Chapter 28
“He overextended himself,” Fiora said. “It’s dangerous, yes, but he’s out of the woods.”
“So you’ve said.” Oberon sat at Fenrir’s bedside, clutching his omega’s hand in both of his. He’d lost track of the time, refusing to leave his side even when the medical team had worked on Fenrir’s injuries.
His shoulder had been dislocated, and his leg was pretty badly burned. There’d been nineteen shards of broken glass and six pieces of plastic embedded in his back, thighs, and backside, and it’d taken well over an hour to dig them all out.
“It doesn’t really seem like you’ve heard me,” Fiora replied. “Or, at the very least, as though you’ve comprehended anything.”
They’d gone over it all already.
He’d been listening.
According to her newly minted expertise on all things Shout, Fenrir’s survival instincts had sent him into a primal state that had momentarily taken over.
His trauma revolving fire, and the fact he’d been locked in a burning room had no doubt been the cause.
He’d somehow managed to break down the door in those conditions which was impressive, and she’d theorized that he’d inadvertently tapped into his untouched potential.
Having experienced a taste of what that Shout rage could produce when he’d overreacted at the mansion and pinned Fenrir to the couch with an audience, Oberon sort of understood Fenrir’s actions had been entirely out of his control.
Energy was no joke.
“He turned the entire auction house into an ice rink,” Koah exclaimed on the other side of the room. He’d been eyeing Fenrir’s unconscious form differently ever since they’d returned from the operating room.
“It froze the bodies rather nicely.” Fiora smiled fondly. “He preserved them for me perfectly. He’s definitely a keeper.”
“He bit you.” Koah stared at the bandaged area of Oberon’s neck where Fenrir had chomped into him.
“Shouts claim their mate the same way alphas do,” Fiora explained.
“Since he’d been pushed into that primal state of being, it makes sense that he acted on instinct.
Especially with so many other alphas around at the time.
His need to mark his mate before someone else could probably overwhelmed him. ”
Fenrir had burned himself out at both ends. His pheromones had spiked, and his energy could practically be tasted. It’d tasted a lot like the air after a lightning strike, cold and metallic and unique.
Oberon had momentarily been caught off guard by the smell, the taste, and the feel of Fenrir all around him.
It’d been a consuming feeling, forcing all sorts of sensations on him at once.
He wondered if it was like that for omegas, though he’d been told there was a blissful, erotic pleasure to an alpha’s bite.
O hadn’t been turned on in that moment.
He’d been…fulfilled?
He didn’t know how to explain it, but the second those teeth that penetrated flesh, he’d felt something solid form between the two of them.
Something invisible, yet miraculously tangible all at the same time.
That feeling still lingered, right at the center of his chest, there whenever he reached for it.
It was an odd sense of awareness that didn’t necessarily lead anywhere… it just…was.
His guess? Fenrir’s Shout had tried to form a bond with him, but because he wasn’t a Whisper, it hadn’t taken the way it was meant. Instead, it’d tangled with the bond they’d formed between an alpha and omega, enriching what they already had in an inexplicable way.
Oberon wasn’t mad about it.
On the contrary.
“Wake up and talk to me,” he murmured, bringing the back of Fenrir’s hand to his cheek. He was slightly cold to the touch, but Fiora had assured him that was normal while the omega’s body recalibrated.
Again.
“He’ll be fine, Purse,” Fiora said. “He’ll wake when he’s ready.”
“He froze—” Koah began, then snapped his mouth shut when she sent him a warning look.
“How did it go at the estate?” Oberon asked.
Now that Fenrir was out of surgery, he could turn part of his attention to the mission.
Not that he gave a shit if Levi got what he wanted out of this.
He mostly just welcomed the distraction.
He hated that there was nothing more he could do for his omega than sit here and fret over him like some weakling. “Was your spy successful?”
Koah sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Yes and no.”
“She was able to locate the vials,” Fiora explained. “But was ambushed on her way out. One of Michelle’s people managed to steal two doses of Rebirth before making a run for it.”
“It’s just two vials,” Oberon said. “That hardly seems like the end of the world.”
“Tell that to our Dominus,” Koah stated tersely. “He’s already ordered the man hunted down.”
Levi was far too serious about all of this if you asked Oberon.
Not that anyone had.
Or ever would.
“I want the auction house cleaned up,” he told them, switching topics. “All of the damaged parts should be restored.”
“Why you telling us?” Koah set his hands on his hips. “We don’t work for you, Purse.”
