Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Here, this is the juiciest one, love.” Zero dips a fresh chocolate strawberry into his glass of bubbling champagne. Then he holds it up to my lips. “I think that I’m getting why Alphas have a thing for handfeeding their Omegas.”
Despite the shadows under his eyes, I would never have known the nightmares that shook him last night.
Does he remember them?
I hope not.
Neither Zero nor Lionzio mentioned them when they woke up. Both men were back to their sparking relationship, which is based on scolding on one side and flirtatious teasing on the other.
I bet their hatesex would be spectacular.
Yet part of me wishes that Zero knew Lionzio watched over him at night.
Lionzio hasn’t mentioned what he told me either. I’m glad that he felt able to open up. I have the sense that he finds it hard to talk with the others about it. Perhaps, with anyone else at all.
Maybe with how he was shaped in that mafia family, he believes that it would make him weak. In fact, he doesn’t need to be as physically strong as Icarus in order to be one of the strongest Alphas I have met.
He did escape the hell of the world he was sold into, and just like me, he did it by allowing himself to look weak.
That takes strength.
I hope Zero at least appreciates that it was Lionzio who gifted him this date with me by shepherding the rest of the pack out to the official Christmas Eve breakfast down in the hotel’s grand dining room, despite Piper’s protests.
“Someone needs to stay here and keep our new Omega company. We’ll only be swarmed by your fans, stella mia, so you may as well be the one to remain with her,” Lionzio said casually.
Yet by the way that his pale gaze met mine and softened, I was sure that he was giving me a chance to have time to be alone with Zero and become closer to him after the trauma of the night. “Call it the cost of fame.”
I take a bite out of the strawberry, delighting in the sweet combination of flavors. When the juices drip down my lips onto my chin, Zero swoops in and licks them off, before kissing my lips.
I suck the final piece of strawberry into my mouth, along with his fingers, giving them a teasing lick.
He shivers, watching me with dilated pupils.
Zero is wearing a fluffy white shirt with nothing underneath it, which he has left unbuttoned, revealing his silky chest. The shirt is decorated with small, glittering silver stars.
At least it’s more than he slept in.
Perhaps, Zero is forced into such ornate outfits to perform that he loves barely dressing when he is alone.
He threw me a matching shirt this morning, which although freshly laundered, still smelled faintly of his sweet banana pudding scent. I willingly changed into it. It’s long enough to cover to my knees, which is lucky, since I have no panties to wear.
Zero smiled widely when he saw me in his shirt.
So, Betas can be possessive too.
I snuggle closer on his lap. He loops his arm around me, resting his back against the upholstered, snowflake decorated headboard of the bed.
The nest is a tangled mess of clothes and cushions.
I have set Roar at the head of the bed like he is the King, however, and Lionzio has been sure to pull the velvet bedding over me to keep me warm.
Snow is driven against the balcony window in light flurries, as the soft morning light streams across the black and white chessboard tiles on the floor and antique furniture.
It feels warm and cozy to be cuddled like this.
I can’t remember the last time that I slept in this late and then lazed around without having to get up and work. I have never been hand fed in bed like this.
I wouldn’t want it every day but knowing that someone thinks that I am worthy of being treated like this makes me purr.
Icarus made up the excuse that he had to get back to work because it was Christmas Eve. It’s true, but the work isn’t only about the hotel but taking it over.
Excitement rushes through me.
This could be the best or worse Christmas of my life.
Zero raises the champagne to his plush lips, and my purr deepens, as I watch him tip back his head, the long line of his gorgeous throat, and as he swallows.
His eyes dance as they meet mine.
He knows exactly what he’s doing.
Brat Beta.
“I enjoy spoiling you.” Zero holds the lip of the champagne glass to my mouth, and I take a fruity sip.
The bubbles fizz. “I enjoy being spoiled like this. One positive thing I will say about the hotel is its incredible food. But that’s the only thing that I’ll admit.
Well, apart from you and your daughter. Oh, and Icarus.
Hmm, actually your hotel has amazing staff but pretty much everything else is bloody awful.
What type of people put Omegas in a catalog like they’re items on room service? The owners are bastards.”
I shift, suddenly uncomfortable.
My cheeks flame.
Zero still thinks that I am no different to all the other Hotel Omegas.
I have to tell him who I am.
Dread makes me take quick gulping breaths.
