“We’d clearly slept together that night we first met, but you never came on to me again, and never brought it up.” It was clear now what had actually happened. Sarang had healed Shiloh, which had taken so much energy, he’d been unable to resist the pull of heat any longer.
“I don’t remember,” the alpha told him.
“I know. Neither do I.”
“Was that it then? Have you been curious about what it was like, trying to jog your memories?”
“It was obsession,” Shiloh told him. “Not the forgotten sex. The way I felt like I didn’t have to be guarded around you. Believe it or not, in the beginning, I was content with just that. Just having you by my side. But then I got greedy. Obsession turned to possessiveness, and that fed my insecurities. I’ve never been worthy of anyone’s affection, Rang. What if one day you woke up and realized that I wasn’t worthy of yours? I was scared that I might lose that warmth, and there was only one thing I could think of to ensure that never happened.”
“That’s why you want my bite.” It was impossible to tell what the alpha was feeling now, but Shiloh pressed on.
“Yes.” He’d realized he couldn’t handle losing him, especially not to someone else. That there was always the possibility that Sarang might find another, fall for them, and try to leave. There was no escaping a mated pair. An alpha wouldn’t run from their claimed omega. “I see the error in my judgement. If you’re trying to lead me to that truth, there’s no need.”
“Oh?”
“It’s the same as it is with love,” Shiloh figured. “Just like how you don’t need to love me to claim me, you don’t need to like me to do it either. Even if I’d successfully gotten you to bite me in the parking garage, we would have ended up exactly where we are now, wouldn’t we have?”
“We would,” Sarang confirmed. “You can’t build anything real on lies, omega. Especially not a lifelong partnership. But that’s why we’re here.”
Shiloh didn’t understand.
“We’re here to rebuild, so that when I do finally give you the bite, there’s no longer any misunderstanding between the two of us.”
“…You’re planning to give me the bite? Really?” He hadn’t just been saying that to get Shiloh to play along and remain still?
“You won’t be allowed to go on murder sprees to release that pent up tension anymore,” Sarang said. “If you feel an itch for violence building, you’ll inform me, and we’ll deal with it together, be that in the bedroom, or out in the field.”
“I never killed innocents.”
“I know that.”
“It matters?”
“It does.”
Shiloh had thought as much, but he’d never been certain. Since he usually wasn’t the type to bother playing things safe, he was beyond grateful that he had with this. Though, mostly it’d been to avoid drawing unwanted legal attention to the Eumia.
“You don’t want me to hate you because I’m the only one who’s ever treated you like you’re a person with thoughts and feelings. You like that I take care of you, how it makes you feel. You like being good for me, don’t you, omega?” Sarang’s tone shifted slightly, turning silky and suggestive.
The alpha stepped around the bed, pulled a marble from his pocket, and then tossed it to the ground in Shiloh’s direction.
Shiloh dropped to his knees to get it, snatching it off the floor. He brushed the dust off and held it up to the light, pleased with the yellow sparkle.
“You’re the prince. Shouldn’t it bother you to kneel before me?” Sarang asked.
“Why should it?” He shrugged. “My mother was all pride and unhappy right up until the day she died. Unlike her, I’m not afraid to make myself look the fool to get what I want.”
“You want happiness?”
“Who doesn’t?”
“What does that look like in your head, omega?”
“You, alpha.” Shiloh stood.
“What if I kept you in this room forever?”
“I would like something to do,” he said. “But otherwise? Okay.”
