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Who is he?
My gaze bounces between Lenora and the Alpha. I thought Lenora was cold, but she has nothing on this male. I could swear the temperature in the room has dropped since he walked in.
I study him under my lashes, trying to understand who he is and why he’s here. He’s tall. So tall, it’s a wonder he didn’t have to bend to get through the door. He’s trim, but muscular. There’s something refined in the way he holds himself. Like he’s wearing a designer suit and not the same tactical clothing as Caelan. His dark, messy hair has a slight curl and is in desperate need of a cut.
His eyes, though…
The moment those grey eyes meet mine, I flinch.
Fates, he’s looking at me like he hates me.
It’s intense—the kind of hate you can feel in your bones. It’s a loathing so extreme it’s a wonder my soul doesn’t wither and die.
His eyes are cold. Clinical. Detached.
Familiar.
Only one other person has looked at me with eyes full of the certainty that it would’ve been better if I’d never been born.
My father.
He drops my gaze, turning toward Lenora. “Caelan said he smelled them on her during his first mission at the estate. Military grade.” He tilts his head to the side, expression cruelty. “Tell me, little liar, what was the point of that? Wait until you’ve banked years of suppressant usage so the moment you come off them, Daddy can use you like a godsdamned Omega beacon for every Alpha in a twenty-mile radius?”
My head snaps back like he hit me.
He can’t be serious. Is that even possible? Is that something someone could do?
He smiles.
It’s terrifying.
This male is a predator, and he’s looking at me like I’m prey. Injured, exhausted, starved prey who would hardly put up a fight if he ended my life right now, the way he obviously wants to. I bare my neck in submission, my eyes trained on the floor, the way I’ve been taught.
All those movements are instinct. I think I do it without even making a conscious decision to move. The primal part of my brain takes over, and everything goes fuzzy. Everything except the aching, hollow hole in my chest.
It appears out of nowhere. A wave of pain like I’ve been punched in the stomach. It makes no sense, but I’m overcome with an overwhelming sense of loss knowing this male despises me.
Worse. He hungers for my death. Would snap my neck here and now if he could get away with it. I know it as surely as I know my own name.
And Fates, knowing it hurts. It aches in a way not even my father’s hatred made me ache. The sense of being untethered returns, making my lips tingle and go numb, some physical reaction to the death of something that never got a chance to exist.
Why? Why does this hurt so much?
Tears pool on my lashes. I blink them back, unwilling to give this Alpha more of me than he’s already stolen. It’s like something inside of me is tearing apart the longer I’m forced to face his fury.
I’m being stabbed over and over in a soft spot I didn’t know I needed to protect.
“She’ll need to stay on them,” he says. “I want her dosed every night before bed. I don’t want to give her a chance to influence anyone with her biology”
A whine slips out, my Omega heartbroken and confused as much as I am. His look of disgust deepens. I flinch, my cheeks heating in shame.
“No whining or whimpering your way out of this one, Omega.” He takes a single, threatening step in my direction. His grey eyes hold mine, and I’d do anything to look away, but I can’t.
My chest aches.
Gods, why does it ache?
“Your father wanted obedience,” he says, voice smooth and deep. “I want silence. If I have to rip your instincts out one by one to get it, then that’s what I’ll do.”
