Page 263
Despite his inability to be even halfway gentle, it’s easier and safer for everyone to trust Dax. Better to fall back on his logic than my worthless fucking instincts.
Riven doesn’t care about my answer anyway. His voice drops even further, turning into something deadly and protective.
“Do you have any fucking clue what has to happen for an Omega to be pushed so far past their limit that rational thought has stopped working, and all that’s left is pure animal instinct?”
His lips twist with disgust. “I hope when that girl learns how to hate you properly, you both fucking choke on it.”
Riven glowers darkly and drops into his spot on the couch. When Dax and I just stand here, he looks up, sneering at us.
“Sit the fuck down,” he barks. “We have shit to do.”
I’m not too proud to admit he scares me a bit. His words make shame burn in my chest like heartburn—painful and impossible to ignore.
I make it back to my chair and pick my book of horror story fairy tales back up, falling back into the soft leather.
Riven’s pheromones are choking the shit out of me, and when I look up to see if Dax is drowning in them as well, he’s still standing there, wiping a trail of blood off his chin with his thumb.
He healed almost immediately, but hasn’t moved. He stands silently and stares at Riven like he’s never seen him before.
I’m bracing for Dax to pull some Alpha posturing shit, but to my shock, he doesn’t. He grunts something that might be a wordless acknowledgment and drops into the chair across from us.
We sit in silence for a few minutes, and just when I think the worst of it is over, Dax opens his mouth.
“If you ever punch me again, I’ll put you through the fucking floor.” He means it as a threat, but Riven simply scoffs. He carefully flips a page in his book, refusing to look in Dax’s direction.
”You’re welcome to try,” he drawls. “Perhaps you could start with the floor containing your high horse, and we can reevaluate from there.”
Dax snarls, and for a second, I think he might actually bare his fangs at one of his oldest friends, but Riven waves a hand at him lazily.
“I know you believe she betrayed Caelan,” he says. “I get that. And maybe she did.” He sighs, leaning in and bracing his forearms on the table.
“But even if she gift-wrapped Caelan and handed him to her daddy, holding balloons and singing Happy Birthday, the way you’re treating her now doesn’t make you righteous. It just makes you monsters.”
He holds up a hand to stop Dax before he can reply.
“The fact of the matter is, no matter what she tells you happened, you’re not going to know, or even believe, the full story until Caelan wakes up. So don’t lie to yourselves about what this is. You’re not protecting him, Daxen. You’re just abusing her.”
He leans back, kicks his leg up to rest his ankle on his knee, and opens his book.
Dax and I share a long look, but before I can say anything, he throws up a wall on our Bond that’s so thick I damn near metaphysically bounce off the thing.
He looks wrecked. Tired, with dark circles under his eyes and his hair standing up from where he’s been rubbing his hands through it all afternoon.
I know what Riven threw at us fucked him up, but if I’m honest, part of me is glad someone else said something. That same part is glad I’m not the only one questioning how far we were going to push the Omega’s punishment.
I don’t know how much longer I can treat her like shit. Not just because it feels wrong somehow, but because my Alpha won’t let me. He barely tolerated it to start, and it’s a thousand times worse now. Every time I even think about doing something cruel to her, I have to fight my instincts like trying to wrestle a rabid dog into a pair of skinny jeans.
The fact is, I need to talk to my Dax about this. I need to explain how I’m feeling. Need to be honest with him about how I feel like I can’t trust myself, but worry we’re pushing too hard.
What if we do irreparable damage to the Omega?
What if Caelan wakes up and—
No. I’m not even going to consider that. As much as Daxen acts like a hardass, his reasoning is sound. It makes sense.
But Dax doesn’t look me in the eyes the rest of the night.
And he never unmutes the Bond.
