Silas approached the window and looked down to find Elijah on the street below, hefting something in his palm. He let fly with whatever it was, and a rock plinked against the window and fell back to the ground.
What was he doing out of Stonecrest?
“What’s happening?” Thaddeus asked.
“Elijah is on the street below my condo, throwing rocks at my window.”
“I take it Elijah is your omega.” The grin in Thaddeus’ voice was impossible to miss. “How did he know which window is yours? I helped you move in, and I couldn’t even tell you which window it was.”
“You don’t understand this omega,” Silas said stiffly. As he looked down, Elijah shouted something up at him. He kept his shoulders high and clenched, and right before Silas turned away from the window, Elijah lifted his arm into the air and flipped Silas off. “Something’s gone wrong. I need to speak to him.”
“Well, when you’re done speaking, call me back and we’ll work through your problem, okay? It’s not the end of the world if you lose your job—I promise.”
“Thanks, Thaddeus. We’ll talk soon.” Silas ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket. Mind racing, he left the condo and headed down the stairs. What had happened to make Elijah so angry? Had he come off his heat only to realize that he’d made a mistake? Silas hated to think that he’d taken advantage of Elijah, but it was a reality he had to confront.
If Elijah felt like he’d been victimized, Silas would answer for his crimes. As a professional, he had no right to have done what he did. The responsibility was entirely his own.
Maybe losing his job wasn’t the worst of it. If Elijah was angry about it and claimed rape, he could be looking at jail time.
Dread sank like a stone in Silas’ stomach, but did not stop his descent to the ground floor. It was better to iron out their issues now and know what to expect in the future than to dodge the problem and end up miserable.
Silas pushed his way through the front doors and emerged onto the street. Elijah stood a short distance away, glaring up at the window.
“Elijah.” The sound of Silas’ voice redirected Elijah’s attention, and he turned his head to look Silas’ way. Both eyebrows knit together in rage, lips pressed tight, the bridge of his nose wrinkled, Silas had never seen Elijah look so angry. “Why don’t we talk about what’s going on?”
“You think I want to talk?” Elijah asked. He rounded on Silas instantly, rage channeled. “You think after what you did to me, I want totalk?”
Here it was. Silas frowned, but he refused to back off. Elijah had every right to be angry, and he would face that anger head on. “I’m sorry. I know that it was wrong, but—”
“You don’t care that it was wrong.” Elijah stalked forward, and when he was close enough, he jabbed a finger against Silas’ chest. “You did this on purpose. Do you think I’m dumb? Just because I dropped out of high school doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I can see when someone is trying to use me. I was a whore for long enough to know when someone is trying to pull the wool over my eyes.”
The topic of conversation was derailing, and Silas took a mental step back and distanced himself from the emotions polluting it. What Elijah was saying didn’t sound like accusations of rape. If he wasn’t upset that Silas had taken advantage of him during the beginning stages of his heat, then what was he angry about?
“Pulling the wool over your eyes?” Silas asked. “What are you talking about?”
“Donotplay dumb with me,” Elijah hissed. “Torres was in today, Silas. Do you know what happened?”
Torres was in? It was the weekend. Silas opened his mouth, then shut it again. If Torres was in, and she was working, then it meant she’d seen the case transfer request. But how would Elijah have known?
“No, I—”
“You’retransferringme?” Elijah demanded. Tears glistened in his eyes, and Silas wanted nothing more than to step forward and cup Elijah’s cheek so he could brush them away if they fell. He hadn’t meant to hurt Elijah. “After everything we’ve been through, you’re loading me onto someone else? It’s clear that this was your plan all along. Play with your precious omega charge for a while, sleep with him right before the transfer goes through, promise him you’ll give him a family, then brush your hands of him and shunt him off onto one of your coworkers.”
The tears began to fall. Elijah balled his fists and stood tall and proud. All Silas could do was watch as his world unraveled.
“You’re a fucking psychopath for what you did.” Elijah’s entire body was tense. Silas smelled lingering heat on him, but the traces were close to undetectable. Unless someone got close, Silas was sure it would go unnoticed. “I’mpregnantwith your baby, or I will be soon, after what we did this afternoon, and you’re pulling this shit on me? Onus?”
“Elijah, would you please listen to me?” If Elijah would listen, he would understand. Silas was sure that nothing else would work. He needed to explain himself.
“I’m done listening to you,” Elijah sneered. “All week long, talking about how omegas deserve better, how we’re allowed to have normal stations in life just like alphas and betas. How we deserve an equal place in society. Bullshit! You couldn’t wait to get me in bed and knot me all afternoon, only to throw me away like a used tissue! I’m not your cum rag, Silas. I’m never going to be again. If you think I’m going to listen to you oranyoneat Stonecrest, you’re deranged.”
“That’s not what happened. I never meant to throw you away. That wasn’t my—”
“I’m done.” Elijah looked him over, head to toe, then turned and walked away. “If you got me pregnant, you’re never seeing the baby. You’re never seeing either of us again.”
“Elijah!” It looked bad, but Silas knew if he could just get him to listen, he would understand. Silas was throwing away his career for Elijah and starting out fresh so they could be together. Before Elijah could get far, Silas grabbed him by the arm. “Listen to my side of the story and you’ll understand.”
Elijah spun around with such savage intensity that he freed himself from Silas’ grip. Startled, Silas stood his ground and did not try to hold him back again.
