I cringed in response. The major source of my stress was here, and I needed to have a conversation with him before it was too late. Although it was probably already too late. However, I did not want to have such a conversation here.
I pasted a smile on my face and turned to my fiancé, Jacob Windsome. It felt odd to think of him as that. I wasn’t in love with him. I barely knew him. The court had selected him for me. Although there was a particular influence that helped that selection. Not my influence. If it were up to me, I’d have picked someone else. It had nothing to do with his looks. He was handsome to most with deep set violet eyes that were almost haunting against his golden complexion. He was average height with a toned build and chin length curly white hair tucked behind his pointed ears.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, clasping my hands behind my back instead of balling them into fists like I wanted.
He shrugged, looking around the darkened area with a look of mild disgust. He was definitely a noble, and a place like this wasn’t up to his usual taste. He tended for the more elegant and sophisticated nightlife. “Why, I came to see my fiancée, of course. We’ll be married in two days, and I had to see your face before the traditional separation.”
He talked as if this were a normal marriage. We’d been separated most of the time. The court had only announced that we were to be married a couple of weeks ago. It was one step up from being a blind arrangement as they were initially doing. Now they were at least letting arranged couples meet in advance.
I thought at first,I could do this.Get through being married to a stranger for a greater cause. It didn’t have to be forever in our cases. Jacob understood the assignment. We were in total alignment, initially. At least, that’s what I told myself. And then I got honest. I didn’t want this marriage. I didn’t want what it would represent because the feelings I’d had when I first moved here almost three years ago were not the same. But in my initial anger with my kingdom, I had made a drastic decision, and I wasn’t sure how to get out of it. Starting with marrying Jacob.
I shifted on my feet, anxiousness rising. “I’m kind of busy at work right now. What did you need?”
He looked slightly irritated as if I shouldn’t have had the audacity to have a life. “I thought you were going to quit this job.”
I poked out my bottom lip, searching my brain for when I could have ever said such a thing. “No, I don’t recall that being the plan.”
He wrinkled his nose. “You are a noble. You don’t need to work at such a place. We have other work to focus on. With your educational background and experience, you should be in a governing position. I’ll never understand why you chose to do this, but it ends today.”
I snorted. This was why I disliked him. He thought he could tell me what to do. I had agreed to be his partner, not his possession. “I’m keeping the job.”
He brushed some imaginary lint off his button-down, forest green shirt. “My wife is not going to work at some dirty pub.”
“One, this place is actually clean. The food and drinks are great. That’s why it’s so busy. Two, I don’t think us getting married is going to work. Not only do I not think we’re right for each other, I don’t think our ideals match anymore.”
He stilled, looking at me with a mixture of such shock and anger that it made me more than uncomfortable. I didn’t know him well enough to guess how he would react. However, if I had to fight, I would.
His shoulders dropped, and he sighed, his face relaxing. “You’ll get over it. You can’t get out of this that easily. It’s never happened before.”
He was right about that. No couple was excused from marrying each other beforehand unless something troubling occurred. While I knew this, I also knew there had to be another way out that I simply hadn’t considered before. I was smartand resourceful. I was also independent. I’d left home, rather escaped. I had no ties. If I needed to leave here as well, I was prepared for that. I knew how to start over.
I shoved my hands in my pockets, rocking on my heels. This wasn’t going to be a debate. He needed to understand that. “I’ll go to the court and explain to them that I can’t. You’ll be free to marry someone else with your same… ideals.”
He growled and took a step toward me. “We were matched for a reason. You’re a high-class omega from Nodoor, and I’m a member of the Prinathian elite and an alpha. We are rare enough. Thereisno other match.”
His smokey scent expanded around me, and I knew he was exerting his authority. All alphas and omegas had special scents marking our unique beings. We were both rare in society, omegas the rarest. Alphas were often leaders or in military. Omegas were nobles but weren’t always so fortunate with how they were treated in society. It depended on your kingdom. In Nodoor, although highly sought after, we were a step above property. Matched together, an omega and alpha could become stronger. We could even make betas more powerful if mated to them.
When Prinath won the war against Nodoor and decided to enter a treaty with my country, single Alphas and Omegas were prime targets for pairings in the peace keeping missions because the union brought more strength to the expanding community... I knew the likelihood of the court accepting my request to not marry Jabob would have a low chance of happening. And, even if I were lucky, they’d quickly find some other alpha to pair me with, but it would not be one vetted by the local Nodoorian leadership.
And still, I’d rather take those chances than marry Jacob. I wanted out of this engagement and everything else I had committed to. “Well, we’ll see about that.”
He glared down at me, violet eyes seeming to darken to indigo. “You foolish little girl. All the effort we put into you. The work that was done to ensure we matched. You made certain agreements.”
I moved my hands to my hips, undeterred. “And I’m breaking them,little boy.”
He bared his teeth, ego rattled. “That’s not how it works. You agreed to this arrangement. You know why we are doing this. You don’t get out of it because you suddenly decide that you don’t like me. You will get used to me. After the claiming, things will change.”
He had said the wrong words. Claiming was not part of this deal. I would never become his mate. “If you think I’m going to allow you to put your teeth on me, you’ve lost your mind. I will make you toothless.”
He chuckled. “I’d like to see you try. You seem to have the unfounded impression that you are stronger than me. That you have choices. You made your last choice when you agreed to this arrangement. You obey orders now.”
Red. I think everything around me was the blazing color of my anger. I’d been controlled most of my life. I’d fought through heartbreak, fear, and trauma to pave my own way. There would be no way in this realm that I would allow some relative stranger to contain me now. He could go to the underworld with burning undergarments.
This time I did ball my fists. “That will never happen. I obey only me. And right now, I’m deciding not to marry you. Now, I will keep my mouth shut about everything else behind this ruse, but you can fuck right off on marriage.”
I moved around him to head back to the front, but he grabbed my wrist and yanked me back, slamming me against the wall. He stepped so close to me I could smell nothing else but his scent, suppressed only by the heat of his body.
I wiggled against his grasp, and he smiled, clearly satisfied that he was stronger than me despite my earlier bravado. “I think perhaps there has been a misunderstanding between us. You were possibly led to believe that you have more power than you do. That’s unfortunate.” His incisors lengthened, and instant panic surged through me. Images from the past of being pressed against a couch, pounding against the chest of an alpha I did not know. The alpha’s fangs long and terrifying, as he pressed into me with a wicked smile. “I could bite you right now and you’d be much more agreeable. It’s only two days before our wedding; we don’t have time for your insolent behavior.”
