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“Oh, Jude,” he purred my name. “Do not beg for that unless you are prepared to follow through.”
“I’ve no intention of ever being with an alpha.”
“A pity.” I’d not let his attempt to goad me work. He wanted me to… dare him to get on his knees and choke on my cock? My cheeks heated. I could not want that. I did not desire alphas. I never had and never would.
Our eyes held, and I was surprised when he looked away first, his shoulders dropping and a sighed laugh leaving him. “Empathy is not my strong suit… perhaps I should have led with this: Beatrice is safe and Sarah was buried yesterday. Moth, as you have called him, considered a day of rest and mourning necessary before you were summoned. I’d been mistaken to think you’d be understanding.”
“And Pol?”
“Last night she threw a pitcher full of vomit at my head and cursed out Puck with language strong enough that I believe I caught a flush in his cheeks.” His smile was sardonic, perhaps a little sad. “You must guess what’s to happen now. While I have no remorse in ripping you apart, to add to her sadness does not bring me any pleasure.”
My fathomless hatred for him who had sold me the rope with which I would hang myself would never falter. I walked into his space and caught his spicy scent and, as he stared up at me, discovered that while I would wring his neck should I desire, I didn’t want to. Before I destroyed him I had something to prove—I was no coward and would expose all my faults and betrayals to Polly. “She’ll forgive me,” I told him with a certainty I had no right to feel. “Not today or tomorrow. But prostrated at her feet? She’ll forgive me. But you and Puck? You’ll never win her if you do not kneel to her.”
“She likes to be mastered.”
“She likes control. I’ve fucked her through heats. Pounded her into the place she refuses to call a nest. Covered her with my cum. Left bruises on that fair skin. Bitten her mate gland, though we both knew nothing would come of it because I’ve no mating toxin to mark her. I’ve twisted her to my liking while I kissed her in front of Paxton and Fordom. She’s begged to be mastered, true. She’ll reach for it. Revel in releasing her grip on reality. Outside. Here.” I indicated the hall in which we stood, the Hell, the city of London, the globe, the universe. “Here she must have control.”
“A pretty speech.”
“Do you want to know why?”
“No.”
“The ‘why’ is precisely why her heart shall remain mine even while she rejects me. I’ll keep her heart because I understand her. Because I love the kind of omega she is.”
“Pathetic boy. You really are nothing but a trained dog…”
However, I could see in the slight colour staining his cheeks that my words unnerved him. His alpha scent could not lie. The bitter undertone put me on my guard. But until I’d seen her, held her in my arms one last time, I’d put his strange response to my words aside. “If you must insist I follow, Master.” The minute the honorific left my lips I knew I’d lost. I was his dog… dammit. “Well? Jerk the lead.”
“A surprise. You are always a surprise.” Without waiting to see if I followed, Oberon turned and mounted the stairs. He led me through an unremarkable door in what must be his office. The scent of incense hit me as we entered the narrow passage.
“Incense.” I sneezed. “You are using it to—”
“Protect someone special.” He meant Tod. The little scamp had over set the carefully ordered calm of Omega House within the hour of arriving. Every moment there had been torture knowing she’d finally given in and permitted me into her most sacred space.
Now on Oberon’s turf, I needed to bargain away my freedom that Polly could leave this… place and get back to Tod and her life. I’d rot in some cell of my own making and that would that. I’d have finally done something that wasn’t selfish. For once, I’d sacrifice my desires that the one creature in the world I loved might be free.
Several times I opened my mouth to speak but words failed me and I held my silence until we came face to face with a plain, unpainted door on the top floor. “You are keeping her locked up,” I growled. “Treating—”
He letthe door swing open, and I pushed past him. Polly stood by the window, dressed in the same gown as when I’d last seen her. Her hair hung loose and limp about her shoulders and what I could see of her face was pale.
“Pol.” I reached out. “I’m so sorry about Sarah.” She spun towards me. Her face was not just pale but an ugly bruise marred her cheek. I held back the growl that threatened to erupt from my chest at the sight of it. “What happened?”
“Jude,” she breathed my name. After a brief start where her gazed flicked to Puck lounging against the near wall, she rushed me and wrapped her arms around my waist. Her face she buried in my chest. For the second time she dared to touch me in front of others. Oh goddess, I deserved death. “You should not have come. Sarah… she is gone. It is my fault.”
“No, it cannot have been your fault.” Though my words were tender, I knew I would be nothing but a hypocrite if I hugged her closer. So it took all my willpower to keep my hands by my sides rather than hold her. But a small, sad sniff—as close to crying as she’d ever get—broke me. I caged her little body against mine and tucked her close. I half expected Puck or Oberon to ruin my last moment with her. To hear some sneering remark or cruel taunt. Hells, I wanted them to break through the silence because a quiet confession would be more heartbreaking than a screaming match. Anger I could handle, her tears, if they came, might kill me.
“Did they do this to you?” I asked, my fingers hovering over the bruise, when she stepped back.
“Hardly.” She batted my hand away as I inspected her face. “A stupid fall the first night.”
“Do not lie for them.”
“Fear not. Should they have hurt me—”
“No. Do not brush this off. They are alphas. And I am the one to protect you.” The rush of pure alpha possessiveness bled into my words. I’d long suppressed that tone of voice, those words simply for the chance to stay near her. “Your alpha should protect you.”
Her laugh was a ragged, choked thing. “I have no alpha.”
