Page 57 of His Stolen Omega

“You want me to attack him?”

“With your pheromones.”

Elm shook his head slowly. “No.”

“Because?” He finally set his device down and peered over the table at him.

“It’s an obvious trap?” Elm wanted to break free, but that didn’t mean he’d willingly give them another reason to hurt him. “I’m not giving you an excuse to lock me up and punish me. That’s crazy.”

“Already trained him a little I see,” Baal said, chuckling when Elm glared his way. “Oh. But he’s specific about who his master is, that it?” He curled his fingers at him and straightened. “Come on. No tricks. No punishment after. I just want to experience what you put our people through yesterday.”

“Why?”

“So I can understand it better.”

Levi had used his pheromones on Elm almost in that exact same spot yesterday to help him understand it, but that was because Elm was new to all of this. What possible reason could the underboss have for needing the same lesson?

He didn’t buy for a second that this wasn’t a trick in some way, but…Maybe he was still childish. Elm didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to get back at one of the people who’d trapped him here.

The pheromones came easy. He focused his attention on Baal, pictured him wincing in pain, and sent targeted waves at him.

The underboss withstood them for about twenty seconds, but then he noticeably winced, sweat prickling at his brow. Another five seconds later and he was swaying on his feet.

Elm pushed harder.

Baal caught himself on the edge of the counter and bared his teeth in warning, the casual curiosity completely gone.

“Enough,” Levi’s voice cut through the room, and without thinking, Elm obeyed.

He sealed off his pheromones and slumped in his chair, rubbing at his left temple where a headache was starting to form.

“How do you feel?” the alpha asked, and it took Elm a moment to realize the question wasn’t directed at Baal, but at him.

“Fine. Head hurts a little, but that’s it.”

“Still of sound mind?”

“Yeah.” Elm didn’t feel cloudy or like he was about to lose himself.

“I can see why several men and women are currently bedridden at the hospital,” Baal drawled, exhaling as he gathered himself. “The omega is too strong. He’s a liability.”

Elm’s eyes narrowed.

There.

That was the trick.

“You brought him here so he could tell you whether or not to kill me?” Elm shouldn’t be surprised, definitely shouldn’t feel betrayed in any sense of the word, and yet… “Last night you promised you wouldn’t.”

“Disposing of him is the smartest course of action,” Baal said. “He’s too dangerous. If he turns on us—”

Levi held up a hand, and the underboss stopped abruptly. “He’ll cooperate.”

“Are you forgetting he tried to escape just yesterday?”

“Yesterday he wasn’t aware of what we have. Today he will be.”

Elm did not like the sound of that.