Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Romeo Ballet Academy, Sanctum
“ I s there any rule that you won’t break?” Dimitri’s voice is as cold and sharp as the winter wind.
“I haven’t found one yet.” Swan protectively pushes me behind him.
I whine, shaking.
We’re dead.
Dimitri is going to separate us as dance partners. Our dream of winning the contest will be shattered.
He’ll destroy my hope of us both being bonded by the Romeos.
Dimitri marches with clipped steps into the shadowy practice room. The moonlight through the glass walls glimmers over his military neat ice white hair and beard. His pale blue eyes blaze.
He’s wearing an immaculate ivory shirt that strains to contain his bear like muscles, as well as pants that are held up by a wide leather belt, which he loves to use on his male students.
He’s twice the size of Swan and like a giant next to me.
Every Omega instinct inside me is telling me to drop to my knees to appease this Alpha, who’s letting out wave after wave of furious pheromones, or at least to fucking run.
I force myself to do neither.
Swan and I have fallen in love. We kissed each other.
I won’t let Swan take the blame alone.
“We only wanted to get in some extra rehearsal time,” I blurt, “with the contest being so close.”
Our love has to be secret. I wish that it didn’t.
But it’s forbidden.
Dimitri ignores me. His gaze is focused on Swan.
Dimitri is vibrating with rage.
His furious scent of burned coffee makes bile rise up the back of my throat.
I gag.
Concerned, Swan reaches around to grip me by the elbow and steady me.
Then he straightens his back, pushing his hair behind his ears to meet Dimitri’s eyes. “You did tell me in class today that if I didn’t improve, I’d win myself a one-way ticket to Siberia.”
“I must have missed the exercise that I set with your lips .” Dimitri reaches out, gripping Swan by the chin.
Swan stills, hardly daring to breathe.
In contrast, I’m breathing so fast that I’m struggling not to tip into panic attack.
My lungs burn.
I’m desperate to bat Dimitri’s hand away, but he’s the Alpha who runs this academy with an iron will along with his mom.
If I openly fight back, I’ll only make things worse for the hundreds of students who are training here.
Dimitri pushes back Swan’s head, baring his neck.
No one should be forced into that submissive gesture.
Swan is shaking from the effort not to pull away.
“I welcome your correction, Mr. Dimitri,” Swan says through clenched teeth. It’s a familiar rote response. “May Juliet return to our dorm room, before you discipline me further? I’m the one who’s at fault."
Noble asshole.
“We were only practicing the kiss between Romeo and Juliet at the end of the dance,” I hurriedly lie.
I’m surprised by the flash of jealousy across Dimitri’s face that he’s not able to hide behind his cold mask quickly enough.
I can tell that he doesn’t believe me.
Is he jealous of Swan for kissing me ? Or because I was able to kiss Swan ?
He casts Swan a questioning look.
Swan nods.
“Funny, we’ve known each other since we were kids. I grew up alone in this academy, but you were kind to me.” Dimitri reaches out, resting his thick fingers around Swan’s elegant throat. My heart speeds up. “I do these things to help you improve. I want to get the best from you. It’s a type of love, you know?”
My eyes widen.
Love?
It’s fucking toxic.
But hell, Dimitri appears to believe it.
Swan swallows. “I feel the love every time that you forcibly stretch me, overstraining my joints and tendons. I feel the love each day that you overwork me to the point of collapse. I feel the love, when you tell me that I’m a nobody, merely here to be molded into what you want as a dancer.”
“You should,” Dimitri growls. “Because you have my attention, which the other Betas beg for.”
“Then why are you angry now?”
“Because I know that kiss was real.” Dimitri closes his fist around Swan’s neck and lifts him into the air as easily as if he’s a rag doll.
The lift is violent and brutal. It’s the opposite of the fluid beauty, when Swan lifts me.
“Stop,” I scream in shock.
Instead, Dimitri drives Swan backward, knocking me spinning.
I let out a pained oomph , as my shoulder is slammed into the mirror.
I hiss. Pain radiates down my arm.
I catch a glimpse of my terrified face in the mirror. My lavender eyes glimmer with tears.
Frantic, I glance back across the room.
Dimitri slams Swan backward across the antique piano in a spray of dust and jangling, discordant notes.
Swan cries out. He’s going to have more bruises than me.
Hell, I hope that they’re hidden by our ballet costumes.
