“I took care of her afterward. The girl was freaked out, but it wasn’t byhim. The second I started cleaning her, she was trembling and wet again. Her reaction shook her more than what Trent did.”
Daniel had no real argument back to that, though it did derail his thoughts as he considered how nicely Alison heated up, the way that scent of hers would fill the space around her like a lure—one he wanted to go for no matter the risks.
“Besides,” Kyle continued. “It’s easy to get high and mighty when you’re not sleeping next to her, when you aren’t the one breathing in that smell all night, when she isn’t that close to you. Trust me, your tune might change when you have to try and sleep while your cock keeps giving you much better ideas of what to do with the hours till morning.”
Creaking drew Daniel’s attention over to them to find the omega in question coming down the steps, her hair dark from the shower. She didn’t walk like a woman who was fearful, like one being pushed into anything she didn’t want.
Even with the gauze on her shoulder, she walked with her back straight, with her chin high, as though she wasn’t afraid of a damned thing.
And right then Daniel felt a spark of fear, because no matter how much he focused on the job, on what needed to be done, when she walked likethat, he wasn’t sure he could follow through on keeping it all about the case.
* * * *
Alison smacked Kyle’s hand when he straightened her collar.
“You are the most unruly slave I’ve ever dealt with,” he muttered, though his lip remained curled into a half-smirk. “I feel like I’d have to give you anFwhen it came to slave training. “
“I’m pretty sure a bad slave means a bad master.”
He chuckled before checking her cuffs, running his finger beneath them to test the tightness. She’d found that the alphas did that a few times a day, always checking to see if they rubbed against her, if they had chafed, if they were too tight. The concern was something she never knew quite how to deal with.
“When is he supposed to get here?”
Kyle stilled as he checked the second cuff, as though the question weren’t a welcome one. “Tomorrow. The call said about nine, but I can’t say I expect these sorts of people to be very punctual.” He released her wrists but didn’t step backward. “You nervous?”
Alison snorted softly. “Me? I’m never nervous. Have you forgotten I was the one using myself as actual bait?”
Kyle tugged her down and into his lap as he sat on the couch.
Alison had thought, after the difficult night, they’d lighten up on her. She’d thought getting bitten would give her a get-out-of-jail-free card for at least a day where they backed off.
No such luck. They’d continued to press her boundaries, always careful, as if that hadn’t happened.
Well, everyone except Trent.
Trent didn’t even look her way.
Being pulled into Kyle’s lap made her uneasy, a closeness she wasn’t accustomed to, but she took a deep breath and tried to submit to it. While she wasn’t being watched, she needed to practice, to school herself into behaving as she should.
“Yeah, but you were still in control then.”
“In control while being held to be sold into slavery?” She cocked an eyebrow.
“Don’t look at me like I’m stupid.” Kyle pressed a finger to her eyebrow until she lowered it. “You thought you’d be playing your own game, all on your own. It’s easy to fool someone else who doesn’t know what you’re playing at. You in that bar? You were playing your part by yourself. If you had to play that with someone else who knew, though?” He left it open.
And it hit home. There was some truth. Pretending on her own was one thing. Pretending with someone else was personal, and Alison did not like anything personal.
“So, sugar, are you nervous?”
She blew out a slow breath. Was she? Why didn’t she even know if she was nervous?
Kyle slid his arm around her to draw her closer to him, so she leaned against him. “You are a stubborn, difficult woman, you know that?”
The soft chiding made her wince. In her head, she heard her father’s voice.You are a difficult child. If you are an omega, you are going to have a very hard life learning to fit in.
“Look at me.” Kyle’s voice beckoned her back, and Alison followed it, away from her father’s flat and disappointed words, to find Kyle staring at her, his hand rubbing over her back.
Why the hell do I keep doing that?
