Chapter 4
FOUR
THISTLE
Knox Wilde’s fist was tight around my throat as he kissed me like I’d never been kissed before. His lips were firm against mine, tongue sweeping through my mouth in a possessive claim. My fists curled in his shirt as I melted against him, the low pulse of warmth in my core and the frightening glimmer of hope rising like a bubble in my chest.
When he let me go, I released the breath I was holding, utterly overwhelmed, slick pooling between my thighs as he drew away. At the sight of how dazed I was, a bright, breathtaking smile lit his face.
He loves us.
This time, I think he loves us…
But a whisper of panic settled upon my soul, the soaring hope strangled by years of crushed dreams.
He was too perfect…
But I couldn’t take my gaze away from this Alpha, far past hot enough to put on a canvas.
I wanted to bite all of him.
He looked to be in his late twenties, and he had a golden glow to his rich skin that might possibly look angelic. His ash-blond hair was neatly trimmed on the sides, with messy waves long enough at the top to tumble into caramel eyes. But in those eyes was a glint of something far from angelic, and the smatter of crimson blood matched a few light freckles and marred innocent perfection, marking him something much darker.
He was tall, enough so that from my lower vantage I had a great view of the sharp angle of his jaw. His frame was lean, and hard not to stare at. I wanted to draw it so badly, especially with those muscles that refracted light and dark in beautiful patterns up his arms and even beneath his button-up.
I hadn’t been able to look away from those shadows deepening around corded muscle as he’d closed his fist around that watch and lost himself to fury only moments ago.
I handed him back the gun, and he took it, nodding toward the limo that waited. I stepped toward it without argument, knowing I was stepping into a new life. And this one, I was less afraid of than any of the others.
He’d killed that Alpha for me.
That was a good start.
After making a bid on me at a price my brain couldn’t process, he’d left, and for a moment I’d been panicked that the one who’d bought me wasn’t my match at all.
But out here, in the warm night air, I’d caught the faint traces of sweet honied bourbon.
He was mine.
Without another look back at the auctioneer, he helped me into the limo.
He shut the door behind us, blocking out what I hoped was the last I’d see of that stupid place. Lounging across leather seating, he spread his knees comfortably and looked up at me as the engine purred to life.
Okay.
Right.
I’d never been bought by an Alpha I wanted before. I needed to act right. What was the etiquette for auctioned Omegas?
I almost opened my mouth to tell him I’d follow any etiquette that would make him like me best, but caught myself, knowing enough to know that would sound desperate.
You just have to get it right from the start. Maybe he’ll love us enough that we can draw one day…
If I fail with a second match…
I dropped my gaze from intense caramel eyes and clasped my fingers. “Tell me how you want me, Alpha,” I said.
That seemed like a good start—I could be safe thinking he wanted obedience after all that money she spent, right?
I could do obedience.
Ace might have something different to say about that…
I shoved back my pout and made sure to drop my arms so he could see me properly. This was an outfit I’d despised until his eyes had appraised it like a man starved.
Knox leaned forward, forearms on knees, and I glanced up to see the intensity in his gaze. “How I want you?” He turned the words over in his mouth like he was playing with them, and butterflies did flips in my tummy, even though the double meaning hadn’t been an accident.
I’d been ready to tear the throat out of any Alpha who tried to claim me tonight, but a scent match…? A true second chance.
He wants us Bunny… I can just tell…
No, no, no.
I didn’t know anything yet—not really.
He lifted a finger after a long silence and beckoned me silently. I crossed to him unsteadily with the movement of the limo, but his palms cupped my waist as I got close, and he held me steady.
I shivered at the faintest trace of his touch through the thin fabric.
The limo was big, and I was pretty short, so I barely had to curve my neck to stand in here. Again, he appraised me like a man starved, and another flutter of hope stirred.
But that want wasn’t enough. Sometimes I’d seen it in Ace.
Being touch starved only got me so far, and I needed more. Gently, he tugged on my hips, and my eyes widened.
Lap?
Already?
I hadn’t even done anything right or wrong yet. I sank down, trying really hard to keep my expression neutral—actually, to keep my brain neutral, or he’d catch excitement all over my scent.
Again, his hands settled at my waist, and I shivered at the touch and the closeness, feeling the relief of that endless pain that was clenched so tight in my heart.
He couldn’t know about that.
If he knew about that, he’d know what I was.
“Some Omegas are just born like this, you little freak. Signs are all there—why do you think you are the way you are?”
I swallowed, shrinking in Knox’s arms at the echo of Dan’s taunt.
All you’re made for is pleasing Alphas. If I catch you with one fucking pencil again, I’ll keep it for your next heat.
I just never understood why, if I was born like that, we still wanted to draw.
…Honestly I think you’re just broken at being broken…
I pouted.
What would Glade do?
I had to pretend to be one of the right kinds of Omegas because I’d be in so much trouble if he found out he paid millions for the wrong kind.
“You can look at me, you know,” Knox said, and I glanced up, eyes snagging on his.
Oh good.
He didn’t mind? Because I never wanted to stop lookin’.
