I wrench back, staring down. I am caught in his dancing gaze.
“How long were you…?” I splutter.
“Long enough to know that I need to find a new hiding place for my cookies.”
I blush.
Icarus heard my confession?All of it?
Now, I truly will die.
I shove Icarus off my lap
He winces, as his head hits the floor.
“I do likely have a concussion, you know.” Icarus shakily raises his hand to test at the bloody spot on his head. “Do you have a twin? Or am I seeing double?”
Alarmed, I reach down and help him carefully to sit up next to me. “I’m sorry. I’ve been so worried. I thought that…it doesn’t matter. You’re okay, well, awake now. Do you need to be sick?”
“Thanks for the offer. Maybe later.”
Worriedly, I study Icarus. His skin looks waxy, and his breathing is heavy.
He is hiding how much pain he is in. Dad does that.
Icarus grits his teeth, uncomfortably adjusting his position against the wall. “I have to admire the security team. They earn their salary. They can really swing those batons.”
I bare my teeth. “They hurt you.”
Icarus turns to study me. “The assholes hurt you as well. Are you okay?”
“Not if we can’t get out of here.”
Icarus scans around the wine cellar.
He gestures at the heavy steel door at the far side. “It’s locked on the outside. There isn’t even a handle on this side. I have been locked in here enough times to know. I would suggest that you don’t go exploring into the corner behind the Italian vintage wines.”
“Why?”
“Even an Alpha can only hold it in so long when nature calls. Maya doesn’t even leave a bucket for the use of punished staff. That corner is what I call the Cellar Rite of Passage.”
I shove myself to my feet with a grimace of pain. “Well, that’s one rite of passage this Omega is happy to miss.”
“What? Pissing on walls isn’t how you intended to spend your Christmas? Who said that a loser Alpha like me wouldn’t grow up to know how to treat his treasured Omega?” Icarus rests his head back against the wall with a groan. “Are you sure you didn’t make a mistake that day you chose to leave your elite group at school and sat with abroke-ass Alphalike me?”
“I’m a female Omega.” I arch my brow. “I’d crouch and piss on the floor.”
Icarus stares at me for a long moment and then he bursts out laughing. “I fucking love you, Grace.”
I drop to my knees in front of him, cradling his bruised face. “And I love you, myperfectAlpha.”
There is a fragile look in Icarus’ eyes that I am unused to. So, I swoop in to kiss him.
I am careful of Icarus’ busted lip but still taste the tangy copper of blood.
He kisses me back, soft and tender.
He raises his hand to cradle the back of my head, and I allow him to guide me as I always have done, even if I haven’t realized it.
