Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
ROSALIA
“I don’t know how you know…” My mind feels as if it’s short circuiting as I shift on the table. I use how hard and uncomfortable it is to ground myself, even if the butt plug is pressing in places that feel illegal. “I need to stand up.”
Nico’s hand reaches out as I scoot forward with a wince, and he stands quickly to help. Wrapping his arm around my waist, he lifts me up and places me on my feet. The IV is still in my arm, but that doesn’t bother me. I can tell it’s giving me the much needed hydration that I’m missing.
I haven’t been taking care of myself due to the nerves I’ve had about today.
“What’s wrong?” he asks. He’s pressed against me, his green eyes reminding me of the color of grass as he stares intently at me. “No bullshit. Why are you moving like that?”
“It’s embarrassing,” I mutter, biting my lip.
It’s my wedding day, and my husband fucked his stepbrother with me across the house. How am I supposed to act or feel? Granted, I’m in love with my stepsister, so do I really have a leg to stand on?
“I’m your husband,” he reminds me, his thumb pressing against my chin to push my head up to meet my eyes. “Tell me.”
“There’s a butt plug in my ass,” I rasp embarrassment filling my voice as it cracks.
“My cousin is a sadist, and my father paid her to get me ready. She forced me to wear it. I’m really confused about how I feel about Eva because she also gave me poison to kill myself with.
Do I appreciate her efforts to give me an out, or still hate her because she watches too many soap operas in her free time? ”
“That’s a lot to unpack,” he growls. “You’re still wearing this butt plug?”
“Well when was I supposed to take it out?!” I scream.
I can take a lot of shit, but eventually, people shatter. I’m at the end of my rope, my emotions are all over, and I still feel out of it from whatever drugs my father forced on me.
I’m slowly piecing together that he planned to kill Verona, but wanted to keep me compliant. There’s no way he could have known that we are bonded, yet the drugs still managed to dull our bond until I couldn’t feel her pain when he had her stabbed.
No, the drugs were to ensure I didn’t fuck up the precious wedding, and Verona was the final piece of showing me he’ll always have the upper hand on me. Funny how life works. If she’d died, I would have too.
Even now, the bond is muted, and I can barely feel her. It’s probably for the best that it works both ways, because I’m freaking the fuck out.
“That was silly of me,” Nico whispers. “Colpa mia, piccola. I’m sorry. May I help you get it out?”
“No, thank you,” I whisper back. “You’re touching me too much, Nico.”
His fingers rub one last time along my elbows before they drop away and he steps back. He’s still close enough to catch me if I fall, which I suppose is good.
“Your secrets aren’t helping either of us, Rosa. You are my wife, which means you and yours are mine to protect. Verona falls strongly under that. Let me catch you up on a few things, and then we can move from there, yes?”
Inclining my head, I give him permission to continue, and I find myself weaving on my feet as I listen to him.
He knows about the rape, found the drugs in my cleavage, and explains how we escaped the church.
Halfway through our conversation, I manage to reach behind me, tug aside the thong, and begin trying to pull out the butt plug.
It is bothering me too much to concentrate on his words.
“Saints preserve me, let me fucking help,” Nico grumbles.
I’m half naked, and starting to sweat because the plug might be fucking stuck.
“I can’t get it out!” I squeak out.
“Get what out? What’s wrong?” Verona asks, returning in a pale pink lounge shorts set. I can’t think about how cute she looks, wet hair and all, or the fact that she couldn’t have possibly been able to properly shampoo with her injury, because I have to explain my current situation.
“The butt plug Eva forced me to wear,” I whisper.
“I’ve never liked that girl,” she grumbles. “She looks at you really inappropriately.”
“She offered to eat my pussy,” I admit, shrugging at Nico when he looks scandalized. “Eva is a cousin by marriage. She really enjoyed waxing every inch of hair on my body outside of what’s on my head. It wasn’t fun.”
“I thought my family was terrible. Turn around, Rosa,” Nico says. “Actually. Fuck. Let me disconnect the IV for you.”
“I’ll pull it out. Don’t look,” Verona growls once Nico removes the IV cannula from my arm.
“Hold your horses. She’s bleeding like a stuck fucking pig, Verona!”
Nico presses a cotton ball to the bleeding and tapes it on, while I wiggle uncomfortably. Fuck, I’m freaking out. How am I going to get this plug out?
