Page 53 of Choosing Her Alpha
Kane's hands were still moving, sexy and reassuring. Sasha's stomach was rolling, though. "So, because it is basically rape to sleep with a human, it's illegal," he continued. "But it's only illegal if the human is an actual person. This is why your father aligned with men like my brothers. This is why you lived in that shitty fucking sector.
"My brother, Ebbon Blaze, runs that sector. They are so poor because there are sanctions against them. No one trades with the slave sectors; no respectable alpha will build there. My father gave my brothers their Administration rights, and he can't take them away without use of force. He will not fight a war against his own sons, so there are trade sanctions and other embargos meant to cripple them."
At some point, without realizing it, Sasha had started crying. Kane was taking everything from her. Just like he had during those first days of meeting him, he was taking what she thought she knew about the world and herself and destroying it.
"Sasha, there's more. Oh, Beauty, there's more. I know you loved him. But I need you to let the fantasy of him go."
His arms tightened. Sasha twisted so that she could bury herself in him, her face seeking his armpit, one arm thrown up his chest to his neck, stroking the strong column. She was a fool. This male kept destroying things around her, killing people, chopping off body parts as casual as you please, and she kept going to him for comfort.
Sasha wrapped herself around him. She spread her legs and felt that hard male cock of his, untamable beneath her, but he did nothing with it. Instead he rubbed her back, combing his fingers through her hair.
And he purred for her.
Chapter 14
Kane was gone again. He had shit to do, he said. Then he asked her if he needed to lock her in holding while he did the shit.
Sasha said no. Given the revelations about her father and the drones of their household, she felt defeated. Emptied out. She didn't think she had the energy to leave the compound, or even her bed.
The little room felt lonely. She lifted the collar of the shirt Kane had dressed her in and inhaled his spicy musk. The smell eased her despair and chased away the emotional breakdown that was so close to happening.
Sasha did not want to cry about things she couldn't change. Her father was dead; there was no confronting him. There was no going back in time to see if she could change him or stop him from hurting people. No going back to prove Kane a liar.
She'd given Kane the combination for the safe. It felt like giving up—like surrender—to write the numbers down for him. Kane was a man who had fought and won many battles. He had forced other alphas to concede to his terms before. Man to man and muscle to muscle, Kane was stronger and so freaking patient. Sasha wasn't sure how to rise after her capitulation and decided two feet on the floor and a shower would have to do.
It must have been late, as the twins were absent. No doubt they’d gone to get her meal, or take care of her laundry, or check in with Zinanno about her day.
She got out of bed, making it how she liked in an attempt to regain some sense of normalcy. By law she was a woman now, even if her body was still acclimating. Still, she brought her tattered bunny stuffy to her nose.
It smelled like home. One ear was torn in half, it had no eyes, the strings of its nose were unraveling, and all the stuffing was missing from the legs.
Her dad had gotten it for her after one of her "childhood accidents." He always defended Maura. He always said they had to take care of her.
She picked up another stuffy, the pink fleece of her belly rubbed raw from Sasha's fingers. This one he’d brought home after a trip away on business when she was eight. He'd been gone for weeks. When he returned, she remembered telling him that he needed a good wash.
She could still picture it, his face going a little pale when she’d said it. She hadn't liked his scent, and piecing it together now, she realized it was because he’d smelled like blood and sex.
He’d come back from business smelling like that so many times that she eventually stopped mentioning it. Once when he'd been gone, Maura had shut Sasha's fingers in the door. She was old enough to know about putting ice on wounds. When Silas discovered the injury, her fingers were already healed crooked. She kept dropping the dishes when she was doing her kitchen chores.
Sometimes she and the drones only had oatmeal to eat, gloppy and plain. Or there was no water in the house, and they had to walk to a well an hour away. Or there was no electricity. They were poor, and the gifts from her father felt like generous, loving extravagances.
Sasha lined them up on the floor. Each one had come after a trip away or an injury, or sometimes both. There were two bears that represented separate sets of whip marks on her bottom and thighs.
Lilla and Lanny found her standing in the shower. They must have seen her sadness in her slumped shoulders and expressionless face.
"Sasha, you need to come out. We have to get dressed. You have company coming." Lanny's expression was flat, her lips pinched.
"What's wrong? Is everything alright?" Sasha turned off the shower.
Lilla entered, holding a colorful wrap dress. "Your shopping trip."
Anger often had a burning smell to Sasha, and this morning both twins smelled like an old fire pit.
"I wasn't thinking. It was stupid. If I'd been smarter, I would have used a data pad to at least plan my route, but I didn't even do that much. I'm so dumb sometimes."
"Sasha. Is that it? That's all you have to say?" asked Lilla.
"You were dumb and should've planned better? Really?" said Lanny.
