“Concentrate and stop being so pathetic,” I snapped at Sadie as I jogged beside her.
We were moving at a turtle’s pace.
She didn’t even acknowledge my words. If anything, she started running slower.
I was still confused how she had survived as long as she had with her abysmal endurance. It didn’t make any sense.
She mumbled something about making the poem come true by stabbing me and flailed her small arms ridiculously as we did the morning jog.
We started running in a group, but Ascher, Jax, and Cobra had run ahead to talk to Demetre.
Demetre had actually asked to talk to all the alphas during the run, but the half warriors ran fast, and Sadie hadn’t tried to keep up.
I hung back to make sure she survived the one-mile run without dying. An actual concern I’d never thought I’d have for an alpha.
At the fae castle, I worked for the queen as a soldier and trained other guards in my free time.
My specialty was blade training, but I also helped with general fitness and stamina.
In my fifty years, I had never seen a female gasp and flail her arms like she was fighting an invisible assailant, while trying to execute a simple jog.
It was mind-boggling.
Sweet cranberries and sunshine wafted off Sadie as she gasped beside me, and I tried to concentrate on her abysmal form and not on how delicious she smelled.
Every time I was around the small alpha, my omega hormones went haywire.
I wanted to murder her for smelling so good and triggering my omega urges to help her.
As we jogged slower than I could walk, the alphas kept glancing back at us.
They ran a couple hundred yards in front of us but were getting further away as Sadie slowed with each step.
Through the thin fae trees, once again, Cobra and Ascher glanced back to glare at me.
Jax kept his attention on whatever Demetre was saying, but his back was ramrod straight.
It was obvious that the alphas hated being away from Sadie.
A part of me could understand.
I wanted her gorgeous ruby eyes to stare up at me and her ridiculously lush red lips to smile softly like they’d done after the day with Ascher.
My fists clenched as I thought about her delicate little face peeking out of the foamy bath bubbles as Ascher massaged her scalp.
Sadie had melted underneath Ascher’s pampering, and I wanted her to melt underneath mine.
I also wanted to melt for her.
My entire life, I’d repressed my omega nature and ignored my instincts.
It was no use wasting energy on wanting to be pampered and cared for by alphas when they were aggressive, abusive, and overbearing by nature.
More often than not, omegas were heartbroken breeding machines.
Yet, back in the tub, when Sadie had looked at me with a slight flush across her golden skin and offered to pamper me, I’d had to swallow down an omega whine of agreement.
I wanted to be lavished in sweet cranberries and sunshine.
As soon as she’d made the offer, my mouth had watered. I’d been so overwhelmed by images of her rubbing soap over my muscles that it had rendered me speechless.
No. Concentrate. She’s still an alpha.
I kept fucking forgetting that she was an alpha. And the more pathetic she acted, the harder it was to remember.
The problem was, for all intents and purposes, I was her jailer.
That’s what made it so bizarre that she’d offered to pamper me.
She also had brought me extra pillows and blankets every night of the week, and I’d taken over the role of guarding the shower room while she was in it.
The worst part was that she kept patting my arm and saying thank you.
It was scrambling my fucking instincts and driving me crazy. My omega loved that I’d made an alpha proud. I fucking preened under attention.
It was awful.
In a short period, I’d begun to yearn for her approval.
Taking care of her, guarding her while she was vulnerable, made Sadie happy. As a result, it made me happy.
“Can we take a walking break?” Sadie gasped beside me and keeled over.
“No, stop being so weak,” I snapped harshly and kept moving.
Of course, she bent over and stopped running.
I shook my head at her ridiculous lack of stamina, but gathered her long white ponytail off the back of her neck and held her hair in case she puked.
Before I met Sadie, I would have said it was impossible to vomit from running a slow mile.
Now I knew it was a miracle she had made it this far.
“You’re almost done. Just finish it,” I grumbled as I released her hair.
Whenever I spoke to Sadie, my accented voice dropped lower and smoother. Instinctually, I was trying to calm her with my voice.
“Fine, but if I die, it’s on you.” Sadie began to move at a pace that could only be described as a granny shuffle. Her voice was so rough her words were almost indiscernible.
