19. Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
“ D on’t lie to me, Omega,” he growls, the sound sending an icy shiver running down my spine. “Your scent is drenched in fear and disgust, not relief and happiness. Why is that?”
Fuck. I should have known he’d be able to pick my fear up on my scent. The only option is to lie, lead him to think something else is making me feel that way.
Hating the words before they’ve even formed on my tongue, I swallow against the knot in my throat.
“That’s not because of you,” I purr, my voice low and soft. “It wasn’t easy to make my way here tonight. The police are everywhere, Alpha. They want to stop us being together, like we’re meant to be.”
Looking up at him from my knees, I blink my lashes seductively as the lie falls smoothly from my lips. That is, until the final word. My voice cracks a little as I say, ‘meant to be’, the lie too much for me. Luke and I were never meant to be. I never wanted to be with him.
Noah and Corey are my scent matches, the missing parts of my soul. The three of us are meant to be and I hate speaking otherwise. A shudder of disgust runs through me, and I pray Luke’s ego is big enough that he believes my lies.
“I knew you’d come around one day, Omega,” he purrs, and I breathe a quiet sigh of relief. He really thinks that highly of himself. Truly believes I’d want him. “On your feet.”
Scrambling to my feet, I comply, wanting to keep him sweet. I just need to steer the conversation towards a confession. Trick him into admitting he planned to mark me by force.
“I just needed time. ”
“I just needed time, Alpha,” he corrects with a snarl, and I curse inwardly.
“Forgive me, Alpha,” I plead as he circles me, his hand gripping my hair and tugging my head back, exposing my neck. Stepping in close to my body, he inhales deeply, scenting me.
“You smell like another alpha, you slut,” he roars, tugging me towards the bed by my hair and throwing me down on it. “Like those two who keep getting in my way. You let them touch you, didn’t you?”
A whimper escapes me, my scalp burning as some of my hair is torn out. I smother the sound quickly, lying as still as possible where I land.
Holy shit. This has gone sideways fast. I know from experience that once Luke is angry, not much will calm him down. Sudden movements set off his violent side. But if I stay still, play the part of a meek, submissive omega, perhaps I can still get what I came here for tonight.
Watching as he paces back and forth at the end of the bed, I try to ignore the way his burnt, week-old sock scent is filling the space. There’s not a chance I’ll ever stay in this room again. Even with a professional deep clean.
“Your fear is fresh. You are afraid of me,” he states as he continues pacing agitatedly .
“You’ve hurt me in the past, Alpha,” I say, trying to stay as small as possible, knowing my words are likely going to anger him further. “I needed time then to realise how good of a match we are. And it will take time now, to trust you won’t hurt me again.”
He stops pacing, standing at the foot of the bed and towering above me. His eyes are wild, the pupils dilated as his gaze stops where my dress has ridden up my thighs, exposing my lace underwear.
“Everything I did was to show you how well we fit together, Omega. To prove to you how good it would be. Didn’t my lessons feel good?”
He licks his lips, his eyes not straying from the spot between my thighs. I swallow hard, trying not to squirm, trying to push back the barrage of memories threatening to flood me.
For a moment, I’m right back in the basement he kept me in, my wrists raw and bloody from weeks of trying to escape the cuffs he used to chain me to the bed. Instead of my soft mattress beneath me, it’s the dank, dirty one, stained with his cum, my blood and pools of slick he’d forced from me.
I can feel the goosebumps peppering my naked, cold skin, as if I never escaped him. He never gave me clothes, and the chill seeped into my bones, causing an ache so ferocious I’ll never forget it.
The fear I used to feel about going into heat, and Luke bonding me to him, floods me as I recall his lessons. Hours of physical abuse were preferable to the times he tried to force my body into a heat by constant sexual stimulation. The way my body betrayed me… For years, I hated my designation. Loathed the way many in society viewed an omega.
Luke’s sentencing didn’t help the feeling. Although I was relieved he’d been locked away, he really only received a slap on the wrist. This right here, right now, is proof the time he served was nothing but an inconvenience to him.
My pulse quickens as a hot, primal rage flushes through me. How dare he have treated me the way he did? How dare he get away with a slap on the wrist only to return to my life just as I find a pack I feel safe with? How. Dare. He.
All logical thought flies out the window, together with my plan to play sweet and gain a confession. My rage takes over, and I let it fly, propping up on my elbows as I shout at him.
“Your lessons never felt good, you sick fuck! My body might have responded, but I NEVER enjoyed it. Remember those times I vomited? That wasn’t from overstimulation like you convinced yourself. It was disgust. Pure and simple. You’re a foul, nauseating alpha—ooof.”
Hist fist collides with my cheek, a sudden eruption of red-hot pain shooting through my jaw and temple. Stars burst across my vision as I fall backwards onto the bed.
“Stupid bitch. You loved it, you slicked for me repeatedly. Don’t try to convince yourself otherwise.” He’s on top of me in the blink of an eye, pinning my arms by my sides, his face swimming in and out of focus as I blink rapidly, trying to regain control of myself.
