Page 86 of His Stolen Omega

“I may be of average intelligence,” he stated, “but I’m no fool, and you can’t play me like one.”

“Did everyone who’s ever been nice to you have ulterior motives?” Levi wondered aloud.

“It’s just sex. If that’s what you’re curious about, I’m willing, so—”

“No. One kiss does not mean we’ll immediately tumble into bed together.”

“It was our second kiss.” Elm let go of his pants, but not the issue. “Are you rejecting me?”

“That wasn’t a proposition,” he growled. “It was desperation.”

He snarled before he could help it.

“Are you offended?” Levi asked. “Good. That’s how I feel having you reduce me to a sex-crazed fiend. Let’s be clear, omega. I could have fucked you at any time. I sure as hell didn’t need to bring you all the way out to the middle of nowhere and ply you with nice things to do it. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t your infallible brother bite your best friend on a filthy carnival attraction floor? Did you start looking at him the way you’re currently looking at me?”

Elm faltered. “How am I looking at you?”

“Like I’ve just betrayed you,” he surprised him by saying. “Has our relationship already progressed to the level where you can feel deceived over something like this? I’ve never lied to you.”

“Don’t.” He held up a hand. “You’re twisting things. Trying to turn this around on me. Don’t think I’m not well aware that you’ve only ever given me half-truths, Leviathan. You tell me what you want me to know, nothing more, nothing less.”

“I don’t need you to believe me. I just need you to trust that I want you for a lot more than your body. That isn’t a trick, omega. If all I’d wanted was to get inside of you, I would have done so several times over already.”

Elm had already guessed that Levi was the type who needed to get to know someone before he bedded them. He’d doubted his theory just now, but everything the alpha was saying lined up. That didn’t make this better, though. If anything, it only made him feel more uncertain.

“This isn’t about collecting data anymore,” he dared say. “This isn’t about some experiment.”

“Life as a whole is one big experiment.” Levi disagreed. “It’s all practice until we either get the results we were after or we fail miserably. Think about it. The choices you make that dictate the course of your life, the relationships you form and break…all of that is done by weighing the odds. Taking risks. Getting to know someone to see if you’re compatible is rooted in trial and error.”

“We are not compatible.” They couldn’t be.

“Last chance.” Levi took a step closer. “Calm yourself, omega. You’re flooding the room with aggressive pheromones. I’ve put up with it as long as I’m willing to.”

Was he?

Elm grasped the edge of the cabinet behind him and inhaled, focusing his attention inward.

“It’s my fault,” the alpha said. “I shouldn’t have kept you outside. You’re in an emotionally volatile state right now since you’ve just come out of heat.”

“Just,” Elm squeezed his eyes shut, “please stop talking for a minute.”

Levi taking the blame and apologizing only made things more complicated. It was impossible to tell how much of what Elm was feeling was rational, and how much was created because of the unstable pheromones building up inside of him. Pheromones weren’t just a smell, they were a chemical, an energy. After two months, he was still struggling to learn how to live with them.

That familiar soothing scent came from the alpha’s direction, and Elm welcomed it, inhaling deeply, letting it settle around him and lick against his skin. The tension began easing from his shoulders, the anxiety slipping away.

It was fascinating that one person could cause this much effect on another.

Both thrilling and terrifying.

“Which Rabbit God is depicted in the statue downstairs?” Levi waited until Elm’s breathing had evened out before asking.

“The one the Connects worship. He can change his visage at will. Only his true love knows his real face.” Elm admittedly found that romantic. “Everyone says they like me because I’m easy to get along with. I don’t take things too seriously and tend to go with the flow.” He scowled. “I’m laid back, but that doesn’t mean I’m unfeeling.”

As a beta, he was constantly overlooked, even by his own parents. Their worry for Kian, a dominant alpha who also happened to be adopted, always outweighed any concern they could possibly muster for Elm. Things had only gotten worse once Kian had been diagnosed with psychopathic tendencies. As the stable, normal brother, Elm was trusted to be left to his own devices.

He didn’t want to complain. His family loved him, and he was grateful for that.

But sometimes…love wasn’t enough.