Chapter 22
Cassius
I’d heard Malin say he wanted me once before.
It was when Klonis led me up the hallway at Brimstone to Jonah’s office.
I never forgot those words. But I also didn’t believe them.
I was too paranoid, too convinced other things were going on.
Plus, Malin had already made it clear he didn’t prefer omegas, least of all sets.
He had said it again just now when he admitted the person he called to get the millions of dollars Jonah wanted was his dad. The exact words were: “I wanted something. I just called my daddy to get it.”
But he didn’t want me. Did he? I couldn’t stop thinking about that the rest of the evening.
The pizza was great. The games were awesome. We played late into the night. I won so many of them I accused him of letting me win.
“I wouldn’t do that.” His voice sounded snarly but when I looked at him, his dark eyes stayed soft.
“Well, I have been practicing,” I admitted.
My sleep that night had me tossing and turning. I kept thinking: Did he really want me? And in what way? The word want could take on many meanings from possessing a thing to sexual desire.
But not Malin, I told myself. He’d rented me that first night to make other alphas jealous.
Jealous of me or him? He’d never said, but I assumed it was of him getting everything he wanted all the time.
The fact that he’d also rescued me from being drugged and wearing a see-thru G-string was happenstance.
He didn’t care about that. But then again twenty-four hours later he’d come back for me. With the statement, “I want him.”
I couldn’t sleep no matter how much I tried. I took a shower. I read. I played games on my tablet. But I couldn’t shake the idea of attraction. That he’d saved me because of that. Whether he consciously knew it or not.
The next morning, I made breakfast and he was quick to compliment the food and coffee. Then, out of the blue, almost rude, he blurted, “When is your next heat?”
I froze.
He shrugged at my expression. “We’re living in the same space. It needs to be discussed.”
He was right, of course. I had on white jeans and I began to rub my palms down my thighs. Not in any sexy way, just to ground myself. Malin had to know the answer to the question he asked. He was an alpha living with me. It would affect him.
“A couple of weeks. Maybe three.”
“That soon?”
“I had got my heat when I arrived at Brimstone. It was awful. I’m glad I barely remember the breeding.” My face heated even though none of it was my doing. “Then six months later I had my second. It’s been almost six months since then.”
Malin looked angry, his shoulder coming up as if to make himself look bigger. “It’ll never happen like that again. I vow it.”
He sounded suddenly formal. Not like himself. I believed him.
“You should know this stuff about me. It’s only fair to you.
” I wanted to tell him more. My private life might be private once more, but not with him always close by.
“My heats last two days. There’s pain. Like severe cramping.
” I shut my eyes hard. “It’s why I wasn’t put to auction.
I’m not a good match for someone to buy me as their mate. ”
“What about pain meds?” His voice was rough.
I winced. “They cut the pain a little.”
“I’ll make sure to have them on hand. Would you like to see my doctor?”
“I’ve seen lots. They can’t help.”
“Mine is very good.”
“Thank you for the offer. I’ll think about it.”
“You’ve had enough suffering. I’ll do what I can to get you an appointment if you decide to go.”
“Before Brimstone, there had been no one. I was a—a virgin.”
Malin cussed under his breath. “I would go over there tonight and open the gates if I could, then set the place on fire after getting all the omegas out.”
Sentiment from him? But I had been carefully watching him and knew he was capable.
His anger was a habitual mask. He wouldn’t suffer that if he wasn’t somewhat sensitive.
I had already convinced myself of that. When he blamed himself for the broken sphere.
When he bought me. When he spilled the beans about the money coming from his dad.
I bit back a smile. “I’d help.”
He grunted, then said to the air, “Partners in crime.”
I liked that. It sounded intimate without being scary vulnerable.
But I wanted the scary vulnerable part, too.
I’d just decided that. Right now. I wanted him and though he’d said it twice now, he didn’t want me in the way I meant it.
I was a screw up and quite possibly infertile.
Those were very hard thoughts to admit to myself.
But that whole day, Malin spoke to me in a slightly different tone of voice. Not so flat, more engaged. A softness edged his usually hardened gaze.
I’d been in denial about my heat coming.
Distracted by all the changes. Maybe even hoping the changes would screw up my schedule and I might skip right over it.
That had happened once when I was seventeen and had a very bad flu.