Fiora rolled her eyes. “Oh, so I suppose you expect him to leave his sick omega so he can deliver the orders himself?”
“I expect him to tell Claudio to do it,” he corrected, “like he does with everything else.”
“Claudio is also bedridden, you dolt.”
“Siblings.” Oberon rubbed at the spot between his eyebrows where a tension headache was forming. “Kindly shut the fuck up and get the hell out.”
“See what you’ve done?” Fiora hissed at Koah as the two of them moved toward the door. “I wanted to see if Fenrir is out of it when he wakes up, but you’ve gone and gotten us kicked out.”
There was a chance Fenrir wouldn’t recall anything that took place after the fire.
The doctors had already prepared O for as much.
It would make sense for his mind to react to that state the same way it did whenever he’d suffered from influx, his memories wiped as his brain’s way of protecting him the best it could.
If it was better for him to forget, Oberon didn’t care. If Fenrir wanted to bite him again while he was present and in full control of himself, the same way O had, that was more than all right.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered once the two of them were alone. “I should never have suggested such a stupid plan. Although,” he smirked, “you would have simply gone without me, isn’t that right?”
Oberon had recognized the violence in Fenrir before Levi had spilled his identity.
“You’re going to make a great mafia member, precious.” He threaded his fingers through Fenrir’s hair.
When his omega had come racing down the steps, there’d been ash and frost in his dark locks. It was washed out now, but picturing it, recalling the way Fenrir’s skin was burned and melted from his calf down…
“I was so scared.” Not of Michelle or the gun she’d had on him. Of the smoke drifting down the stairs at her back.
Of what that meant.
“Trick and Jose got away,” he said. “They won’t get far though, will they, precious. As soon as you’re better, we’ll chase them down and slit their throats. Together this time. From now on, everything we do, every risk we take, we stick together. Is that understood?”
Back at the cottage, when they’d been attacked by the Wardrobe, Oberon had left Fenrir in the safer position. His task had been no less important, but waiting to push a button was arguably a lot more secure than going on the offensive.
Perhaps if Fenrir wasn’t an ex-alpha, Oberon would have made a different choice when putting this plan together, but at the time, knowing how capable his omega was, it’d made sense that their roles switch this time around.
He’d sit in the safer position, lure Michelle away from the upper levels, so that Fenrir could cause a scene and kill as many of the Wardrobe members and guards that he could.
“Wake up so you can tell me what happened.” The cameras had either been fried from the fire or Fenrir’s frost, destroying any security footage they could have checked.
From what Fiora was able to deduce from the bodies she’d studied while Fenrir was undergoing surgery, Fenrir had most likely slain everyone on the third floor before making his way, still undetected, to the fourth.
The original plan had been for him to be loud about it.
They’d wanted to draw as much attention to him as possible to trigger either Michelle or Trick into calling for reinforcements.
While that had still happened in the end, it’d been delayed thanks to Fenrir’s covertness.
“You must have really wanted to take him out, huh, baby?” Oberon chuckled.
“How about it. You wake up, get back on your feet, and I’ll hand deliver that bastard on a golden platter.
You can kill him, torture him, whatever you fancy.
But you have to wake up first. I’m not trying to rush you,” he most certainly was, “but I’m lonely.
Turns out, I’ve developed a bit of a dependency those weeks we spent together. Go figure.”
“I wonder how much it would cost to buy silence,” Fenrir’s voice was weak and thready, the words mumbled from lips that barely opened. His eyes were still closed, and for a moment, Oberon feared he was hallucinating, before the omega sighed.
“Too bad for you, that’s one thing your rich alpha refuses to pay for.” O held tightly to his hand, waiting for Fenrir to gather enough strength to finally look at him.
The omega blinked, slowly adjusting to the light of the room, before finding his gaze. “Hey.”
“Hello.”
“You look like shit.”
“Thanks,” Oberon drawled. “You look amazing.”
Fenrir scrunched his nose. “Doubtful.”
“You always look amazing.”
“Stuff it, King.”
“Not right now,” he teased. “Doctors orders. You can’t be fucked for at least—”
“Babe, I love you, but I can not handle one of your shitty jokes right now.” Fenrir closed his eyes again, seemingly taking stock of his injuries, completely oblivious to what he’d just said.
Oberon stared at him, but it didn’t appear to hit the omega even after he’d been given a moment to process.
He’d used the L-word.
Good Light.
