"I hope you feel better now, Winter," he said quietly. "That’s what everyone wants, isn’t it? To see me knocked down. Humiliated. Stripped of everything my father gave me, everything they think I don’t deserve. Just a worthless little piece of shit who does not deserve… you. Isn’t that right?"
Something in my chest twisted. I stepped toward him on impulse.
I raised my hand—
He flinched.
That reaction, that instinctive recoil, shattered even more inside me. He thought I was going to hit him again?
But my hand came down gently, fingertips brushing his cheek. I trembled. He trembled.
Slowly, tenderly, I stroked his soft, warm skin. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen sadder eyes.
He turned his face slightly, inhaling near my wrist.
I watched, unmoving, as he lifted his hand, fingers circling my wrist, pulling it closer, toward his mouth.
As his lips pressed against the small gland there, I shuddered.
Every ABO has tiny scent glands on the inner wrists. For omegas, these are highly active, allowing them to mark their nests with pheromones. For betas, like the ones on the neck, they’re mostly dormant. But Sariel’s nose found mine effortlessly.
He gazed up at me from behind my wrist, pupils blown wide. His lips drew back just enough for me to see, his mating teeth were out.
Something wild surged through me.
But I didn’t pull away.
And then… his fangs sank into my wrist.
A sharp, electric pleasure shot through me, ripping a gasp from my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting the urge to moan as that sweet, blissful sensation cascaded down my spine, spreading through my stiffening cock, clenching my hole.
Then, just as suddenly, Sariel released me.
His mouth left my skin. His fingers uncurled from my wrist. His expression was dazed, as if he himself had no idea what he had just done.
"I'm… sorry," he mumbled.
Then, as if something pained him, he grimaced slightly, turned on his heel, and rushed away.
What the fuck just happened?
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
I stood there in the aisle, feeling strange, staring at my wrist. How really fucking bizarre. I let him bite me in the store! And I almost hit him. Or maybe I actually did.
That whole scene between us, the words we exchanged…
What scared me was that, in a way, he wasn’t entirely wrong. For a long time, I really hadn’t wished him well. I wanted to see him humiliated, to see him get some kind of punishment for all the things he had that he didn’t deserve. Because I had to fight for everything I had in life, while he had it all handed to him on a silver platter.
But at the end of that list, one more thought crept into my mind.
He never asked for any of it. He didn’t choose to be born into that family. And he sure as hell didn’t ask to work at this company, in my department, it was forced on him. And yet, somehow, he was the one paying the price for it.
I tossed two bags of random pasta into my basket and turned toward the checkout, feeling torn apart and frustrated.
Two registers over, Sariel was standing there, hunched over, staring at the floor. He clearly hadn’t noticed me.
That’s when I saw it, he wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his black long-sleeve shirt. No drawing printed on his chest today.
