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“Now, now. Don’t be so starchy. This place ain’t nothing more than a glorified molly-house for alphas.”
The silence following this pronouncement sent a chill down my spine. Alpha-alpha relations were not illegal, hadn’t been since Queen Elizabeth’s time, but the stigma lasted. Molly-houses provided a safer space for alphas and omegas to mingle with the same dynamic. Puck and Oberon’s well-known relationship, and that the best of London’s whores passed through their doors, meant such an accusation had no doubt been hurled at them before but to say it out loud? No, I would have not have that sort of prejudicial nonsense.
I rose from my chair and faced the alpha, who couldn’t be much older than me. “Then, Sir, you should remove yourself from this house before you become so infected.” I looked around the gathering. “And any others who hold such views might also absent themselves before I am forced to take more direct action.”
Several alpha growls peppered the crowd but none moved. I gave them a stiff nod and sat back down. Picking up my cards, I feigned indifference and pretended to consider my next discard. Inside I could barely contain my anger which caused the world to blur around the edges.
Deverill stood and gave an uncomfortable laugh as if I had made some great joke. “Come now, you jest! Leave with me, Miss Hartwell. This ain’t a place for an omega of your breeding.”
Then his hand landed on my shoulder, right over my mating gland. A gross and vile desecration of my body. He’d died for it.
Lurching to my feet, I reached for the blade tucked up my hair prepared to make good on my promise but Puck was faster, cutting in front of me and throwing a punch. The bastard’s head snapped back and for a moment I prayed that Puck had not just laid him out but broken his neck. But his hand went to his nose which bled profusely, the bone clearly broken. Not enough and I pulled my dagger free.
“You thought to touch our omega?” Every one of Puck’s muscles was taught, straining to be unleashed. And for me. This fury was for me. A woman who had resisted and snapped every moment of our acquaintance.
“Your omega?” The aristocratic sneer made Deverill look as if he’d taken poison. Goddess that he would! “She might be a fallen woman and nothing but a knot tease. However a Hartwell omega is a Hartwell omega. Sister-in-law to a duke don’t—”
“Do you value your life so little?” Oberon asked. “There’d be something to it if you’d not laid a hand on her. Some, explanation for such reckless speech. But there is nothing in this universe to save you now that she has been assaulted so.”
These alphas knew I could have handled this pompous ass and yet they stepped in, marking me with actions rather than bites. Fascinating. Fascinating that I permitted them to behave so territorial.
“You’d not!” Deverill startled, scrambling back like a crab. “You’d not lay a hand on a member of the aristocracy.”
“No, I wouldn’t. See, though, you alarmed my omega and no alpha here will object if I take appropriate action.” And this languid alpha raised his hand and pulled the trigger of a small pistol. My pistol. It caught Deverill in the heart. He was dead before he hit the ground. Oberon could be hanged for murder, but I knew him. He did not take risks. None here would dare speak against him after this unified display on our part. On my part. Allowing him to act on my behalf, I had acknowledged him to be the alpha in charge of my safekeeping. We were now and forevermore linked in the minds of those present. My mating was all but assured.
“Get her out of here.” Oberon barked at Jude. I found myself scooped into his arms and the alphas and betas parted like the Red Sea, permitting us to pass out of the room. I held in every comment, restrained every instinct that screamed I should struggle and demand to be set down. I’d bide my time until there weren’t so many eyes on us. As we reached the door, I looked over Jude’s shoulder in time to hear Oberon sneer at Deverill’s lifeless body.
“How enlivening. I wasn’t sure if it was loaded. Someone clean up this mess. So hard to get bloodstains out of the carpets.”
“Be happy it wasn’t a Hartwell omega holding the pistol. His family can have an open casket viewing now,” Orley said to the corpse. “Come, Oberon. Show me those miniatures…” He turned them into the crowd and soon they were lost to me as conversations broke out loudly across the room.
I half expected Jude to drop me when we made the hall but if anything he held me closer as if he feared I’d run back into the room should I be released. He’d been as grossly protective when I’d thought him a beta.
“You didn’t protest,” Jude said softly as he set me on my feet when we reached the door to Oberon’s office.
“And cause a greater scandal?” I pressed my fingers to my throbbing temples. “I need to sit.”
I opened the door and I felt like I was floating as I crossed the room and sunk into Oberon’s chair. His scent engulfed me and I hated my omega for finding comfort in the spicy perfume.
“Pol. Are you alright?”
“Yes,” I snapped. “Yes,” I said more softly. “I am far more fine than not.”
“It is best that you do not have blood on your hands. They couldn’t let you.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” I admitted. “I should go to bed, I think.”
“Of course.” He held out his hand, and I took it without think, allowing him to pull me up. When he didn’t let go, I let out a growl which he met with one of his own. “Pol.”
“Let go Jude.”
“Not until we’ve talked.” I found myself tugged into his chest. “I mean it. I was wrong to lie to you. But I’m done apologising, Pol.”
“Don’t call me that.” I went to slap him, but he caught my hand, twisting it behind my back. “When did your balls drop? Eh?”
“When he touched you. I could smell you all over him. Then I gave up this boyish hope I could win you back by staying silent. I might kneel for Oberon or Puck but with you, I am your equal and always will be. No more games, your highness.”
I froze. He called me ‘your highness’ only when we were in bed. A little joke that had become something more.