“You. Are. Mine. And if takes locking you up again and continuing those lessons you enjoyed so much, then that’s what I’ll fucking do. You won’t escape me this time.”
Using his larger body weight and strength, he flips me beneath him, holding my wrists together at the base of my spine with one hand, the other grasping the back of my skull and pushing my face into the mattress. Fighting against his hold a little, I turn my head sideways and suck in a breath as pain lances through my injured cheek.
This hasn’t gone the way I expected, but maybe I still have a chance…
“And what are you going to do, asshole? Lock me away forever until I die of hypothermia or starvation? I will never choose you… ”
Angering him further is a risk, but surely the guys aren’t too far away… Or maybe the guard heard me shouting at Luke…
His grip tightens on the back of my head, twisting and smooshing my face directly into the mattress beneath us.
“You think I won’t make you?” he growls, my body thrashing beneath him as I try to lift my face and take a breath. “You’ll be mine in a few months, Saylor. This dripping wet cunt will long for me and only me. I’ll make sure of it.”
My heart hammers in my chest as I fight against his hold, the small breath I manage tainted by the arousal coating his putrid scent. Panic fills me as he nips at my throat and I begin to kick erratically, trying to escape him and stop the burning in my lungs from lack of air.
The relief is short-lived as I feel his weight lift off my back. I lift my head, gulping in a lungful of air before he presses my head back down, my scream for help muffled before it even leaves my mouth.
A hand comes under my waist, lifting my hips from the bed and spreading my thighs wide, presenting me to him. I try to kick at him, but his knees press into the backs of mine, locking me in place.
No. No. No. This can’t be happening again .
“You’re going to slick for me, Omega. And then I’m going to fuck this pretty pussy while you choke on your refusal. This will be your first lesson.” The press of his hard cock against my core has bile rising in my throat, and my whole-body tensing.
“There’ll be many more if you don’t submit to me. You’ve just been through a heat, haven’t you Omega? I smelt it coming at the festival. Such a pity you ran from me. We could have saved months of this. I could have marked you already and we wouldn’t need to play this game. It won’t be long, and I’ll bite that pretty throat of yours, show the world your mine. You’ll want me then, whether you like it or not”
His grip on my head loosens as his own monologue increases his arousal. No idea that he’s just given me exactly what I came here for. I twist my head slightly so I can take slow, gentle breaths. At the same time, I let my body go limp, making him catch my weight.
“Fucking weak bitch.” Luke curses, dropping me to the mattress. “You weren’t always like this. Where’s the smart, sassy omega who crashed on my couch after a night out? Where’s the girl who laughed at my jokes and flirted over breakfast? There’ll be none of this shit when you’re mine.”
And there it is. This madman is obsessed with me because I was kind to him. I went to him one night when I couldn’t find my way home. I stayed for breakfast the next day, when I woke because it felt rude not to, And I laughed at one joke he told. Singular. One joke. According to him, that made me his. He doesn’t even fucking seem to like me.
He’s a predator. An alpha who thinks he’s above me in the pecking order. Who thinks what he wants should be his. But he’s wrong.
I will not let him touch me again.
There’s a pounding in my ears as I wait for him to climb off of me, biding my time.
“What the fuck?” he says, his weight lifting off mine and the mattress dipping at the end.
The pounding sounds again and I hear his footsteps as he steps away from the bed, toward the bedroom door.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Moving faster than I ever have, I roll off of the bed, darting to the bedside table and yanking the lamp into both hands, wielding it like a bat. The cord pulls from the outlet with a sizzle just as Luke spins to face me, his face red and contorted with rage as he bares his teeth.
“I should have known this was a trap, you fucking whore,” he snarls as he stalks towards me.
Planting my feet, I hold my ground, waiting for the right moment. I’ll only get one chance at this. If I miss, he’ll hurt me, maybe even kill me. He’s backed into a corner now. What has he got to lose?
“Are those the alphas you allowed to sully your body and join your heat? Filthy slut.”
The sound of wood splintering and the shouts of multiple men come from the direction of the front door.
“Saylor! We’re coming!” Noah’s voice shouts through the door, causing Luke to turn his head and glance back.
Seizing my chance, I strike, leaping forward and swinging the lamp with all the strength I can muster. It collides with the side of his head with a sickening, wet crunch. The light bulb shattered, shards of glass hitting the hardwood floors and bouncing away in every direction.
Luke falls like the sack of shit he is, a thin trail of blood oozing from the wound on the left side of his temple.
Relief floods through me, my legs suddenly feeling like jelly. My vision blurs, fading to black as emotion overwhelms me and I drop. The last thing I feel is a set of strong arms beneath me, breaking my fall, and a tender kiss pressing to my forehead.
The combined scents of rich, decadent latte and toasted marshmallows reaches me just as my consciousness drifts away.