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“Show me where he bit you.”
I lifted my wrist, thumb already tracing the place Ebony had bitten, strength waning as I fought the other half of his command.
“Beg him,” Zeus commanded.
“I will… never…” I grit my teeth, so proud there were no tears this time. “I willneverask for that.” It hurt, but not like when I fought other commands, as if by trying to command that, Zeus was violating the very nature of this bond.
They had taken. I hadn’t given. And he couldn’t make me ask for that.
Zeus grinned and I felt his fleeting moment of pleasure as my pain rushed through the bond between us.
“I was going to ask him to make it neat, but if you want a nasty scar…”
The frightening loudness was gone, followed instead by a ringing silence.
My mother was curled up at the edge of her bed. I’d snuck in to see her even when she’d told me not to. I didn’t care. I hated when they left her alone like this. She was an omega. She needed touch. I knew she needed it even more after they hurt her.
And they knew it, too. A foul cycle of dependence designed to punish an omega who failed to give them what they wanted.
“No my little one,” she whispered. “You have to go.”
But I slipped my arms around her neck and held on tight.
“There’s a bird in the storm, and nobody knows…” I began to sing, my voice almost free of fear, just like she managed for me.
If they wouldn’t, I would hold her until she stopped shaking.
I clutched my knees to my chest in the passenger seat of Ebony’s car.
I was back with my mate, and that was all I could focus on.
I’d survived.
Ebony hadn’t come charging in, though there was a massive dent in his car’s dashboard that hadn’t been there when I’d left. He’d seen Cerus’s bite and his face had gone ashen, silver eyes a furious storm. Then he’d looked away. I’d never seen him this close to it: the dark bond that stopped him from claiming me the way I knew he needed to.
Fragile and scared, barely able to breathe, I watched him as he stared from the window. Would this be more than he was capable of giving? I’d seen an alpha's pride wipe them clean of sanity. I’d seen it push them to rejection, even of the one they were supposed to love.
“He was mad about what Love did…” I swallowed. “He bit me on the neck, over… over his bite.” My voice was weak.
Ebony turned to me, eyes narrowed. “Love?”
“This wasn’t his fault. I… I wouldn’t have it any other way. But please don’t tell him.”
He nodded slowly. “Give me your wrist.”
I stared at him, unsure.
Still, I lifted my arm and revealed the bite again. I saw the way his eyes darkened and in this temporary connection, I felt his hatred of it.
“I can’t do the same,” he said. “I won’t risk you getting hurt.” His eyes slid to my neck, and I realised there must be a mark forming. I’d have to put makeup over it when we got back. I didn’t want them seeing it.
There was a flicker of depravity in Ebony’s gaze and I felt it in our bond. It was a void, something bottomless and vicious. In a blink, it was gone.
Then he reached into his pocket and drew out the bracelet from Havoc and Prey. Their faint scents rose in the air around us, but he didn’t flinch.
Carefully, he slipped it onto my wrist and pulled the dangling strings so it fit perfectly just past the bite. Then, to my surprise, he leaned down.
Instead of pressing his teeth to the bruised and bleeding mark Cerus had left, he pressed his lips to it, instead.