“I can’t stop staring at you,” he added. “You’re absolutely captivating.”
My lips parted and my cheeks burned.
Don’t cry.
Don’t cry.
But he thought I was pretty?
Like… Glade pretty?
Okay—hold up. That might be too far.
“I… I would draw you,” I stammered, then winced as the remaining blood in my body surged to my face at once.
Too soon. Don’t mention the stupid stuff yet…
Yet?
Don’t mention it ever. We need this one to go better.
A half smile quirked on his lips as he considered my words. “And that’s Thistle Maverick speak for…?”
“You’re… you’re pretty…” I trailed off, realising that came out wrong. “Pretty… handsome.”
Uh.
Damn.
“Thank you for giving me the gun,” I added, changing the topic.
His smile widened, but he didn’t reply. He was being… nice, though—so much nicer than I’d imagined.
Finally, he glanced to the side. “What do we have in here?” he asked, picking up the black bag he’d got from the auctioneer.
He opened it up and pulled out?—
“Bunny!” My voice cracked as I reached for the worn old blue plushie, anxiety calming at the sight of him.
He didn’t stop me or try to take him. Ace had made that mistake only once, but I didn’t really want Knox to have to learn that lesson if he didn’t have to.
“A… nest?” he asked.
I nodded, though Bunny was more than that.
He protected me.
A monster, with a looming shadow I stared at across a neighbour’s bedroom wall every night when I was young, until finally, one night, I’d broken in to find it was only Bunny.
Something I should never have been afraid of.
I’d kept him under my bed for ages, but then, when I perfumed and all of my instincts went crazy (frightening me to pieces) I’d tugged him out and never let him go.
“I’ll discuss the rules when we get home,” Knox said into the quiet. “For now, I’d like to take you in.”
Rules…?
Okay, thank god there’d be rules.
This was so much better than I could have dreamed.
We sat in another silence, and Knox’s touch remained at my waist as I curled against him, inhaling Bunny’s dusty scent. If I focused hard enough, I could catch the other two scents buried deep within him—my protection, here in my arms.
And now I’d found our future in honied bourbon.
He’d said we were going to his home?
This is so perfect, Bunny.
We had a home again, which we hadn’t had since Ace’s mansion had become dangerous and we’d had to flee. But now, everything was falling into place as if maybe… just maybe, it was our turn for something good.
A pack.
A family.
Glade would be proud of me.
My mind wandered back to the rules.
What would they be like? Dan never had rules—well, he did, but he wouldn’t tell me them, and it always left me guessing and scared.
Ace had rules, but sometimes… sometimes I was such a disappointment they all fell apart.
It made more sense now than it had at the time. I’d always thought the scent match lie we told the world was… well, a lie.
It wasn’t until later that I realised the draw I felt for him… he’d felt it for me too—as much as he was capable of. Of course he hated it when I was a disappointment.
So, I needed a new start with Knox, and rules were perfect.
But what if they were rules for things I didn’t know much about, like cooking him meals, or folding his clothing the way he liked… There were all these Omega things that I’d never been taught, and he’d never want me if I turned up for dinner with microwaved Pop Tarts.
Or maybe he would…
Rules would help me figure him out.
“About the rules…” I dared another look at him again—though he’d told me I could.
“Yes?
“If it was possible, could there be… could there be lots of them?”
“You want lots of rules?”
“Or just… detailed. It’s been a little while since I did Omega stuff and I want to make sure to get it right the way you like.”
I jumped at the low rumble and looked up in surprise. His pupils were dilated, and that was a… a purr ?
I’d heard about Alpha’s purring, but I’d never…
I’d… done that?
“What?” he asked, frowning as he cupped my cheek, and I realised my eyes were burning with tears.
“Nothing, I just, uh… don’t know why you’re, um…” I pressed a palm to his chest, still feeling the vibrations of the fading purr.
“Because you’re so much more perfect than I imagined you’d be.”
We’re getting a sketchbook, Bunny.
At least a little one…
Maybe a pencil or two…
“And don’t you worry, Little Doll,” he told me. “You’ll get everything right, just the way I like.”
“Oh.” I bit my lip, hoping he wasn’t wildly underestimating me.
“Tell me about you?”
“Me?” I asked, startled.
“If there was one thing you wanted from me, what would it be?”
A sketchbook.
Say it.
Just ask for it.
“No, no, too soon…” I shook my head.
Shit.
I’d spoken out loud.
“We’re scent matches,” he breathed, not even fazed. “Nothing is too soon.”
I swallowed, eyes darting between his.
Still, what if he wasn’t ready to learn I had all these unnatural things I liked outside of being an Omega?
Glade could ask for a sketchbook, but she was balanced. Revered. Beautiful and born all… the right ways…
“Tell me.”
Okay. Not a sketchbook, but there was something else.
I hugged Bunny closer. “Maybe just sometimes… if you think you’d want to…” I trailed off, panicking before the words were even out.
His grip tightened on my chin. “Tell me.” He didn’t use his Alpha bark, but he might as well have for how I tripped over myself to answer.
