I moaned loudly and relaxed deeper into the bubble bath. Don’t ask me how or why Ascher had reserved a bathing room. All I knew was it was divine, and I was not complaining.
Sure, Ascher might be the great betrayer. You know what else he was? A professional hair washer.
Yep, you heard that right.
Ascher was hunched over above me, and scrubbing floral-scented shampoo into my hair like massaging my head was his life’s passion.
I sat in the frothy bubble bath, wearing Xerxes’s oversize T-shirt because I’d refused to go in nude and give Ascher any ideas, with my head hanging out over the edge of the soaking tub.
The lights were dimmed, and about a hundred candles were lit in the small room.
Xerxes sat against the wall, shirtless, glaring at us. The omega was determined to hate us, and frankly, I didn’t give a single shit.
Ascher kneaded his thumbs deep into my neck, and I almost came from sheer ecstasy.
I sunk deeper into the foamy bubbles and closed my eyes as lethargy set in.
Ascher had been massaging my scalp for over an hour, and low-key it was changing my life.
The one thing that confused me was how this was going to help us survive the vampyre?
Was I supposed to offer to wash the beast’s hair? I didn’t see that going over well.
It didn’t matter; I was not about to bring it up to Ascher.
If he wanted to rub sweet, scented shampoos and oils into my hair for hours, I wasn’t going to complain.
“Still don’t forgive you,” I mumbled groggily. My broken voice was scratchier and lower than usual as his fingers pushed into my scalp.
When he brought his hands to my temple and rubbed in large circles, I moaned long and low.
“I know,” Ascher said softly and continued with his divine massage.
The scents of pine and cinnamon thickened in the room every time I moaned, which I was choosing not to notice.
I was also pretending not to notice that Ascher’s amber eyes were glowing in the near dark and that his horns had grown larger on his head.
Xerxes’s purple eyes also glowed in the dim candlelight.
“Where did you learn to do this?” Xerxes asked in his smooth British accent. He stared at Ascher with his eyes narrowed, like he couldn’t figure him out.
Ascher didn’t respond for a long moment, and the gurgle of the water jets was the only sound.
When he spoke, his voice was very soft, like he didn’t want to ruin the ambiance.
“In the syndicate, there were certain…clubs that I was a part of. Aftercare was very important.”
Shivers erupted over every inch of my warm, blissful body as I tried to imagine what he could be referencing.
Something told me it wasn’t a knitting club.
“I’ve never met an alpha who truly knew how to pamper someone,” Xerxes said softly and mostly to himself.
From the way his shoulders rounded, and the sudden spike of spice in his cinnamon scent, I knew he was speaking from his own experience.
I didn’t know his story, but my heart hurt for the omega.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out why he didn’t like alphas. They must have hurt him in the past.
That was usually how it went.
The strangest urge overcame me. “I could pamper you,” I said to Xerxes, my rough voice too loud in the quiet room.
Ascher’s fingers stopped kneading my scalp as he held himself completely still above me.
Suddenly, an awkward tension cut through the room, and no one said anything.
Why did you just offer to pamper the dude who literally hates you? Cobra’s insanity must be contagious.
I looked over at Xerxes and winced.
His purple eyes stared at me intensely. He tensed his body, and his exposed abs rippled.
Hands fisted and jaw clenched, he scowled at me.
Embarrassment coursed through me, and I sunk deeper into the frothy water. “I mean, obviously if you wouldn’t want me to, I wouldn’t. I was just offering in case maybe you wanted someone to, but I really didn’t mean like you had to,” I rambled and gnawed on my lower lip.
Frothy bubbles popped around me, and I stared at the top of the hot bath instead of making eye contact with either of the men.
Ascher rubbed his fingers into my scalp again, and Xerxes remained silent against the wall.
I closed my eyes tight and wondered what it would be like to not be so awkward and embarrassing.
If I were a seductress, I would have all these men under my thumb.
Instead, it felt like I was constantly making a fool of myself in front of them. And I was still a virgin.
My life was pathetic.
An hour later, I was pruned and dry, bundled up in Ascher’s sweatshirt and a pair of his sweatpants.
Apparently, he had the foresight to have the clothes brought to the bathing room.
Now Ascher was sprawled on a large velvet chaise lounge against the far wall.
“Are you sure?” I asked for the hundredth time as he patted the space between his parted legs with his tattooed hand and stared at me expectantly.
“Princess, get over here,” he ordered softly.
He didn’t even alpha-bark, but I instinctively obeyed him and sat down between his legs. I blamed it on lethargy after the delicious bath.
Heat radiated off Ascher’s large form, and I tried not to lean back against him like a pile of goo. I found myself relaxing against him, no matter how hard I tried not to.
Xerxes still sat across the room and stared at us.
The omega hadn’t moved a muscle for hours and was still sinfully shirtless.
I might have been wrong, but I could swear his purple eyes were fixated on me with a new intensity. Did I have food in my teeth?
Suddenly, Ascher started dragging a brush slowly through my long, wet hair.
“Relax,” he alpha-barked, and immediately, my body went limp.
Across the room, Xerxes clenched his jaw and fisted his hands. His biceps bulged like he was straining with tension.
