CHAPTER THREE
EMBER
THEY CARRIED ME OVER to the bed and gently lowered me onto it, treating me like I might break. If they’d really known me, they would’ve just dropped me. I was more likely to break them, not the other way around.
The mattress swallowed me up, much softer than I’d anticipated. The heavy blankets were cool against my overheated skin. My body betrayed me. I found myself snuggling into the comforter like a cat, loving how it felt.
Omegas craved softness.
We craved comfort.
Though this bed was everything I craved, I couldn’t truly enjoy it because of the pain I was experiencing. Heat rolled under my skin in slow, suffocating waves, flowing from my chest down to my belly, then lower, leaving everything in its wake aching.
I curled into a ball, a low whine spilling from my lips as I squeezed my eyes shut. I felt a hand on my shoulder, another at my hip, guiding me to lie flat on my back. I wanted to snap at them, yell for them to unhand me.
Yet, I also wanted them to touch me more. My mind was leading me in one direction. My body was pulling me in another. If something didn’t give soon, I felt like I’d be ripped in half.
“Easy,” Prince Moon murmured near my ear. “Take it easy. Breathe, my little omega.”
My little omega.
I hated that his endearment soothed something in me. I hated that his whispered words offered me a sliver of comfort. I opened my eyes, not wanting to be at a disadvantage in front of my enemies.
However, as soon as I opened them, the room began to spin. I quickly closed my eyes again, shutting them and the world out. At least, I tried to shut them out. Their damn scents wouldn’t allow that.
Every breath I took pulled those scents in deeper, wrapping them around me. I couldn’t ignore the third smell that had joined the party. The sweet hint of cinnamon and spice was surrounding me.
My own scent.
A scent that shouldn’t exist. Not yet. I hadn’t been given the cure yet. So why was my omega scent blooming for these alphas? I had so many questions. I was so confused. I was in so much pain.
“What did you give me?” I whispered, eyes still shut. “Tell me the truth, or so help me, when this wears off...”
“We didn’t give you anything, little one,” Ryung answered from my left.
His tone surprised me. Gone was the gruff alpha who’d sneered and hissed at me. Now, his voice sounded almost... tender.
Ugh!
Bring back Mr. Gruff.
He was easier to deal with. When I felt the mattress dip, I opened my eyes a fraction, wanting to see what these wolves were doing. Squinting, I realized Ryung had sat down next to me on the bed.
I started to inch away from him. But that would only bring me closer to Prince Moon. I was trapped between two wolf shifters. Two wolf shifters who smelled entirely too good.
“I promise, little omega,” Ryung started. “We haven’t done anything to you. Other than...” He paused, rubbing the back of his neck, a guilty glint in his gaze. “Other than a karate chop that knocked you out.”
My eyes widened. “You karate chopped me?” I rasped.
His gaze moved to Prince Moon. Was it the prince who’d gone all ninja wolf on me? The sheepish look on Moon’s face told me everything I needed to know. Revenge would be mine. Soon.
“In our defense, you did try to kill us,” Ryung continued.
“I shot a few arrows at you. But you karate chopped me.”
“A few arrows? Those arrows could’ve killed us, you little psycho. Our karate chop only knocked you out. Even so, we apologize for hurting you.” His voice softened when he said, “No matter what you did, that was wrong of us.”
He was... he was apologizing to me. Even after I’d tried to kill them both. My throat tightened.
No! Don’t do that. Don’t apologize. Hurt me. Show me your cruel side. I don’t want this sweet shit. I want the monsters I was sent to kill. The beasts I still planned to end as soon as these drugs wore off.
Yet, even as those thoughts raced through my mind, my inner omega was trying to purr for him. Me? Purr? I felt like I’d entered an alternate reality. I swallowed, trying to silence that little minx and focus on the issue at hand. My targets had kidnapped me.
“Liar,” I muttered, sweat sliding from my temple into my hairline. “You poisoned me. Drugged me with some kind of...heat potion or whatever the hell wolves use when they can’t get laid the normal way.”
A rough sound came from him, something between a laugh and a growl.
“Trust me, I don’t need to use heat-inducing drugs to get laid,” Ryung drawled. “And the prince has never needed them because he’s been waiting for you, our scent match.”
Waiting for me? This alpha had been saving himself for me. Don’t get all mushy, Ember. Ryung could be lying to you. Plus, you’re not their scent match. You can’t be.
My gaze moved to Prince Moon. Was he... blushing? My omega started to purr again. Ugh! What was she? Part cat? Omegas purred when they were happy, content, in love, or to calm down their alphas.
