Chapter 13
Jason
I pace the luxurious room for a big before I stop and glance at the various toys laid out on the dresser.
This time, I will make it very clear how I feel about her safety.
She may not want me as anything more than a paycheck, but dammit, she’s wormed her way into my heart in a way I can no longer ignore.
I hate it. I loathe it. I detest how I’m falling for someone like this again, someone who only wants me for what I can provide. Didn’t I already learn my lesson?
The major difference is, that gold-digging omega never once showed an ounce of vulnerability. The display Noelle showed in my office was one of fear, desperation, and abject longing—sensations I’m far too familiar with.
It doesn’t change anything, though. It will always end up the same, and I refuse to let another piece of my heart splinter off and vanish into the air… or rather with my boss’s now mistress. Let him foot the bill. Let him deal with her conniving ways. Better him than me.
Glancing at the clock, a frown tilts down my lips. She should be here by now. Did something happen to her? Did she chicken out? Or worse, did someone get to her first? Is she possibly with another Alpha as we speak?
As I pick up the room phone to call, the door opens and in steps my vexation. Before she turns to see me, I slide down into the leather chair next to the bed and simply watch her from the shadows. Here, I can stare at her to my heart’s content.
I note the clothes hanging on her slim curves. Though I had no way of knowing exactly what she’d choose from their vast array, I thought I made my orders clear.
This is the outfit she picked? Nothing about this screams opulence or even sexy. Only a few excuses come easily to mind, but none of them are good for her.
Either she defied me by grabbing something plain and simply, which would honestly be backed up by them not charging me any extra after the visit, or she did get something fancier and sold it.
Problem is, the second one doesn’t seem like her.
It’s far more likely she just chose to make herself smaller by getting the blandest, I’m assuming, thing they had.
My cock stirs as I watch her look around, uncertainty flashing in those innocent eyes. Not only did she defy me by coming back here, but she also defied me when she first left. Either means a punishment is certainly coming, and this time, I won’t hold back.
What a naughty, naughty omega. Were I Santa, she’d get a heaping stocking full of coal. Seeing as I’m just an Alpha hell-bent on teaching her a lesson, she’ll get something far more… impactful.
Her slight frame trembles as she steps further in the room and sniffs. Can she smell me? Does she know I’m here already? Narrowing my gaze, I skim her breasts and hips, noting how thin she is. Has she not been eating?
With the money still in her account, not that I looked before I got here, she should be fine. She should have more than enough. What the hell is she holding back for?
Daniel. My money would be on her brother. It makes the most sense. Still, though, at some point, she needs to put her first. She needs to see to her wants and desires. If only someone would take her hand and make her.
If only I could.
Anger and arousal swirl in my chest as she stands there, vulnerable and oh so small. She’s not mine to tend to. She should have another Alpha in her life. I can’t do it. I…
All these excuses, and none of them valid. Not really. I want to protect my heart. Pure and simple. I keep throwing up barriers to keep my tattered soul in as whole of a piece as I can manage. Knowing it and changing it are two different things.
I thought I was brave. I thought I was strong. How am I being brought so low by an omega who just uses me for my money?
You’re using her too.
That insidious voice whispers in the back of my head, sending a shiver of revulsion down my spine. I guess she and I aren’t all that different. We both see each other to satisfy a need.
Clinical.
Routine.
Detached.
I’m only here to use her body, to take what’s so expensively offered. At the end of it all, we will part ways and hopefully never see each other again. Yet, when I think about this being our last time, my heart threatens to seize in my chest.
She was supposed to be a onetime thing, an omega to get me through the holidays. Why can’t I picture going on without her? What is it that captures me so?
A soft sheen of tears glows in her eyes as her gaze catches the dim light. There’s something so soft about her, so vulnerable. No one else has ever laid themselves bare for me before.
At the bank, she was herself. There was no illusion to her need. She didn’t seek me out personally for money. We just happened to be thrown together in a maelstrom of want and desire. It’s not like she purposefully targeted me.
That’s part of it. I see the human in her. I see the want and need. I’ve felt that same fear she faces. Would I have had the courage to offer my services in this way to get by?
Not a fucking chance. Not in my hometown. Not when any act of planned carnality was a “cardinal sin.”
Though we seek each other out to satisfy our baser urges, there’s still a strength there, a determination.
That, combined with what I see before me now and the financials I pour over like an addict getting their next fix, it’s not like she’s out there spending everything frivolously.
She’s still holding back. Something my ex never would have done.
That bitch nearly cleaned me out before I saw what was happening and put a stop to it. The fact that my boss hasn’t seen that side of her means she only wanted to use me and not him. Or he put a much harder stricture on her spending. Possibly both.
Either way, Noelle isn’t like that. She isn’t cold and unfeeling. In fact, she’s a ball of insecurity wrapped up in a shell of survival that only constant love and safety will break open… How can we be so different yet so alike?
As I reach out to flip on the light, to show her who her master is for tonight, I notice the twitching of her hand. Her face turns flushed in the light as she plucks at her clothes. Is she on drugs?
Taking a deep breath, I freeze. No. Not drugs. Something far, far worse.
Fucking betas. How did they not see it? How did they not smell it?
Noelle is going into heat. A real one. Not something brought on by synthetics and easily controllable. No. It’s the real fucking deal.