Dimitri casually pins Swan down by his throat, as he struggles. “Perhaps, I should simply break your legs.”
Swan freezes.
No, no, no.
That’s the worst threat to a dancer. It’d end his career.
“Please,” I beg. “Don’t.”
Dimitri casts me a contemptuous look. “Silence, Omega. I know my mom lets you have equality within her class because she sees potential in you. But I don’t. I don’t care how good a dancer your mom was either.”
“ Was ?” I whisper.
Chills run down my spine.
It’s been awhile since anyone has mentioned Mom to me. I can’t help the hunger to hear about her.
But why is he talking about her in the past tense?
People say that I take after Mom with my curly, blond hair and striking lavender eyes.
I dance like her as well, all emotion and heart.
Mom was the best principal dancer in the Cinders. On the day that I was abandoned to the Romeos, however, she vanished.
I don’t know whether she was sold, sent to the cruel Omega Institute, or is being kept locked up somewhere.
I won’t let myself think that she was illegally trafficked.
I haven’t been able to solve the mystery and save her from inside the academy. We’re banned from the Internet and social media. This is the serious reason why I need to win the contest and escape from here.
It’s been my mission in life for four years.
Then I can save Mom, as well as myself.
It’s also why I’m so conflicted about falling for my enemy, Ambrose Romeo.
And the worst thing?
Ever since I came here, I’ve been controlled by threats to Mom. If I don’t behave or try to run, then what will happen to Mom?
“Your mom isn’t dancing now, is she?” Dimitri shoots me a nasty look. “Her Omega daughter shouldn’t be either. I’d have thought that you cared more about your mom’s safety than to break the rules like this.”
Tears spill onto my cheeks. I rush across the room, falling to my knees willingly this time.
I wince, as my knees hit the hard wooden floor.
“Where is she? Can I speak to her? Just one phone call?” I stare up at Dimitri, wiping the back of my hand across my cheeks, desperately trying to stop my tears. “I need to know that she’s okay.”
“Stop holding her mom over her,” Swan demands. “I’m the one who’s being rebellious. Just break my fucking legs.”
My heart leaps into my throat.
I know that Swan’s deliberately pulling Dimitri’s attention back onto himself. He’s been my protector, ever since we were partnered and he was named as my mentor.
The lowest status Beta with the freak Omega.
Tiny as I am, however, I’ll fight an Alpha, before I allow Dimitri to break my Beta’s legs.
Because Swan is my Beta .
“But how could I have my fun torturing you in class, if I did that?” Dimitri arches his white brow.
Swan gives a forced laugh. “You’re so funny, Mr. Dimitri.”
“Who says that I’m joking?”
Swan becomes ashen. “Look, I’ve taken your correction and advice—”
“When do you take my advice?”
“Remember that time you told us to lie on our backs with our knees bent and open to the sides and then to imagine that someone was pulling our cocks straight toward our heels? That was great advice about what our pelvis should feel like the whole time that we’re dancing.”
Dimitri growls, slamming Swan up and then down against the piano.
Swan winces.
“Aren’t you grateful?” Dimitri demands.
“For beating my ass?”
“For giving a nobody like you a chance.” Dimitri finally releases his hold on Swan’s throat in frustration, taking a step back. Swan raises a shaky hand, massaging over the sore skin of his neck. Then he pushes himself to his feet. “I’ve stopped the other Betas from bullying you. Highlighted your talent. Nurtured it.”
“Ehm, thanks…?”
To my shock, Dimitri slaps Swan hard enough to knock him off his feet.
My eyes flash with rage, as Swan hits the floor next to me with a crack.
When Swan holds his hand over his swollen cheek, I purr to comfort him. I soothe him with a burst of comforting pheromones, at the same time as I lie over him, protecting him with my body.
I may not be able to fight a giant of an Alpha. But I can shield my Beta.
I am his Ash Queen, after all.
Swan curls to look up at me. His sharp cheekbone is already bruising. My purr deepens, as I trace my finger across it.
“It’s okay,” he promises, “it doesn’t hurt.”
He always says that.
It’s a lie.
Then his silver eyes become molten.
He presses his forehead against mine, whispering too softly for Dimitri to hear, “I don’t regret it.”
He means the kiss.
“Nor do I, Feathers,” I mouth back.
Dimitri is panting hard like he’s the one who’s been struck. “Swan, I didn’t mean to…you made me do that. I only correct out of love.”
Love , right.
Swan’s expression hardens.
