AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You manipulating me?” I snarl. Would be a problem if she thinks she can, because it’s gonna work. It’s workin’ now.
“Maybe?”
Yeah, it’s definitely workin’. I take a step forward and scoop her off her feet, wrapping one arm around her ass and carrying her high against me. She yelps, kicks her feet in the blanket like she’s tryna dislodge me, but she’s not tryin’ so hard because she also laughs. Her laughter is awkward and loud and magnetic. We’re back to bein’ alright, it seems, and I love it. Fuck, I also love it when we fight.
I turn my back on the Alphas in the office, forgettin’ them entirely until Whiskey calls out, “Dragnovic, are you forgetting the Ball?”
“Ball?” my Omega says.
“No.”
“No, you haven’t forgotten it, or no, you’ve forgotten it?” Whiskey asks.
Balcazar snorts, “Give the man a fuckin’ minute. He hasn’t even bred his Omega yet and she fuckin’ reeks.”
“Balcazar,” I bark, both as a thanks and a reprimand.
I start towards the door again, and Sierra shouts after me, “Invitations have already been sent. The Omega Ball’s gonna happen whether you want it to or not.”
“Ball?” Echo whispers again directly into my ear. A chill shudders through my bones as her breath brushes my earlobe and sweeps down my neck.
I let go of her with one arm and use my free hand to comb her curls behind one ear. I debate lyin’ to her, then decide I never want to lie to her about anythin’ ever again. “To announce my Omega. Ball’s for you.”
“But I don’t want a Ball.”
“You think I do?” I do. “Hundreds a’ fuckin’ people on my property. Wanderin’ my ballroom, oglin’ my girl?”
She fidgets in my grip, her toes wigglin’ somewhere in the blankets, ticklin’ my calves. “Your wife won’t like that.”
A bolt of laughter bursts out of me and I can’t stop. Gets worse when, from the room behind me, Barbero of all people whispers to Vi, “Did she just say his wife?”
“Think so…” Vi answers.
“No, get the sense my wife won’t — doesn’t like Balls,” I tell her, shakin’ my head.
“Then wouldn’t it be respectful…to her not to have it?” Her fingers are interlaced in the tips of my hair, gently pullin’. Oh yeah. She’s a master manipulator and I hope to god she knows it, because if this isn’t an act and it’s justher,then I’m more doomed than I ever thought possible. The little Omega’s got me turned to putty and wrapped around her fingers, like a kid makin’ traps with string too complicated to untangle because they all lead back to my heart.
“Yeah, probably. But can’t do nothin’ about it. Invites were sent the moment we set foot in Dark City. Every Berserker’s gotta announce his…”
“Or her!” Whiskey shouts down the hall.
“…Omega. It’s tradition. A stupid one, but even if I did kill the Berserker who sat in my seat before me, I wasn’t strong enough to tear the entire system down. So if I gotta go to this damn Ball, then you can be damn sure my Omega’s gotta come, too.”
“And your wife?”
I grunt, well aware that, by now, Echo’s gotta know that the jig is up. She knows that my only wife is the woman in my arms. But whatever. She wants to keep playin’? I’ll play. “Yeah, she’s gotta come too. Team player, and all.”
“She sounds…generous.”
“Wouldn’t go that far. Now come on, takin’ you to bed.”
“But Adam,” she whines, pullin’ herself closer to me usin’ my neck. I squeeze the back a’ hers and try not to breathe. She’s too near to heat.
“Echo, not another word.” Over my shoulder, I shout to the Six. “Proceed with preparations. My Omega and I will be ready for the Ball. Anything urgent you need either of us to attend to between now and then, kill it.”
Grumbling and laughter from my Six is what I leave behind when I carry my Omega outta the hall.
“Where are we going?” Echo says as I round the next curve and carry her through a servant’s passage that’s never used, rather than through the main hall, where my staff roam freely.
