warning I got before Ethan Black stalked in. He pulled up inside the door, nostrils flared like my scent offended him.
Yes, I saw that it did.
I was curled up on my side on the small bed, but I rolled to a sitting position and waited for the words.
“We’re docking imminently.”
“Okay.” My stomach gave a sickly lurch. I’d been braced for this, but it still came as a shock.
“The government will want you. I’m not ready to hand you over to them yet.”
“Okay.”
“I fucking hate you. Do you have any idea how much I crave your death?”
My temper flared. “Your fantasy is particularly well scripted. So yes, I fucking do!”
He huffed out a breath, but he wasn’t projecting death anymore, so I took that as a positive cue.
“You were close to Hammond Cohen? The reports we received said you were always seen together. You loyal to him?”
“Loyal?” I spat. “Are you out of your mind? I was his personal Omega pet! He liked to flaunt me like a prize. No, I don’t suffer any loyalty toward him. I wished he’d drop dead!”
His arms crossed, and his mind turned disturbingly quiet. “There were rumors he took the virus. That he’d become an Alpha and had bonded to you. I’m guessing something went wrong with that little plan since he wasn’t an Alpha that I could see… and he offered you up.”
We were communicating, it seemed. I hoped this was a positive development, but more likely, he wanted to squeeze me for information before tossing me into hell. “He took several viral doses. It never latched. I don’t believe it ever will. Just before—the incident where we met. He took an enhanced dose, but it failed once again. He’s not the only person with power there. The resident Omega expert determined I should be bonded for my own well-being. The female Alpha just wanted to punish me for daring to ridicule her recent failing.”
His lips tugged up in a cold smile. “That the same Alpha who hurt my mate?”
I nodded, wondering if mentioning her had been a poor move on my part.
“You think drawing connections between your experience and my mate’s will bring you any charity? It won’t. Your life is one big fucking tragedy. You just keep sucking the next victim in.”
“She’ll forgive you,” I said. His low growl warned me I was treading a dangerous path, yet I lurched forward regardless. “Is it going to hurt? Yes, but you will get through it. If you truly believed otherwise, you’d have snapped my neck in the nesting chamber like you keep threatening to do. We both know you won’t.” I swallowed. A pissed-off Ethan Black was a terrifying sight. “You wouldn’t have done what you did,” I said softly, no longer able to meet his gaze. “Unless you believed.”
“You think that? That she’ll forgive me? What the fuck would you even know?”
When I glanced up, I saw vulnerability in his eyes. None of what I’d said had softened him toward me. But it had softened him toward his own fate.
“Yes,” I said. It was a lie. I’d no idea what Lilly would or would not do when he returned. The Omega was pregnant, and yet few could tolerate another encroaching on their patch. The only thing I could read with certainty was that Ethan was living in hope. If she didn’t or couldn’t, my demise would be swift and absolute.
Ethan
In the early hours of the morning, the blacked-out ground vehicle swept into the underground parking complex of Peppermint Moon, a prestigious nightclub catering to Chimera’s dynamic elites. Despite the hour, the heavy bass would still be thumping in the club.
That wasn’t my destination, though.
Larissa sat beside me in the back of the vehicle. Not beside exactly since she was plastered up against the opposite door. Maybe she hated me as much as I hated her. Or she’d caught a glimpse of my neck-snapping fantasy. It was a dick move on my part, but fuck her. She’d be out of my hands soon, so I figured I’d enjoy the last opportunity to screw with her.
“She’ll forgive you,” she’d said. Even knowing the bitch was telling me what I wanted to hear, the words still found a chink in my hatred.
Two Beta floor managers escorted us to a private elevator.
I could feel her doe eyes on me as we ascended. Silently pleading with me not to fuck up her already fucked-up life.
“Don’t ask me to forgive you,” I growled. “I’m not Lilly, and I