Chapter 2 Seduction
SEDUCTION
The man on the front step was... huge. A head taller than Aaren and twice as broad, his sea-green eyes bright on his handsome face. He had thick dark hair peppered with grey, full lips, and artful stubble that belonged in a magazine.
“Uh,” Aaren said, stunned. To avoid staring, he dropped his gaze—only to find a thin shirt stretched across the alpha’s chest. It highlighted his full pecs and stretched around his thick, tattooed biceps, and further down, grey sweatpants hugged the alpha’s muscular thighs.
Then there was his bulge. Gods, was it a big bulge.
“Why do alphas wear tight pants?” Aaren blurted.
“I mean, your sweatpants are not tight, but they hug your legs like a clingy ex. It’s like they’re trying to give me x-ray vision to your bulge.
You’re—” And there was the crown of his tip, a gently curving line that told Aaren exactly where the sensitive part of his cock was. “You’re not wearing underwear.”
Hades coughed. It made his cock twitch.
“Oh gods, it’s like a living, breathing trouser snake,” Aaren whispered. “You need to call animal control. I can’t look away. It’s going to rise up like a cobra and stare at me in the eye. It’s going to see my soul. You need to cover it up before it takes my eye-virginity.”
“Your eyes seem to be very happy where they are,” Hades said dryly.
Aaren choked and wrenched his gaze up, only to be confronted by the alpha’s full pecs. He had to yank them higher to look at the alpha’s face.
“You’re Aaren Miller, I presume?” Hades asked when their eyes finally met.
Aaren watched him warily. “You followed me here all the way from Mount Hood?”
“After I got out of prison, yeah,” Hades said.
Aaren froze. “Prison?”
The alpha shrugged. “I was in prison for a while. When I was released, I went back to Rizz Razz, only to discover that the food now sucks. I asked around and found out that the old cook had disappeared. The new cook is terrible. The burgers are over-salted, the cheese barely melted, the bread is stale and crumbles like a cookie. And the beef stew—” Hades grimaced “—watery and under-seasoned, the carrots and potatoes undercooked. Somehow, the beef in there tastes like chicken.”
The more he described, the more horrified Aaren grew.
“Wow,” Aaren said. “That sounds like food from Hell.”
“Possibly even worse,” Hades agreed.
“But you could’ve just... eaten somewhere else?”
Hades gave a half-shrug. “It’s not the same. I’m sure you’ve experienced that yourself.”
Well... yeah. Aaren had. It was like how he could never quite replicate his mom’s cookies, even though he had her recipe.
“Here.” Hades pulled out his wallet and handed over a stack of twenties. “Cook something for me. Please. That should cover the ingredients as well.”
“N-now?!”
“If you could, yes.”
Aaren counted the cash quickly. “Two hundred bucks?! For one meal? I don’t even have any fancy cuts...”
Hades smiled crookedly. “That’s fine. Whatever you have. I’m sure you’ll make it good.”
Aaren stared at the bills in his hand, then at Hades, and the dinky little kitchen behind him. “You’re not even going to kidnap me.” The second those words fell out of his mouth, Aaren choked on his spit. “I shouldn’t be giving you ideas!”
Hades smiled again. “I’m not that much of a criminal.”
“What did you go to prison for?”
The alpha shrugged. “May I wait inside while you cook?”
With all the regrets Aaren had about Ballus, he knew he should be more wary. But Hades had not once snapped at him, even through Aaren’s verbal diarrhea and hesitation. In fact, he had answered most—but not all—of Aaren’s questions, and given him far too much money for one meal.
To say nothing of how far Hades had traveled, just to track him down.
Meadowfall was almost a thousand miles away from Mount Hood. There was no way Hades was letting him go this easily.
“You may as well,” Aaren said, so no one would see him on Ballus’ front step. He backed away and held his breath as Hades came through the doorway, the sheer width of him preventing Aaren’s escape. Then he was inside the house, somehow even larger in this small space.
This feels so wrong. Ballus didn’t say he can come in.
But... Two hundred bucks was two hundred bucks, and Aaren could not turn down that kind of money.
Hades looked around, then down—he must’ve noticed the collection of shoes to one side. He toed off his boots and tucked his hands in his pockets, his nostrils flaring.
Aaren knew what he smelled. Ballus’ heavy, pungent boxwood scent was everywhere, accompanied by Aaren’s tulip scent. And now there was a hint of cherrywood from Hades, lighter and sweeter than Aaren expected.
“You smell good,” Aaren blurted. He covered his mouth. “I did not mean to say that.”
Hades turned back to him. “Your alpha is out?”
“Yeah. He just left for work. He won’t be back ‘til 2 PM.”
“Hmm.”
Aaren darted around him, heading to the kitchen to double-check the ingredients he had to work with. He opened the fridge and bent over, rummaging through the crisper drawers.
