Did my voice seem too strained? It was hard to tell through the ringing in my ears. Prince slipped the ring onto my finger; it was pale silver with pearls and a dark red ruby. It looked like a bead of blood glittering on my hand. He stood and then Dax took his place, looking up at me.
I was struck for a moment by the irony of it; this would likely be the first and last time they knelt for me.
My heart was racing and my hands trembling as fear welled up in me.
Father was handing me over to them.
How long did I have?
“Duchess,” Dax said, tangling his fingers in mine. His gaze was heated and possessive, and his voice was raw with pride. To my horror, I found tears welling in my eyes as he pressed a kiss to the ring. “Such an honour to have you.”
“The honour is mine,” I said, blinking back the wetness as my nose stung. Finch’s anger pulsed, making my trembling worse.
Dax pushed back the chair to make room for Madison’s hulking form. I felt the urge to laugh at the absurdity of Madison actually kneeling in front of me, but then his eyes caught mine, and I had to suppress a whimper instead.
It was the second time I’d been subjected to his full attention, and it was no less disturbing than the first. Madison reached up to me and pulled me onto his knee, his arms wrapping around my back. To the onlookers, perhaps, it looked sweet. Intimate.
“I can see your fear, little omega,” Madison purred in my ear. I did whimper then, and the arms around me tightened, Madison’s scent spiking. “You still smell so sweet and lovely, though.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and bared his teeth at me in a mockery of a smile. He placed me back on the chair, wiping a tear from my cheek. Forcing my face to bear a trembling smile for him might have been the hardest thing I’d ever done. At least I was out of his arms now, back at my place at the table.
My head was spinning, and I was close to breaking. The smell of the disgusting pasta, the frantic crowding in the restaurant, the smug expressions of the Lucas pack, the heels, and Finch’s rage.
What would happen to me when they discovered they couldn’t bond me?
My father might actually kill me.
Perhaps they’d keep me alive long enough to bear an heir for him before they ended me for good.
The world was shrinking, my head pounding, and my expression flickered.
I could only blink as Angela pulled me into a hug and pressed a kiss to both my cheeks. “I’ve always thought of myself as your surrogate mother, after we lost Laura, but now we’ll make that official,” she said, wiping fake tears from her eyes. I had no doubt it was all for the cameras people were wielding behind us; she never looked twice at me in private.
But in the bond, there was something else. A smooth, calming sea that rose higher and higher, washing through me and cleansing the terror and panic. It came with a pulse of reassurance, the same feeling that came when Jule would squeeze my hand. I took a breath, stilling and stopping my tears. My thoughts had settled, and I was able to focus on what I had to do next.
Ocean.
He must have sensed me from his prison cell, the omega who had trapped him there, and he’d still reached out and offered his aid.
It didn’t mean anything, though. They needed me to function in order for him to escape, and it would be absurd to assume that he was offering me help out of kindness and affection.
I took a breath. Control. I could do this.
I unplugged Prince’s phone from Kaos’s tech and slid it back on the table.
“I have to say, this comes as a surprise,” I said, my hand slipping into Prince’s as Madison sat back in his chair. I turned to my father, and he shrugged.
“It’s about time you got mated off andcontinued our legacy. Hopefully you’ll give us an heir that isn’t defective, this time.”
Prince laughed, and my anger flared inside. Jule wasn’t fucking defective. My father was just too much of an idiot to see it.
“Of course,” I said, taking a sip of my drink. “Do we have a date for the ceremony?”
“So eager,” Prince said with a smile.
“Liz has everything sorted, starting with an engagement celebration next week,” my father said. “We’ll hold the ceremony just before your next heat.”
My second cousin Elizabeth gave me a smile dripping with venomous envy.
