an omega. I don’t have a submissive bone in my body. You should just let me go.”
He smiled. “Ahh, but I am enjoying the game. The chase... the dance between us. It is like combat, of a sort.” He leaned back, his arms resting on the edge of the tub. “A combat I shall win. Now... would you like the cleanser?”
“Yes,” she bit off the single syllable. This was a trap. She knew it. He thought this was a game. This was her life, and she wasn’t ready to surrender it to him. Obey and submit? Not happening.
“And what price would you offer me this time?”
“Another kiss. Same as before.”
“No. Try again. Something with a bit more value.”
“Two kisses.” She really wanted that cleanser. The hot water was lovely, but to be clean. Truly and properly clean? She’d sell her soul... to anyone but this annoying alpha.
“Better. Not enough, but better.” He lifted the jar and rocked it from side to side. “Three kisses. Proper ones, this time. If you don’t know how, I’d be happy to teach you.”
She stayed where she was.
“Define ‘proper kisses’?” she asked, hardly daring to breathe. Not because he was in here with her, not because she was challenging him... but because he was letting her.
“Do you not know what a proper kiss is?” She saw the eyebrow raise, the slightly mocking lilt to his voice, and her temper cracked.
“I’m a fucking omega, you asshole! You think I’ve let any guy anywhere near me? Of course I don’t know what you assholes consider a proper kiss!”
He went utterly still. So still she wasn’t sure he was even breathing. It felt like forever before he spoke again. “Shar’ai. Have you never...”
He swallowed hard, his shoulders tense, his jaw tight. “Come here, Savannah.”
“I don’t think so.” He was pure predator right now. She could almost imagine a tail lashing behind him.
“Now,” he growled. “I will not move from this spot. But you will come to me and let me show you what pleasure can be found in a kiss.”
She shouldn’t be tempted by that offer. What did an alpha know about pleasure? Pain and fear were all any of them offered the omegas they captured.
But still... he hadn’t hurt her. And he was attractive and strong. Unwanted images danced through her mind accompanied by a surge of desire so powerful it made her dizzy. She’d actually moved a little closer to him, like she wanted to obey...
“You’ll hurt me.”
“Oh for—” He broke off and dropped his head back, swearing viciously in his own language. When he lifted his head, a muscle jumped in the corner of his jaw. “I will not hurt you,” he bit out. “And do not insult me again, or I will get annoyed.”
Setting the bottle down on the floor by the edge of the sunken tub, he reached up and laced his hands behind his head. “I will not even touch you. Satisfied?”
“I…um. Yes.” She wasn’t really aware of the words coming out of her mouth. She was too busy trying to make sense of what was happening. She’d pushed every button, defied him, argued, even thrown things, and he still hadn’t raised a hand to her. He kept giving her choices when they both knew she didn’t really have any.
She moved toward him, stopping just out of easy reach. “Was what I said really an insult?”
“Yes. No honorable male would hurt their omega. It is our duty to protect and cherish our females.”
“Huh. So, why did all the dishonorable ones get sent to Earth?”
“Mistakes were made. The L’crav are no longer in charge of this planet. I am H’thor. We have honor.”
She watched him warily, waiting for him to pounce. He simply sighed. “Would you have me bind my hands as well, little omega? What would it take for you to trust me?”
There was an edge in his voice, almost like hurt, that made her chest ache. Slowly she eased forward, first touching his thigh with her hand under the water. When that didn’t spark him into action, she slid the rest of the way, kneeling over his lap. Rather than make her straddle him, he’d moved, sliding one leg straight in the water. The quirk of his eyebrow practically screamed, “See?”
She didn’t say anything as she leaned forward. His body tensed a little as she put her hands on his shoulders to brace herself as she leaned forward.
“What do I do?” she asked, her lips a hairsbreadth from his.
“Close your eyes