Delicate hands settled on his shoulders a moment before a quiet rumble joined his own.
Puppy’s rumble was choppy, broken up in her chest like she didn’t know how to make the noise anymore, but itwasan alpha rumble just the same. She drew closer to him of her own accord, then wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her cheek against his, smoothing her hands down his back. Roman wasn’t used to affection from another alpha, but he returned it, giving her a gentle squeeze as the rain continued to drench both of them and thunder rumbled overhead. When he felt her hands wander up to the back of his head, he thought nothing of it until the straps of the muzzle gave free, and he tilted his head to shake it off, letting it thud into the grass below.
She leaned back first, and though her movements were clumsy and uncertain, she smoothed her own wet hair back out of her face, then tugged the tangles in front of herself and stared at them. Her eyes were still red, but they lacked that almost preternatural glow. Instead, she just looked sad.
“Are you back?” Roman asked her, relieved when she merely nodded her head, pressing her hands to her face with a low, hollow sound. “Hey, it’s all right. It was bad, but you survived it. You’re back now. Deep breaths. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay now.”
She peeked at him through her fingers as if to ask,Do you promise?
“I promise.” He gently took her by the wrists. “Come on. We have to get up.”
Despite her speed and fluid grace, Puppy stood haltingly like a baby deer trying to remember how to walk on its own. She glanced around the forest and loosed a small whine, then wrapped her arms around herself. How much of the place did she remember? Roman wasn’t sure, and given she didn’t seem like she wanted to talk, he didn’t think he would get an answer if he asked.
They could and would talk about it later if she wanted. For now, though… “Puppy, I need your help. Dax Kincaid has my mate. I need to save him, the other omega, and his daughter.”
She glanced at him, her brows furrowed as if she didn’t understand.
Patience. He had to have patience. She’d just come out of Goddess knew how long of a feral state, so he could be patient with her. “I need to kill them. First, I need to get into the house. Can you help me?”
Her face smoothed out then, expression solemn. And she gave him a single curt nod.
The speed with which she whipped off into the trees startled him, but Roman tore after her without a second thought. He hoped the storm would disguise their arrival back at the house for as long as possible, that the Kincaids would have no idea they were coming as thunder rumbled and lightning flashed.
Two against eight. Two once-feral alphas against eight idiots. He liked those odds.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Since we’re going to teach you how to behave like a proper omega once and for all, I believe we can start with what should be the simplest of lessons, and that is acts of service.” Dax pointed toward the bed, and Lilac went obediently, those cold eyes settling on Sidian where he stood just past the doorway. “Help me undress. You never were very good at it back at the center.”
Sidian swallowed, his hands shaking. “Sure. I can do that.”
It took far too much effort to close the narrow space between them, his fingers locating the smooth white buttons on Dax’s shirt as he slid each of them from their respective holes. Ripping off Roman’s clothes had been wild and exciting, and Sidian had ached to see every inch of olive skin laid bare, but the thought of so much as brushing Dax’s pale flesh left Sidian shuddering in distaste. The longer he took, however, the longer it took for Dax to touch Lilac.
Maybe it was stupid to care so much about an omega he didn’t know, but Sidian knew one thing: he saw himself whenhe looked into Lilac’s eyes. There had been no one there to help him when he was alone with Pack Kincaid, but if he could spare someone else even a moment of that anguish, he would do it no matter how it made him feel.
Dax sighed. “This is nice, isn’t it? Acting civilized.”
What a remark to come fromhim. “I was in heat when you came to see me.”
He chuckled and wrapped his hands around Sidian’s wrists, stilling his movements as Dax leaned in close enough that his warm breath curled against Sidian’s cheek. “But you looked so lovely in heat. Sweet, desperate little bitch. It’s a shame it’ll be such a long time until I can have you like that again, but in order to join you to our pack, I have one special surprise in mind.”
What the fuck was he talking about? “I don’t know what you mean.”
“That’s for me to worry about. You just focus your pretty little head on the task at hand.” Dax shrugged his shirt off, and when Sidian tried to step back, he was jerked forward, his hands laid over Dax’s belt. “Go ahead, omega. You’re intimately familiar with this part, aren’t you?”
He was. The memory threatened to leave him sick and shaking, but Sidian made himself unbuckle the belt as the warmth drained from his fingertips. A numbness threatened to settle over him to blanket him from the rest of the situation, taking his mind somewhere where he wouldn’t have to acknowledge the situation he was in. Where he wouldn’t have to worry so much that Dax was moments away from raping someone just to teach Sidian a lesson.
“There you go,” Dax cooed. “See? Not so hopeless after all. How quaint.”
The heat that rolled off of the flesh between his legs made Sidian’s stomach roil, his guts churning at how close he was to something that had hurt him. “If you say so.”
Dax’s pants dropped around his ankles, and he stepped out of them in one fluid motion, leaving him in just a pair of boxers. “Now take my clothing to the laundry basket in the corner of the room. You and Lilac can handle the washing tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll be amenable to showing you how the machine works since I doubt you’ve ever had to do such a thing for yourself.”
Of course, he had. Who the fuck else was supposed to do laundry back home? “I know how to wash clothes. I’m not fucking stupid.”
“I never said you were.” But Dax smiled as if they were sharing a private joke.
Sidian hated him. He’d hated Dax from the moment he realized what the alpha intended to do to him, but he hated him more for every assumption he’d made, every conclusion he’d drawn. Dax did not even see him as a person; who the fuck was he to decide what Sidian was and was not capable of? Who was he to think he knew anything about Sidian at all?