Fuck. There is no way in hell either of us is getting out of this unscathed. Did she do this on purpose? Allow herself to get to this state to trap me? As much as I hate to think about her being so nefarious, I have to wonder; I have to know if she’s just one more omega who wants to trap me.
Then again, those fucking suppressants are the cheapest kind. I knew from the beginning they were doomed to fail. No doubt our little fuckfest was the one thing to finally set her off. As far as I know, she wasn’t sleeping with anyone before me, and hasn’t been with anyone after.
Not that I can smell, at least. All I smell is her alluring scent, her impending heat, and her honeyed arousal spicing the air. Unless she slept with them soon after we parted… No. That doesn’t feel right either. She doesn’t look or feel guilty. Just uncomfortable.
Rising to my full height to confront her, I turn on the light and watch as she blinks. Her pupils are not fully dilated, so that’s a good sign. There’s still time to get out of this. That is, if she wants to.
Unfortunately, my heart and soul are already intertwined with hers in a way that makes no logical sense. As much as I want to push her away, she needs to be the one to tell me to leave. If she doesn’t want me, then that’s it. I will leave and let the doctors here see to her heat.
If she does want me, though…
My balls draw up at that thought. As much as my brain screams at me to run, to leave before I make such a permanent mistake, my body and soul crave her. They have since the day she first walked into my bank.
The scent of peppermint has followed me since that day, only made worse by actually fucking her. Not because of Christmas. Not because of the damned holidays. But because of her. Noelle Joy Hayes. The only thing that can make me run and never look back is if she did indeed do this as a trap.
Deep in my soul, I hope she didn’t. I hope it’s an accident, a coincidence. If so, it’s one I plan to take full advantage of.
“J- Jason,” she stammers out. “I- I mean, Master. I- I mean-”
“Let me guess,” I growl. “Expecting someone else?”
Her head hangs in shame as she continues to mess with strands only visible to her and the intense urge to nest. “I- I was hoping. I-”
“Disobeyed me. Yes. I know. Twice, in fact.”
“Twice?” she wails in that delicious way that makes everything clench in abject need. “What else did I do? I know I wasn’t supposed to come here, but…” She trails off and stares at the bed as her fingers move about in a silent urge to fix the already perfect setup.
“These clothes? You either didn’t show up wearing what you took home with you, which would be disobeying. Or, these are the clothes you chose, which would also be disobedience. So tell me, little omega. Which is it? I want to make sure I’m punishing you for the right crime.”
“They were comfortable,” she cries out as she scratches her arms. “You don’t understand. Yes, they were practical, but there were nicer than anything I owned. To me, these were luxurious.”
My heart goes out to her as I hear the pain in her voice. So similar to the rage that echoed through my heart when I had to settle for less or nothing. But she still defied me.
‘You knew the rules,” I grind out. “The receptionist told you my expectations, yes?”
Again, she hangs her head. “Yes, Master.”
“And you still chose comfort over opulence?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Then that warrants a punishment. No?”
“If you insist, Master.” This time, her tone is distant, far away, as if disassociating herself from the situation.
This won’t do. I want her excited about what I have planned. Not dreading it.
Before I can indulge, however, I need to know the truth about her heat. It’s the one thing that will change everything. I certainly can’t leave it up to chance. Not when my body is already screaming to enter the rut and take her.
“And your heat? Was that planned too?”
Her head whips up as her eyes widen in shock. She could be faking. She could be putting on the world’s greatest act. But deep down, I don’t think she is. It’s as if the very words I’ve spoken shock her.
“W- what are you talking about? What heat? I- I can’t be.
I’m on pills.” Her voice rises as hysteria takes over.
Every inch of her delicate frame quavers like a leaf in the breeze as she goes ashen white.
“I take them daily. I don’t miss. I don’t skip.
I work with enough Alphas that it would be dangerous. What do you mean, my heat?”
“Shhhhhh,” I soothe as I stride over to her with large steps that bring me to her side swiftly. “I need you to look at me.”
Tears fill her lovely eyes as every inch of her screams for me to take over, to make it stop. “Please,” she whispers. “I can’t. I-”
“I can.” I murmur from deep in my very soul.
Just those two little words make my heart skip a beat.
I can. I truly can. Nothing about a life with Noelle seems abhorrent or scary.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The very notion of spending my life with her, tending to her, feeding her innate submissive desires—all of it makes my very soul sing.
I don’t have to be lonely anymore. I don’t have to just get by. For once, I can finally have everything. I can have her.
“Listen to me, omega.” I lower my tone, lacing it with a growl she won’t be able to ignore or turn away from.
“If we do this, if I see you through your heat, there is no going back. I will fuck you. I will knot you. I will claim you. Do you understand? Think carefully, little Noelle. Tell me to leave, and you’ll never see me again.
Tell me to stay, and you’re mine forever. ”
I brace, barely breathing, barely thinking, barely hoping. What will she say? What will she do?
For the first time since leaving my small town, I find myself at a crossroads. Only, this time, the stakes feel far more dire. I never imagined the possibility of actually having an omega for the holidays, but now, I want that more than ever.
All she has to do is choose me.
All she has to do is decide to spend her life with me.
All she has to do is simply be mine.
Heart, body, and fucking soul.