Chapter 38 – COSIMA
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
COSIMA
I pace restlessly in Geo's office, trying to ignore the way my feet still ache in these new boots. The Knight looms in the corner like a particularly murderous shadow, his new mask catching the dim light. The silver looks almost alive in the flickering fluorescent glow.
He looks good. Really good.
Which… sounds fucking insane. But he does. I've always had a thing for longer hair, though, and the way his bone-white hair frames that silver mask—and his burning blue eyes, which are tracking my every movement—is making it impossible to regret letting him get me through my heat.
I probably should, but I don't.
Guess I'm crazy.
When the door opens, I tense immediately, and the Knight growls in response, stepping forward to get between me and whoever's there. But it's just one of Geo's guards, a nervous-looking beta whose face goes pale when his eyes lock on the Knight.
"G-Geo requests your presence in his private quarters," the guard stammers, clearly trying very hard not to piss himself as the Knight's rumbling growl fills the room.
I place a calming hand on the Knight's arm. "It's fine," I tell him softly. Though honestly, I'm not sure it is. But what choice do we have? We're deep in Geo's territory now, surrounded by his men.
The guard leads us through a maze of tunnels that gradually become less industrial and more... lived in. The concrete walls give way to actual paneling in places, and I spot proper furniture instead of milk crates and stolen office chairs.
This isn't just some underground black market, I realize. This is an empire.
We pass more guards. Some are lounging in what appears to be a break room, others are patrolling and giving us wary glances. They're a scruffy bunch, but there's no mistaking the military training in their movements. Or the quality of their weapons.
The guard stops before an ornate wooden door that looks like it was salvaged from some pre-war mansion. "Through here," he says, gesturing for us to enter.
I step into what can only be described as a living room, though that seems too mundane a word for the space.
Rich carpets cover the concrete floor, and actual paintings hang on the walls.
A massive fireplace dominates one wall, the warm light from the crackling fire lighting up the comfortable-looking furniture and a freaking piano .
And there's an absolutely massive animal skull mounted above the fireplace.
I don't even know what the hell that thing was in life, but it was huge and it had horns. Lots of horns.
But it's the people in the room that make me freeze.
Geo leans against the mantel, his one eye fixed on us and his muscular arms folded over his broad chest. Nikolai stands near a window—a fucking window , underground?
—his eyes widening as they lock onto me.
And there, practically vibrating with excitement, is the pretty blond alpha from the airfield.
The Knight's growl deepens to a pitch that makes my teeth ache, almost snarling. His massive frame tenses beside me.
"Sorry," I drawl, rolling my eyes. "He's a little alpha-aggressive."
Whatever stupor has come over Nikolai evaporates in an instant. "Get away from that thing!" he snaps, taking a step forward. "It'll tear you apart!"
I can't help but laugh. "Please. I'd take him over you any day." I pause, putting a finger on my lips. "Actually… I did." The words come out dripping with venom, and I take savage satisfaction in the way Nikolai's eyes narrow.
I can tell he wants to know if that's why I'm not in heat anymore.
For all he knows, I got my hands on pills that got me out of it.
Or maybe I let an alpha in the underground fuck me.
And I can practically see the gears turning behind his eyes as he tries to figure out if I mean I literally chose the Knight over him.
Joke's on him.
I'll let him wonder forever.
The blond alpha moves then, approaching me with an expression of pure adoration that seems utterly out of place, considering I've never even met him. "My goddess," he breathes, reaching for my hand. "At last?—"
The Knight's snarl cuts through the room like a thunderclap. The blond alpha stumbles back, his pupils blowing wide until the blue in his pretty eyes is a thin ring.
"No. Touching," I snap, stepping closer to the Knight's protective bulk and wrapping my arms around his non-metal arm. Even with my hands just resting near the arteries beneath his scarred skin, I can feel his normally slow, steady pulse thundering like a war drum. "Who the hell are you, anyway?"
I know Geo said he thinks he's my mate, but that's utterly fucking ridiculous.
Even if he does smell…
Huh.
Kind of good, actually. Better than good. He smells like honey, rich and golden and clean. Nothing like the acrid scent of alpha that usually repels me.
And then, I find myself wondering what the odds are that I happen to be standing in a room with four alphas who are all somehow exceptions to my strange little rule.
