He pinched my nose shut and all the air vanished from my lungs. My chest seized as I fought against the instinct to open my mouth and draw in a breath.
“Open,” he crooned.
I kept my mouth closed and violently shook my head. But, I was only human, and after what felt like an eternity, my body betrayed me.
My lips parted on an involuntary gasp and Logan rammed the pomegranate seeds inside.
They burst against my tongue and juice drooled down my chin.
“Swallow,” he growled.
Tears streamed down my cheeks.
“Swallow.”
I choked on the syrupy sweetness as a seed slid down my throat like a pill I’d never meant to take. And then another. And then another.
“That’s it,” Logan crooned. “Good girl. That’s my omega—”
Hands shook me, but they were different, warmer.
“Violet. Hey—hey, sweetheart—wake up.”
The dining room flicked off in a show of static and suddenly I was upright, gasping, and sobbing as my fingers clawed at something familiar and soft.
My bunny.
I yanked on the stuffed animal, and a black suit clad arm slipped into my vision.
No.
No. No. No–oh, it was just Vinny.
My shoulders sagged in relief as I tugged the bunny away from him and drew in a breath to compose myself. But my face felt wet, and my chest was tight, andit felt like he was stealing the one bit of softness I was able to pick up and carry around with me.
It was stupid, and childish, and absolutely pathetic, but after years of being denied even the basic decency of kindness, something as juvenile as a stuffed rabbit meant the world to me.
As an omega, it was in my blood to like soft things and gentle touches and all the things Logan never allowed me to have.
I had a whole nest here, I didn’tneedthe bunny, and I hadn’t purchased it because I’d wanted it. I’d gotten it purely to see how Vinny would react.
When the box arrived, I expected him to throw it away. He’d open the glossy pink box, look at what his four hundred dollars went to, and throw it away. Logan would’ve done much worse if I had tried that in the Stellar mansion. But, Vinny didn’t do that.
Instead, the same man who shook me upside-down like a feral cat six weeks ago, took one look at the bunny, dressed her in the tiny ballet outfit she’d shipped with, and handed her straight to me without a word and kissed my forehead before going to kill someone or whatever he did for work.
And sure, I’d handed him the positive pregnancy test like twenty minutes before the bunny arrived, and he was probably just being nice because I’d given him what he wanted.
But, I didn’t know what to do with this kinder side of Vinny, especially because it wasn’t always there.
Sometimes he was thoughtful, he even surprised me with a few outfits for my bunny. There were times when he was gentle, like when I couldn’t sleep and he’d come tuck me into the nest he banished me to because I wasn’t good enough to be an official part of the pack.
But, for every loving moment, he had two more where he wasVinny. Bossy, smug, overbearing, a man who bent the world to his will.
It was impossible to tell which side of him was real, and that terrified me.
I clutched the bunny tighter, fingers digging into the velveteen fur. I wasn’t stupid. I’d lived with an alpha who always had an ulterior motive to their kindness.
Logan had bought me jewelry before breaking my hand.
