Chapter 5
Chapter Five
LOGAN
I knew that purple-haired bitch was unbonded the second she walked in the door. Scents don’t lie, even if I didn’t really want to believe it.
But a virgin? I hadn’t expected that.
The thought of it has me uncomfortably hard, and I hate her even more for tying my thoughts into knots.
Damn it, why am I thinking about knots?
I still have other Omegas scheduled for interviews today, but all I can think about is Maya’s naked body. Those perfect tits, flesh trembling ever so slightly from cold. The fear she failed to hide.
Fuck, I want her.
The others watch me, obviously waiting for a reaction before they share the thoughts written on their faces.
“Go ahead,” I say, finally. “Spit it out.”
Poe explodes like he was holding his breath until I gave him permission to release the onslaught. “Of course she’s lying. No Omega keeps their virginity intact at her age.”
An interesting point. If only I agreed with him.
Ares leans over the desk as I collapse into my chair, eagerness tightening every over-worked muscle in his body. “I can think of an excellent way to find out.”
“She isn’t lying.” I pick up the tablet and glare down at the list of names. As much as I hate to admit it, I already know none of them will compare to her. “The universe wouldn’t make it that easy.”
Making her strip off her dress was a bad idea. The image of her — boldly posing and nude as the day she was born — permanently imprints on my brain.
“Medical exams are imprecise. There is no such thing as actual proof,” Poe insists, with more certainty than he probably feels. “You can fuck her until she bleeds and you’ll still never know the truth.”
Ares just shrugs. “Then it doesn’t matter one way or the other, does it? Virginity might be a nice bonus, but she can’t fake those amazing tits or that mouth-watering scent. No one else can compare.”
Poe glares at him. “And you don’t think that’s strange? Why would she show up here when she already had her chance? Either someone put her up to this or she has an ulterior motive. We can’t trust her.”
“You cannot be serious,” Ares laughs. “Logan needs an Omega who he won’t mind fucking long term. I’d say we found her. There doesn’t need to be more to it than that.”
“If you’d stop thinking with your dick for five seconds, then you might understand the problem. This girl is a bigger risk than we need to take.”
“Are you actually scared of what an Omega might do to us? We should all just roll over and die right now if fear of a tiny girl keeps you up at night. ”
Now I’m thinking about the fact that Maya is definitely not tiny in any of the places that matter. Despite her height, just above five feet and typical of an Omega, her figure has always been lush. Breasts like dollops of cream planted on her chest. A slim waist with rounded thighs. Pretty much perfect in every way. Even in a dress that flared way too much at the hips, I could tell that her ass was the exact amount of ample roundness to fill the hands of even the most gigantic Alpha male.
Thoughts of thick thighs only make me think of the paradise between them. That cherry-scented pussy dusted purple, like sprinkles on a cupcake.
I’ve always been someone who liked dessert before dinner.
Get close enough and you realize her wide, doll eyes aren’t actually dark brown, but a deep, warm shade of aubergine. I still remember the way they widened with shock when we made her come, like the intensity of the pleasure surprised her. I wonder what it would take to surprise her like that again. How far down the path of deviancy would I have to lead her before she loses that look of alarmed surprise?
I still dream about those lips, how it felt to have her mouth wrapped my dick. So good that she took me down to the knot before gagging. Soft, wet and so sultry that I already feel the heat just thinking about it.
A sweet treat that no other Alpha has tasted before…
I shake myself out of these thoughts with an effort. My pack is right. Choosing Maya would be a terrible decision. She provides too much of a distraction at a very dangerous time. My distrust of her is only eclipsed by just how much I want to throw her down on the nearest soft surface and keep her there until I’ve worked that purple-haired pussy out of my system for good.
Ares and Poe have descended into an argument over the relative merits of virgin Omegas. The sound of their voices only adds to the cacophony in my head. All I want is some silence.
“Enough,” I snap, putting enough of an Alpha tone into my voice that they have to hear it, even if I can’t compel them to listen.
They both fall silent to stare at me, despite the twin expressions of annoyance on their faces.
As opposed to Omegas, it’s the nature of Alphas to resist the compulsion of another Alpha’s voice.
Their obedience was something I had to earn. This is a reminder that they are making the choice to obey me.
I let the silence continue for almost a minute before continuing in a normal tone of voice. “You each have one minute to give me the pros and cons. Go.”
As expected, Poe jumps in first. “Con. You can’t trust any Omega, but Maya would be the worst possible choice. Just because you got her to strip naked doesn’t mean she won’t be defiant until the day she dies.”
“Pro. Forcing submission just makes it more fun,” Ares points out. “We already know how good she looks on her knees.”
“Con. She rejected Logan once. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. She will reject him again, only this time he’ll be humiliated in front of the entire country. The loss of standing might cost him the throne entirely.”
Ares smirks. “Pro. Prince Logan will be the one who conquered the unconquered. Just imagine how it will look, parading the Omega who rejected him in front of all those whispering courtiers. Making her submit to him in front of the entire court will make for the best revenge imaginable. All that will be missing is a leash and a collar around her neck.”
I shift in the chair to relieve the growing bulge in my pants. The image of Maya cowed and desperate for my attention, where everyone can see it, absolutely hits me below the belt. Unfortunately, my dick has never agreed with the rest of me where she is concerned.
Sensing his advantage, Ares leans over the back of my chair so his words are a seductive rumble at my back. “Think of how pretty she’ll look at state dinners with a collar of bruises in the shape of your hands around her neck and so much of your come leaking out of her it soaks into her seat.”