Questions about her voice and scars popped into my brain as I stared down at her.
The last few days, I’d stayed up at night, trying to imagine battle situations that would scar her so horribly, but I couldn’t think of anything.
I told myself that I didn’t care, but I couldn’t stop pondering it.
It was driving me crazy. She was driving me crazy.
At Sadie’s current pace, it would still be a few minutes until we finished.
I cleared my throat and snapped, “Did you get your scars in battle?”
My heart beat too fast in my chest as I waited for her answer. I tried to act casual, like the question hadn’t been eating me alive.
Sadie looked up at me, her gorgeous, tilted ruby eyes sparkling against golden skin.
For a second, I forgot to breathe.
She was stunning. Her features were a combination of ancestries I’d never seen before.
Her lush lips opened, and she closed them a few times like she didn’t know what to say.
Finally, she took a deep breath and blurted, “I grew up as a servant in the shifter realm. My master whipped me with his belt for as long as I can remember.”
I stopped running.
My legs locked beneath me, and my heart pounded hard against my chest as I fingered the sheathes of my blades for comfort.
A low omega whine traveled up my throat, and Sadie’s eyes glowed red at the sound.
I hadn’t omega-whined in over twenty years.
I had to clench my muscles to stop myself from gathering Sadie into my arms and holding her against me. I wanted to carry her to a nest and bury us in pillows and blankets until we both purred with comfort.
Because I wasn’t comfortable now.
Sadie put her hands on her knees and heaved in the air as the thin trees of the fae forest rustled in the breeze from the industrial fans.
It didn’t escape my notice that she was happy I was having a panic attack because she didn’t want to keep running.
I reached down with my fingers and tilted her chin upward. “Is he dead?” I asked.
“Hopefully soon.”
The fucker was still alive. Another omega whine escaped my throat.
“It’s fine.” Sadie waved her hand at me like it was no big deal. “Aran gave me an enchanted ring to hide the scars, so it doesn’t matter anymore. It’s all in the past.”
It was a massive fucking deal, and it didn’t matter if she enchanted the scars away or not.
My mind flashed back to the alphas hurting me in the beast realm, and I fought to keep myself in the present.
Some traumas never left you.
Then another awful thought hit me. My stomach twisted as I asked it. “Is that why your voice is so raspy?”
Sadie took a deep breath and wiped sweat off her brow with the sleeves of her oversize long-sleeved T-shirt.
She looked ridiculous in the male training clothes, and I made a mental note to look into her wardrobe situation.
“Yeah, it turns out it’s very hard to get whipped without screaming like a banshee.”
My chest ached.
Unthinking, I grabbed her biceps with both my hands and squeezed her.
I was so angry. I didn’t know what I needed to do.
Physical contact was the only thing that kept my omega from falling apart.
I pulled her forward and tucked her against my chest.
We stood in silence and hugged. Sweet cranberries and sunshine wafted off her and soothed my anxiety.
Ever so slowly, Sadie wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me back tightly.
Her heartbeat echoed against my abs, and I stroked my hand over her back slowly.
A low alpha purr emitted from her chest, and I melted against her.
It took every ounce of control I possessed to not pick her up and sprint to the bedroom. I wanted to bury her in a nest of blankets and pillows.
Sadie was tough as hell, stronger than I could have ever imagined.
“What the fuck are you doing!” Cobra yelled as he stalked toward us across the path.
Ascher and Jax walked behind him, and all three of them glared at me like they wanted my head on a pike.
For a split second, my anxiety ratcheted up at the sight of three pissed-off alphas coming toward me.
It wasn’t them. It was four other bastards in a luxurious town house in the beast realm.
Another omega whine escaped my throat.
Thirty years I’d spent training, fighting, and suppressing my instincts, and in fifteen minutes, I was back to being a weak, helpless omega.
Instead of pushing me away as the men stalked closer, Sadie tightened her arms around me like she could feel my stress.
I stared down at her upturned face as she smiled up at me softly.
At that moment, I realized something.
For the first time in my life, I’d found someone who understood what it was like to survive abuse. I wasn’t the only one struggling with my ABO identity.
“I said, don’t fucking touch her.” Cobra grabbed my arm and ripped me away from Sadie.
