A selfish part of me was pleased, though. He was mine. We’d have to be near each other, or both of us would waste away, in pain from the lack of contact with our bond mate. The pain may last forever, if we parted. I wanted him with me every fucking second. I just wished I’d claimed him in a more civilized manner.
“Can you make sure he’s OK?”I asked Freya, reverting to our prior method of communication.
“Why can’t you do it?”
“I don’t trust myself. I’m still hungry, and my instincts are in overdrive. Marking him without consent can’t be undone now, but I’m not going to lose myself and fuck him senseless before he has a chance to accept me. Please?”
She sighed softly, out loud, and shoved past me to Nolan, crouching by his side. “Find a warm body to drain dry, Ozzy. There are plenty,” she said.
My nose crinkled at the thought of drinking stale blood, but it wouldn’t be worse than the taste of blood when I’d been in familiar form. That fucking witch had cursed me to still need the sustenance, but given it the flavour of garbage and rot. She was a gods damned sadist.
Sniffing out the most appealing of the dead men, I grabbed his wrist and sank my fangs in, trying to swallow without tasting it. The flavour wasn’t horrible, but it overlaid the delicious taste of Freya, marring it. A damn tragedy. By the time I struggled to pull more blood out of his exsanguinated body, I was full up and confident I wouldn’t attack anyone again.
Shan was watching me warily, standing between Freya and I, and Caspian was pressed to his side, slightly behind. The incubus appeared to be just as uncomfortable around me in human form as he had been when I’d been a cat. Then again, it might have something to do with my complete lack of clothing. Striding further into the small suite I found a closet full of clothes and stole what would fit me. A pair of sweatpants, grey and far too tight, and a t-shirt that stretched across my pecs. Whoever lived in this room would have to deal with never getting these clothes back — we’d already messed up the floor of this place with blood, cum, and dead bodies.
“How is he?”I asked Freya without turning to look at them.
She was whispering to him in the corner, but I couldn’t hear what was being said.“He needs you.”
I cringed. Was I going to be able to give any kind of comfort to a man I’d just claimed like a feral animal? If she thought it best I go over to him, I would, but I hated the thought of making this situation worse. With a deep sigh, I steeled myself for a rejection.
TWO
Nolan
My body hummed with need, and I’d already made a mess in my pants.
I’d never in my life felt like this. Burning with desire. If this was a toned down version of the desire Omegas had all the time, I didn’t know how Freya was functioning right now. She was in heat. Her scent was notably heightened, even for an untrained Beta nose like mine.
She was in heat, and I was lusting after her and Oswald like fucking crazy.
“Nolan, calm down,” Freya murmured, careful not to touch me.
Oswald had sent her over here instead of coming himself. What did that mean for me? Had I spent my entire life avoiding Alpha/Omega politics, only to be claimed by a frenzied Alpha and abandoned to pine? I would live. I’d have to. I’d lived through worse, probably.
“Tell me what you need, Nolan,” she said my name again, and I dragged my wide-eyed stare away from Ozzy’s broad back and to her.
“Um…” I trailed off, not sure what to say.
I neededhim. My bite mark was throbbing, begging for the bond to be consummated. He may have marked me accidentally, but something about me had called him. Would he want the bond to be completed? If we never did, it may eventually fade away with plenty of anguish and longing. Nothing about the fading would be pleasant for either of us, and there was no guarantee the bond he’d created would ever snap and break completely.
“Can I touch you?”
I nodded, and she wiped a tear from my cheek. I couldn’t remember when I’d cried, at first, but I realized it was when he’d first marked me. They weren’t angry tears, or sad tears, but tears of joy. Was that pathetic? To be so thrilled by finally being wanted by someone that I cried? Possibly.
“Do you want to go somewhere else? Away from him?” she asked, glancing over at where Oswald stood now, pulling clothes onto his bulky form.
“No,” I said.
I’d rather be close to him.
The words wouldn’t force their way from my throat.
“Do you need to feed, too? I know you were injured, and he took a lot of blood from you.”
She offered her wrist and I shook my head. “I’m not in dire need, and I won’t take your blood. You’ve lost too much already, considering you’re in heat.”
Freya’s cheeks darkened, as if this was the first time she’d been reminded of her predicament. Everyone else in the room was well aware and hadn’t forgotten. Her gaze went unfocused for a second, and she stood. “We need to figure out if we’re safe in here or if we’ve been overrun. I’m going to talk to Ama.”
