9. Sin
Sin
M elanie gave up struggling as the crowd parted for us, all eyes on us, her scent leaving a trail behind us as we reached the ballroom entrance. I didn’t care about the whispers. The only thing that mattered was the omega curled against my chest, her entire face flamed as she hid in my neck.
“We will be free of the crowd soon. Keep holding onto me,” I murmured. No matter what they said, I was fulfilling my duty as an alpha by protecting my mate.
Melanie did as I asked, her fingers wrapping around the lapel of my suit.
“Just hurry. I can’t stand this anymore,” she whimpered. Her pain seeped into me through her aura.
I held her close, determined to keep her safe from anyone who came near her. We may claim it was a pretend courtship, but it had become too real for me the moment I kissed her in her nest.
My anger still burned from the scene Kai and Caspian had created. I did not want to have yet another talk with them about our conduct when the Selection Ceremony was so near.
And it could have ended in a disaster if Camille was triggered in any way. She wore her bracelet, and it was meant to temper her, along with her blockers, but sometimes it was not enough to stop an episode.
The question of what Melanie was doing alone in a room with Zania and her mates still hung over me. I had to find a way to approach it subtly enough not to spook her.
Yet that could not happen when I had a soft and hungry omega wriggling in my arms, causing my cock to grow harder by the second.
I had barely been able to control myself when I saw her running from that room, shortly followed by Caspian’s parents. The sheer panic which rushed from her when she begged me for my touch was enough to clear her of suspicion, though I still had to ask.
Unfortunately, Zania now had the advantage regarding any negotiations involving our new omega. And the Hiscoxes had an even greater excuse to take Camille away from us after my mates’ performance.
Another whimper rang from Melanie as we exited the foyer towards the glass elevator. I laid a kiss on her forehead as I awkwardly pressed the button for the third floor, and we left the judgemental stares of Zania’s guests behind us.
“Almost there.” I tried to reassure her, but she refused to lift her head. I could have lowered her and asked her to walk, but holding her filled me with a sense of satisfaction that only Kai had ever granted me.
Though Risler House was a shared residence, the third floor was solely Zania’s territory. And I had a sick pleasure of bringing my slicking omega there when it was clear who had left the bruise on her cheek.
In the empty elevator, I could release my scent and surround her with my aura as we ascended.
I loved how she utterly relaxed. She curved her ass above my cock and I groaned, squeezing my arms tighter around her.
“I won’t make it to the room if you keep acting like this,” I threatened.
“But you’re as excited as I am, aren’t you?” she asked as she finally emerged, her face flushed but a teasing lilt in her voice.
I surprised us both as a low growl rumbled through me. Her head knocked back and I paused as we met each other with heated looks.
Like Caspian, I had begun to find it more difficult to control myself around her. Though control had different meanings for us, we could both agree we were less stable since Melanie had entered our lives.
She released a shuddering sigh, her fingers tracing up my lapel. My breath caught as they danced across the line of my collar, and I hissed as a single finger drew a line across the bite-laden skin of my throat.
I had to pull us back for once.
“What were you doing with Zania, Melanie?” I asked, trying to divert her attention. “I saw you exit a room with her and her mates. Why would you talk with her alone in the middle of a party you are attending with us?”
Her eyes widened the second I asked, but I needed a distraction. I would prefer not to be seen making love to her in a glass elevator at a busy party.
The need on her face slipped, and I cursed myself for breaking the tension as her hand fell to press against her stomach.
Her body stiffened, a tremble running through her.
From the way she’d dashed towards me in the ballroom, I guessed it had not been a positive conversation, but the reaction now told me Zania was up to the same tricks she had been pulling since Caspian presented.
Melanie seemed unhurt, but there were plenty of other ways to damage a person than wounding them.
“Did she do anything to you?” I asked softly as the elevator kept rising.
Melanie shook her head at first. I could push her, ask her exactly what happened in that room. Caspian’s fathers were no joke. They followed Zania’s commands more like servants than her mates, and being cornered by them was enough to make anyone cower.
“She just made it clear she doesn’t want me anywhere near you,” she said, head still down.