I’d been so sick, I hadn’t realized the time going by.
Two weeks later, when I felt better, I found out my heat had skipped right over me.
Maybe that would happen this time?
Over the next couple of weeks, we spent a lot of time together.
It was like having a friend I’d never known.
I cooked breakfast and even dinner a few times.
He always thanked me but also continued his love for takeout.
We hung out in the game room a lot. One night we watched TV in the grand living room which was hardly ever used.
Malin built a fire in there and it was more shadowy and cozier than the game room.
The small flame in my stomach burned higher.
My body was definitely attracted to him but my mind was still wary.
I was afraid of a lot of different things.
Alphas included. They were at the top of my list along with being vulnerable and getting emotionally ridiculed or hurt.
And since I had never been with anyone consensually, and barely remembered the two times I’d been bred, I was afraid the act might hurt. Afraid I would hate it.
But that flame still flickered for Malin. It burned higher the more time we were together.
One afternoon the following week, Malin said he had to go out for a while.
I had observed the pattern. Every Wednesday he either locked himself in his room for a couple hours or left the house.
Those were his therapy days. I worried this time he’d return drunk again, but I prepped for dinner and hoped the urge to barhop didn’t take him.
With all the food prepared and ready to be cooked after Malin returned, I decided to explore the pool area. We hadn’t swum together yet even though Malin said the pool and hot tub were heated.
I opened the back French doors and wandered toward the sparkling blue water.
The pool filter was on, making a soft soothing rumble.
The water emitted the faint scent of chlorine.
The air was chilly with an autumn breeze, but I sat down by the pool and dangled my feet.
The water churned around my ankles, warm and wonderful.
There was a patio over half the pool but the rest was exposed to the elements.
It had to cost a fortune to keep it heated.
I rolled up my pants legs and scooted forward, getting my legs wet up to my knees, swinging them back and forth. I began to eye the hot tub. That would be even warmer and I could totally submerge myself.
Just as I was thinking of shucking my pants and shirt, I heard a sound in the yard. Footfalls on the concrete path by the north gate. And voices.
Instinctively, I froze. The gate was locked, so maybe whoever it was would just go away.
Then I heard voices calling. “Malin. Hey, Malin, are you out here?”
Another voice, “Maybe he went flying.”
Laughter. “Then he won’t mind if we use the hot tub until he gets back.”
“I’ve got the gate code somewhere,” the first voice said.
No worse sound could have come than that of the gate opening and closing.
I hunched my shoulders in panic and lifted my dripping legs out of the pool. Water splashed against the tiled side and I was horrified the sound might alert them with their dragon hearing.
I stood, my body shaking, my knees weak and eyed the still open French doors. They were about fifty feet away.
The voices got louder. It was now or never.
I pushed off and sprinted toward the center of the patio but not before three young men rounded the corner of the house and spotted me. I turned my head in fear, only to slip. Damn, didn’t that happen only in movies?
I jumped up but not before I heard someone call, “Hey! Who’s there?”
Another voice. “It’s not Malin.”
“Hey, kid, what are you doing?” The three alphas began to sprint toward me and they were fast.
I turned for the back doors, this time fueled by panic. I was just about there, ready to run inside and lock them out.
But before I could get there, an alpha was in front of me blocking my way. I nearly crashed right into him. When I turned to go around him another alpha stood to the side, arms out, blocking me. The third came around to my other side.
I stopped dead in my tracks, my mind spinning. When I looked up at the first guy I recognized him. It was Bish, the one who’d given the party that first night Malin and I had met.
“Hey, I know you,” Bish said. “You were at my party.”
The second one said, “Yeah. I saw him, too. He’s a fucking set omega.”
I looked from one to the other as their eyes took on a strange, hard look.
“Hey, set. What are you doing here? What’s your name?” Bish asked.
All I could do was shake my head. I tried to move away but the second alpha caught me under the arm. The force shocked me nearly senseless. I could only yell incoherently.
“Where’re you going?” Bish teased.
The third alpha came along my other side and gripped my upper arm. “Yeah. You’re not trying to run, are you?”
Bish smiled. “Don’t be so frightened, little one.” He reached out and traced my jawline. “Did Malin rent you? For how long? Is he fucking you?”
Words crawled up my throat like bile. “Let go of me.”
