Chapter Twenty-Six
Dax Kincaid was the second oldest son of Sterling Kincaid and the twin brother of Baxter Kincaid.
Raised in a wealthy household and given everything necessary for a young alpha to succeed in life, he graduated college with honors, though he declined the ownership of his father’s business when his father passed away.
Roman imagined that likely went to the twin brother and wondered if Dax regretted not forging a more typical life, or if he preferred the power his position granted him.
He was unremarkable beyond his wealth and his status.
Intelligent because money would have given him access to private tutors if necessary, powerful because of his family name, with a clean criminal record because nothing ever stuck to the upper echelons of society.
He was uninteresting and unimportant, and Roman doubted he would have ever bothered to learn the man’s name if not for what he and his pack had done to Sidian.
He was older than both of them, in his mid-twenties, and there were no legal business dealings under his name that could be found.
He was likely making most of his money from the jobs he and his pack took alongside his own family inheritance. Why would he need to work a normal job if he had all of that going for him?
Roman glanced up at his mate as he read from his position on the edge of the mattress; Sidian had retreated to the far corner of the room and sat on the floor, his knees pulled to his slender chest. His eyes were wide and haunted, and he was still reeling from the information Roman had given him.
A DNA test would be more conclusive than assumed evidence, but Sidian rejected that outright.
It went unsaid between them it was unnecessary.
The shape of their own relationship belied certain things, sure, but there was an entire lifetime of experience Sidian was probably sorting through in his head, realizations coming to light about behavior he might have written off and was now forced to confront.
Roman wanted to comfort him, but Sidian would come to him when he wanted that.
Being a prime alpha changed Roman’s life not at all.
It made a certain amount of sense to him, and it explained the utter carnage of his presentation.
When that alpha tried to take Sidian away from him, it only made sense for Roman to lash out as violently as possible to protect the mate his instincts saw as especially in need of protection and care.
It was easy to abandon the mission at the breeding center to protect the omega who needed it most. Even now, though it would be dangerous, he wanted to give Sidian the chance for the kills he needed to live in peace because he wouldn’t be whole without them.
Sidian combed a hand through his hair at long last, his scent wilted as he drew in a slow, deep breath. “That fucks everything up. That’s going to ruin this for both of us. We can’t just… It’s not safe.”
It wouldn’t be safe, but it could be made safe. “I have earplugs you can wear.”
“They got in my head back at the center. I tried to push back, but it was… Fuck, Roe, it was bad.” Sidian cradled his head in his hands, and a soft whine left his lips; Roman had to set the folder aside before he risked scattering the papers to get to his omega quicker.
“Don’t you dare fucking come near me. Don’t you even think about it. I swear to Goddess I’ll kill you.”
Roman sank back down. Sidian wouldn’t hurt him, but going against his words was difficult even without the explicit command woven through them. “Talk to me, darling. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“What I’m thinking?” Sidian laughed, but the sound was thin, pained, and his eyes were heavy with something Roman didn’t understand.
Maybe he couldn’t understand. “It makes too much sense. The way they treated me, the way I just let them after a while. I wanted to fight back but couldn’t do it, and that’s fucking terrifying.
As soon as Dax got in my head, he had me right where he wanted me. ”
“Which won’t happen again,” Roman said. “You won’t be alone. Not this time.”
“No,” Sidian agreed. “Instead, I’m dragging you in there with me so you can see just how bad it’s gonna be when they get me on my knees. For fuck’s sake, what did I do to deserve this?”
Roman slipped off the mattress and crept closer to Sidian, and when his omega didn’t snap at him again, lowered himself on the floor as close as he dared. “They won’t do that to you.”
“They’ve already done it more times than I want to think about.
” Sidian rocked back and forth, his hands gripping his shins so tightly his knuckles bled white.
A far cry from the omega who only hours ago had tortured a man to death, a testament to how much Pack Kincaid had hurt him.
“You don’t get it, and I don’t blame you for it. How could you ever understand it?”
“Sid.” Roman touched his cheek, and Sidian flinched. “You’re okay. You’re safe here.”
“I don’t feel safe. I’m not gonna feel safe until those fuckers are dead. And then we have to go somewhere far away from other alphas.” Sidian smacked his hand away, and Roman let him. “How is this fair? What did I do wrong, Roe? Tell me that. What did I do wrong?”
He did nothing wrong, though Roman didn’t know how to convince him of that.
Sidian was a troubled teenager when they met, but that hadn’t been his fault; his sick fuck of a father could have kept his hands to himself, and everything would be fine.
None of this was his fault, and Roman would not sit by and let Sidian stew in the belief that he could ever deserve all the sorrow his life had put him through.
There couldn’t be anyone who deserved something like that.
He softened his approach, lowering his voice. “Sid, darling, please look at me?”
Wide violet eyes snapped to him, the scent of sour lilies pouring off of Sidian, a desperation laced through his scent. Help me. Protect me. “I am freaking the fuck out.”
“I know that. I understand why.” This time, Roman set one of his hands on top of Sidian’s, which quivered beneath his touch. “No one is ever going to hurt you again.”
