Chapter 25
It was quiet in the library where Shatter and I were working.
It was Tuesday evening, and she’d wanted to do a deep dive into some set of studies or another. She was so far ahead in the Arkology curriculum I could never tell what she was looking for. Umbra and Ransom had basically checked out of Arkology class entirely, so it was me and her in the library, as I had homework I could work on.
She was trying, and epically failing, to not keep shooting me glances as I ran my thumb along her skin where my hand rested at her waist.
I smirked the next time she glanced over, which made her cheeks go pink. It was late, and the rustling of paper could be heard in here with us, but no one was in sight.
I leaned over, letting my teeth graze her ear. “Am I distracting you?”
Shatter shivered, but gave me a haughty look. “No.”
“Lying to me?” I asked. “Come here, Gem.”
“I’m not—” She cut off with a pout as the command gripped her and she shuffled closer.
“Not enough,” I told her. “I want you on your knees for me.”
“Here?” she asked, voice weak.
I nudged her chin up, blood already hot for what I was about to claim. “It’s been too long,” I said, voice a breath in her ear. “I only have so much patience when it comes to that sweet body of yours. Especially when you keep flaunting it in front of me.” I leaned back. “Now. On your knees, and get me ready to fuck that bratty mouth of yours.”
Her chest heaved, eyes furious, but the dark bond meant she was already setting her book down and slipping down beneath the desk.
She didn’t have anything more to say as her fingers fumbled for my zipper, though the fury in her eyes was beautifully clear.
“Good girl,” I purred as she freed my cock, positioned so perfectly for me to claim her, knees spread, snarl on her pretty lips only an inch from my tip. “Tongue out.”
Her cheeks burned red as she did as she was told, and I felt a shot of lust from her down the bond. “You’re so pretty when you’re angry,” I murmured, fist closing around her hair as I dragged my shaft all the way down her throat.
Beautiful golden eyes held mine in fury, but I grinned, drawing her back, and pumping in a few times. She was so tight, throat squeezing my tip so good.
“Fuck…”
I wouldn’t last long if I wasn’t careful.
She couldn’t be mad at me forever, but when she was, she was a storm of conflict. I hadn’t fucked her yet, not since the fight. Only because I could swear she was getting hotter for me every day I didn’t. And every day she got brattier, like she was daring me to claim her while she was pissed.
I’d also discovered that both Ransom and Umbra were both so compliant when she wanted to use my pack to taunt me that it almost bordered outright glee. Fucking traitors.
I fucked her mouth roughly, each stroke trapping her lips against my swelling knot and cutting off her airway.
Her eyes were sparkling with tears as I neared my climax, fist still balled in her hair as I used her, controlling everything down to her breaths.
When I came, a low whine sounded in her chest, nails biting down on my legs as I forced her to swallow every drop.
I let her go, leaning back and catching my breath as I did my pants up. She was everything. “Lap,” I said. I wasn’t done with her. I needed her close.
I wound my arms around her waist, holding her tight when she slunk onto my lap, leaning down and brushing my teeth over my bite and making her shiver. “I bet you’re so wet, forced to let me use your little holes like that,” I breathed.
I was watching her in the bond, feeling the rush of lust and submission sweep her away for a moment.
Only… I froze, spotting the slightest movement out of the corner of my eye. Incrementally, I noticed the slightest shifts of shadows along with a faint rustle. With effort, I kept my eyes fixed on the textbook before me.
“You know,” I breathed in her ear. “I think we have a stalker.” She went still, trying to look up at me, but I held her against my chest. “Curl up just like this until the others come. I don’t want anyone watching to know you’re all hot and bothered.”
They could keep guessing at the nature of our relationship, and it was a rather convenient show they’d just walked in on.
“I’m not,” she hissed, sounding so cute and bratty.
“I’ll have to punish you later for lying to me again, Gem,” I replied for only her to hear.
She didn’t say anything, but I felt her fingers dig into my shirt, another shiver running through her. It was official.
I loved her grudges.
I shot a text to Umbra and Ransom, then set my phone down, stroking my thumb along her waist on the underside of her shirt again. I halted as the beginnings of a purr rose in her chest before she caught it and passed it off as a cough.
Stifling my smile, I leaned close. “Are you upset that we might have been seen?” I asked quietly. There was a long pause, then she shook her head incrementally.
“That’s my sweet omega,” I murmured.
