Page 21 of Dark Goodbye

“Oh really,” she scoffs, crossing her arms for a brief moment before the pain in her shoulder arrests the motion. After wincing and getting herself back under control, she sneers up at me, her eyes flashing like a wounded animal about to strike. “You expect me to believe that?”

Glancing back up at the timepiece, I shake my head and rise from the bed. This is taking far longer than it should. Perhaps I should just leave her be and pick things up after seeing to Malus.

I stare down at her for a moment, searching her eyes for answers she’s refusing to give me. With a shake of my head, I bring my fingers up to the front of my shirt and rest them against the top button. “I do. I’ve never lied to you, Ladria, and I don’t plan on starting now.”

Her eyes widen as I go button by button, undoing them. “What-what are you doing? Stop. I demand you to stop!”

“Demand, do you? Of me? An Alpha? That’s rich. You may request of me, but never demand.”

She averts her eyes, determined to not see the evidence I’m prepared to show her. “You’re just like all the others,” Ladria murmurs as a single tear rolls down her cheek.

“Look at me.” I keep my tone light, cajoling, just shy of actually pleading with her, but she doesn’t respond. The muscles around her jaw tighten as she turns her head even further. Enough of these childish games. “Look. At. Me.”

I refuse to roar at her. I don’t want to stoop that low, but I infuse my iron will into my words, fashioning them as a blunt weapon, not strong enough to harm, but certainly enough to cause discomfort if disobeyed. War breaks out across her face as she fights me, battling it out as her stubbornness butts up against mine.

Sure enough, she turns, her eyes spitting daggers as she stares up at me. “Is this you being different?” The venom in her tone jabs at me, pricking my heart mere moments before I harden it again.

“I haven’t defiled you, have I? I haven’t caused harm to your person, physically bent you to my will the very moment you showed any sort of resistance, have I?”

“Well no, but-.

“Then how in all of Arnakas can you say that I’m just like everyone else? Unless, of course, you mean the fact that I desire you, body and soul? If that’s the case, then yes, I’ll take full blame for wanting to devour every inch of your enticing body.”

This seems to give her pause, and for a moment, I wish I can pull the respirators out and scent the air. But I can’t. It’s far too dangerous. Just the very idea of smelling her blatant arousal is enough to make me shift in discomfort.

“Then why are you disrobing? Do you not mean to take me by force?”

Shock floods my body like ice crashing down around me. Leaning down, I capture her face in my grasp, refusing to allow her to look away again. “You listen to me, my little omega. Not now and not ever have I or will I force myself onto someone. I may want you with every fiber of my being, but I will not take you, not like that.”

Her eyes narrow as she jerks about in a feeble attempt to free herself from my grasp. “I don’t believe you.”

“Believe what you will, but know this, my omega. I will not touch you in a sexual way until you’re begging me to.”

“That will never happen.” She spits out the words, but there’s no anger behind them; not like earlier.

“I don’t need to scent you to know your heat is coming soon. I can see it in the swell of your breasts, the widening of your hips. Your body is preparing itself for me. All I have to do is wait. But even then, even when every ounce of you cries out for me, writhing with unbearable need, I still might not touch you. Can my will outlast yours?” I tap my nose and wink. “I think it can.”

Her face screws up in such a way that I’m convinced she would stick her tongue out at me if I weren’t holding on so tight. Such a petulant, omega. Resisting the urge to laugh, I let go of her face and go back to undoing my shirt.

“If you refuse to touch me, then why are you undressing?”

“Surely you cannot be that naïve. What, in the whole of the universe, did you learn at that primitive commune?”

Once more, she goes to cross her arms and pout but soon remembers her injured shoulder. “Are you jealous?”

“No, merely curious. From what I’ve heard, love ran free. Surely you, of all omegas, should know that disrobing is not the same as copulation. Besides,” I raise my hand and wave it around, gesturing at the bedchamber. “This is my room. Do you expect me to go and disrobe in front of Mogen?”

There, for just a split second, I see the jealousy light up her eyes, but it’s gone before it can take root. It gives me a modicum of satisfaction, knowing that at least some small part of her cares what I do in front of another.

“I don’t care where you disrobe.”

Liar.

My fingers itch as I observe her body language. The moment she is officially mine, nothing and no one will stop me from taking her in hand. “My clothing is simply a barrier, a hindrance in my proof to you that I have not taken a mate. You seem to be under the misapprehension that I’ve had scores of women since you left, and this is the only way I know of to show you that it’s not the case.”

Her eyes drift back to the bare expanse of my chest, and though I’m sure she doesn’t realize it, her tongue snakes out to lick her lips. “That still proves nothing. Mark or no mark, it doesn’t mean you haven’t slept your way through Stanlion. The men at the commune didn’t have the ability to mark, but they certainly fucked every willing female that spread their legs.”

Internally, I wince. Though I never agreed with how the High Echelon kept the omegas in the dark, there was still something to be said about the promise of wide-eyed innocence, of truly being the first in every sense of the word. The fact that she’s seen the sexual act takes away the unknown, the hint of wonderment when I eventually touch her, showing her what her body can do.