“You want to make decisions without any thought for how they might affect Beck?”
I grit my teeth as his words cut me once again.
“You’re taking on all of Beck’s beta duties,” Cass says simply. “You will feed Tansy. You will run her bathwater. You will prepare her room and fluff her fucking nest.” His voice drops, cold and final. “But your alpha rights end there.” His dark eyes cut to Warren, then back to me. “You do not get to make the first move on her. You do not get to stake your claim or fulfill your needs. She’s in control.”
I see Warren tilt his head out of the corner of my eye, clearly not understanding. “How are we supposed to bond with her?” he asks, his tone soft and respectful. “Omegas need touch.”
“Let me spell it out for you.” Cass’s voice is a low,dangerous rumble that vibrates through the floor. He looks back at me, making sure I feel the full weight of his next words. “Your alpha instincts no longer fucking matter.” His eyes flash with authority. “You will not touch Tansy unless she puts your hands on her. You will not speak to her unless she speaks first. You will not so much as look at her cunt like it’s a meal waiting to be eaten unless she spreads her legs and invites you to the fucking table.”
My own alpha instincts bristle at his command, a visceral, offended recoil.
Omegas aren’t built to make the first move. It’s not in their nature. They’re meant to be courted, to respond to an alpha’s pursuit, not initiate it. Forcing her to do so feels like asking a flame to burn cold.
It’s wrong on an instinctual level.
Cass must see the rebellion in my eyes because he leans forward, curling his hands around the edge of the mattress, the scent of his fury sharp and electric. “You will bow to her.Bothof you,” he snarls at Warren. “You will wait for her to decide when andifyou get to breathe the same air. Your needs, your urges, your pride—it all means less than nothing. Her comfort, safety, and desire are the only thing that matters anymore. If she wants you to sit in the corner and watch another alpha fuck her for six hours, you will sit there and thank her for the view. If she wants you to prepare her nest and then leave without laying a finger on her, you will walk out with a hard-on and deal with it. If she wants to tell you both to get on your knees and beg for a taste of her slick, you will get on your fucking knees.”
He straightens up, his posture rigid with finality. “She is in complete control. Your alpha rights aren’t just suspended, they’re erased. You exist to serve her pleasure, not to takeyour own. And you won’t forget it for a fucking second. Do you understand?”
My alpha snarls inside my chest, enraged at being stripped of my right to claim her.
And as if that wasn’t enough, I’ve also been reduced to a neutered servant on top of everything else.
Suck it up,I silently tell myself.Take your goddamn punishment.I pull in a deep breath, then close my eyes, trying to convince myself it won’t be so bad.I'll get to be with her all day. Day in and day out.
And maybe I’ll get lucky, and she’ll let me touch those pretty lips.
“Grason?”
I snap my eyes open in time to see Cass’s gaze harden.
“Do you understand?” he asks again.
I immediately nod. “Understood.”
“Good.” He jerks his chin toward the door. “Now both of you get the fuck out.”
The command snaps through the room, and my feet start to move.
The door clicks shut behind us, and I scrub a hand over my face and into my hair, trying to tamp down the excitement fluttering in my chest.
I hope I don’t fuck this up…
Warren’s pace slows, and I realize he’s looking at me. His eyes narrow curiously. “Why do you look so fucking happy?”
“Because we get to keep her,” I say simply.
He blinks, then he actually stops walking for a second. “You really thought Cass would get rid of her?”
I shrug. “I didn’t know what the hell Cass was gonna do. All I knew was that he waspissed, and whatever punishment he handed down was going to suck.”
That gets a smile out of Warren, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. It looks off.
I frown. “What’s wrong?”
He lets out a long, pained sigh, staring at his feet. “Cass thinks I’d muscle him out.” His brow furrows. “I can’t fucking believe he’d think that about me. That I’d use this—” He gestures back toward the guest room. “—as a chance to become pack alpha.”
I step closer as we step into the living room, lowering my voice. “You know he doesn’t actually believe that,” I say quietly. “He’s scared. He woke up with a raging fever to find control ripped out of his hands. That’s not logic talking. That’s pain.”
