Page 285 of Caged

I have to do something before she loses her shit. I can’t wait, can’t risk it. Not in this house.

So I do the one thing I told myself this morning I wouldn’t do to her again. A part of me hates myself for doing it, but I fear what will happen if I don’t.

I open my mouth and use my Alpha Command on her.

Chapter 37

Idril

Their scents hit me, and the scream tearing out of my throat dies.

Cedarwood, smoke, and cold stone, layered over crushed black pepper, sun-drenched leather, and wild clove. The combination is so intense it knocks me back. So perfect, it makes my heart swell with something enormous and overwhelming. Something that feels like safety.

Love.

It’s the scent of home when I haven’t had a true home in decades. Home, when I’ve been searching for one all my life.

Tears spring to my eyes, and a smile tries to break free. My body and soul know, before my mind even has a chance to catch up.

My Mates.

Scent Matches. I know down to the depths of my soul that these are the scents I’ve been waiting for my entire life. The ones my mother promised me existed. The ones my heart yearned for that are meant to make me whole and fill up all the broken, empty spaces inside of me.

Finally, finally, all the stories my mother told me are coming true. My fated, perfect, gods-chosen Mates are standing right in front of me, and all I have to do is look up.

None of this matters anymore. None of the pain or hurt or fear matters because they’re here. Somehow, they found me, and they’re mine. After all these years of waiting and hoping and dreaming…

Everything is going to be alright.

“Omega,” Daxen’s Alpha Command rips my heart out of my chest and shreds it. A whine explodes up my throat, tearing my vocal cords like razor blades.

Oh, Fates, he did it again. He used his bark on me, and it’s so much worse because⁠—

because—

I look up—and my eyes lock with Daxen’s. He stares back with nothing but contempt in his sharp, grey eyes and a cold fury twined with disgust on his beautiful face. His expression morphs into something impossibly cruel and hard.

Vaelenor stands behind him, his attention trained on the destroyed room, looking anywhere but at me.

He isn’t…

They aren’t…

Oh, gods… Neither of them know.

Another whine breaks free. The joy in my chest curdles and turns rancid.

The suppressant.

They can’t scent me back.

They have no idea what I am to them. No idea that the Omega they hate so desperately is their Fated Mate.

Why didn’t I consider it? Why hadn’t I thought⁠—

Because your Bond with Caelan isn’t a Scent Match Bond, it’s something else. Something neither of you understands. Why would you ever think that these males would be your Scent Matches?

I feel it then.