“Do you need to go?” I asked.

More mumbled protests and clinging followed when I tried to disentangle her. So with her still in my arms, I carried her to the toilet. She went, hissing and cursing me out the whole time because apparently, “it fucking stings.”

That, that was the first strike. I’d fucking hurt her, just like all alphas did.

Once done, I lifted her up again, carried her to the bath, and with her still clinging, stepped into the tub. She sighed, burying her nose in the crook of my throat as the warm water went to work.

My hands stroked over her body. I couldn’t fucking help myself. This last moment, where she was still glowing with warmth and love, I wanted to gather it all up, ready for when she came down and ordered me away. My beast growled at the thought of being pushed aside. He had his own opinion on how to handle an omega who resisted, and it involved putting her on her hands and knees and rutting her into submission. My fucking cock jerked, and my omega wiggled on my lap, arse rolling over my stiffening cock with a groan of delight. Her teeth nipped at my throat, startling a low growl of pleasure from me, and she bit again, harder.

“Baby, look at me,” I said, lifting her chin, forcing her to meet my eyes. This was fucking torture, and I needed to skip to the part where she told me to fuck off because I fucking deserved it.

Then she did, and her eyes… I swear, I was drowning in her eyes and all the emotion there. “I can feel you,” she whispered, small hand pressing to her chest and then to mine. “Inside. I can feel you inside.”

I swallowed thickly. “I’m sorry, Sloane. I’m so fucking sorry.”

Her face fell, smile crumbling and brows puckering in confusion. Through the bond, I felt the first notes of discord. Her gaze lowered to my throat, eyes widening now, following a trail as she passed over the marks she’d put upon me.

“Jesus! I—” Her eyes dropped, as I knew they would, to her chest, her creamy tits littered with marks and…bites.

Then she did something I wasn’t expecting. She lifted her hand, fingers brushing over the nearest welt tentatively before she pressed firmly against the skin…and groaned.

She fucking groaned like she was in the throes of ecstasy.

Her fingers moved up, skimming over her collarbone all the way to her throat, pausing just below the mutilated flesh.

I swallowed, and our eyes locked, only hers weren’t filled with revulsion. They were filled with heat.

“I need to see,” she whispered.

I shook my head.

“Jace, I need to fucking see.”

“No,” I growled, letting out my alpha bark and stilling her instantly. I’d told myself I was ready for her revulsion, that I would handle it, but I wouldn’t fucking handle it. Seeing my marks on her, my claiming mark in particular, drove both the man and beast in me fucking nuts, only we were perfectly aligned in this because I loved seeing my mark on her and I wanted it to leave a scar.

“Will it scar?” she asked like she could read my mind.

I nodded once, slowly.

Her lips tugged up, like the cat that got the cream. “Good,” she said. “I want it to.”

I was supposed to be cleaning her up, but I was out of the tub with the slippery bundle of woman in my arms and striding off to the bed. Here, I dumped her, sopping wet, upon the ruined nest and buried my nose between her thighs, filling my lungs with her scent. Later, we would talk. Later, I would unpick the nuances of her reaction and work out what the fuck it meant, but now, I needed to soothe her poor, sore pussy with my mouth and tongue.

I needed her to come apart for me.

He wanted remind her why I was her alpha.

He wanted to remind her of why she should stay.

“Nummnnnn.” Her mumbled cries of pleasure as I lapped at her soreness, her fingers tearing into my hair, told me this wasn’t unredeemable.

I needed to get her off, and I needed it hot and fast.

She did, wet pussy riding my face, gifting me her sweet slick in a great rush, and I was fucking greedy for it. If I lived to be a hundred, I would never tire of this, and my beast agreed. I got my tongue deep into her hot cunt as she rode out the last of her climax before I turned my attention to her clit and took her tumbling again. I was a fucking addict, and I was getting my fix.

The third time, she screamed herself hoarse, and finally, her fingers ripping into my hair registered enough for me to come up for air. I swiped a hand down my face, taking in the beautiful woman sprawled out on my bed, soapy in places, hair wet where it had dipped in the water. Her body was still littered with the evidence of my possession, but her eyes were glazed with lust…and love.

“Jesus, Jace. Are you trying to kill me?” she murmured with a contented sigh. Her reprimand lost its edge when she performed a lazy, catlike stretch. “I want to be held. I need to scent you close. Then after, when I can think straight, you’re going to tell me what that bullshit in the bathroom was all about.”

Like a good alpha, a slave to his omega mistress, I did exactly as she asked, climbing over her, gathering her in close, and letting her breathe in my scent as I purred for her.

The bond, I realised, didn’t just go one way.

I had some explaining to do.

14

Jace

We fell asleep wrapped up in each other, but I woke up feeling alone. Bright sunlight streamed through the window, showcasing the marks upon the sleeping omega’s body. She still hadn’t seen what I’d done to her, not properly.

She was always ours, my beast taunted, all fucking smug.

I didn’t feel smug, I felt like a fucking animal. I paced the bedroom, eyes on the sleeping omega, feeling her peacefulness like a balm trying to hold my demons at bay, but nothing could keep them back.

There I was, a kid again, watching my sister sob and scream, nails clawing into her own skin to remove the marks alphas had left there. Our fuckup of a mother, fag hanging out her mouth as she tied my sister down to stop her hurting herself. And me, fucking helping her because I couldn’t stand to see my sister tearing her own flesh, even though those marks made me want to hurl too.

That’s not us, my beast said. She wanted what we did, she begged for it.

My sister had begged for it too, asked for it while the alphas were with her. It was only afterwards that the trauma reared its ugly head.

Rinse, cycle, repeat.

Sloane hadn’t been thinking straight when I’d taken her from the Dawn Agency, and I’d fucking known it too. I was no better than Snake, no better than a fucking dog.

Sloane fretted in her sleep, and instantly, all my focus shifted to the omega. I was upsetting her just by being in the same fucking room. I stalked to the closet, pulled on some sweat pants and a T-shirt, shoved my feet into sneakers, and headed for the door, ignoring the pain radiating from my chest.

I had no destination in mind, but what I found was Ma in the kitchen, putting together the finishing touches on a tray of what looked like lasagne she was about to shove in the oven. My stomach rumbled loud enough for her to hear.

“Jason!” Her smile was beaming as she pushed the great tray into the oven, but it dropped immediately after.

“What’s up? What’s happened? Is Sloane all right?”

I shook my head, somehow making it to the big kitchen table and slumping down.

“I’ve marked her,” I said, arm around my stomach. “I’ve mated her.”

“And?” Ma demanded, hands on her hips. “From what I heard, she wanted you to. Has something happened? Why aren’t you with her?”

“Yeah, something happened. I fucking marked her while she was in heat.” I stood and started pacing. Suddenly, the room felt too small to contain me. “Just like those alphas marked my sister.”