He doesn’t reply.
Dimitri crosses his arms, pacing. “Most of the Betas here are from elite families. They’ve been sent to the Romeo Ballet Academy for generations to become students and join our company. Their Head Alphas send the second Beta in the family. It’s tradition. But you…? Have you forgotten that you’re merely the poor servant of a mafia family?” I hate the way that Swan’s cheeks flush with shame. “You may be the most talented but that would have meant nothing, if I hadn’t given you a chance. Who made you a soloist, huh? Who pushed you to have the best parts to showcase you? Now, stand up and thank me, sincerely this time.”
I shake my head, panicked.
Swan strokes my hair, however, giving me a reassuring smile. “He’s right.”
I try to cling to him, but Swan disentangles his long limbs from me and pushes himself to his feet.
Swan meets Dimitri’s gaze with an earnestness that I’m not expecting. “Thank you.”
It surprises Dimitri as much as me, bleeding away the last of his anger. His coffee scent no longer smells bitter and burned.
“Good.” Dimitri studies Swan. “I don’t want my most talented dancer to lose his way. I put you on the stage and I can take you off it.”
“Well, that’d be a waste of this .” Swan does a dramatic turn in the air, which is mesmerizing.
The fact that he can pull off the move with such energy, even though he’s just had his ass handed to him, is fucking impressive.
“The waste is that you’re partnered with her.” When Dimitri points at me, my guts churn with dread.
I scramble backwards across the dusty floor, until I’m huddled against the glass wall that looks over the forest. The trees are bone white with snow.
Swan pushes back his sweaty hair, catching his breath. “She’s a hundred times more talented than I am. And I think that I’m a god. So, that’s saying something.”
My heart hammers in my chest, when Dimitri stalks to Swan. But to my surprise, he merely brushes the dust off Swan’s t-shirt.
“Still too kind for your own good but pretending to be a cocky asshole, huh?” Dimitri tuts. “You have the potential to be the best dancer in America. Possibly, one of the top in the world. But you’ve been held back by being forced to mentor and dance with an Omega. Worse than that, an Omega from a rival company. Here’s the truth, Swan. You think that I’m the one driving you to exhaustion and injury. But did I force you to break curfew and practice late into the night? You’re the one who’s pushing yourself past your limits to win this contest.” Dimitri grips Swan’s chin harshly, meeting Swan’s flaming eyes. “And the sad thing is that you don’t have a chance of winning it.”
I wish that I could yell that it’s not true. But it is.
Swan has been held back by being forced to mentor the only Omega. He does drive himself harsher than his instructors, in the same way that I do because we want this so damn much.
My stomach is tied in knots.
The worst thing is that deep in our hearts, Swan and I both know that it’s a long shot that an Omega will be allowed to win the R & J prestigious contest.
I’d become the first Omega principal dancer in the world.
Yet Swan and I also have hope and faith.
We won’t give up.
“Just watch on Christmas Eve,” Swan grits out. “We’ll see, won’t we?”
Dimitri traces down Swan’s jaw in a possessive way that makes me want to vomit.
Without expecting to, I growl.
Dimitri’s frosty gaze shoots to mine. “Are you growling at me, Omega?”
Shit, I am.
Omegas don’t growl at Alphas.
What the hell am I doing?
Swan’s eyes are wide and filled with glowing admiration.
I stagger to my feet, clutching onto the glass wall behind me to hold myself up. “Stop touching him.”
Dimitri chuckles. “A possessive Omega.” He lets Swan go, however, slapping the dust off him again like that was all he intended to do. “I don’t think that you two understand how much trouble you’re in. You’re lucky that it was me who discovered you and not my mom. Because I’ll give you a chance. I’ll allow you to still take part in the contest. Prove me wrong and win.”
When my shoulders sag with relief, Swan winks at me with his typical swagger.
“But…” Dimitri draws out the word, and my heart sinks. Why did I know that there had to be a but coming? “If you don’t win, then you let me help you. Your lives will be hell, as part of the ensemble, only dancing group scenes amongst your peers who’ll despise you. But I can save you, Swan, by offering you the honor of bonding with me.”
What…?
I stare at Dimitri in shock.
Has he truly just offered to bond with Swan?
Fuck, that explains a lot about his behavior. He has a secret crush of his own.
Only, the difference is that it’s clearly an obsession. And it’s one-sided.
Not only was that the least romantic bonding offer ever, does Dimitri think that his brand of bullying is courting?
