He flushed the toilet and then sat down and drew me in, digging his nose into my hair and sighing happily. “There’s nothing quite like a jealous omega. Should I bring Jessyka here so you can stake your claim in front of her? Put her in her place? Do you want to fuck me in front of all the women in Lundaria so they know exactly who is Premier Victor Corvane’s mate?”
No, I absolutely did not want to do that. I didn’t like being jealous, and I wasn’t the fighting type. If some other woman wanted Victor and he wanted me to piss all over him in some gross, primal display of ownership, well… he’d mated with the wrong witch.
But that was the type of alpha he was, and the type of omega he desired. The ego boost from having women fight over him was probably more empowering than twenty pints of my blood.
“Who is she?” I asked again, letting myself succumb to his touch. To find comfort in the feel of his skin against mine. The only comfort I had.
“No one, just an escort.”
When I felt myself want to puke again he held me tighter. “Shh, that’s not what you think it means. I hired her to accompany for appearances’ sake, to keep things professional. She knows I’m not interested in sex, but we are pretending to be a couple. I’m rarely without a woman by my side, so if I were suddenly alone, people might get suspicious.”
“But why can’t you bring me?” I whimpered. “I don’t understand.”
He sighed, running his hand down his face. “Sage, I’m not fucking Jessyka. I’m not fucking anyone but you. I don’t want to fuck anyone but you. You’re my mate.”
“But then why is she texting you like that? You hide me like I’m an embarrassment,” I whimpered, my voice quiet and pained. “Just tell me the truth—I’m not beautiful enough to be at your side at parties or the opera or whatever you do and need a date for. That you’re disappointed I’m not the woman from the parade you thought I was.”
“Sage,” he said, his voice becoming clipped again. “I’m tired of explaining this. I’m not embarrassed by you. My ‘type’ only exists because I mistook someone else for my true mate, but before that day, my exes were far more diverse, including women who looked like you. This insecurity of yours is the only unattractive thing about you, and I insist you stop comparing yourself to whoever you think is your competition, because there is none.”
Jealousy was hot and insecurity wasn’t, apparently. And of course my feelings were the unattractive ones.
He kissed me on the top of my head. “Do you know how many Premiers have mates?”
I’d never really thought too much about the other Premiers. Belladonna Eldritch from Cindralis was married and had a few children, but I’d never heard if her husband was her mate or not.
“… No?”
“Me neither,” he replied. “I could be the only one, or they could all be mated. But you know as well as I do that the blessing of a mate also comes with a liability. I can only feed from you now. So what would happen if my enemies figured out you existed? They could take you and demand anything for yourreturn or, Sanguiel forbid,killyou. And then where would I be? Don’t be so selfish, darling.”
Ah yes, me, the “selfish” one.
But it wasn’t worth the trouble to argue with him.
“I’m sorry, Victor.”
He ran his fingers gently down my arms. “Brush your teeth and come back to the bedroom, so you can get on your knees and show me how sorry you are, hm?”
Witches were one of the few Magiks without fangs, which made it easier for him to be as aggressive with my face as he was with the rest of me. I hid my wince as I thought about what was to come.
“Yes, Victor.”
20
Pain
Two years later
The visage staring back at me in the mirror was hardly recognizable. My naturally pale skin was practically translucent, my freckles mere memories of days spent in the light.
Two years. Two years I’d been living here, cut off from everything and everyone I’d ever known just so Victor could sleep easier. His mate kept safe, secret, and hidden from a dangerous world that would do anything to hurt me if it meant getting to him.
Two years of isolation. Of my mate chipping away everything I was and used to be until he’d finally formed me to his liking.
A perfect, submissive omega.
I’d tried in the early days to push back. I really had. But with no magic, no power, no strength, and no agency, it just became easier to give up.
I turned on the faucet to rinse my toothbrush when the lights flashed—a warning that he was coming up the elevator.
