“You’re weak,” I spat out. “To abandon your Omega is the sign of a limp-dick weak ass.”
Jessabella’s eyes looked huge with surprise, her scent burning through me, and I desperately wanted to beg my Packmate to let me protect her.
“Calm down, bro,” Alexei said, dragging me away as the other Alphas stared.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Brand asked. “What doyoucare?”
Fury blazed through me.
“You’re some fucking dickless Alphas if you don’t have an instinct to protect a fertile Omega!”
Oops, hell, I hadn’t meant to say that, not to admit that I could scent Jessabella’s fragrant ovulation blossoming around me.
“She’s not fertile!” Penn said shrilly, going red in the face. “We’ve tried.”
“Tried with what, old-ass cock and balls?” I snapped, all my protective instincts coming out as I stepped around the Duke and shoved Penn as hard as I could into the side of a washer. “Stop running your mouth about her.”
“The fuck—” they began to protest, and I held up my fists.
“Same thing for the next person who talks shit about her.”
“SILENCE!” Alexei suddenly ordered. “You three go back upstairs.Now. I’ll handle this here. The laundry is closed for the day.”
“But–”
“I said it’s closed for the day.”
Revulsion coated my throat at the look on Edgar’s face, and it was obvious he, Penn, and Brand didn’t give a shit about the servants at Koval Manor or how hard they had to work.
That would have to change.
When they left, we turned to Jessabella. I just hoped she wasn’t too frightened by how I’d acted.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” I said, breathing heavily. “Usually, I–I’m not like that.”
“It’s all right,” she said, but her face was hidden in shadow and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
“Can we escort you upstairs?” Alexei asked gently. “I’d love to get you into more comfortable quarters.”
“No, no thank you,” Jessabella replied quickly. “I’d rather just go back to my room. Please.”
She was twisting her hands together, and I saw her thighs were pressed together too, her whole body stiff and tight. But every time she moved a further delectable wave of her arousal washed over me.
My mouth watered with the scent of her fertility.She was ripe and so ready for me. I craved more than just casual touches. I wanted to knot her tight.
My ancestral Alpha instincts struggled between wanting to put her over my shoulder and haul her upstairs, forcing her to accept the luxury and comfort I wanted to bestow, and taking it slow, but I said nothing.
“All right,” Alexei said. “But I hope you are all right with us coming to visit you?”
“Y-yes.”
I was so damn glad he was here, because I felt like a tongue-tied Neanderthal around Jessabella.
We walked her back to her room, and my heart broke to see her boxes stacked up in the corners, the tiny uncomfortable bed, and closed-in, claustrophobic space.
It looked like she had been working on painting something, a small canvas propped up against the bare walls.
“That’s beautiful,” Alexei said. “Is it Koval Manor?”
