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It took another sleep, aided by the laudanum Puck had left on the dresser, for the fog in my brain to clear. And when it did, I resolved to one thing. I would take a revenge on Oberon—bring him to his knees. For his machinations had led us to this point. My sweet Sarah, an innocent, dead. My sister no doubt traumatised by her ordeal.
Puck would be a necessary casualty. I’d sacrifice him to thwart Oberon until he was on his knees, broken and bewildered. Then I could return to my life, my family, and Jude.
These alphas would understand I was not an omega but something beyond their comprehension.
8
Jude
Get here now.
Moth
The scrap of paper burned in my pocket as I rode through London, cursing the traffic and my own stupidity.
Foolishly I’d thought, no, hoped that Polly had stayed the night with her sister rather than risk returning to Omega House. When she hadn’t shown the following morning, I’d left Omega House and holed up in our lodgings. Instinct drove me hard to break down Paxton and Fordom’s door and drag my omega home. But that was not the behaviour of a beta. Each moment in this skin that did not feel like mine, drove me closer to madness. Revealing my true dynamic to Polly, however, would cost me more than my sanity. I kept my mouth shut, stamped out any latent alpha impulses, and perpetuated the deception. Pol thought me a beta, the truth was far more complicated.
And now I was learning that she was at the Hell, a place I avoided like the faithful avoided the afterlife.
The house was still asleep when I banged on the door at noon. Not surprising when this den of iniquity closed its doors two hours before dawn. I nearly knocked the sleepy porter over in my haste. Damn her for not writing. What did she think to gain from keeping her plans from me?
“Ho, there!” Moth shouted as he ran down the stairs. Not caring who could hear him, he told me the doings of last night. He concluded the tale with a warning. “She’s in a right mess and won’t listen to reason.”
“You’ve spoken to her?” I asked, pulling off my gloves and shrugging out of my coat. “Where’s Puck? Drexler?”
“In the residence.”
I cursed under my breath. There was no way to get in but through a single door in the office on the first floor and none of Polly’s people had ever gone through. I feared I’d never get her back now that he’d taken her so far from me.
“Dammit. Why did you wait a day to send word?” I growled. “I should have been told yesterday morning. Why did you wait?”
“Sarah died. And my loyalty is to her not you, beta,” he sneered the word like he knew my secret. “Do you think you are above the rest of us because you warm her nest? You are a lover and bodyguard. There were ones before you and there will be ones after.”
And damn me for a fool, but what he said was true. I deserved that censure. “How is she handling all? Tell me, Moth.”
“I had wondered,” Oberon said from the shadows. Moth and I turned towards him. The muscles in my jaw ticked and my nails bit into my palm as I fisted my hands. Killing Oberon would do nothing but cause an ugly mess for all of us. “And on one count I was correct and the other wrong.”
“I won’t deny it.” Moth’s reply was as pugnacious as his countenance. I felt the old belter shift on his feet. Too old for the ring, he could easily take out an alpha like Oberon who’d never carried a spare pound in his life.
“She’s always a step ahead.” He waved Moth’s admission aside. “Enough to say, I have more faith you’ll do your job well. She’s in my care—”
“And what kind of care is that?” I snarled. “If you’ve so much as touched a hair on her head, I’ll sink you to the bottom of the Thames and hang with a smile on my face.”
“Hard words for a man who betrayed the woman he professes to love.” The idle observation cut my legs out from under me. “Oh, don’t look so pale. I fully expect you to tell her of our little arrangement. I’ve no interest in being blamed for coming between lovers.”
I could feel the weight of Moth’s regard. Did he think I was Oberon’s pawn? Perhaps at one time but not for many years.
Delight danced in Oberon’s eyes. He knew, better than any other, how my debt to him could never be paid. “Follow me, Jude Bottom. Nothing but a rude mechanical player in this farce. Moth, be good enough to get word to your queen of the high toby’s people. We desire to hold conference with them at their earliest convenience.”
Moth jerked his chin and trotted down the stairs. My desire to bark at Moth and command him to do I did not know. I wanted to countermand any instructions delivered by the other alpha. Alpha. I was an alpha too and not one to sit idly by.
“And now for you,” Oberon’s voice sliced through the fog which clouded my mind whenever my impotent alpha nature clawed at my soul and demanded to be set free. “Come.”
“No,” I growled, felt the reverberation in my chest stronger than ever before. Worse though, the hair on the back of my neck pricked as I waited for the snake to strike.
“You’re nothing but a dog. Loyal. But I hold your lead now and if I jerk—”
“Suck. My. Cock.”
