Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
KNOX
We stepped into cool night air to the well-kept, private garden outside the quiet west wing of the property. No one else would be out here, and the sky above was clear, scattered with a million stars.
I led Thistle around to the gardens that surrounded the north wing—and far from the sight and sound of guests. By the time we were there, I’d spotted her nervous glances in my direction several times, and when I finally caught her eye, she looked away quickly.
Still, I swear there had been something glinting in those violet irises, the feral creature she had such a hard time wrangling.
Something about the interaction with Banner had thrown her again tonight.
Because I’d stopped him touching her? Or was it simply the statement of claim?
I’d never get it out of her, of that, I was sure—not directly, anyway.
As we stepped past the outdoor bar lit with warm lanterns, I lifted my hand from her waist, curling it around the chain and holding it taut enough that she would feel it.
Again, she glanced at me.
I drew us to a halt, cocking my head and twisting the chain in my fist until my hand was right beside her neck. Then I tugged her back a step toward the broad pillar behind, chain and hand pressed against the cool stone, holding her there with ease.
Her gaze dropped again, chest rising and falling too fast as I stepped closer, my free palm caging her in.
“Everyone in that room knew who you belonged to,” I breathed. “Every Alpha in there.”
There it was again, the curious little glance. Reluctant interest as I tapped on the epicentre of what confused her instincts tonight.
“Did you like it? Being mine?” I asked. “Knowing I might slit the throat of any Alpha that tried to contest that.”
Finally, she lifted her chin, pout bravely fronting denial that her wounded eyes gave away. I didn’t give her room for more brattiness, though, cupping her chin as I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers, catching her little exhale of surprise like a golden trophy.
A kiss didn’t feel like enough.
A low rumble sounded from deep in my chest. She didn’t fight me, didn’t try to pull away or close her lips.
Instead, she melted, a low, desperate whine in her chest as I drove my tongue into her mouth, and my wild instincts shuttered violently with every second of this claim before I finally drew back.
She was breathless, eyes wide, as I flashed her a smile and tugged her toward the bench beside us, happy to have her on my lap again.
There was a long silence, and she seemed to be scrambling to pick up her scattered sanity.
“You um… He… mentioned Ace. You haven’t asked about him,” she managed at last.
I grinned at her change of topic, wondering how hard it had been to dig up the last question she’d been intending to ask. She still looked dazed.
“No,” I said. “I don’t really give a flying fuck about Maverick.”
“Oh.” She almost looked affronted.
“Well…” I considered that. “Not entirely true. I do wonder how he managed your bratty little ass when it came to events like this. How do my rules compare to his?”
Perhaps she’d behaved for him, scent match and all.
“His rules?” she asked, surprised. Her lips curved up so gently, the echo of a smile derisive. “It doesn’t matter. You aren’t in Ace’s league.”
It was just so damn blunt that I chuckled, an image flashing in my mind of the only time I’d crossed paths with the Alpha. He had been seated in the room we’d just left, looking down at a version of me that had fallen to the greatest depths I’d ever crashed.
In my memory, he was encircled by a crimson halo. A mirage seeping into my vision, blood or fury, I’d never been sure. And that day, he’d so easily pulled strings that had ricochet across years of my life. “That’s true,” I said with a shrug. Ace Maverick had been larger than life, from presence, to decisions, to the impact he’d had.
Thistle narrowed her eyes like she hadn’t been expecting that answer.
“So. His rules were harsher?” I prodded. She was strangely protective over the scent-matched Alpha she’d killed, and it did pique my interest, even if I didn’t want to admit that to her so readily.
“ He didn’t need to set rules to convince others he’d claimed anyone, when no Omega came close to deserving his claim.”
I snorted. “Except you?”
Only, I saw the briefest flicker of agony in her eyes, and then it was gone as she gave me a sour smile. “That’s what I’m saying, Alpha,” she breathed, leaning close. “He isn’t in your league. He doesn’t play by the same rules.”
My mind raced as she managed to deliver those words with enough venom to drown anything else that lurked beneath, but I’d seen her moment of panic.
I’d wondered about how touch starved she was, if it might be something strategic. I could see, perhaps, a twisted plan to match her mad little mind.
But now, I was second guessing that.
Was she touch starved for exactly the reason one might guess?
Had he… rejected her?
His own scent match…
“What about your other scent matches?” I asked. There were two other Alphas who’d once been in Ace’s pack. Both killed only weeks ago, before Ace himself. “Am I in their league?”
Her lips drew back in a disgusted snarl. “They weren’t mine,” she said. “Gross and worthless just like most Alphas. He packed up with them for politics and told that lie to keep me safe—so my connection to him wasn’t as isolated.”
“They weren’t yours?” I asked, surprised by that. “So Ace was your only other scent match?”
“I don’t scent match weak Alphas.”
