“You’re so pretty.”
“You’re so drunk.”
Taryn stiffens, and all the blood drains from her face. “It’s you.”
Cadel looks at her; he shows no sign of recognition.
“It’s you. I didn’t.” Taryn looks at me, and her eyes fill with tears. “I didn’t know.”
“What are you talking about, Taryn?” Marshall huffs and swings her up into his arms. She cuddles into his chest, looking absolutely tiny.
“It’s the one I’ve been waiting for. She said I needed to wait for him to arrive, that when I met him, I would know it’s about to begin.”
Except even to my drunken mind, her statement sounds completely and utterly devastated.
Marshall grumbles and disappears with her, leaving me with Cadel.
“Do you know what that was about?”
“I have no idea,” I say and reach up, stroking his jaw. “Sometimes the hurts go so deep, and we hold them in so long that they just have to bleed out. Taryn is hurting. She misses her family; she needs friends, not isolation.”
“You are a very kind omega,” Cadel whispers. “Now, stop taking care of everyone else, and let’s go take care of you.”
I turn my face into his throat, inhaling the smell of him, getting lost in the memories.
“I’m not having sex with you while you are inebriated,” Cadel whispers, “no matter how cute those little moans are.”
I grin and drag my teeth over the spot, hearing his hissing inhale.
He moves swiftly, carrying me back to our room and sitsbeside me.
“Aren’t you going to go look for the escape?”
“No, I’m going to stay here and look after you,” he says and closes his eyes.
I twist so I can look up at him. He opens his eyes and reaches out, brushing my hair back from my face.
“Sleep now, Omega.”
I don’t want to obey him. I don’t even know if he used a bark, but I succumb to his command immediately, letting out a contented sigh as I wrap an arm around his thigh and press my face against it.
Chapter 26
The Ravage Virus
Our attempts at finding the much-hidden exit have yielded no results, but every day, the Beta’s Path pushes further into the city, spreading like a plague. Four days feels like a lifetime. We come back and collapse exhausted and do it again.
Cadel hasn’t strayed far from my side, but we haven’t talked, and, to be honest, I’m not sure what there is to say. We had sex; we could die tomorrow. I’m the most hunted omega in the history of omegas, which means the closer he gets to me, the shorter his lifespan is. I am acutely aware of that, and my growing infatuation with these alphas is starting to feel toxic.
It’s hard to forget all the faces of the people I used to know and just plunge headlong into a happy affair while the man who covered me in these disgusting scars is actively seeking to remove me from my life.
I chew my food slowly, my head down. Jarek’s thigh is pressed to mine, and it’s making it hard to concentrate on anything else. He touches me a lot now. I don’t complain because I love it, but every touch is making it harder because I’m starving for it.
Things with Mordecai are even worse. I can’t speak to him, and he’s withdrawn into this duty-orientated mindset, driven like his success will fix everything. I can see the toll it’s taking on him. How exhausted he’s becoming, how lost.
Something is driving him, and I’m scared to ask what. It’s hard to acknowledge that I want him to choose me. I want him to throw away hisduty and be mine. What if he says no? What if he won’t choose me? How do I face him then?
And where did these thoughts even come from? So, what if he chooses me, it won’t change anything.
