Page 34 of Caging Fire
I know part of her, an instinctual part, loved pleasing me. Her expression read pissed, but I felt the subtle way she squeezed her thighs together when I praised her. She wanted to give in. It would feel like relief once she finally accepted her instincts and submitted fully and willingly to us.
“Um, Cade?” she asked, turning to look up at me.
“Yes, Rowan?”
“Do my friends know what happened to me? Do they know I am here and that I'm, you know… an omega? Are they mad at me?”
Her eyes were on her lap, and she was fiddling with her hands, avoiding eye contact as she asked the question.
“Yes, Ryker spoke to them when he detained you at that bar. I have also spoken with Alex on two separate occasions.”
“Your friend Hadley is a bitch with a capital B,” Ryker chimed in, always astute in his observations.
“Her name is Harper, and yes, she is. She also hates me, especially now. I’m sure they all do. Alex isn’t in trouble, right? I promise he didn’t know. I didn’t tell any of them!”
Panic and worry filled her voice. She was genuinely concerned, especially for Alex.
“We interrogated him on base shortly after they brought you in, but found no reason to believe he was being untruthful or had any sign that you were anything other than a beta. He was helpful, telling us what little he knew about you. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to satisfy Arca Command. They will not prosecute him. Do you realize you put all of your friends at risk? If any of them found out or even suspected, and didn’t report you, Arca would have sent them to the colonies. We almostrecommended sending your friend, Alex. He begged us not to go.”
“If it were up to me, he would be there right now,” Ryker mumbled with a mouth full of food. I glanced at his plate to see the greens sitting in a little pile, untouched.
Rowan had her face downcast, so I couldn’t see her expression, but I could tell she was feeling shame and guilt.
Alex was lucky. Ryker had wanted the kid to go to the colonies. He absolutely believed Alex was her boyfriend, claiming to have seen them touching many times. The thought of her with any man other than us sent a surge of fury and jealousy coursing through me.
I was close to siding with Ryker, until Alex started pleading, his voice shaking as he swore he was gay. He said could never see Rowan in a romantic light. And I believed him. I’d seen how he looked at us when we brought him in for questioning. His eyes lingered on our bodies, and his heart raced with heavy thuds. He had shown traces of desire for us, despite how afraid he was.
“Is there any way I can see him and talk to him? Tell him I'm sorry…”
She paused mid-sentence, breaking into a full-on sob, choking on air with fat tears spilling down her cheeks. Her emotions were so chaotic, oscillating between fury, outrage, quiet sadness, and despair.
She needed tighter control.
“I don’t know Rowan. It’s possible that we could schedule a civilian visit, if he wants to see you too, of course… But then again, I'm not so sure you deserve a reward right now. After all, you called me ‘Captain Control Freak’ earlier and intentionallywore the blue shirt, when I specifically told you to wear the white.”
A defiant scowl moved across her face. She was not happy that I was leveraging visits with her friend to encourage compliant behavior. I’m sure it felt manipulative, because it was. I would teach her that submission won rewards, and defiance earned punishment.
She sat on my lap, wringing her hands together and chewing on her lip, debating what to say next. She finally chose wisely and squeaked out, “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be better for you.”
“You could suck my dick to make it up to Cade. He loves watching,” Ryker suggested, throwing her his signature wink. I rolled my eyes, rubbing my temples. He tested me every minute he was breathing.
“Or better yet, you’ll sleep in my bed tonight. To make it up tome, of course.”
Rowan scoffed and tried to squirm out of my grip. A protest formed, but it died on her lips when she weighed the pros and cons of arguing, clearly wanting to win points for compliance so I would allow her friend to visit.
“Need to go, checkpoint duty,” Killian grunted, getting up from the table, leaving his dirty dish for someone other than himself to clean. He winced as he stood, and I could tell the particularly deep wound near his shoulder was causing him pain. I had unsucessfully tried to avoid re-injuring it during our scuffle earlier.
After his last medical appointment, Dr. Michaels had cleared him for light active duty, although I argued it was way too soon. He was still busting open his stitches from just about everything. Arca didn’t care though. They grew impatient waiting for Killianto recover. He was too valuable to be wasted “healing”. Arca wanted him and the rest of our unit back in the field for special-op assignments. I suspected we had only another month or two in Falcon City. Hopefully, it would be enough time to get Rowan adjusted.
I know I had assured her she was safe near the Northern Borderlands, but that wasn’t entirely true. Killian had proved that when he nearly died a few months ago. She would need to be constantly vigilant and follow our precise instructions always, without question. There couldn’t be any acts of defiance, or it could spell death for her or one of us.
The direwog horde that had nearly killed my brother, were on our side of the wall and no one knew how or why. Only a month prior, we had killed a wraith while patrolling. Creatures were slipping through the wall, desperate to get into New Arca. Command had tasked our unit with finding out how and why, before Killian’s injury.
Killian changed quickly, returning to the dining area in full uniform attire. He leaned down, scenting Rowan, before grunting and heading to the door.
“Later, Little Bird,” he said on his way out.
Rowan slipped off my lap, stopping him in the doorway and wrapping her arms around him.
