“When do we leave?” I asked, tilting my head back to allow his questing mouth more room.
“You’re not coming,” he told me, his voice hitching slightly. “You can’t. I’ll be staying in the barracks, and there really isn’t a place that you’d be safe.”
“But the claim,” I argued. “We can’t be separated that long.”
“I know,” Alrick assured me. “It will only be a problem for a few days, though, and I spoke with Doctor Morgan about it. He has some medication that will keep you comfortable.”
“Oh.” Something in Alrick’s voice worried me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “You won’t be gone long?”
“I told you, it will only be a problem for a couple of days,” Alrick’s voice hardened.
“Yes, Alpha.” The firmness in his tone, the distance in his voice cause a flare of fear in the pit of my stomach.Alrick caught the change in my scent immediately and tried to soothe me.
“Everything is going to be fine, baby, I promise.” He said, kissing my neck. “Everything will be back to normal soon.”
“When do you leave?” I asked resignedly.
“In the morning,” he whispered. “I’m booked on a flight at nine.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say. I felt his arms tighten a little more, his body pressing harder against me, and I turned in his embrace. Emboldened by the thought of being separated from my Alpha so soon after we’d bonded, I slid one hand down between our bodies to stroke his hardening flesh. “Alpha? Can we…?”
His answering growl as he thrust against my palm reassured me the, for the moment at least, everything was okay. What I didn't know at that moment was that the comfort my Alpha brought me was to be short lived – by his specific design.
Chapter Eighteen
Alrick
Long after Sebastian had succumbed to exhaustion after hours of us trying to wear each other out, I lay awake, watching him sleep and trying to memorize every last detail of his face, knowing it was most likely the last time I would see him.
My surrender had already been brokered. A detainment team would be waiting to take me into custody when my plane landed. Doctor Morgan knew just enough of the situation to be ready to begin administering the sedative that would keep Sebastian comfortable until the claim was broken, and the letter that I would mail en route to the post office – the letter that would explain everything to Sebastian – was already stamped and waiting in my carry-on. All that was left was to bathe in the presence of the Omega who had so briefly been mine while I waited for the sun to rise.
Sebastian was still dead to the world when I boarded the plane for the red eye back to Germany. As expected, I was taken into custody when the flight landed, my bag transferred to the care of the agents sent to collect me, and deposited in the back of an armored SUV headed to the intake facility. While I waited in my cell to be debriefed, my eyes settled on the clock secured behind wire against the far wall. It was nearly two in the morning. Four p.m the previous afternoon in Terena de Dragoni. Doctor Morgan would be waking Sebastian for the first round of medication any minute. My head fell back, cracking against the stone wall of the cell, and I welcomed the pain as a momentary distraction from the unrest that was building within me. While the sedative that Doctor Morgan would be administering would help ease Sebastian's discomfort, there was no such relief for an Alpha.
The debriefing went as expected. I was buckled into a cold steel chair with restraints as the members of the security council interrogated me. Hour after excruciating hour passed as I answered the same questions over and over. No, I didn't know who had attacked us. Yes, I had killed the two attackers. No, they hadn't been carrying any identification. Yes, I was sure I had never seen them before. Yes, I was sure that Sebastian wasn't in on it.
I should have been relieved to be dragged back to my cell, but I knew what was coming next and my inner beast railed against it. Only the magically warded solid silver restraints locking me to the cot kept me from breaking free and returning to my Omega to defend my claim. When the iron gate screeched open again, I kept my eyes trained on the stingray-shaped water stain on the grimy ceiling.
"Alpha?" The Shaman's soft voice grated against my ears. "Do you have any requests before we begin the ritual?"
"Just do it," I snarled, the claws that the silver cuffs couldn't hold at bay digging into my palms, leaving small puddles of blood on the green institutional laminate tile covering the floor.
Without looking, I knew that the soft rustling of cloth was the Shaman nodding in agreement. He – she? I couldn't tell from the voice – lit several small bundles of herbs and began to chant as the smoke filled the room. Tiny droplets of chilled water danced over me, dripping off my brow and running down to sting my eyes. Holy water, I remembered from the explanation of the ritual. The salt in it explained the slight stinging. More chanting. Then, the chiming of a small bell. The heaviness brought by being separated from Sebastian left my chest. The claim had been vacated. The pain in my heart, the hollowness in my soul at the memory of what I had so briefly had with him? There was no ritual to cure those.
***
I was given three days after the Shaman's visit to recover before I was notified that my hearing had been set. The charges? Abuse of an Omega through non-consensual claiming. Sexual abuse of an Omega in the first degree. Rape. Like most courts, they'd thrown all the charges at me and planned on seeing what stuck later. The rest of the charges – the non-criminal ones – like dereliction of duty, abuse of Alpha power, abuse of position? Those would come in the tribunal after the criminal court had had their shot at me. The attorney assigned to assist me had made several attempts at engaging me in my defense, but the truth was that I just didn't care what happened to me. Not anymore. In fact, I was so uninterested in the entire situation – after all, I already knew what the end result would be – that I barely even noticed when a different attorney sat down beside me in the court chamber; placing an impressive stack of leather-bound tomes on the table before him. The dainty blonde Omega who followed close behind him adding several files and a stack of loose papers before taking the seat on the far side of his Alpha. When the hearing was called to order, the Alpha rose and calmly approached the pedestal before identifying himself.
Chapter Nineteen
Sebastian
The days following Alrick's departure found the castle filled with strife.
"Howcouldyou?" Desperately irate on my behalf, Spencer had railed in equal parts at his Alpha and at Doctor Morgan. "How fucking could you?"
"Honey," Harry had started, making the mistake of trying to soothe the spitting mad Omega.
"Don't youdarecall me that!" Spencer screeched, his eyes flashing. "You betrayed Sebastian, you betrayed both of us!"
