“Shall we arrest him, Your Highness?” one knight asked.
“No,” Sebastian said. He sounded distracted. “Don’t put him in a cell. Just keep him under house arrest.”
I could tell by the pause that followed that this verdict surprised everyone. I was honestly a bit shocked, too. I thought Sebastian would’ve wanted that guy’s head on a stick after such a nonsensical attack.
As the knights went to apprehend Woods, he scowled. The wild affect returned to him and he flailed in the knights’ grasp.
“You’re still a hypocrite, prince!” he spat. “I know exactly where that alpha came from! He’s from the market, the alpha market!”
My eyes widened. So that was why he’d looked familiar. Now that he mentioned it, I did recall seeing him at the market the day he’d chosen Bjorn. But what did that mean for Sebastian?
Woods kept rattling off. “You can’t punish me for doing the exact same thing you did! I’m innocent, you hear me?”
I felt it viscerally. Eyes from the crowd were on me now, appraising me in a whole different light. I was no longer just an alpha, but a low life from the alpha market. The clothes had dressed me up nicely but that didn’t change who I was inside. The ones who had already gossiped about me upon my first entrance to the upper ring already knew it, and the reminder of my status spread like wildfire among them.
I frowned at their suspicious gazes. Did they think Woods was right? That Sebastianwasa hypocrite for not being punished for the same thing Woods did? I didn’t like that thought.
“Take Mr. Woods home,” Sebastian said coldly, turning away from the man. He was fed up. I couldn’t blame him. To be attacked out of nowhere, probably for the first time in his entire life, must have deeply upset him. He was doing a good job of putting up a front but I sensed the discontent stewing beneath the surface of his mask.
Like a trapped animal, Woods shrieked. The knights must not have expected him to fight back—their grip was loose enough for Woods to slip free. By the time they realized their error, Woods was charging at Sebastian with bloodlust in his eyes.
This time I didn’t let my guard down. Right as Woods’s fist was about to rain down on the back of Sebastian’s skull, I intercepted him. His fist pummeled me right in the solar plexus—it winded me, but only for a second. It wouldn’t stop me from protecting Sebastian. I grabbed both of Woods’s arms and raised him off the ground. As he dangled in the air, he wailed and kicked his feet to no avail.
Sebastian spun around, his mouth slightly open in shock.
The knights got their asses in gear properly this time. They took Woods from me, gripping him tightly, and marched him straight home to where a pair of knights would stand guard outside his front door until the house arrest was lifted. Following a second attack, I had no idea when that would be.
I faced Sebastian, who looked as frazzled as his cold public persona would allow. Anyone else who saw him probably thought he was as stone-faced as ever, but I knew the truth. He was scared. Again.
“Are you all right?” I asked. Stupid question, I knew he wasn’t. “I mean, did he hurt you?”
Sebastian raised his hands. There was a mild scrape on his palm and his hands were a little dirty, but I didn’t see any major wounds.
“I think I’ll live.”
I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. “Good.”
“Rourke,” Sebastian said, his tone unreadable, “take me home.”
“All right.”
I didn’t exactly know the way to the palace, but it was hard to miss considering it loomed over the rest of the upper ring. I took the lead, navigating the expensive-looking streets until we reached a wide staircase leading up to the palace grounds. It hadn’t hit me immediately, but as we ascended the stairs side-by-side, I realized what Sebastian had asked of me. He trusted me enough to lead him home. It was almost a childlike request, an appeal for care.
I risked a glance down at his face. It was still walled off. To a stranger, he might have looked cold or emotionless. He wouldn’t let his guard down in public, no matter how he was feeling. Would it change when we were alone, somewhere private?
The rest of the walk home was a blur. All I could think about was Sebastian. He was a thorn I couldn’t shake from my mind. But since the incident, I didn’t want to let my mind wander. What if he was attacked again, and the assailant wasn’t some snivelling weak omega? What if a real threat came to him?
I despised that idea. But alongside the anger, something else flared up inside my chest. A fiery heat that accompanied the urge to protect him.
The feeling was strange. It was the same thing I felt towards Amos and Shep, yet deeply different. Amos and Shep were both people who needed protection, but usually their aggressor came in the form of unfairness from the system itself.
Sebastian wasn’t and had never been a victim in that way. He stood at the top of the Lacehaven hierarchy, an untouchable man. Hell, he had enough money to arm an entire fleet of knightsandbuild thirty fucking moats around his damned palace to keep himself safe.
So why was I worrying myself sick over him? Just the other day, I swore to myself I’d never become an omega’s kept pet. But now I was willing to fight for him? To defend him?
What was wrong with me?
When we approached the palace, Sebastian took the lead again. He veered away from the front doors and murmured, “This way.”