I turned a page of the textbook absently, one hand always on her waist possessively. If there was someone watching, I would show them she belonged to me.
It could be random, but I didn’t have room to believe in chance.
Either it was a member of the Lincoln pack, or it was Mord Sato. Well, that, or I was jumping at shadows. But I didn’t have room to doubt, not when those pricks could get into the safe at any moment.
It took ten minutes for Ransom and Umbra to show up, though they waited just beyond the bookcase, giving us space like I’d asked. Umbra was eyeing me curiously, but Shatter would catch them up.
I straightened, turning on the bench so she’d be able to leave.
“Kiss me goodbye, Gem,” I said before she drew away.
Her eyes flashed, and I didn’t think I was out of the doghouse quite enough to think she was just acting for our stalker. She took my face in her hands and drew me close, plush lips pressed into a bratty frown the whole time.
“Lace tonight,” I said. “And I want you in my bed when I get back.”
Her expression went dark, clearly furious with my request, but she didn’t argue. “Shall I wait up?” she asked coldly.
I grinned, squeezing her ass and drawing my teeth along her neck hard enough that she let out a little whine.
God, I loved her.
“I don’t care if you’re awake or asleep when I punish those tight little holes of yours.”
That, I said loud enough that whoever was back there definitely heard.
When she stood and stepped back, she was wringing her hands, eyes darting around the space like she was trying to find a way out. All the while, I felt nothing but a thrill of anticipation down the bond.
“Is that everything?” she asked, voice wobbly.
“Yes.”
With that, she grabbed her books and backed up, hurrying toward Ransom and Umbra, glancing back at me anxiously once.
I stifled my smile. Pissed at me or not, she knew how to act. I hadn’t seen nervousness like that from her since I’d first met her. And no matter what there was one command still between us. The one in which I’d instructed her to tell me if I ever told her to do something that made her uncomfortable.
When they were gone, I closed the textbook and leaned back, waiting a minute before speaking. “Enjoy the show?”
Would they come out?
If there was some random coward behind that bookshelf who tried to run, we’d be paying off another pack to shut their mouths about a hospital visit.
I doubted it, though.
A long few seconds passed before I heard a few quiet footfalls, and Mord Sato appeared around the corner of the shelf. He stepped past the table and dropped onto the bench opposite.
He considered me for a long moment, dark eyebrows cocked.
“You know,” he said mildly. “She seems just the temperament the Lincoln pack are looking for. Obedient. Quiet. Ready to please.”
A little flare of rage stirred my touchy alpha instinct as I took him in. His scent was strange, ebony and something unreadable. He had a jagged scar down the left side of his face, dark eyes that seemed to see everything, and long black hair, tied up loosely. The alpha who’d just watched something that belonged to me.
Would it be helpful to just… put a bullet in his skull right now?
Middle of a library might be pushing it, even for me. But I’d killed more dangerous men than Mord Sato in the name of my pack’s safety.
Or purely for vengeance.
I stamped it all down, knowing that any reaction I gave was information. I didn’t want him believing there was more to my relationship with Shatter.
As I cooled my thoughts off, I realised I didn’t buy what he claimed.
“That’s why you’re skulking in libraries? To check my omega’s temperament?” Not a chance in hell. “What a waste of talent.”
“And what is it you think of my talent?” he asked, something humorous glinting in his eyes.
“I know it’s below your paygrade to be hired by rich cowards to fight their battles.”
“Want to know a secret?” Mord asked, absently fixing the stack of books on the table a previous student had left.
I raised an eyebrow, waiting.
“I had no intention of taking this case before I read up on you and your so-called brother. Far too many holes to make sense—and the more I poked, the less my client’s claims seemed like paranoia.”
“That doesn’t change the nature of the job,” I replied. “A fall from grace for the man who put Riot in the GPRE sights.”
Mord snorted, a flash of genuine delight in his eyes. “I truly love that rumour.”
“It’s not true?” I don’t know why he wouldn’t want it. Lie or not, Riot was one of New Oxford’s most notorious criminals—he hadn’t been caught by the GPRE, but Mord’s involvement had brought it down to the wire according to Decebal.
Mord considered that. “I suppose it is, more or less.”
“And now you’re cleaning up frat boy messes?”
“I enjoy difficult puzzles. Call it professional curiosity.”
“Professional curiosity?” I wasn’t buying it.
“I’ll tell you, if you’d like to hear.”