On the other side of the kitchen, Hades made a sound.
“Huh?” Aaren looked up. Only to find the alpha looking at his... ass?
Hades cleared his throat and met Aaren’s gaze.
“Why were you looking at my ass?” Aaren asked, baffled.
“You provided detailed, explicit commentary on my body, and you’re asking why I’m looking at yours?” Hades raised an eyebrow.
Aaren blushed and gestured at Hades’ entire self. “Well, yeah! You’re... hot as a sizzling steak. I’m the... the squashed doughboy.”
Maybe he shouldn’t have said that, either.
“Squashed—” Hades opened and closed his mouth, quiet for a moment. “What?”
“That’s what my alpha says.” Aaren shrugged, ashamed.
Hades’ shoulders grew stiff; a thread of steel entered his voice. “He calls you a... squashed doughboy? As... a pet name?”
Aaren froze, wondering if Hades would get violent with him. “As an insult.”
And now Hades looked thunderous, his eyes flashing, his jaw clenched. “He insults you?”
Aaren backed away, his heart thumping. This right here, this was probably why Hades had gone to prison.
Hades noticed. He stepped back, breathing deeply to calm down. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten angry around you. I’m not mad at you. Just your alpha. Alphas shouldn’t do that to their omegas.”
“He’s an asshole. And a mistake,” Aaren admitted.
Hades’ brow furrowed. “Then why are you still with him? You can just leave—”
“No, I can’t,” Aaren growled. “You say it like it’s easy, everyone keeps telling me it’s easy—”
“Isn’t it?”
“No!” Aaren shouldn’t be yelling at an alpha who had paid him $200 for a meal; he shouldn’t be yelling at an alpha who might have anger issues. But everyone kept telling him to leave Ballus as though it were that simple, and he was sick of hearing it. “It’s complicated! I fucked up!”
Hades stared. Then he glanced at Aaren’s belly. “Did he knock you up?”
Aaren shuddered. “No. Thank heavens.”
But his heat was coming soon, and he needed to start his BC pills before he forgot about them.
“So help me understand. Why is it so difficult to leave?” Hades pulled out a chair—Ballus’ chair—and sat down. He looked expectant, so different from his angry self that it eased Aaren’s wariness.
Aaren deflated. “I signed a contract. In my Gran’s will, she said I have to be with an alpha for a year before I’d get my inheritance. I had to put Ballus’ name in the contract, and... it’s only been six months.”
Hades narrowed his eyes. “If he’s mistreating you, you can get a lawyer to help with that.”
Aaren sighed heavily. “He doesn’t hit me. There’s no proof. It’s just... all these little things he says that sound horrible.”
And depending on the judge or police officer, Ballus’ words might not even count as abusive.
From the look on Hades’ face, he was thinking the same thing. “I could beat him up a little. Make him more polite.”
Aaren shook his head quickly. “No! Then he’ll come back and take it out on me.” Before Hades could offer another solution, Aaren turned away. “It’s fine. It’s just another six months. Then I’ll leave.”
Hades pursed his lips. “Tell you what. If you need any help at all, if you need to yell at someone, or vent, or if you need to feel safe, you can call me.”
Aaren swallowed. He had been whining to his friends about Ballus, but... they were omegas. They couldn’t really help him feel safe.
Hades could.
Hades was willing to beat up Ballus, and he had done things that had sent him to prison.
“You have to promise not to beat him up or yell at him,” Aaren said slowly.
Hades didn’t look happy about it. “I promise.”
Aaren let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “Thanks.”
“Tell you what. Would you like to have some hot chocolate?” Hades straightened his shoulders.
“What?”
“I’ll make you hot chocolate. As an apology for...” Hades waved vaguely. “Getting you worked up. That was not my intention when I came here.”
That’s right—he wanted food. He had paid for food. And Aaren had yelled at him instead.
Aaren’s face burned. “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”
“It’s fine. I overstepped.” Hades looked sincere. “Why don’t you make me food, I’ll make you a drink, and we’ll call it even?”
“Okay.” Aaren took a deep breath to center himself. “Okay. Do you have any food allergies, or things you hate?”
“No allergies. But I do hate okra. Hate it with the heat of a thousand burning suns.” Hades bared his teeth.
Aaren laughed. “Did they make you eat okra in prison?”
He froze, thinking maybe he shouldn’t mention the ex-con thing. But Hades scrunched up his face.
“Ugh. Fuck prison food. That’s the worst thing about prison, really.”
“Not the other scary alphas? Or being bored?”
“I had friends with me. My cellmate Jag ended up becoming my sworn brother, and so did the guys across from us, Storm and Fury. It was... a bit of an extended vacation, just without the scenery or paid time off.”
Aaren couldn’t wrap his mind around that.