Chapter 15
Kian settled on the other side of the tub, but Sky kept an eye on him, suspicion ever present. He tensed when the alpha selected a bottle of body wash from a nearby shelf within reach, watching as he squeezed a large dollop of mint green product onto his hand.
“Don’t touch me.” He tried to pull away when Kian captured his ankle, but all he managed to do was splash water over the rim. Eventually, he gave up, dropping back against the tub to get comfortable while the alpha began to scrub and massage him leisurely.
It wasn’t long before he was biting back moans, his eyes drifting shut as the aches were worked out of his feet and calves. He didn’t bother fighting when those skilled hands moved higher, taking care of the strained muscles in his thighs.
“Relax,” the alpha instructed when his fingers got a little too close to the sensitive flesh high on his inner thigh, and Sky’s eyes popped open.
“I already cleaned you out earlier. I won’t touch you there.
I promised I wouldn’t. I’ll never lie to you, little omega.
” Kian lowered his leg back into the water and switched to his left one, delivering the same treatment.
“That’s rich.” A fresh wave of indignation shot through his veins, and Sky crossed his arms over his chest.
“What do you mean?”
“I won’t be with an alpha who has another omega.” He could give up on his childish notions of a picture-perfect life with the big white house and two point five kids. The nine-to-five grind with his partner, who always came home to him tired but ready to help with dinner.
Sky could admit, now that he’d already been claimed, that perhaps those weren’t really things the adult version of himself wanted or needed.
But that didn’t mean he’d give up on the fantasy entirely.
There were parts he’d cling to, parts he’d rather die than settle on, even to the man he’d wanted almost as long as he’d dreamed of marriage.
“It’s all or nothing with me,” he reiterated.
“I’ll have all of you,” Kian replied confidently.
“Bullshit.”
“Is that your favorite word?”
Actually, yes. But that wasn’t important.
“You’re lying to me right now. You already have an omega. A pregnant one.”
Kian’s fingers stilled and he pursed his lips, lifting his confused gaze to Sky’s. “What are you talking about? I don’t have any other omegas, Sky. I don’t have any betas either, just for the record. There’s only you. There’s only ever been you.”
His traitorous heart skipped a beat, and he struggled to ignore it, huffing. “I saw the photo.”
“What photo?”
“The one sent to you while we were at my studio.” The one that pissed Sky off so much, he’d barely spoken to the alpha the rest of the time they’d been trapped there, waiting for his drivers to arrive.
Hell, he’s stewed over it all week, and now the one responsible for his shitty mood was trying to deny it?
“It was an ultrasound picture, Kian. It’s not like I could have mistaken it. ”
Kian climbed out of the tub, water dripping down his naked form, and crossed to the sink where he’d left his multi-slate.
Sky tried not to stare, he really did, but his gaze was riveted to the dimples above Kian’s sculpted ass. He hadn’t really gotten the chance to look before, and he found himself unable to pass the opportunity up now that it’d been presented to him.
The alpha was in great shape, with defined muscles and legs that seemed to go on forever.
He was so tall, with broad shoulders and the cleanest cut abs Sky had ever seen.
It wasn’t the form of a bodybuilder, more like that of a fighter, and not for the first time, he wondered what Kian had really been up to these past years to have honed his form so impressively.
When he returned, he didn’t immediately get back in. Instead, Kian perched on the edge and pulled up the photo on his device, turning it so Sky could see.
“This one?” he asked, and when Sky nodded, he made a big show of clicking the call button for the contact that had sent it. It only rang a couple of times before it connected.
“Noki,” a warm voice came through the speaker, using the term for older brother, or older brother figure, on Synastry. “Hello.”
“Is our sister with you?” Kian asked the man on the device, though his eyes never left Sky’s.
“Sloane is here. Do you need her for something?”
“No, never mind.”
“Is your omega awake?” the voice asked. “Should I bring—”
“No.” Kian hung up before the guy could finish and then gave Sky a pointed look. “Satisfied?”
“Who was that?”
“Shiloh, my other younger brother. I told you about the twins at your studio, do you remember?” Kian got up and placed his multi-slate back on the counter, then slipped into the bath again, settling his legs at either side of Sky comfortably.
Lifting Sky’s left foot, he went back to massaging him.
“He’s the one who’s pregnant. The twins are both omegas. ”
Oh. Since the call had been impromptu, he didn’t think it had been faked.