“You can’t promise me that. You can say it as much as you want to, but no one can promise me that. The kind of freak I am, I can’t even protect myself.” Sidian laughed, short and sharp and desperate, and something in Roman’s chest tightened at the sound. He was so… Afraid.
You’re the alpha, he reminded himself. Do your job and comfort him.
He cleared his throat. “I won’t let a single alpha get close enough to you to so much as try it.”
“But you can’t stop them all,” Sidian babbled on, rocking faster. “You can’t just—”
An alpha command was impossible, though it would have been out of the question even if it were possible.
Instead, Roman shifted close enough that he could draw Sidian’s hand up to his own chest, a soothing rumble vibrating up to the omega’s light touch.
He was terrified out of his mind, and Roman wanted to help him as best he could, but he couldn’t reach him with words because Sidian wasn’t listening to him.
And if his human mind was too entrenched in terror to understand, then Roman would speak to the part of him that would always understand on some animalistic, instinctive level.
Sidian fell quiet as the tension drained from his muscles, his body stilling before he slumped. It was a comforting sight compared to how he had been panicking just a moment ago.
He waited just the same, thumb stroking over Sidian’s knuckles until a soft omega purr answered his rumble and Sidian looked up at him again. There was still a haunted look in his eyes, but his scent was easing into something sweet and soft once again. That was good.
“I can’t promise you those things. You’re right.
Maybe it’s wrong of me to even try when I don’t understand why you’re so afraid.
It isn’t something that can happen to me.
” He softened his voice, and Sidian’s purr picked up just. “But I can promise you I’ll be right beside you the entire time, and I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.
You want retribution, and I want to give it to you.
And I will lay my life on the line long before I let Dax Kincaid get anywhere near you again. ”
Sidian exhaled, his fingers digging into Roman’s chest a little. “He’s a monster.”
“I’ve gathered that much.” And Roman would be glad to see him dead. “He won’t touch you. No one is going to touch you. And once this is over, you won’t have to think about it again.”
He knew that wasn’t true; Sidian was traumatized but did a good job at hiding it from time to time.
He was good at bravado, good at putting on the face of someone who was more than capable of handling what it would take to bring down eight alphas, but Roman, in the back of his mind, had known better.
Seeing it in front of him did nothing more than confirm the concerns he’d been carrying with him since Sidian made it clear what he needed.
And if he were any other omega, Roman would tell him no.
To stay behind. To let him handle the worst of it because he could, granted the ability and the power to face alphas like the Kincaids with relative ease where Sidian couldn’t.
But he knew Sidian wouldn’t stay behind, and Roman wouldn’t make him.
This meant so much to him. He needed this.
“Are you hearing me?” he asked, giving Sidian’s hand a light squeeze.
Sidian nodded, then scooted across the carpet, unfolding his body so he could drag himself into Roman’s lap. “I’m tired. I’m so fucking tired of all of this. I just want it to be over.”
Roman tucked his chin down on top of Sidian’s head. “It will be. I promise.”
They sat on the floor together until Roman’s back protested and Sidian’s purrs softened into slow, easy breathing.
Only when he was sure his mate was asleep did Roman stand, carrying Sidian to bed and tucking him in so he could get some much-needed rest. There would be no early morning for either of them; Roman wanted to case Dax Kincaid’s pack house at night when it would be safer and they would be less likely to be seen.
Sidian could sleep as long as his body allowed it.
And Roman would be there to watch over him until he woke.
He stretched out on his side of the mattress, paging through the documents to commit as much of it to memory as possible.
Axel Kincaid had needed knee surgery on his left knee, which would ensure it was at least a slight weakness of his.
Knox Kincaid was blind in one eye, which meant his peripheral vision would be damaged.
Others might have found it distasteful to target such areas, but Roman was not in the business of being courteous.
He would use everything he could against the pack who had harmed his mate, and he would feel nothing in the process of doing so.
And then his attention was once again drawn to Lilac Kincaid, the violet-eyed omega with the ugly bond mark on the side of his throat. That wasn’t typical placement but that might have been the point. Tormenting an omega with a half-assed bond would hurt them.
There was precious little information available on Lilac, but Roman didn’t need there to be. He doubted the omega would be much trouble. It was just disconcerting to him.
There was no coincidence at play. Pack Kincaid had fixated on two black-haired, violet-eyed omegas likely on purpose, because that was their preferred aesthetic or because one of them served as a copy of the other. There was a pattern, though Roman wasn’t sure what it was.
It didn’t matter. What mattered was delivering a thorough punishment, so he returned to scanning the profiles of the alphas until his eyes protested, dry and exhausted.
They would have one evening to examine the home that Pack Kincaid called their own, and from there, Roman would devise the proper strategy to infiltrate that home and take all of them down. He knew he could command them and they couldn’t do it to him; that was useful information.
All he had to do was ensure that Sidian was safe, and the earplugs would do just that. Protecting him was easy, given Roman had done it once before.
He would do it again. This time, there would be no one left to hurt his darling.