Azarel was the first. I assumed he was the only alpha who would ever smell good to me. That it was a sign from the universe we were meant to be together.
But if that's true, the same would apply to Nikolai. And that's a pill that's way too big and bitter to swallow. Even Geo smells dangerously pleasant, like stone and leather and those expensive cigars he likes.
I'm too tired for this shit.
"My name is Raven, and I'm your mate," the blond says, his smooth voice wavering slightly as he gives me puppy dog eyes.
Raven's an odd name for an alpha with hair like spun sunlight. Then again, they do like shiny shit.
And this is the shiniest fucking alpha I've ever seen.
I'm starting to see why the big brute with the eyepatch would clearly do anything for him, even if it makes him infinitely more of a pain in my ass. His confidence seems to grow as he takes another step forward, ignoring—or maybe just in spite of—the Knight's warning growl.
"I felt it the moment I saw you at the Alpha's Alpha," Raven continues. "Surely you felt it, too?"
"The Alpha's Alpha?" My nose wrinkles as I remember the incense and scent maskers pumped through those vents at that place Monty dragged me to so I could watch him get his rocks off with all his freaky little fetishes. "That tacky sex club?"
Raven's expression goes blank and Geo runs a hand over his face. Nikolai barks out a laugh.
" Tacky ?" Raven croaks, sounding like I just took a sledgehammer to the gravestones of every asshole that came before him.
"Yes, tacky. Like those," I say, pointing at Nikolai's crimson leather boots just to shut him up. His laughter dries up immediately and he gives me a glare that could peel the polish off them.
"Perhaps it's time to redecorate," Raven says, his smile wavering.
I blink. "Don't tell me you're the owner."
"Guilty," Raven says with a sigh. "And I'll happily raze it to the ground if you like, but it will always hold a special place in my heart for being the place where I first laid eyes on you."
I blink, realizing he's dead serious.
About all of it.
The weary look on Geo's face is confirmation enough of that.
"I don't remember seeing you there," I say flatly. Then again, I tend to tune out when Monty is doing his bullshit. At least when a female alpha has him gagged and half choked to death, I don't have to listen to his incessant whining.
"You were unconscious," Raven says, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "Those barbarians absconded with you before I could stop them."
"The Ghosts?" I ask. It seems like that all happened a lifetime ago. It might as well have. I'm not sure even Azarel would recognize me now. Traipsing around the Outer Reaches in secondhand clothing, covered in raider blood, unmoisturized .
How far I've fallen.
Then again, the blond alpha looks pretty put together. Maybe he has some actual shampoo I can use. Gods, what I would give for a hot bath.
"Yes, them," Raven says with a curl of his lip. "That's how I found out you were being held hostage by Nikolai."
"I wasn't holding her hostage. I was the middleman keeping her for ransom," Nikolai corrects him.
"Is there a difference?" Raven hisses. "The poor girl is probably traumatized all the same! You have no idea how to treat an omega."
"Yeah, got me there, considering you practically are one," Nikolai counters.
That makes the blond snap. He actually lunges and wraps his hands around Nikolai's neck with a snarl. The Knight tenses and steps in front of me with a heavy stomp that shakes the room, but Raven doesn't even seem to notice.
I watch with both irritation and amusement as Raven and Nikolai grapple. For all his delicate features and dramatic flair, Raven's clearly no stranger to fighting dirty. His knee comes up sharply, aiming for Nikolai's groin, but the larger alpha blocks it easily.
"Are they always like this?" I ask Geo, who looks about as done with this situation as I feel.
He pinches the bridge of his nose, his eye closed in obvious frustration. "More or less."
Beside me, the Knight shifts restlessly, another low growl building in his chest. I stroke his arm to try to calm him down, but honestly, I'm tempted to just let him loose.
It would certainly solve several of my problems at once.
"Enough!" Geo finally barks, though it isn't quite a full-blown alpha bark, striding forward to separate them.
He grabs Raven by the back of his shirt and hauls him away from Nikolai with surprising ease.
"You're the one who made me spare this asshole's life, so what was the point if you're just going to strangle him now? "
Raven smooths down his rumpled clothes, shooting Nikolai a venomous glare. "Clearly, that was an error in judgment."
"Fuck off, princess," Nikolai snaps, rubbing his throat where Raven's fingers left red marks.