“I’m not going to leave you, don’t worry. I’m right here with you, okay, handsome?” I purr as I step between his spread legs and place my hands on his shoulders.
He looks up at me, watching as I lift one leg slowly and lower it. He doesn’t stop me, so I drop my other knee to the couch, straddling his thighs. It’s an intimate position, but in this moment it’s not a sexual one.
Carefully, he places his hands on my hips and holds me so tightly it aches. I wore my white silk pajama shorts and matching button-up short-sleeve top. It’s comfortable but not revealing. Perfect to offer him my comfort and smother him with my scent. Apollo’s wearing a dark gray hoodie and matching joggers that will hopefully soak up all the soothing pheromones for the rest of the day.
He seems to have a certain attachment to me, and up until this moment, I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
My soothing purr fills the air, so I lean forward until we’re chest to chest. I’m starting to understand what I’m feeling as he clings to me.
I’ve seen so many of Apollo’s scars, but I want him to see mine now.
We’re not alone anymore. He should know that.
“When I was sixteen, I was kidnapped. My dad is rich and used to be in politics. He had a lot of enemies.” I want him to know that I’m not some perfect, flawless Omega. We shared a moment once, and I know he saw the violence I keep hidden away, but I want him to know why it’s there. How it got there, and why I’m not ashamed of it. “My mother and I were held in a facility just like Whitehill for six months.”
I know the other three can hear me, and I don’t mind. I don’t know what they think of me or the assumptions they’ve made about me, but I’ve spent a lot of time learning how to hide who I am so I don’t scare people away. Now, I want these men to see what I’ve been hiding.
“I had a pretty good life until I was taken. My parents kept me sheltered and protected me well, but my father pissed off thewrong people, and they took me and my mother to blackmail him. We became leverage because of something we had nothing to do with,” I explain, pushing my fingers into the hair at the back of his neck, tugging gently.
I wish I knew what his scent really smells like. I think he’d be something like orchids or firewood. Something rich, deep, and intoxicating. I scent-mark him, not meaning to do so, but thankfully he seems to like it. His groan is breathy, and he pulls me closer, holding me tighter, so I rub my cheek against his jaw, adding a little more.
“My mother was kind and gentle. She was sweet in a way that even surprised other Omegas. I loved her so much. I miss her even more.” I sniff as the familiar grief and sadness return to me like an old friend, holding me the way Apollo does. “But the men in that facility did horrible things to her. She let them, without fighting, in order to protect me from the same pain. She endured six months of pure hell so she could keep me safe.” My voice breaks as the memories return, hurting just as badly as the day they were created. “She died to protect me, but once she was gone, they came for me.”
“Fuck, Dream,” I hear Thor say from behind me, but I don’t move away from Apollo.
I don’t know if the others have moved, but they sound closer now. My eyes fall shut as I take a deep breath, nuzzling Apollo’s neck, and whining when there’s no scent to take in. He moves his hand up my waist before flattening it on my lower back, rubbing it up and down slowly.
“I knew what was about to happen to me, so I made a deal with a guard to get a friend out. He was vulnerable and never had anyone to fight for him. I couldn’t help myself, but I could help him. We made it outside, but he refused to run once he realized the guard was never going to let me go with him. He died fighting for me, just like my mother did. My father hadfigured out my location and sent in officers to free me. They made it in time to save me, but only after I watched the life fade from his eyes.” I sit back, looking at Apollo as I let the tears fall.
That’s the pain—the scar, but not the violence…
“I’m right here with you,” he whispers, repeating the words I used to comfort him only minutes ago.
“I let the pain consume me until I was nothing but an empty shell. It took over everything until I thought I would never be anything else. I was wrong. We’re not the pain we endured; we are so much more.” I offer him a small smile, pushing the hair away from his forehead before cupping his cheek.
“How?” he asks, his eyes begging in a way he can’t with his words. I bite my bottom lip, cheeks burning with heat, no doubt turning red.
Time for the violence.
I glance at the three men behind me, finding all their eyes on us. Beau looks better, pressed between the two Alphas on the opposite couch, thigh to thigh. It seems the Alphas aren’t giving him any space. Good.
“Well,” I begin, turning back to Apollo and looking him right in the eye. “After the shock wore off, I realized the thing I wanted the most was revenge. So I got it. It took some time, but they’re all dead now.”
“All?” Beau asks, a hint of admiration in his tone.
You never know how someone is going to react to a murder confession. Tatum took it very well, but given the men that make up her pack, I would expect nothing less. Having this Omega not only hear my story, but understand and accept it is a relief I wasn’t expecting.
My father was particularly horrified to discover his teenage daughter was a bloodthirsty demon that spent her nights terrorizing evil men. However, when I told him each of them had hurt Mom, he quickly got over that horror. He helped makesure I never got caught. Apparently walking into my pretty pink bedroom and finding me covered in blood was enough to alert him that I had the gumption but not the stealth this sort of thing required.
“Thirteen men, one woman. It was the woman who lured my mother into the wrong limo. Instead of my father, it was filled with six Alphas we’d never met. They died first. In a limo they couldn’t escape as I set it on fire,” I admit. The look in Apollo’s eyes is hard to read, and my heart starts pounding when I can’t tell what he’s thinking.
I don’t dare look at the other men, terrified I was wrong about them. Wrong about Apollo. I murdered thirteen men, and now they’ll never trust me. They probably think I belong in a documentary.Or locked up…
Apollo lifts his hand off my waist and pushes it into my hair so suddenly that I gasp. He pulls me into him and kisses me with so much need that I can’t catch my breath. I haven't kissed anyone so long.
And never by an Alpha like Apollo.
“Oh, holy shit…” Hudson grunts behind me, but the words barely click in my head because Apollo is kissing all of the brain cells right out of my head. Beau whimpers, the needy sound sending a shock of desire through my body. When I roll my hips, grinding against Apollo’s length, he groans.