Before I could palm my blades and attack the annoying bastard, Sadie moved in front of me and shoved at Cobra’s chest. “Don’t fucking touch him. We were just talking.”
“It didn’t look like talking to me,” Ascher said beside Cobra.
Sadie sighed heavily. “You’re right, Ascher, we were fucking doggy-style in the woods. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
A creepy rattling hiss shook through Cobra’s throat, and he lunged at me.
Once again, he was stopped by Sadie throwing herself in front of him.
The big, jeweled bastard shook with rage, but he did nothing now that the little alpha was blocking him.
Cobra was a psycho and unhinged, but anyone could see that he was obsessed with Sadie and didn’t know what to do about it.
“We were just talking. Calm your tits!” Sadie alpha-barked at Cobra as she held her ground.
For the first time in my life, my skin didn’t crawl at an alpha’s bark.
“What fucking conversation resulted in him plastered all over you!” Cobra yelled back.
His eyes were snake eyes. He tilted his handsome face down to stare at Sadie.
Anyone else would have crumbled under his terrifying glare, but Sadie just rolled her eyes and glared back.
The fact that Cobra was getting aggressive with Sadie, right after she had shared her trauma, made me want to stab him in the heart and run away with her to a cozy nest.
How could he treat her this way?
“We were talking about how she was fucking whipped growing up and how the screaming ruined her voice.” My words seemed too loud in the quiet forest.
Cobra’s snake eyes glowed, and the jewels that decorated his face seemed to move.
“That’s how you lost your voice?” he asked softly as the hiss in his throat rattled.
“Why didn’t you say something?” Ascher clenched his tattooed fists, and his onyx horns grew larger on his head.
Behind them, Jax said nothing as he stared at Cobra and Sadie, both pressed against each other, posturing for dominance.
Sadie inspected her cuticles like Aran. “I thought it was obvious. I mean, I told you guys I was whipped growing up. Did you think that wouldn’t ruin my voice?”
The hiss in Cobra’s throat got louder, and I pulled Sadie back away from him.
I pressed her flush against me, and my omega instincts calmed down now that she was touching me.
“You don’t even fucking like her. She’s mine!” Cobra bellowed at me, his slit pupils straining with rage.
“I’ve changed my mind,” I snapped back at him.
Jax growled loudly but grabbed Cobra by the back of his neck when he tried to launch himself at me.
Sadie patted me on my hand and stepped to the side. “My scars and voice are old news. Can we please move on and act like we’re not completely unhinged?” She stared at Cobra.
“No,” Cobra said at the same time the three of us said, “Yes.”
“Stop it,” Jax alpha-barked at Cobra.
“Soooo, what were you guys talking to the half warrior squad about?” Sadie tried to change the topic and walked down the trail like everything was resolved.
It didn’t escape my notice that she was walking instead of finishing the run like she was supposed to.
She was going to get herself killed.
“You’re supposed to run,” I snapped at her.
Sadie shot me a death glare that would make lesser men beg for forgiveness and continued to walk.
Jax kept his hand around Cobra’s neck, and he restrained the handsome man as he walked after her. “The competitors are having a party in the village before the next challenge, and they invited us. Thought it would be good for morale before the vampyre.”
Sadie rubbed her forehead and cracked her neck. “Feels right to celebrate before death.”
“You aren’t dying. We will come up with a plan,” Jax growled.
Another omega whine escaped my throat, and Ascher’s horns lengthened on his head.
Cobra scoffed. “You are not going to the party. I won’t allow—”
Jax slapped a hand over Cobra’s mouth and cut him off.
“We’ll go as a team and put on a united front. We’ll figure out how to deal with the vampyre together,” Jax said as he restrained Cobra and glared around. He dared anyone to disagree with him.
I nodded in agreement and then stopped when I realized what I was doing.
I was here to guard the alphas, not fight alongside them.
Something had just shifted inside me, and I didn’t like it. But no matter how hard I tried to remind myself that Sadie was an awful alpha, I couldn’t believe it.
The thought of the fucker whipping her golden skin made me nauseous.
I twirled my blades to calm myself.
The man was dead.
