AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It might be the only time I saw anything in him that didn’t make me hate him completely. Cruel. Cold. Vindictive, with his finger on the switch to every beat of my fucking heart, but even I couldn’t claim he was a coward.
I’d caught the scent of an Omega as I stepped through the doors of that huge mansion earlier. It was her territory, after all, and the whole place was doused in her calming scent of hot chocolate and autumn leaves. Pleasant and calming, clearing my mind until it had twisted in the air, distress and terror making it foul as Knox put a gun to her head, keeping her alive long enough to get her Alpha on his knees.
They were a bonded pair, both high-profile lawyers with more money than even their powerful jobs could explain.
It was always people with power he went for.
A federal judge.
A rabbi.
A police chief.
But Knox rarely dragged it out with the Omegas. I knew it wasn’t because he didn’t wish he could, but he wasn’t far from feral himself, and when they screamed… I balled a fist, fighting the faint tremor as I grounded myself, brushing my wrist and feeling the familiar ache of the metal that circled it. In the cage, I’d fought too hard, wearing down the skin around anything too tight.
We’d remained in that mansion for another hour which was enough to satisfy Knox, but the sour scent of an Omega’s death rising in the room did nothing for my frayed instincts.
I took another deep breath, ignoring the ache of the metal against my cheeks from the iron-clad muzzle I couldn’t remove.
Now, we were in a large dimly lit room, with the spotlights focused on the stage ahead. The place was more packed thanI’d ever seen it, and I felt echoes of recognition every time I bothered looking around. Twisted, evil creatures who’d all turned up for a spectacle—an Omega we were yet to see.
Four Omegas had been sold already, but none were her: the main event. It was another taunt in itself, bringing me to this auction—of all of them. To the sale of AcefuckingMaverick’s scent matched Omega—the one Alpha I hated more than even Knox. And the fact she was the one who’d killed him didn’t make this any less humiliating.
But tonight would be all I got to keep myself sane, so I shoved my pride away and took another breath.
The scents of the auctioned Omegas weren’t soothing, instead they were made of fear tamped down by despair. That was better than screams, or seeing true agony. It wouldn’t be enough for most, but I was desperate, ready to cling to anything that would save me.
I tuned out the auctioneer as best I could as they announced, at last, the Omega the whole room had come to see.
Thistle Maverick.
I clenched and unclenched my fists as I focused on calming myself. This might be the only leash on sanity I was offered for weeks. I had to make it stick.
I didn’t care who she was scent matched to, or who she’d killed. All I needed from the Omega they were about to drag in was her scent.
And that is exactly what I got as the wild, raven-haired creature, cuffed, chained, and gagged, was forced onto the stage.
I looked away before I could truly drink her in, not needing this taunt to dig its claws in deeper.
They didn’t hide the Omega scents, not like some events—the idea of owning and scent matching weren’t always exclusionary. But scents were kept muted so it wouldn’t becomeoverwhelming indoors. Because of that, it took a few precious seconds for her scent to reach me.
And when it did, the world came to a jarring halt.
Frosted moonflower filled my senses, sending tunnelling shards of ice through my veins and freezing me in place completely.
Impossible…
My gaze snapped up to find piercing, violet eyes scanning the crowd. Even on her knees, gagged and bound, she looked wild. Wild, desperate, and beautiful, with straight midnight hair tumbling down to her waist around a beautiful gown of white.
She was, I realised, the most mesmerising creature alive on this earth, and I was the guard standing in the shadows, chained and muzzled.
She wouldn’t see me.
I was here to be gifted another glimpse of a spec of light at the end of this torturous tunnel—not to realise a scent match.
Icouldn’trealise a scent match. Not with Knox right here.
I knew the second she caught the trace of my scent, though. Her eyes went wide, and the light rumble of an Omega’s growl vibrated in the air.