“Turn around, Nico, and continue your conversation with the wall. Rosa, let me see.”
Nico rolls his eyes and does as she suggests, while I wince and turn my back to show her my predicament.
I can’t believe the first time she’s seeing the lower half of my body is like this!
“I promise I’ll pretend to forget this happened the first time I eat your pussy,” Verona comments, making me blush hotter than the sun, while Nico snarls loudly. “Hush, if you’re going to act like a dog, I’ll treat you like one, Nicolai.”
“God, not you too,” he groans.
“Verona,” I pout. “I really think it’s stuck.”
“It’s not, baby. Bend over, shove your ass in my face, and think about the first time we’re together,” she murmurs, crouching behind me and finding the base with her fingers. “Nicolai, I don’t hear you talking.”
“No, no. I’d very much rather hear you seduce my wife. Please continue.”
I roll my eyes before I lean over the table in my corset top, thong, and tattered remains of the tulle from my skirt.
The guys must have left the rest of that monstrosity in the church alley, and I’m glad for it.
Reminding myself I haven’t had much privacy in weeks and this is Vero, I spread my legs to allow her a decent look.
“Ugh, you’re so pretty,” she murmurs, unable to resist blowing over my pussy lips. “What would you do if I licked right up those pretty, puffy…That’s it, baby.”
Whimpering, I begin to slick, and Vero pulls on the plug. If I had to guess, Eva used a water based lubricant, and it all dried up inside of me. Vero talks me through as she continues to work the plug, adding, “Push out, Rosa. Just like that. You’re doing so good for me.”
I’m panting, feeling horny and warm by the time she pulls the plug free. Verona moves my thong back into place with a wistful sigh before she stands up.
“All fixed. I’m going to try to blow job, I mean dry, my hair, and maybe give myself an orgasm.”
“Fuck a duck,” Nico curses, making a giggle escape my lips as I straighten.
“Eva is an idiot. I think that thing was fused inside of me,” I complain.
“I think she thinks all omegas slick, even when they’re not aroused,” Verona says sadly, walking out with the offending item.
“I’m guessing they don’t,” Nico says, averting his eyes as he turns around.
“Nope, at least I don’t,” I reply, climbing onto the couch to continue this conversation. “What else do you have for me?”
“Ah, you know how my stepbrother was an alpha? Turns out he’s not.”
Nico turns the chair that was beside the table to face me, and explains how Pablo found his true designation.
“Holy shit. It looks like a few of us are having a bad day,” I rasp. “Well, he had orgasms though, so I’m sure that helped.”
“How do you know I had an orgasm?” Pablo asks, freshly showered. He’s wearing low slung pants and nothing else, and I can see why Nico is attracted to him.
His chest is hairless outside of a happy trail disappearing into his pants, and he’s lightly tanned, much like I have an olive skin tone.
“I can smell it on Nicolai,” I say primly, shrugging from where I’m curled up. “Slick tends to cling to the skin, much like blood.”
“Hmm,” Pablo says. He’s definitely Nico’s stepbrother. “Nico, I came by to tell you I’m going to eat in my room tonight. I don’t want to muddle things anymore than they are.”
“Muddle?” I ask.
“Things are complicated,” he says tightly. “You have a lot to finish discussing with Nico. Good luck. You’re going to need it.”
With that, he leaves the room and I look helplessly at Nico. Sighing, he begins to explain what happened in the car and I shake my head.
“He’s her scent match,” I whisper. “Fuck. I bet that didn’t go over well.”
“Not at all. Pablo feels rejected, and Verona doesn’t seem to give two fucks. My brothers are coming around to the fact that they belong to Pablo as well, and I feel as if I’m running out of time to explain everything to you,” Nico says.
“Please continue. I’m feeling better now that that thing isn’t inside of me anymore.”
Nico rubs his temples with his fingers as if he’s developing a headache, but I have no sympathy for him.
“I would like to have Dr. Walsh come run blood tests to find out what was in the smoothies every day. I wasn’t originally aware he was your father’s physician, but he’s since removed himself from his employment according to him,” Nico says.
“I was unconscious if you’re trying to tell me that he was the doctor who stitched me up,” I reply.
I remember seeing him throughout my life for various reasons, but typically, I dealt with whatever pain was meted out to me without medical care.
“Are you saying my father has been drugging me for years?”
“Yes. Think about it. You haven’t had a heat, right?”