I wasn’t happy. Nor was I content. I’d never been in love. And I didn’t give a damn about these alphas. Yet, I wanted to purr for them. Could this really be because of a drug? My gaze drifted over Moon’s face.
He truly was blushing. How was this sexy alpha a virgin? All that dick and he’d never put it to good use. What a waste! I knew I should mind my business. However, I couldn’t resist asking my next question.
“Are you truly a virgin?” I whispered.
Next to me, Ryung chuckled.
Prince Moon’s gaze jerked to him. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Moon snapped, his eyes returning to me. “I’m not ashamed of waiting for my fated one. She was definitely worth the wait,” he growled.
My body responded to the rumble in his voice in ways I didn’t approve of. Heat pulsed low, my clit throbbing, that sweet cinnamon and spice scent filling the air. My reactions to them were so infuriating.
“I hope you find your fated one soon so you can get laid,” I told him.
“I’ve already found her,” he replied.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“She’s lying between my guard and me,” Prince Moon answered. “Right where she belongs.”
Another wave of heat washed over me, making me dizzy with its intensity.
“I’m not yours,” I told him. “I can’t be yours.”
“You can, and you are,” Moon insisted.
“Never!” I rasped, another pulse of pain stabbing through my abdomen, making me groan.
“How can you be so stubborn even in a situation like this?” Moon murmured, his hand going to my cheek.
“A situation like what?” I jerked away from him. “Like a kidnapping? A drugging? Which situation are you referring to?”
Moon exhaled slowly. “We can discuss the circumstances that brought us together later. What we need to focus on right now is the fact that you’re about to go into heat. And we’re your scent-matched alphas.”
Heat.
Omega.
Scent-matches.
None of those words fit this situation. More like...
Kidnapped.
Drugged.
Stripped.
“I don’t have heats,” I reminded them for the hundredth time.
“It’s not wise to lie to your mates,” Prince Moon murmured. “You already tried to kill us. Now, you’re lying to us. We’re starting this relationship off wrong.”
I turned my head to glare at him, vision blurring at the edges. His silver eyes watched me, studying me, making me feel exposed before him. It was impossible to ignore his scent with him this close to me. Even so, I tried to.
“Relationship?” I sneered, anger flowing through my veins. “We don’t have a relationship. You two shifters kidnapped me.”
“We didn’t kidnap you,” Moon told me. “We brought you home.”
“I don’t live here!”
“You do now,” he insisted, making my heart race.
“Welcome home, little one,” Ryung drawled, his signature smirk in place.
I opened my mouth and then closed it. Talking to them was a waste of breath. These wolves had beans for brains. There would be no getting through to them. I just had to escape. That was my only choice.
I pulled the cover over my head, hoping that if I feigned sleep, they’d leave, giving me a chance to plot.
“Hiding under the covers won’t make the issue go away,” Moon told me. “You’re going into heat. And you need us to see you through it.”
“Fuck you!” I hissed. “I’m not going into heat.”
“Omega,” Moon started, sounding frustrated. “Your scent tells a very different story.”
I shoved the covers down and yelled, “I’m not an omega! Do you think I don’t know my own body? That I’d just miss having fucking heats for all these years?”
“It happens,” Ryung shrugged. “You could be on suppressants. Or someone close to you could’ve been giving you suppressants all these years without you noticing.
It was probably our presence that triggered your heat.
Sometimes, that happens to an omega when she meets her scent matches for the first time. ”
“You’re right. That does happen to omegas when they meet their scent match for the first time. But I’m not an omega. And neither of you is my scent match. In fact, neither of you would be alive right now if I hadn’t missed...”
I ended my sentence there as pain ripped through my abdomen, cutting off anything else I might’ve said. It felt like someone had reached inside me and squeezed my damn uterus, a hot, twisting clench low in my belly that made my thighs snap together and a whine claw up my throat.
Moon placed his hand over my abdomen. Though my pajama top prevented skin-on-skin contact, his touch was still cool. I started to shove his hand away, but the pain subsided at his touch.
“Breathe,” he ordered. “In. Out. Focus on that.”
“You...are not...my breathing coach,” I ground out, but I did as he said because whatever he was doing, it was helping.
In and out.
I closed my eyes and continued breathing. In and out. Moon began rubbing small circles over my stomach. Ryung’s hand cupped my face as his thumb brushed across my cheek.
“That’s it, little one. Keep focusing on breathing,” Ryung whispered.