“Or you could stop thinking with your dick for five seconds.” Poe slams his hand on the desk hard enough to set it rattling. “The girl is hiding something. At the very least, you need to find out what it is before you let her anywhere near the palace again.”
“Women scheme. It’s in their nature,” Ares argues. “Fuck her as long as it’s fun and give her a baby when you’re done to keep her occupied. She only has as much power as we allow her to have.”
“This is court. Secrets are power. You want to grant this girl closer access to our prince than anyone has ever had? About a thousand things could go wrong. What if she becomes a spy for one of his enemies or fuck…” Poe looks around the room as if conspirators might appear out of the wo odwork, obviously working himself up into apoplexy. “What if she already is one? That explains why an Omega who rejected you a year ago would show up here with no explanation.”
Ares chuckles. “That sounds crazy, even for you. The girl isn’t damn a super spy.”
“We need to know what brought her back here,” Poe insists. “It will end up our problem, eventually.”
Expression turned musing, Ares actually seems to consider before coming up with a counterpoint. “Then we get to use that desperation against her. If she really needs to be here that badly, then she’ll do anything to stay. Sounds like a win to me.”
Poe glares at him. “Until Logan bonds her and we’re stuck with her forever.”
Ares waves away that concern with a flick of his hand, as if an eternal bond is a simple thing to overcome. “The king never said that a bonding has to happen right away. We’ll play with her for a while, give her enough freedom to show her true colors. Then bury her six feet under if she makes even a single move against us. Easy.”
“Easy,” Poe repeats with a guffaw. “You think giving the little bitch enough time to worm her way in with the prince is the easy way? It’s too much of a risk. He only got a taste of her last time and it fucked him up for a month?—”
“Watch it.” I finally interrupt them then, holding up a single hand in warning and not hiding the danger in my expression. “A bond isn’t happening with anyone right now. I’ll find a way to keep my father pacified about it.”
Suitably cowed but still insistent, Poe comes around the desk to face me directly. His expression borders on desperate. “ Choose anyone else. One Omega is no different from another one.”
Ares leans closer until they’re both invading my space. “All the others are pale comparisons and you know it. Choose Maya so you can put her in her place. Underneath and wrapped around you until you’re ready to throw her away when you’re done with her.”
And just like that, my cock is hard enough that keeping it confined is painful.
The men in this room are closer to than my own brothers. My trust in them is absolute.
But none of them get to make this decision.
My gaze flicks to Cillian, still standing at attention next to the door. His face is blank, as if he hasn’t heard a word of the discussion. His apparent lack of interest bothers me for reasons I find hard to verbalize.
“Don’t have anything to add?” I ask, a note of taunting in my voice.
Cillian takes a deep enough breath to fill his entire chest before answering. “You already know what I think, so there isn’t any point in saying it out loud.”
I regard him with narrowed eyes. “That hasn’t ever stopped you before.”
“Your word is my command, Prince Logan.” His gaze flicks to Poe and Ares, who are both still wrapped up in repeatedly making the same arguments to each other. “Would you like me to make my full thoughts on this situation known?”
Picking up the tablet, I return my attention to the list of names that has already grown longer. “Bring in the next one. ”
Cillian gives me a half-bow so disdainful that I would have felt forced to correct the behavior if drawing attention to it just wouldn’t cause more problems right now.
With a long-suffering sigh, Ares collapses back against the wall as Poe gives him a triumphant look.
I cut him off before Poe can start full-on gloating. “We finish the interviews for today and then I’ll decide.”
Ares winks at Poe but address me. “I’m sure you’ll make the right one, boss.”
Poe sinks back into the shadows in the corner of the room, expression as flat as the tone of his voice. “I’m not.”
A dozen interviews later and I don’t even bother to let the last one open her mouth before I curtly tell her to get out of my sight.
Each Omega that walked in the door was somehow even worse than the last. The complete lack of acceptable options would amaze me if it weren’t so damn annoying.
“Absolutely nothing was wrong with that last one,” Poe says with a sigh.
“She had weird lips,” I say, tossing the tablet down on the desk hard enough that the screen cracks. “It would have looked like I had the opening of a balloon wrapped around my dick when I fucked her mouth.”
“Obviously unacceptable,” Ares agrees as he picks up the tablet and smoothly replaces it with a new one.
After I broke the third one, a stack of them had been delivered to the room.
I don’t thank him as I pick it up and scroll through pictures of the dozen women I’d had paraded in front of me for the last five hours. “This whole thing is ridiculous.”
Ares eases closer, looking over my shoulder at the screen. “That was the last one for today. Does that mean you’ve made your choice?”
Poe appears at my other side, his footsteps absolutely silent on the carpeted floor. “You shouldn’t rush the decision. Take as much time as you need.”
Feeling suddenly stifled and unreasonably annoyed, I push up from the desk and stride toward the door. “I need a stress reliever. We’ve been cooped up in this room all damn day.”
They know I only have two forms of stress relief, working out my aggression in the gym or grabbing the nearest harem beta to work it out in a more primal way.
Judging from the fact that no one moves to follow me, they clearly think I’m planning to utilize the second option.
Ares steps smoothly out of my way as Poe picks up my abandoned tablet and glares down at it.
Cillian avoids my gaze as I pass him, the censure obvious in his expression.
Wisely, none of them say a word as I stomp out of the room and slam the door shut behind.
Enough words have been spoken on the subject.
The damn choice was a made a long time ago.