“I thought, uh… if I’ve been good and everything and done everything right, we could… I mean at night…”
He frowned. “At… night?”
“You know how some Alphas and Omegas sleep in the same bed—like all night. Together.” By the end of the sentences my words had dissolved to a wisp.
“Your one ask is that I cuddle you?”
He released me, eyebrows raising, and I swear I saw a flash of shock in his eyes.
Oh fuck, I’d blown it.
I ducked my head, clutching Bunny like a life raft and curling against his chest so he wouldn’t see another flush of heat on my cheeks.
“I could consider that,” he said.
I went still, something caught in my throat as his arms wound around me again, warm, comforting, each brush of his skin on mine so cool and soothing.
“Like this, Little Doll?” he asked.
“Yes.” The word was fragile.
How hard I’d fought for just the smallest hint of this in the past, and he was giving it so… easily.
I didn’t understand.
“Why did you pay so much for me?”
He’s gonna find out…
Then what is he gonna do? Make you suffer five million worth?
Maybe he’ll lock you up, never to be touched again.
“You’re important,” he said.
I remained in shocked silence as those words clattered around my brain like rejected puzzle pieces with nowhere to go, but he didn’t say anything else when I didn’t reply.
He kept holding me for what felt like an age, and I wasn’t sure how long we’d been driving. “How far are we going?” I asked into the quiet, at last.
“Home is an hour from the city.”
That’s going to be a problem, Bunny. How far is too far?
No… It would be okay. It would work out. All the signs were there: everything I needed was appearing right as I needed them.
I traced his palm, happy to take my time examining every inch of him as I worked through all the new information.
Beside mine, I thought his hands were large enough to circle both of my wrists, and I bit my lip for a moment, wondering what that might be like if he did.
Don’t get your hopes too far up…
I took comfort in the touch he offered me, but this wasn’t normal. Ace had waited so long, and even then, every piece of attention I’d had to fight for.
Was it because Knox didn’t know what I was, yet? Or… had I… grown? Was I more now? After what I’d done to Ace?
Again, I curled up, happily lacing my fingers in his, breath catching every time he moved or shifted, loving how he’d brush his thumb up and down my skin every once in a while like he wanted to touch me.
His purr was gone, but I wanted to get him to do it again. I settled in, trying to come up with ways that normal Omegas might do that.
As time stretched on, with his arms around me and the low rumble of the limo around us, I felt safe for the first time in… well, forever.
“Are you excited for me to claim you?” His voice was a breath in my ear, making me jump, and I realised I might have been wriggling about on his lap little too much.
I blinked up, tracing the muscles along his neck, sharp jawline, and intense caramel eyes.
“Yes,” I whispered truthfully. I was so wet with slick I was worried about it slipping through the thin lace. Then he’d know how desperate and needy I was.
His thumb brushed my chin, and he drew me to face him again.
“Good,” he purred. “I can’t wait to feel that tight little body of yours squeezing the life out of my cock.”
I let out a little whine, his words catching me off guard, my lips parting in shock.
Holy shit Bunny. He does want me.
No Alpha had ever spoken to me in that way.
Dan and his pack were cruel, their words laced with hatred and viciousness, designed to make sure I never felt good enough. This didn’t feel like that—not at all.
He grinned at my stunned expression.
“You’re going to be so good at treating me, aren’t you, Little Doll?”
I nodded, feeling his hand shift. He pressed his fingers into my mouth, and I parted my lips on instinct, dropping my grip on Bunny as I curled my fists in his shirt, eyes wide as I held his.
He pushed them deep and held them long enough that my eyes watered, but I didn’t look away. I wanted him to want me—to know I belonged to him.
That was until I tasted the faint tang of iron on my tongue, right as he drew his fingers out, letting me catch my breath.
It wasn’t the blood that shocked me—he’d wiped his hands on tissues earlier, but his wounds were still cracked open. Instead, it was how it drew my attention to the wounds.
Something was… wrong.
I didn’t break my gaze and tried to hide it all from my face as he leaned forward and brushed his lips along my jaw. Even with all my senses on high alert, the touch made me shiver.
To my relief, he seemed content to wait until the drive was over for anything else. I sank into his arms again, this time focusing on the blood.
A cut.
An open wound.
And something faint came with it… It took me a long time to place it, to realise that an open wound might bypass the effects of a scent-dampening spray.
And through it came the scent of ink and antique wood. An Alpha’s scent; shockingly serene and beautiful.
But… not mine.
Told you…
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Told you not to get your hopes up, you idiot.
Too late. I was already in free fall. Brief, boundless dreams unravelling in moments. Because he was lying to me, and that meant none of this was real. Not what he’d said—even this touch… It was a trick, one I couldn’t trust at all.
I can’t fail at this again.
But…
I clenched my jaw, trying to hold it together and not let a miserable sob come from my chest, because there was nothing fixed about me at all. He was pretending.
No, no, no.
We’ve gotta hold on, Bunny.
The scent of honied bourbon was real.
And that meant even if Knox Wilde wasn’t my scent match, he knew who was.