“Relieved?” The corner of Kian’s mouth turned up, and Sky scoffed.
“Why should I be?”
“Don’t play games. You were upset because you thought I had another, I just proved to you that isn’t true. You’ve always been the only one for me, Sky. That won’t change. Especially not now.”
“Now that you’ve forced a claiming bite on me, you mean?”
“Five.”
Sky blinked. “…What?”
Kian tapped the side of his own neck and grinned. “I gave you five.”
“You—!” His hand slapped against his throat, and he hissed at the sharp pain.
“Careful,” the alpha warned. “You’re still healing. I got carried away and reopened the wounds whenever they began to close.”
“Why would you do that?” Sky gaped at him, horrified. He’d never heard of an alpha doing something like that before. It was barbaric.
“To make sure the bites were deep enough they could never be undone,” he replied, as though the answer was obvious and Sky was a bit dim for asking.
“I’ve heard plenty of stories of omegas escaping and finding a plastic surgeon to undo the claiming mark.
I’ve helped a few achieve that goal myself. That isn’t going to be you, Sky.”
He was not secretly pleased by how possessive of him the alpha seemed to be. He wasn’t. That would be crazy. Pathetic.
Sky didn’t want this. Didn’t want this alpha, no matter how long he’d pined for him, or how hot he was, or how hard he made him.
“You’ll help other omegas find freedom, but not me?” he latched onto that part of the conversation, hoping he could maybe use it to his advantage. “Were they strangers, these omegas?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not a stranger.”
“No.”
“But you’d put me through this? You’ll help them, but you—”
“They were forced into a life of servitude,” Kian stated bitterly.
“That won’t be you, Sky. I’ll possess you, all of you, but I won’t enslave you.
You’re free to do as you please. The only thing I won’t allow is for you to leave me.
I’d be fucking you right now if not for the deal we just made.
All you had to do was say you didn’t want it to get me to refrain.
Those other omegas weren’t so lucky with the alphas who claimed them. ”
“I told you I didn’t want it from the start,” Sky reminded with a growl. “I asked you to leave that night at my studio—No, our first time was before then, wasn’t it. Four years ago. I begged you not to, but you did it anyway.”
“You’re mine now.” Kian actually had the audacity to shrug a single shoulder. “Things are different.”
Sky yanked his leg free and tucked his knees against his chest, making himself as small as possible.
Kian didn’t force him back into place; instead, he stretched his arms over the back of the tub and settled in. Like they were having a casual conversation instead of discussing serious topics like consent and when and where it mattered.
“What if I don’t want to be yours?” Sky risked asking. “What if I don’t want an alpha who doesn’t listen to me? One who forces himself on others? One who has blood on his hands?”
“You’ve fantasized about me bedding you since you were sixteen, little omega.”
“I was na?ve. I’m not anymore. I’m not the only one who’s different, either. You’re not the person I thought you were, Kian. You know what I’ve always dreamed of. You know this isn’t it.”
“I’m the only future you’re allowed to want.”
“You aren’t listening.” Sky brought his wet hands up to his face, then ran his fingers roughly through his hair.
“Are you curious who the father of Shiloh’s baby is?” Kian’s sudden change in subject momentarily threw him for a loop but eventually Sky nodded. “So are we.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Are you aware of the problem Synastry is facing?”
“The low birthrates?” It was the only thing he could be referring to. “Yeah, everyone knows about that. So? It’s not like we’re having that issue here.” It hit him that Kian’s siblings were supposedly from the neighboring planet. “Oh, Shiloh getting pregnant is a big deal, isn’t it?”
“It’s a major deal,” he agreed, but then added, “He didn’t want it.”
Sky frowned, though he could relate. Shiloh was a year younger than him, and Sky couldn’t imagine being a dad at his age.
Lots of people settled down in their early twenties, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, but for some reason, Sky had always been averse to the idea of getting pregnant right away and popping out kids.
He would never say it out loud, but he wanted to be the sole focus of his mate for as long as possible.
Wanted his alpha to dote and care for only him.
A baby would need attention and love, and Sky…
Sky wanted to be selfish for a bit. He wanted the freedom of going on random dates and taking romantic vacations.
Of snuggling in bed and having rough, brutal sex on the kitchen table—
Wait.
No.
No.
Scratch that last one.
He didn’t want that.
…Where the hell had that come from?
“Do you know much about trafficking?” Kian broke through Sky’s thoughts.