However, I quickly forgot about Xerxes’s weird energy as Ascher slowly brushed my wet hair until it was dry.
He ran the brush root to tip and applied pressure to my scalp that had me moaning all over again.
Every time I thought he would stop, he kept going. I prayed to the moon goddess that it would never end.
Once again, a part of me was confused how the hell this was going to help me seduce a vampyre. Was I supposed to ask him to let me brush his hair?
Didn’t seem realistic.
But once again, I didn’t point out this obviously flawed plan, because Ascher was making my body melt.
Who knew hair brushing was literally orgasmic? Not me.
After the longest and most amazing hair brushing of my entire life, Ascher began to softly knead his tattooed fingers into my shoulders.
He was super gentle and made sure to avoid my sternum while still loosening up my muscles until I was putty beneath his large hands.
The lights were turned low, and the candlelight softly put me to sleep.
“Wake up, Princess,” Ascher whispered and gently shook my shoulder.
“Buttered rolls,” I moaned, and wiped drool off my mouth as I blinked back into consciousness.
We were still sprawled on the chaise, except now I was lying on my side with my head resting on Ascher’s lap like a pillow, and his fingers were casually playing with my hair.
For the first time in a while, I hadn’t suffered from a nightmare. Well, kind of.
I’d still dreamed I was covered in my blood, but this time it had been warm and comforting. A glowing mass of heat that wrapped itself around me like a hug.
Yes, I’d dreamed my blood was trying to comfort me.
Ever been desperate for human affection?
However, I quickly forgot about my bizarre dreams as pine and cinnamon filled my nose. I moaned softly as Ascher’s fingers brushed against the sensitive skin on the side of my neck.
My entire body shivered.
Something hard leaped against my head, and it took me a disturbingly long amount of time to realize what it was.
I was lying on his lap.
In a blur of speed and agility, I stumbled off the chaise onto the floor.
Yep, Ascher’s sweatpants-clothed tattooed dick had just pressed against my head. My ovaries smarted with desire, while my brain reminded me that dicks were gross and creepy.
I was conflicted.
“Don’t hurt yourself, Princess,” Ascher said as he gently picked me up like I weighed nothing.
Since I’d seen the man lift hundreds of pounds easily, I probably felt weightless to him.
“Um, you can put me down now,” I said as Ascher cradled me against his chest.
“You need to recover, Princess,” he said calmly and carried me out of the room into the massive village complex.
Fae bustled by, and some looked over at us.
“Just one alpha carrying another alpha, nothing to see here, folks,” I said to onlookers as a stadium worker gave me the stink eye.
I should probably have fought harder to walk on my own, being a strong, independent alpha bitch and all that. But I was still tired, and it was easier to be carried.
Plus, it wasn’t like Ascher hadn’t traumatized me enough; it was the least he could do.
Xerxes walked beside us, and his long blond hair streamed around him like he was in a hair commercial.
“What’s your hair routine?” I asked Xerxes, who was now upside down because my head was hanging over the side of Ascher’s forearm.
I couldn’t remember if I’d asked him about it before, but I was genuinely curious. My hair was a rat’s nest half the time, while his hair looked like spun silk.
Not that there was anything wrong with rat’s nests; they did the best they could.
Xerxes didn’t answer, just kept staring at me with his intense purple gaze. His sweet cinnamon wafted off him in delicious waves.
All the alphas smelled intoxicating, but Xerxes was downright yummy. He smelled like a gooey cinnamon roll covered in cream cheese frosting.
Okay, I was imagining the frosting part, but you get the idea.
Before Xerxes could respond—because he was still staring at me like a silent killer, which was very creepy—we entered a village shop.
Ascher put me gently on my feet and walked up to a fae lady at the front desk. “I have an appointment under Ascher.”
“For two people?”
“Yes, could we add a third?” Ascher asked as the fae lady tapped and scrolled through the floating screen projected over her amethystine keyboard.
Finally, after intense typing, she said, “Sure, just this way.”
That was how I found myself sitting in a chair with my feet in bubbling hot water as a lady scrubbed at them with a brush and another lady massaged my hands.
Next to me, Ascher sat with his eyes closed as he received the same treatment.
On my other side, Xerxes was also being attended to, but was way less relaxed. His back was ramrod straight, and he jumped every time the woman scrubbed at his foot.
If you had told me this morning that I would be getting my nails done with Xerxes and Ascher, I would have laughed at the absurdity.
Now I relaxed deeper into the plush chair as the fae lady painted my nails with a shiny red lacquer.
The color matched my highlights and contrasted prettily with my gold skin.
Next to me, Ascher was getting black lacquer applied to his nails, and the color looked dope against the bright design of his tattoos.
In contrast, Xerxes was just getting a clear coat, which was too bad because I thought he really missed out on an opportunity to do purple.
“Purple would really complement your tan skin and eyes,” I reminded him.
He turned and gave me a death glare that held the hatred and intensity of a thousand suns.
“Or not,” I mumbled under my breath.
I thought omegas were supposed to be subservient and chill compared to alphas. Xerxes really needed to work on coming across as less hostile.
Whatever. I shrugged and decided I would ignore him.