“How badly hurt am I? I can’t tell.” Fenrir was hopped up on extreme pain killers, so that made sense. “Anything serious?”
“Just my love for you.”
Fenrir clicked his tongue and scowled. “King.”
“Fine, fine. No, you don’t have to worry. We got you to the hospital in time for the doctor to apply nanites to your burns. They’ll be healed completely in a few days. No scars. You suffered a ton of lacerations on your back, but those were handled as well.”
“I’m lying on my back.”
“You’ve got a full nanite wrap on, kind of like a long-sleeved shirt. It’s beneath your fetching hospital gown.”
“That explains why it’s difficult to move my arms,” Fenrir hummed. “The rest?”
“Bad shoulder.”
“I mean everyone else. Did I…” He frowned. “I didn’t…hurt anyone, did I?”
Oberon quirked a brow. “Is that your attempt at a really bad joke? Got to tell you, mine are way funnier.”
“I meant your friends, asshole. Did I hurt any of your friends?” His eyes trailed to the bandage on the side of O’s neck and he swallowed. “You. Did I…hurt you?”
“This?” He poked the bite and waved. “Nah. I feel great.”
“King.”
“I doubt it hurt any more than when I bit you.”
“That shit hurt.”
“In that case, bite me again and even us out.”
Fenrir huffed and stared up at the ceiling, though his hand twisted in O’s hold so he could link their fingers. “This a hospital?”
“Yeah. I made sure to put you in the VVIP room. What do you think? Looks like a hotel, doesn’t it?” He’d been afraid his omega would wake up and panic if he was in a regular hospital room.
This space was decorated in warm tones of brown and gold, giving it a homey feel.
It was also spacious, and quiet, so they wouldn’t have to worry about being disturbed, and if Fenrir reacted poorly when one of the staff walked in, Oberon had room to maneuver them all.
Everyone had been given strict orders to remove their lab coats before entering, so ideally, nothing bad would happen to disturb Fenrir’s healing.
“That was thoughtful,” his omega told him. “But unnecessary.”
“How come?”
“I know you’d never bring me anywhere dangerous. I trust you. Just like you trust me. Thanks, by the way. For letting me do that. Even if it did end up with me almost becoming barbeque.”
“I’m guessing you don’t remember everything?” Oberon asked.
“Not all of it.”
“Happen to recall how you ended up locked in a room that was on fire?”
His omega grimaced. “Remember when we first met? You asked me how much it would cost to buy my honesty. Well, for this? An unfathomable amount. Seriously. If I had to recount to you how absolutely reckless and hot headed I was—”
“You, hot headed?”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“It was my fault. I wasn’t careful enough. If I had to give you all the details, I would die of humil—”
Oberon was up out of his seat and pressing his mouth over Fenrir’s in a flash. He kissed him quickly, mostly to shut him up, and then bit his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. Ignoring the heated look on Fenrir’s face when he pulled back, he plopped back down into his chair.
“I don’t want to hear you and death spoken in the same sentence again ever.
Is that understood, omega?” It didn’t matter that they’d both survived the ordeal.
“As for whether or not you were rash at the auction house, let me make myself clear. You can kill whoever you like. I won’t stop you.
But you aren’t allowed to take your own life.
That belongs to me, and it’s nonrefundable. ”
When Fenrir merely dropped his chin, Oberon took pity on him.
“Fiora studied the bodies you left. She said it looked like you’d used your ability to kill over a dozen people before whatever happened with Trick went down.
She’s hypothesized the overuse of your Shout abilities probably clouded your judgment.
Shouts are known for their temper and brash nature.
Their energy makes them, as you’ve put it, hot headed. ”
“How convenient,” Fenrir drawled, clearly still embarrassed.
“Not really,” he disagreed. “It means I have to keep a closer eye on my omega to make sure he doesn’t cross any more lines.”
“King.” Fenrir groaned and covered his face with a palm.
Which was cute as all hell.
“Ready to hear about Michelle?” Oberon asked.
“You mean she’s not rotting in the ground somewhere?”
“Would you like the good news or the bad news first?”
Fenrir dropped his hand and licked his lips. “Bad news.”
“She isn’t dead.”
“And the good news?”
Oberon grinned. “She isn’t dead.”
“I’m going to need you to elaborate on why any part of that can be considered good.”
“Because.” He lifted the hand he still held and kissed the back of Fenrir’s knuckles. “I gave her to Fiora.”
Fenrir’s responding smile was worth eleven million coin all on its own.