“Two for one on that one, I’m afraid.” I grinned, happy to slip into more familiar territory. “You know, I sent Rogue that picture.”
“What?” She froze, smugness falling away for shock.
“You and the gun last night.”
“Wait. He saw?” For a moment, her eyes swam with tears, gaze darting between mine, but she couldn’t seem to finish.
“Your precious scent match wasn’t even strong enough not to take a little pleasure from what I was doing to you.”
It took a second for her to process what that meant. “He liked it?” she asked, violet orbs even more glassy than before. “H-he thinks I’m pretty?”
Uh.
I opened my mouth, then shut it, so caught off guard by her words that my own abandoned me completely.
Well.
Shit.
But what, exactly, had I expected, really?
Fuck this whole line of thought. I had to stop letting her throw me off.
“Do you want the chance to win his freedom?” I asked, instead, tucking my hand in my pocket and flicking on the vibrator.
“I…” She shifted, fingers digging into my shirt with a whine of shock. “Um…”
I turned up the vibration setting slowly, and a low, desperate growl slipped from her chest—it was the hottest thing I’d ever heard.
She was all but shivering as she stared at me, dazed lust clouding her eyes.
I tried not to consider how much of that was from what I’d just told her about Rogue.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” I asked.
“Yes,” she whimpered, as I turned it up again.
“If you finish before I do, deal’s off.”
Her sound of panic was almost comical, and then she slipped from my lap, slender fingers already fumbling at my dress pants.
Fuck, that was hot.
Her fist rumpled the fabric at my shin as she shifted, a frustrated moan sounding from her as she fought her pleasure. She fumbled for my zipper, cheeks pink, lip caught in her teeth.
“Ask permission,” I said, grabbing her wrist.
She growled again, nails digging into my hand for a moment before she reeled herself back.
I chuckled. “You need my cock down your throat that bad, Doll?”
She nodded, all dignity forgotten.
“Then ask nicely.”
Finally, I turned the toy up to the highest setting. She shuddered, eyes all but crossing as her fingers closed around my wrist. “Use me, Alpha.”
Well.
Shit.
About as many brain cells died, as I heard that title, as blood cells rushed to my cock. I fisted her hair, ruining the buns that had been in place, and dragged her lips to the base of my swelling knot in one quick movement, ignoring the way her body seized over it.
I remained like that for a moment, dragging her over my length roughly, then I set a brutal pace, letting her gasp for an occasional breath.
It wasn’t enough, though.
I stood, holding her before me, and pressing my tip to her lips again.
She was shaking now, whines slipping out with every heave of her chest, black tears streaking her cheeks, eyes dazed. I didn’t think she was processing any of it, struggling to hold out on the orgasm she’d been fighting.
“You enjoy being used, don’t you, Little Doll?” I asked. “Letting your Alpha take his pleasure while you’re at my mercy.”
It was something else, seeing her eyes fixed on mine, almost crossed with pleasure as her body held on to the edge of its climax while I buried myself into her throat.
She was letting me fuck her like a rag doll, muscles loose as I choked her on my shaft.
“You’re such a good fucking girl,” I growled, holding her steady as I wrecked her.
She moaned over my length, and there was something desperate in it, as if she’d almost finished right then.
Fuuuckk.
I drove into her one last time and finished down her tight little throat.
She whimpered, fingers digging into my thighs, whole body shivering with the orgasm that finally swept her away.
Frosted moonflower broke free as her hormones crested, drowning me.
I blinked, time behaving strangely. I didn’t know when I picked her up, but my teeth found her neck again, this time as if it were a comfort. I walked with her back inside, finding my way to her room, unsure of the route I took. All I could feel was her arms around my neck, her cheek nuzzled beneath my chin. There was nothing but this Omega, shivering and limp, and the world was hazy and shimmering like a picture through desert heat.
Too much , a faint voice in my mind warned.
I was moving too fast with her—losing control quicker than I could claim it back, and that meant danger.
We were in the bathroom in her room and I was holding her under the shower. It was a huge space with glass doors that fogged up fast beneath all the different streams of warm water.
I placed her hands against the show wall and was gentle as I removed the plug. Turning and lifted her, I dragged her legs over my shoulders, getting another orgasm from her beneath the warm water.
My mind was at war, urges I’d never felt sweeping me away.
Hold her close.
Protect her.
I should pry more into what she’d said about Ace, so I could learn what it was that made her afraid. So I could do better than him…
And that was all wrong, because that wasn’t why she was here.
I wasn’t better.
I couldn’t be.
We were in her bed now, and she’d dug out her bunny from the pillows.
“You’re leaving?” she asked, as I forced myself to my feet.
It almost snapped my sanity in two, seeing the hurt in her eyes, but I nodded.
I made myself take a step away, but she scrambled from the bed and darting in front of me.
