She looks me up and down, not making demands of me right away.
“I want complete honesty between us. I don’t forgive you, and I’ll never forget. I still hate you right now. But you have to promise to protect me from them, that you won’t lie to me anymore.”
“They won’t hurt you,” I tell her honestly.
She glares at me. “I’m not being locked in that room again. I don’t want anything to do with any of them. Just promise to protect me like you always have, and I’ll work on forgiving you,” she bargains.
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” I repeat honestly, even if it means betraying my family.
I’ve given them fucking everything. Years of my life, my loyalty, my subserviency. All I’ve gotten in return is the title of an unwanted bastard. Giving all that up would be easy, and Elena is worth it.
“Tired?” I ask her, and she nods.
I pick her up in my arms. She smells like me as I tuck her into my bed before I slide in next to her. I’m respectful as I lie there, still as a board.
She sighs regretfully as she shifts her body toward mine, consuming my body heat as she lays her head on my chest. I gingerly wrap an arm around her.
“This is only because I’ve been alone without suppressants for days. It has nothing to do with you,” she assures me.
I swallow the hurt. I’ll take every lashing she gives me if there’s some chance that she will forgive me. Maybe someday, ifI work hard enough, prove myself enough, she’ll be able to put this in the past.
I know that I’m not a good man; I’m selfish, especially with Elena and what I want, but I’ve done nothing in my life that’s good enough to deserve the Omega in my arms. I’m more than aware of that fact, yet I still don’t care.
“Anthony didn’t know you were with the O’Briens?” she asks me softly
Another purr rumbles in my chest from hearing her soft voice. Even though her anger is still palpable, I don’t care as long as she stays right where she is.
“No, just your father.”
“What was the plan? Seduce me, and suddenly I’d have allegiance to the Irish?”
“Your father–” I clear my throat when she stiffens. “Always wanted an alliance. The plan was for us to naturally fall in love with each other and then introduce my brothers and Declan.”
She jolts up from my chest and looks at me, tilting her head. She really looks at my features and sighs.
“They’re your brothers?”
“Half.”
“You’re not close?” she asks, and I can see her own pain there from the fact that her and Anthony were never truly siblings.
“We’re only a few months apart. Our father cheated on their mother while she was pregnant. They didn’t find out about me until we were thirteen when my mom passed. Home life was hard,” I admit, leaving out the darker details.
She swallows and nods. I can tell there’s some compassion in her eyes, but she’s still too pissed to bestow it upon me.
“You’d defy your brothers to make me happy?”
I nod my head, and she swallows.
“Where does Anthony think you are?”
“Well, he tried to kill me. So, I guess that means he knows where I am. He just doesn’t know that I’m an O’Brien. I guess I’m not… not legally anyway. Not unless we formed a pack. But he’s furious.”
“I can’t go back to him. I can’t stay here either.”
While I’d leave with her, if that’s what she really wanted, part of me hopes that I can convince her to stay. Now isn’t the time, though; the wound is too fresh.
She cuddles back into my chest, and I just breathe her in while wondering how much time and groveling it’s going to take to make her see me the way she used to.