Zero looks at me startled.
Hurriedly, he places down the champagne glass and pushes the plate of chocolate strawberries to the side. He turns me on his lap.
“Love?” Zero pushes the hair out of my eyes. “Sorry, did I say something wrong? Take some deep breaths, yeah?”
“I’m Mrs. Frost’s daughter,” I rush to get out before Zero can either apologize again or be even kinder.
I can’t take it.
I stare up at Zero, clutching my hands on my lap.
I hate how his expression hardens.
Here it comes.
To my surprise, he avoids my gaze.
“I may only be a Beta but I am going to tear out your Chief Alpha’s throat,” Zero says, low and serious in a way that I have never heard before.
My eyes widen with both shock and alarm.
“Everybody in Haven knows that she has marked an Omega son and daughter as Rejs and sent them to work as staff and Hotel Omegas. It’s a scandal, love.
Maybe you’d be surprised just how many people disagree with what she did.
Did you think that any of us would care if you were a poor Hotel Omega sent here from the Institute or a daughter from the Frost pack?
Pip is a Wolf, one of the most infamous packs in America.
Lion grew up in one of the worst mob packs.
It doesn’t make him a bastard. If people judge us for the actions of our packs, then we’d be fucked, right? ”
I draw back from him, shaking.
I’m isolated here. The hotel is like its own universe.
A scandal.
It’s like a blast of wind has finally brought the real world rushing in after three years of being insulated from it, and it makes me tremble.
Memories of the Christmas ball, when I had newly discovered that I was pregnant and then my entire world fell apart.
…A month ago, when I was away at that medical conference, I ran into my true scent match at a local bar.
It wasn’t planned. It was fate. John wanted to keep you on as a Second Omega, but my treasured scent match is adamant that she won’t bond if there is another Omega in her nest; she’s territorial.
So, I’m sorry but I am rejecting you and your child.
There’s room in that big, old hotel, right?
I am certain that your mother will take you in if you beg…
Logan and John are somewhere in the hotel right now with the Omega who replaced me. I may even run into them tomorrow.
Am I ready?
Yet I have a new pack myself who have shown me what it is to be cherished in a way that the Alcotts never did.
If they hadn’t abandoned their daughter, then I wouldn’t feel such an ache still at the thought of them. For the first time, the wound that they inflicted by rejecting me is healing.
“Lion is going to spank me until I can’t sit down for a week.” Zero grips my shoulders, dragging me to his neck and soothing down my neck. “I’ve broken you. They’ll never trust me alone with you again.”
I give a choked laugh. “If I was broken, could I do this?” I lick down his neck, enjoying the way that he shivers.
“Anyway, don’t try and trick me that you don’t want Lion to put you over his lap, bare your truly gorgeous ass, and spank you until you’re cherry red.
I bet that he wouldn’t realize that he was actually rewarding you, until you came all over his smart trousers. ”
Zero gives a filthy laugh, pushing me away from his neck to wink at me. “You understand me better than Lion already, love. But are you really okay?”
I pull at the hem of my long shirt, before squirming off his lap to sit cross legged next to him.
“I guess that I’m caught in a type of bubble here.
I forget that the world outside is still turning.
Zoe’s dad, Logan, rejected me when I told him that I was pregnant with her, on the evening of the Christmas ball actually. ”
“Alphahole.” Zero’s eyes become like lavender storms. “More throats to tear out.”
“Actually, he did it because he told me that he’d found his true scent match.
And that Omega didn’t want me in their pack.
It has made me wary of pack bonds, other Omegas, and scent matches.
Growing close to the three of you, finding an Omega soulmate and Alpha scent match, has been huge for me.
But not easy. This time of year is hard enough with all the memories.
For an elite like me to be publicly abandoned like that, unbonded and pregnant is as you said, a scandal.
Our Chief Alpha allowed me to stay but only if I worked as staff.
My brother who tried to stick up for me was reduced to a Hotel Omega. ”
“Oh, love.” The heartbreak in Zero’s voice for me nearly undoes me. “I wish that I had been free myself then. I wish that I could have found you earlier.”
“You talk about free.” I grasp Zero’s hand in mine, resting it on my knee. “But why were you so trapped in this cruel idol camp? You don’t have to tell me but you can.”
He licks his dry lips, and for a moment, I don’t think that he will answer.