It was definitely more than that, but she obviously didn’t want to talk about it. Melanie’s perfume curled around her, her slick raw, and my alpha instincts were telling me I had to provide for my omega.
“Then we have to show her we want you to stay,” I said, already leaning towards her.
Another tremor ran through her, but this was accompanied by lust. “Sin, I…” But she trailed off as she saw my expression.
It wasn’t simply my need to taste her. I had to assure her she was completely wanted—by me, at least.
We both jumped as the bell pinged and the doors slid open, revealing a darkened corridor.
Melanie cleared her throat, and I took that as a cue to move on.
There was the briefest hint of hyacinth in the air as I strode into the corridor. Melanie stiffened as she sucked in a breath. People could disguise the emotions in their scents, but I didn’t believe she was acting as her nervous gaze swung around the corridor as if Zania was hiding behind a door.
She dipped her head again as I neared our destination.
“Is Caspian okay?” she asked, and the vulnerability there spurred me into action.
“Don’t ask about our mate when I’m the alpha holding you,” I said stiffly, and she looked up to meet my hard gaze. “I brought you here to forget about what happened.”
There was a door to our right, possibly the worst door I could have chosen, but I was feeling vindictive after witnessing her fear.
I had enough restraint to turn the handle, at least, jutting the door with my foot so I could carry her inside.
“Where are we?” she asked, the scent of her slick growing even stronger.
“Zania’s living room,” I replied as we entered.
She drew in another of those harsh breaths, so I continued.
“I can take us to a more appropriate room, but with the way you smell, I’ll fail to reach our destination.
” Though filling the entire third floor with the scent of vanilla and brandy may be preferable at this stage.
Heart in my throat, I held her tight as my cock pulsed, already walking her over to the sofa that sat against the far wall.
The scent of stale hyacinths polluted the air.
It must have been weeks since she was last in the room.
As soon as I stripped back Melanie’s dress, the scent would be wiped away.
Her back arched, her breasts squashed against my chest as she squeezed me.
“I need it, Sin,” she gasped, suddenly jutting her hips. “Can you smell how much I want you?”
And all the finely honed restraint I was so proud of snapped.
“Then do you want to feel how much I want you?” I hummed as I leaned in close.
Her eyes widened as her fingers dug into me.
It took only one slow inhale, one swell of her breasts, to break my control completely. I dived in, kissing her exactly how I should’ve when we were in her nest, hungrily taking her lips. Her low moan echoed through me as she opened up for me.
My eyelids shuttered as her taste flooded me, and the completion I’d been searching for since we’d first met swelled within me. I could feel Kai and Caspian quietly seething through the bond, but it wasn’t directed at me.
And my attention stayed on the beautiful omega in my arms.
Another kiss, another swipe of my tongue across hers, another bloom of brandy around us.
“Sin,” she moaned with each step towards the sofa. “Sin, please, touch me.” Her hand shook as she reached up to cup my face. “Please, tell me you feel it too. I just…” She trailed off with a sigh.
Trying to walk with my beautiful, needy omega writhing in my arms wasn’t easy.
The scent of her slick was so potent that I pulled her closer, making sure she marked my clothes. She groaned as she rubbed on me, twisting to press her hard nipples against my chest, her eager sounds morphing into whines.
By the time I reached the sofa, she had given up trying to fuck me through my clothes. Instead, she fastened her lips to my throat, licking, sucking, scattering tiny bites anywhere she could reach. Although it was not enough to break my skin and make it more permanent.
It was as if she was in heat again. Caspian must have affected her more deeply than I’d realised.
She refused to let go as I lowered her feet to the ground.
With her arms firm around my neck, she lifted herself up to the tips of her toes so she could drag me back to her.
Devouring me, she sucked up every trace of vanilla in my mouth until all that was left was brandy.
My hands could have gone anywhere, but they dropped to her shoulders, massaging her through the thin dress. I needed her fire, her heat. I had to feel how hot she was for me.
“Either take off your dress or I’m tearing it off of you,” I panted against her mouth, pushing at the straps so she could feed her arms through.
I moved back as far as I could bear, watching in awe as she slipped them off her shoulders, freeing the fabric to pool around her feet.