“The boy, he’s…”
My lips began to quiver, and I gave a short, jerky nod.
He stilled, and I couldn’t meet his eye.
I had purposefully avoided telling Ronan most of it, not wanting him to feel worse about everything that had happened than he already did.
But maybe I should have told him this. For him to find out this way, to allow his dad to get this kind of leverage over me, which was leverage over him…
“I’m so sorry, but it’s not what you think,” I sobbed, digging my nails into the arm of the chair to keep them from covering my face. “He put me under and stole my eggs, and I didn’t even know. I’m sorry, I’m—”
“Ravaric, that’s beyond fucked up,” Maia said under her breath.
Ronan dashed around the table, kneeling beside me. “Sage, you have nothing to be sorry for. Please, I’m horrifiedforyou, not at you.” He then turned to his dad. “Really? You thought this was the best way to do this? To force my mate to relive this trauma over her fucking pickled vegetables?”
Ronan ran a hand down my back, rubbing gently, but I was crying too hard for anything to come into focus.
Kenzo responded nonchalantly. “A tragedy, perhaps, but one that will turn out to be a wonderful opportunity for us.”
“Accalia is innocent,” I said quickly, wiping my cheeks with the back of my hand. “She tried to help me. I won’t do anything to hurt her.”
Ronan turned towards his father. “You heard her, she’s not hurting the wolf. So whatever plan you’ve made, you can forget about it.”
“I don’t think I will.”
The guards took a step closer, and Ronan released a room-shaking growl. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
At this, the cool, collected Oniguro boss stood, pointing at his son and exploding in anger. “You failed your three tests! Did you think I wouldn’t know exactly how you weaseled your way out of them? Instead of shaking downRipped Lace, you put one of my best bruum runners from Noctis in the hospital. I caught you on camera flushing the sindr you were supposed to sell down the toilet, and the seraph? You blackmailed the friend, the son of one of the investors for the new hotel we’re breaking ground on next week, instead of the original target!”
Maia scoffed, her long, jeweled nails like talons as they tapped on the table. “I told you he didn’t have the temperament for this. Just let him go already; you’re forcing a square peg through a round hole here.”
Kenzo’s face snapped towards his daughter and he sneered. “Let him go? Why, so you can take over?”
Her expression hardened as he continued. “I may have entertained your silly ambitions while Ronan was off playing bounty hunter, but he was always going to come back. And I refuse to let my empire be run by an omega. We need an alpha at the helm, even if that alpha leaves me wanting.”
Maia bristled as the guards came even closer, metal clinking when two of them pounced, catching Ronan off guard and managing to subdue him with adamantine cuffs in the struggle.
He roared as they pulled him up, fire building under his skin and smoke billowing from his pores. “Let me go this instant or I’ll burn this whole place to the ground, too!”
Seeing my mate—my real mate—caught and fighting to get free snapped something inside of me, and I felt my magic burst through my veins.
Magic I’d nearly forgotten I even possessed.
Why couldn’t the world just let us be?
I got up, hand outstretch as I began to whisper a spell under my breath, the lights flickering. “Zarneek vahn il—”
A tight hand clamped over my mouth, restraining my arms from behind. “Then she’s burning down with it,” another guard said.
Smoke curled out of Ronan’s nose, and he stared daggers at the man behind me. “Once I’m out of these cuffs, Toru, I’m going to fucking tear you to shreds.”
“Enough!” Kenzo yelled. “Here’s what’s going to happen—Sage will claim the boy as hers and challenge Accalia for the right to be the Premier Regent of Noctis as a thank you for her rescue, and while she does, Ronan will remain here and learn the true meaning of obedience.”
The guard’s grip twisted my arms as my stomach lurched.
No… no I couldn’t! I didn’t care whose egg was used to make Alaric, that boy was Accalia’s son, and I was never going to take him away from her.
But Ronan… I couldn’t leave him here to be tortured, either.