If he wanted to look dumb with a clear coat, it wasn’t my problem. Some people had no taste.
Instead, I focused on the nail lady, who was scrubbing a disturbing amount of dead skin off my foot.
The nail lady grimaced as she popped another blood blister on my foot and glared at my three missing toenails.
“You can just paint the skin.” I smiled at her nicely.
She frowned and made a choking noise.
You would think she’d never seen a woman who had been forced to fight for her life barefoot over hot sand.
The lady squinted at me, like she was trying to decide if I was joking, and then a massive smile split across her face. “Wait, you’re the female alpha. The big tiger that played with the little tiger’s body for like ten minutes last challenge.”
I gave her a weak smile and tried to exude calm energy because, apparently, I now had a reputation for torturing people.
“That was so impressive. I’ll give you a discount.” She winked at me.
The fae were unwell people.
Then a fae male came up to me and asked me if I wanted to add a facial to the appointment.
I said yes, just to mess with Ascher.
If he was paying for this, I was going to ensure it wasn’t cheap.
Sure, I appreciated his pampering efforts; however, I also appreciated not being betrayed.
What I hadn’t expected was for Ascher to request facials for him and Xerxes as well. Apparently, the horned, tattooed syndicate spy, six-foot-five alpha, was really into self-care.
An hour later, I could safely say that my chakras were realigned.
Inner peace flowed through me.
That was how Jax and Cobra found us, all three of us reclining with sparkly bubblegum-pink face masks on as attendants held enchanted steam machines above our heads.
“And you made fun of Jax for braiding Sadie’s hair?” Cobra sneered as he stared down at us with his eyebrows raised.
“No,” Ascher said and tilted his head up to the steam machine. “I was laughing at Sadie’s scent because she was clearly turned on by Jax braiding her hair.”
My chakras bent out of whack, and all inner peace left my body. “No, I was not.”
I refused to look over at Jax.
“So what’s your plan for the vampyre?” Jax asked me as he ignored Ascher and Cobra.
“Apparently, we’re going to give him a bubble bath, wash his hair, brush his hair, paint his nails, and give him a facial.” I inspected my pretty red nails.
The nail lady had added a little black cat print on my thumbs.
Once again, I almost burst into tears at her random act of kindness.
I was surrounded by so much masculine energy all the time that support from other women really hit different.
I needed it.
“That’s not what today was about,” Ascher said softly with his eyes still closed as his face was steamed.
“What?”
What else was the day about? The trainers told us to work on seduction techniques, and Ascher had us do all these relaxing, seductive things.
“Princess, this was about me groveling to you. I booked the appointments before the assignment. I wanted to pamper you and show you what you mean to me.”
My heart, which had been skewered a day before, beat differently inside my chest.
A weird, giddy warmth flushed through me, and I couldn’t stop the smile that curled my lips.
No one had ever pampered me before.
Never.
“Oh,” I said eloquently.
My heart and head were divided by how I felt about Ascher.
“Just treat me to about a hundred more days like this, and I will think about forgiving you,” I said honestly as I thought about the delicious feel of his fingers washing my hair.
Instead of getting mad at my words like I expected, Ascher grinned like all his dreams had come true. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Princess.”
“Wait?” Cobra asked with an icy tone. “You gave my kitten a bubble bath?”
“Yes, I gave the princess a bubble bath and massaged her for hours.” Ascher quirked his eyebrows in a clear insinuation that the bath had been way raunchier than it was.
Before I could clarify, Cobra launched himself at Ascher and the two men collided in a clash of fists.
Xerxes and I thanked the fae attendants and peeled off our face masks.
Then, with Jax following us, we left the dumbasses and went to get dinner.
It was starting to seem like alpha men had severe anger issues.
I was a fellow alpha, and they treated me like an object to fight over.
I couldn’t even imagine what Xerxes’s experience had been with alphas—no wonder he hated us all.
“Sadie,” Xerxes said quietly before we entered the cafeteria.
“Yeah?” I stopped in surprise because his hand was touching my arm, and he was leaning into my personal space.
Sugary cinnamon made my mouth water and my groin tremble. Usually, Xerxes always kept his distance from me.
He wasn’t keeping his distance now.
“Did you mean what you said about taking care of me?” He spoke so quietly I almost couldn’t understand him with his smooth accent.
“Uh, yeah. Just if you wanted.” I gnawed on my lower lip and tried to act like the scent of cinnamon wasn’t driving me crazy.
“But it doesn’t mean anything. I was just wondering,” Xerxes snapped at me, his classic scowl contorting his face.
“Yeah, for sure. No big deal. Once we survive the Fae Games, I’ll give you a pamper day.” I slapped him on the shoulder and tried to act like it didn’t feel like a big deal to me. “But I’m dirt poor. I have to warn you.”
“Whatever,” Xerxes said dismissively. At the same time, Jax asked, “What are you talking about?”
“What?” I asked with confusion.
Jax stared down at me with an arched brow. “Little alpha, you’re filthy rich. Every time we fought the fae spiders, we received a hundred thousand credits.”
And that’s how I went from dirt poor to rich in one minute.
Exhilarating.