I fucking blame the bully romances that Dimitri reads.
Swan looks as shocked as I am.
He’s my Beta.
The thought that Swan could be taken into Dimitri’s pack, having Katerina as his Head Alpha, makes me shake.
We’d truly lose each other then.
And that would be hell for us both.
Swan tilts up his chin, taking a step away from Dimitri and toward me. I push myself away from the wall to stand at his shoulder.
“Generous offer,” Swan replies, “but I refuse.”
Dimitri looks stunned like it’s never crossed his mind that he could be rejected.
He storms toward Swan, raising his hand, as if to backhand him.
Swan doesn’t flinch.
Then Dimitri draws in a deep breath like it’s a struggle for him to calm down, before slowly lowering his hand and balling it into a fist. “You don’t get to refuse. Who the fuck are you? Trash that should be kissing my feet that an Alpha of my status has even looked at you twice. This company fucking owns you. Owns both of you .”
“Try and force me,” Swan growls, “and I’ll bite your cock off.”
Dimitri smiles, thinly. “But that’s what made me fall for you. I could make any of the simpering Betas, who fawn over me in class, bend over for me. I love your temper and passion. I don’t want to break you. But I will tame you.”
“Good fucking luck.” Swan’s lips curl up, baring his canines. “You know, I can’t bond with you anyway because you’re a Virgo and I’m a Sagittarius. It just wouldn’t work out.”
I smother my laugh against Swan’s shoulder, nuzzling his neck. He leans back against me, melting into my touch.
Dimitri’s nostrils flare. “One word is all it’ll take. I tell Mom about seeing you out of dorm late at night — kissing — and what do you think she’ll do? She’s stricter than I am about liaisons between dancers. She’ll make an example out of you. My guess is that she’ll send you to Siberia. Do you know the horror stories of how Beta dancers are treated there? I do. And your precious Omega will be sent to the Omega Institute to be retrained and sold.”
I whimper in terror.
Swan turns, wrapping his arms around me like he can protect me from those horrors.
He can’t.
And how can I save him?
My pulse is roaring in my ears. I entwine my arms just as tightly around Swan, as he’s holding onto me.
I wish that we were lost in our dance, where nobody could touch us.
“We’re going to win and become principals,” I say, loudly.
Fuck you.
It’s what I want to add but can’t.
“And if you don’t, Swan will bond with me.” Dimitri hooks his thumbs into his leather belt. “Now, tell me that you’re honored to accept my promise of a bond. And mean it.”
Swan looks down at me, helplessly.
He’s asking for my permission.
I don’t know what to do.
I can’t give it to him, not when it means sacrificing himself and becoming bonded to a man like Dimitri.
The silence stretches.
Finally, Swan’s expression steels. “I’m honored.”
Horrified, I stare up at him. Yet he’s determinedly looking only at Dimitri.
Dimitri narrows his eyes. “I didn’t hear you.”
Swan clears his throat, struggling to get out the words louder this time.
When he does, they’re snarled like a declaration of war, “I’m honored.”
Dimitri clicks his fingers, pointing at a spot in front of him.
Swan reluctantly pulls back from me. I don’t want to let go of him. It wrecks my heart, when every instinct is to pull him closer.
But I’m not Dimitri. I won’t take anything by force.
Swan swaggers to the spot that Dimitri is pointing impatiently at. “What? No roses? Dinner invite? Chocolates? This is not the night to remember that the other Betas swoon over.”
“It’ll certainly be a night to remember.” Dimitri snatches Swan by the arm. “You’ll be disciplined. You broke three serious rules: out of bed after lights out, unauthorized extra practice, and entering forbidden sections of the academy. Three at once is a record even for you.”
A ball of ice forms in my stomach. I wrap my arms around myself, shivering.
“You’re forgetting the strip poker and vodka incident. I broke at least twelve rules that night.” Swan smirks.
“I’m equally to blame.” I won’t let Swan be punished alone for this. “I made the choice as well.”
“She didn’t. I’ll take her discipline. As her mentor, I’m responsible for her missteps.” Swan’s gaze slides to mine, determined and courageous. Then his expression softens. “Until you bond with me, Mr. Dimitri, I’ll take her punishments. But I want us all to be clear that in secret, I’m her Beta, and she’s my Omega.”
My heart swells, at the same time as my eyes brim with tears.
Dimitri growls, dragging Swan from the room.