“Why? You don’t have the right to even ask that of us.” Bish’s finger reached my chin and he scratched his nail over the skin. “Where is Malin anyway?”
“None of your business.”
Bish smacked me lightly with his palm. “Don’t talk to me like that. Did you do something to him?” He grabbed my chin. “Because if you did, you know what’s going to happen to you, right?”
A sudden cold wind blew briskly over the eaves. I shuddered.
“Look at him,” the second alpha said. “He’s guilty. He’s done something.”
“Yeah. He was a fuck up at my party, too, from what I heard,” Bish replied.
I tried to yank my arms away from the alphas holding me. Something came over me, an inner strength that surprised me, and I stomped the left guy’s foot and tried to shove the other with my elbow.
They yanked me back and forth between them. I began to yell at the top of my lungs. All I had free were my legs and I blindly kicked out with them.
I heard laughing. Saw smug faces. I lost my balance and almost went down but they held me up, their strength far beyond mine.
I yelled again, higher, screaming. But who would hear me? Malin didn’t have close by neighbors.
“Shut up.” Something hit my mouth.
I reeled, the pain immediately forgotten as I realized the kind of danger I really was in now. I screamed again, using my voice as a weapon. Tears filled my eyes. I felt myself half-lifted, half-dragged off the patio and onto the lawn.
“Get him over by the trees,” Bish commanded.
“He won’t shut up,” another said.
I screamed with every breath when I realized they hated the sound, using my voice as a weapon. Turning my head, I tried to bite alpha number two. His fist hit my temple and I lolled in their grasp.
“Stop, stop!” I screamed.
“Why the trees?” the third alpha asked.
“We can tie him up to one with his own clothes,” Bish replied.
My breaths came fast and short. Between screams, I began to sob. The air chilled against my wet cheeks. I didn’t want to think about what they were planning. I had no control. It was like being back at Brimstone, maybe worse.
I dug in my heels and tried to make myself as heavy as possible. When they lifted me, I flailed my legs hoping to hit something, anything.
I screamed again when I saw Bish moving toward me and taking off his belt. Was he going to strip? Make the other two hold me down?
Instead of that, he grabbed my legs and fastened the belt around them, tightening it until I wailed in pain.
“That’s what little sets get when they fight,” he snarled.
He lifted my legs over one of his shoulders and together all three of them carried me, screaming and sobbing, toward the trees. I undulated and wiggled to make it as difficult as possible for them, but I was still being carried away.
What would happen when they were done with me? Would they dispose of me? Would Malin ever know what happened?
I fought and yelled through my tears, but no one heard.
Suddenly I heard my name. “Cassius!” It sounded strange. Echoing.
I leaned my head to look past Bish and saw a man running.
He had dark hair, a gray suit with a gold vest underneath.
His hair flew back from his head in a dark wave.
Before my eyes his clothes seemed to explode outward from his body, fluttering into shining designer rags on the breeze.
In his place stood a dragon of many colors. It charged forward.
Though I knew who it was, instinct had me recoiling. The two alphas holding my arms behind me dropped me hard. The dragon charged straight toward me. My vision exploded and I screamed again as I felt two, sharp-clawed hands fold against my body. Then I was airborne.
The shock of it increased my panic. The cold wind hurtled by. I couldn’t stop screaming.
Then the wind stopped and I swayed within the dragon’s grip. I opened my eyes and looked around. The dragon had perched at the top of a big tree. His wings were still unfurled as he turned his head and roared.
Fire hurtled downwards from his mouth. The heat of it seared my cheeks and legs. When the smoke cleared I saw Bish and his alpha cohorts running toward the side of the house. I heard someone yell, “Malin! You’re a crazy fucking bastard, man!”
My chest heaved. My throat was almost too tight to breathe. I heard wails in the distance and realized it was my own uncontrolled sobbing.
The clawed grip on my torso shifted. Hot air from giant nostrils fluttered through my hair as the massive dragon looked down at me, his golden eyes, the pupils slitted, slowly blinking.
In that moment, his wings pumped and he lifted up, tree branches cracking under his weight.
I heard one branch fall and hit the ground.
Then we were flying again and from one second to the next I went from being held by sharp claws to tanned, muscled arms. Naked arms. Naked chest. As Malin ran, cradle-carrying me toward the back doors.