy. After that, I didn’t care. I only wanted Nathan and the other omegas in our pride to be safe. They deserved better.
The first blow to my gut stole the air from my lungs. The next hit to my face knocked out my vision. So much for buying Nathan time. I attempted to keep going, but failed as the world went black.
Chapter 2
Pol
“Watch me! Watch me! Uncle Pol!”
I was watching, but that didn’t stop the little one from commanding that I keep my eyes on her at all times. Even a blink was too much for her. On an adult it would be annoying. On her? I was half amused and half filled with the joy and exuberance she was showing.
She looked at the world so differently than I did. I loved that for her. She opened her eyes wide, as if making sure she really had my focus. She made no question of what she needed from me. Children were fabulous like that.
The only thing she needed from me right then was my attention, and she made it clear. My eyes remained on her as she showed me how she had learned her cartwheels, or whatever it was she was working on right now, some sort of cartwheel, handstand combination. I was sincerely impressed. Even with all my yoga, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to accomplish the feat.
“You’re doing great,” I said. “Looks like you’ve been really practicing hard.”
“I have, I have! Soon I can do a back handspring.” That I knew for sure I couldn’t do.
“That sounds,”—dangerous— “exciting.” I chose my words carefully, trying not to discourage her by letting her see my trepidation.
“Yep.” She bounced back onto her feet and ran to the swing set. “Look how high I can go on the swings!” She officially wanted to age me. I didn’t mind. I knew how important all of this was for her growth and development. I just also had an urge to protect her from all harm. The two didn’t go together.