She was bundled in a fluffy nightgown, and the towel I’d wrapped upon her head had fallen from her wet hair.
“We um…” She glanced down at Bunny. “We’ve decided we’re okay with a uh… a truce—just for the night, I mean… That means you could stay.”
We?
I glanced down at the bunny in her arms, currently being aggressively dripped on by her damp, raven hair.
“I have some work to do before I sleep.”
Not a lie. I always had work, and I’m sure Callum had more updates.
“I could… wait up?” she asked.
“No.”
Another step, and I might as well have been weighed down by lead, my lungs made of stone.
Another.
Then she was back, and she couldn’t be, not with that anxious look on her face. “I… didn’t do something wrong, did I?”
I faltered at that question, a thousand denials fighting to reach my lips before I could even blink. I clenched my jaw, beating them all away.
“I thought if I did well, I’d uh… I’d get…”
Cuddles.
I knew what she wanted.
Last night had been almost more than she could handle, and she was still reeling from it, trying to find a box that would define me. I don’t think any of that was what mattered to her most, though; she was so touch starved, so broken, that all she wanted was to be held even if it was by me.
But I couldn’t give it to her if I didn’t want my brain to break completely.
“If you’re good, like you were today, I’ll give you as many cuddles as I am capable of giving you.”
“O-okay.” She looked confused, a pout forming on her lip as she glanced between me and the bed like she was confused. “And you can’t… tonight?”
I reached up, about to cup her cheek and tell her of course I would, but caught myself before I lost another minute.
Fuck me.
If my skin touched hers one more time, I’d snap in two.
“Not tonight.”
I had to step past her right then so I wouldn’t see her expression.
I dropped Rogue’s muzzle key off on the kitchen counter and shot him a text, telling him where he could find it. That was strange in itself, because any other day, I’d be happy to make sure it was delivered with a taunt.
I didn’t want to see him, though.
So, I found myself in my office, despite no inclination to get work done. Callum had texted: ‘ Spoke to no one, left right after you did.’
I frowned, considering that.
Banner was Bella’s most loyal mutt, and if he’d left after I had, he had been here to check on me.
Bad fucking news.
I shoved it away, but not before I felt my own tremor.
I stared down at my hand as it shook, willing it still.
For a moment, I imagined a smudge of black powder across my fingers, enough to smother all memory and thought. Onyx dust across a pale canvas.
I also imagined going back to Thistle, but slammed that door shut as the thought was accompanied by a great chasm of desperate need that scared the hell out of me.
Instead, I drew up memories of my last hunt.
The Pence lawyers.
And slowly, the screams of monsters drowned out the screams of nightmares.
It took a while, but my hand steadied eventually, and I opened my phone again, reading the rest of the texts. Callum had sent a few more pieces of information from party-goers that needed logging.
So of course, I found myself opening my phone and watching the security feed to Thistle’s bedroom, instead.
I… ached, seeing her still seated on the edge of the bed stiffly, as if she was too scared to lay down. Naturally, she was having a conversation with Bunny.
“What are we worried about?” she was asking, a nervous laugh slipping out as she tucked blankets around her legs. “We used to do this every night.”
She sat like that for a long time, frozen, not laying down or relaxing as she stroked Bunny slowly.
I wonder what Ace had thought of the way she was?
How would most Alphas react to being around an Omega like her?
She was broken, so many times over, but she also had more power than even she knew. Most Alphas like Ace would be threatened by that.
“Never been with a cuddling Alpha before, anyway,” she muttered eventually. “But then last time…” She trailed off, hugging Bunny closer. “No, no.” Her voice cracked. “That’s not true, he’s nothing like you.”
I cocked my head, wondering if I’d heard that right through the feed.
There was a beat, and her expression screwed up, as if she might cry. Then she slipped from the bed and hurried to the door. She checked the rooms on the way up the hallway, peering into each, including my bedroom. Then she reached my office, which was a crack open.
I didn’t move, legs kicked up, and phone before me, but my gaze slid the slightest bit to my office door in time to catch movement, and—out of the corner of my vision—the briefest flash of a violet eye peering in.
Then she was gone, hurrying back down to her room.
“There, see?” she said to Bunny as she closed the door behind her and sagged against it. “No one else. They all left.” She let out another forced laugh. “What did we think, anyway? He cuddled us once, and now he’s gonna do it forever? That’s stupid. He’s rubbish.”
I frowned, my irrational hindbrain wanting to storm in there and prove to her wrong, stupid or not.
No.
That kind of insane urge was exactly why I couldn’t.
But what had she been looking for?
Another person?
Another… Omega?
Is that what Ace had done to her?
I watched as she closed the curtains and bundled all the blankets into the middle of the bed before crawling in and huddling up in what—quite literally—resembled a nest.