Page 113 of His Stolen Omega

“You’re saying you might have said yes if I’d asked to mate you.”

“No, that’s not—”

“You are,” Levi insisted. “Even if you don’t want to admit it.”

“I don’t lie to myself, Leviathan. That won’t get me anywhere.”

“Perhaps not on purpose, treasure, but you do it all the same.” He was tired of speaking in here. Holding out a hand, he crooked his fingers. “Come. Be good and listen to me.”

“Or what?”

Levi sighed. “Isn’t this better?”

“Better?”

“Certainly my falling for you is better than the alternative.”

“Are you telling me to be grateful that you claimed me instead of murdering me?”

“Why? Would you rather pretend to want to return to your life on Glyph? To Sky Tancredi’s studio, where you play at being business partners but he calls all the shots? Where you watch as your friends pair up and leave you sitting alone at the bar? All it took was Baal doing a minor dive into your past and I could already tell you were unhappy there. I thought you didn’t lie to yourself, Elm? Or, perhaps, it’s more like you prefer sticking your head in the sand rather than deal with anything uncomfortable—”

The omega covered the distance between them before Levi could finish, launching a fist at his face.

Levi could have deflected, but he didn’t, allowing him to land the punch. It was hard enough to snap his head to the side, but little more than that, and when he turned back, Elm appeared more surprised by his actions than Levi was.

“Feel better?” Levi drawled.

It was obvious the omega did not.

“Are you going to—”

“Has Kian ever hit Sky?”

Elm’s eyes flashed. “Of fucking course not!”

“A good alpha doesn’t need to beat their omega into submission.”

He tilted his head. “Didn’t you just finish telling me about how your dad crippled your mom?”

“My father wasn’t even a half decent alpha,” Levi stated. “I won’t be him. Their story won’t be ours.”

“What if I don’t want our story at all?”

“You will.” Levi didn’t make unnecessary gambles. Didn’t take random risks. Yes, his rut had snuck up on him and expedited things, but they were always going to end up here, with the omega wearing his marks. Elm needed more time to acclimate, clearly hadn’t realized the way he looked at Levi gave away his hidden yearnings.

This wasn’t as one sided as the omega believed.

“There are rules,” Levi said. “Whether you agree to them or not.” His hand whipped out, capturing him by the nape and hauling him in close. “You will never belong to another. You want time to adjust to your new reality? All right. We’ll start with learning obedience.”

He dragged the omega into the bedroom, easily overpowering him when he tried to resist. With a hard shove, he tossed the younger man onto the bed, allowing him to crawl to the center of it. As though that miniscule bit of extra space would keep him safe.

Moving to the couch, Levi settled in the center, aware of the omega’s suspicious stare. There were a few velvet boxes on the end cushion and Levi opened one of them, picking out the first item. They’d start slow and work their way up, but no matter what, today wasn’t ending without his omega understanding his place.

“Come,” Levi ordered. “One last chance to do it yourself.”

Since he was easing him into things, he made sure the item he was holding was visible, allowing Elm the chance to view it and recognize that it wasn’t anything dangerous.

His omega would probably hate knowing Levi caught the flicker of excitement in his eyes when they landed on the object.