Lassit held out a hand, palm up, gesturing at Arden. “You’re an omega. Jack never had any interest in omegas.”
“That is incorrect,” Arden said primly.
“Do you also know that he’s bonded to one of his servants? Anotheralpha?”
Arden couldn’t help the rush of heat that set his cheeks throbbing. He couldn’t help dropping his gaze, and he couldn’t help stuttering, “Y-yes. I’ve…we’ve…hmm. Met? We’ve met.”
They hadmet.
Beckett had claimed him. Beckett had fucked him through his heat. Beckett had locked inside him and filled him.
Beckett had stayed on his knees for him in the garden. Played with him. Kissed him goodbye and told him gruffly to hurry home, and that he would see Arden soon.
“He’s quite shameless about the relationship. Don’t you care?”
Arden shook his head.
“You don’t?” Lassit said, surprised.
“No. Why would I?”
“You don’t care that your husband sleeps in the arms of another man? An alpha you can never, ever measure up to? You don’t care that, no matter what childhood affection Jack retains for you, he will never want you? Never fuck you? That you’ll wither away, untouched?”
Arden could tell that Lassit was baiting him, and Arden was supposed to be upset by this, but… “No,” he said with a fond smile. “Of course not.” The idea of Jack and Beckett entwined together was something that Arden had pondered at great length. Many times. It was something he very much wanted to see. “I love Jack.”I’m falling in love with Beckett. “I want them both to be happy. I’d wither away untouched at Dalbryn, anyway.” He shrugged.
Lassit made a sound at the back of his throat. “Come home. You won’t wither. I swear to you. I won’t let that happen. You deserve…” he trailed off and took a deep, slow breath. “You deserve a lot more than you’ll ever get from a man who only fucks alphas.”
“Well. Thank you. That’s very kind. But Jack told me he doesn’t only fuck alphas.”Neither does Beckett.
Lassit went still. “He’ll hurt you, if you let him take you,” he said.
“I know. He’s told me that, too.”
Lassit stood, shocking Arden by striding across the hearth to pull him up and out of his chair. He curled big hands aroundArden’s shoulders. “It kills me to think of him on you. In you. You’re so naive. So innocent and foolish. Let me keep you safe. Iwillkeep you safe.”
Arden blinked up at him in astonishment. Lassit seemed genuinely anguished. “But…Lassit, you tried to sell me. Jack would never, ever have married me, if not to keep me safe. Fromyou.”
Lassit’s hands dug into his shoulders.
Arden squirmed in discomfort. “You’d have let someone take me away and do…do whatever they wanted to me. Even though I didn’t want it.” Arden swallowed hard, gazing up at Lassit. “I know you don’t think much of me, and I irritate you?—”
Lassit gave a harsh bark of a laugh. “Like a pebble in my shoe, a thorn in my side.” One hand ran along Arden’s shoulder to settle over the very base of his throat. “A stain on my soul.”
“We were happy once. As children. I remember, Lassit, don’t you?”
“Mhm.” Lassit was holding the sides of Arden’s neck now. “Yes. I remember. I remember you following me around, hanging on my arm, pulling on my sleeve, running to keep up with me, begging for my attention. I remember the day you nearly drowned in the lake andIhad to pull you out. I remember you getting lost in the woods in the snow, andIhad to find you and keep you warm until daylight. I remember everything.”
“Then…”
Lassit stared down at him. “What?”
“However you feel about me now, you loved me once. You took care of me once. Didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
Arden wrapped his fingers around Lassit’s wrist. Lassit’s skin shivered under his light touch. Arden held on. “How could you hand me over to someone and let them hurt me?”
“Because I’d have made it better. After.”