“Tell me what?”
“Why I took the case.”
I cocked my head, waiting, unsure if I should expect a lie.
“Your pack’s hidden paper trail has a Harpy signature—don’t worry too much, you can’t hide in plain sight without a trail of some kind. It’s… lets say Harpy, but…” He nodded his head in a so-so motion. “Not quite. Ex-member, non-drug related—which rounds it down to one guy in the city.”
I frowned. He wasn’t far off at all. Both Decebal and his pack mate, Kai, were from the Harpy Gang in the Gritch District. They’d got out, which didn’t happen often, but it was Kai who was responsible for all of our forged documents.
“The arrogant leader of the Mandela pack might get involved with distasteful operations to boost his fragile ego, but that only makes the fact that his pack mate, Kai Ekkon, can’t be bought all the more stark. He’s one of the best, and notoriously ethical, which begs the question, what have you—with your dark bonded omega—done to convince him to help?” Mord asked.
“You’re interested because I have ties to the Mandela pack?” If that was it, I was going to give Decebal an earful.
“Nah,” Mord said. “I’m far more interested in what was buried, why Ekkon doesn’t believe it’s a problem, and…” Mord paused, as if he was considering if he should say the next part. “If it has anything to do with your very curious scents.”
Our scents?
That’swhat he was fucking interested in? I wondered, for a moment, what that meant. It had never been confirmed, but we were sure our poison scents were a result of experimentation.
“If I told you, would you fuck off?” I asked. I wouldn’t tell him, but I wanted to poke at his mask.
Mord leaned back, the echo of a smile on his face as if he didn’t believe it at all. “The safe—and that omega of yours are a far more interesting challenge.”
It took every ounce of my self-control not to react at the mention of Shatter. Instead, I took a breath, mulling over the rest as I tapped my finger on my jeans. First off, the safe, it seemed, was still locked. Not that Mord would be here at all if it wasn’t.
Second, I was surprised he was willing to say as much as he had, but his curiosity lined up with what I knew of him. He was calculated, patient, deadly—but even so, mostly tied up in work that didn’t have a bad ending. Well, not as bad as it could get in the underbelly of New Oxford. Maybe I could push on that one. “You said Kai’s work is ethical. You don’t consider yours the same?”
“I consider my work selfish. I prefer tasteful jobs, but nothing kills business faster than flipping on clients.”
At least we weren’t pretending about the obscene lie that he was considering joining the Lincoln pack. The conclusion was clear. His interest in what was hidden about our pack was worth the risk of taking a job that might end up distasteful.
So buying him out wasn’t an option.
Fucking great. We’d left blood in the water, and the sharks had come. Not a complication I needed.
Except, I had learned something just by his presence.
“So.” I tilted my head, pushing the facade Shatter and I had already put up. “Did they ask you to watch their scent match getting throat fucked by another alpha, or are you just lonely?”
Mord lifted his shoulders in a half shrug, eyes fixed on me without flinching. “Lonely,” he said. “It was a good show.”
I snorted.
He wasn’t giving up anything else. Every word he chose seemed calculated, hosting a potential for double meaning. Even the word show seemed designed to leave open whether he thought it was an act.
But he’d picked the wrong moment to watch if he wanted confirmation that Shatter was in love with our pack. I was, at least, confident about one thing—something I’d known just by catching him here.
I got to my feet, sure I’d got everything I could get out of this conversation.
“I’m asking the same questions you think I am,” he said mildly, crossing his legs as I picked up my textbook. I glanced at him, eyebrow cocked. “Are the Lincoln pack playing me, trying to take something they shouldn’t?” he supplied. “Or are you playing them?” There was a pause, and I thought I saw his eyes flash. “Or perhaps that pretty little golden-eyed thing is playing all of you.”
I measured my expression as he outlined what he already knew I’d gathered from catching him here. He was looking for over defensiveness, something to give away that Shatter meant more to me than a dark-bonded prize—especially at the mention that he was watching her.
But that last option? That was what I needed to avoid.
She wouldn’t be caught in the middle of this.
I found a smile without too much difficulty. Playing a part had always been easy, and I knew it was a piece from my missing past. Had I been a performer once upon a time? Theatre had a good ring to it, but I would never find out if we didn’t get free of this curse.
I clapped him on the shoulder as I passed. “Have a good evening with your new roommates. I have an omega to enjoy.”