“Yes.” Feeling smug again, I asked, “Do you like it?”
Rourke didn’t respond.
Every servant was astonished at the sight of us, but fortunately had more sense than the people of the lower quarter. They all kept their mouths shut and went about their business. But as we approached the palace proper, a sense of unease simmered in my stomach. Father was already irritated with me. Showing up with an unsanctioned alpha—one from the less-than-legal market, no less—would no doubt anger him more.
But what could he say? It was his own fault the alpha market existed in the first place. If he hated it that much, he should have snuffed it out when he had the chance. Maybe next time he would think twice about forcing me to choose an alpha donor in such rushed circumstances. Truly, he had brought this upon himself.
Rourke inhaled a sharp breath as we stepped into the palace doors. He was a physically imposing presence, but in the front hall of the palace, he suddenly looked small. It reminded me that he was just a man, after all. He stopped and the leash went taut. I paused to allow him a moment to take it all in. I wasn’t cruel. I knew this must have been a shock to him and that he needed a minute to adjust. Just as with training dogs, flooding did more harm than good.
“This is…” Rourke trailed off.
“Welcome to the royal palace,” I said. “This will be your new home.”
That statement seemed to startle him. “New home?”
“In case you’ve forgotten, Ididpurchase your contract.”
“Right,” he mumbled.
“What did you think? That I would throw you out into the kennel with the dogs?”
At the mention of the wordkennel,Rourke flinched again, his eyes widening. He seemed to have some kind of innate aversion to the word. One more thing for me to investigate.
“Rest assured that won’t be happening,” I said.
That apparently eased his mind a little. He nodded.
“Now, when was the last time you had a proper bath?” I asked.
“Well, I took a shower this morning,” he muttered, sounding slightly offended.
I clicked my tongue. “That won’t do. Whatever soap they gave you must be cheap. I have just the—”
An obnoxiously loud gasp echoed throughout the hall. I knew without looking who it came from. My mouth curled into an irked frown.
“What. Is. THAT?” Elian demanded, pointing a finger directly at Rourke.
10
Rourke
My body stiffened with the instant urge to fight. Across the massive hall stood an omega—younger than Sebastian, from the looks of it—thrusting an appalled finger in my direction. His jaw dropped and he stared with unabashed confusion and shock. It was definitely the most dramatic of all the reactions I’d encountered today. Not to mention the worst.
The omega had the same grey-blue hair as Sebastian. He must have been one of the younger brothers. Judging from his gangly frame, he wasn’t quite mature yet, maybe even under eighteen. That might explain his over-the-top reaction. But as Sebastian let out a thin, frustrated sigh, I got the feeling this kind of behavior from his brother wasn’t exactly rare.
“This, Elian,” Sebastian said, “is my new alpha.”
Elian stared in utter disbelief before he broke out into a guffaw. “Seb, you’re kidding. Youarekidding, right?”
Sebastian’s cold expression made it clear he wasn’t.
“Holy shit,” Elian said. A wide smirk broke out over his face. “Dad is gonna lose it when he finds out.”
“Language,” Sebastian said, almost like a reflex. “And Father’s opinion is of no concern to me. Not when it comes to what I’m doing with my own body.”
Elian snorted. “Yeah, okay. You keep thinking that.” He waved Sebastian off. “I need to grab some popcorn or something before this goes down.”
Elian didn’t bother hiding the rude way in which he looked me over, like I was a piece of meat. It made me uncomfortable coming from someone so young, but I quickly realized it didn’t have that sort of connotation. I could tell from the haughty look in his eyes that he looked ateverybodylike that, treating them like they were objects instead of people. If he couldn’t even speak to Sebastian with respect, there was no way anyone else would get any.