“I hate that you ask as if you already know the answer to that,” I mutter. “No, I haven’t.”
“I believe you and I are scent matches. It doesn’t make any sense otherwise why we are so connected, Rosa. You need to put aside how much you dislike me, because you are mine. Your father and I made a business decision when we negotiated our contract to—”
“Sell me,” I grunt. “My father chose to sell me for more power. I know. My life has never been about romance outside of the one I have with Verona. I’ve always known I would have to give her up at some point.”
“And now you don’t,” Nico says. “I will continue to prove to you that I’m on your side, Rosa.
I won’t discuss the fact that things are complicated, because you’re quite aware.
However, I’ve been climbing the walls waiting for the day I could extract you from your home.
Romance and I are not exactly intimate partners, mia piccola.
I can’t promise you any of that, but you will be safe. ”
“There is still the expectation that I have sex with you, no?” I ask, forcing myself to breathe.
“Yes. It’s part of my father’s will. You’re aware of some of the shitstorm he left me. The first baby you have has to be mine. There will be a paternity test.”
“I suppose it helps that Verona can’t get me pregnant,” I snort. “Who else’s baby will I be having?”
“I think things may look different once the medication is out of your body,” he says carefully.
“You’re deflecting,” I growl.
“I don’t believe this is something you need to know yet, Rosa. I also am not entirely sure you’d believe me,” Nico stands, signaling the end of our conversation. “Would you have used the poison your cousin gave you?”
The change of subject makes me blink slowly at him as I struggle to find my answer.
“She promised it would be painless, and there was some power in knowing I’d no longer have to fight to simply exist. Papa broke something inside of me these last few weeks. If Verona had died and I didn’t? The temptation may have been too much to ignore then.”
“One day, you’ll fight to live because there are things you are looking forward to, Rosa. Until then—”
“Are you going to remove the doors to all the bedrooms?” I ask, already tired of this conversation. “Or will you have people follow me around on the off chance I’ll hurt myself? That’s the hellscape you invited my father to by telling him I was a danger to myself.”
“That wasn’t my intention,” he promises. “I don’t like knowing you want to hurt yourself. Don’t you understand? It hurts me too!”
“Maybe, but it shouldn’t. I’m just a means to an end for you. Once this mess with my father is over, and you have your heir, we should agree to dissolve this marriage, Nico. Let me go,” I whisper.
“I can’t do that, Rosa. I’m sorry. Dario will be back soon with food from a restaurant I hear you really enjoy. Would you like a shower before that?”
“Sans razors, I’m sure,” I drawl, getting up.
“I’m not currently worried that you’re going to hurt yourself. As you said, you’ve been waxed within an inch of your life. I don’t have a preference for body hair, by the way. Grow out your bush and braid it for all I care.”
The very idea makes me wryly smile, rolling my eyes as Nico rustles through the bag to pull out clothes for me.
“I want you to be happy in our pack, Rosa.”
“You are willing to do everything but let me go. That’s wonderful to know, husband.”
“You’re being impossible.”
“I typically am, I simply don’t have the safety to be able to brat to my full potential.”
“Well, brat away,” Nico growls, handing me the pile of clothes he’s collected. “Be nice to Pablo, but I can take whatever you’ve got, mia piccola.”
“It never occurred to me to be mean to him.”
Deciding to find the bathroom myself, I walk away from him. I only lose my balance twice, and I grumble in my mind once I find the open door leading to hot water and hopefully a better outlook on my life.
It’s a tall order, and not one I’m likely to get. Shutting the door, I lock it simply because I can and stare at the haunted reflection in the mirror as I begin to pull at the laces behind me to escape this corset.
I am not a bully, despite how others view me. I’ve grown up with too many of those in my life. Pablo has nothing to worry about from me, though there are conflicting feelings inside of me for how I feel about his stepbrother.
Sometimes, I find myself growing closer to Nico, while knowing my future is stunted with him.
There are expectations he has for me as his wife, and one of them is to be a broodmare for him.
As far as I know, he’s a much better alpha to live with than my father based on my experiences thus far, but I can’t get myself to trust him completely.
The corset falls away, and I work on the rest of the outfit until I’m naked. Refusing to look at the mirror anymore, I turn on the shower and step in under the freezing stream. If a tear drops along with the water on my face, then so be it.
I’ll try to pull it together in a few minutes.