“Necessary? Of course not. We’re not doing it because it’s necessary. We’re doing it because it’s what both these bitches deserve. Dark bond her.”
His hand gestured needlessly to Kiara.
I stiffened.
He couldn’t dark bond her. She was already bonded to me.
Except, he could. Cordian could give my omega either a dark bond or a normal bond… if I gave him permission to do so. He didn’t even need permission from Kiara. She’d already given me permission for the dark bond, so it carried over to anyone I thought worthy of joining our tiny, omega centric pack.
Why did Tobias think I was ever going to do that?
Clamping my mouth shut, I finally felt some give in the restraints. I’d be able to slide my hands free soon.
“A normal bond might be—”
“Are you going to do what you’re supposed to, or should I contact the Belisle pack?”
The threat shut Cordian’s complaints up. The pack lead stepped up to Kiara. My view was still mostly blocked, only letting me see the side of her head and that bloodied hair. Her whines grew in intensity when Cordian brushed the hair back from her neck, exposing the healing bruises and the bondmark that proclaimed her as mine.
He leaned closer, limbs stiff, a cringe twisting his features. Cordian Ashby was a fucking coward, and when his teeth were inches from my mate’s neck, I couldn’t sit by and watch it happen.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I spat. “I’m never going to accept you into this pack, so there’s no point in even trying.”
Cordian paused, looking up at Tobias. Kiara’s brother spun to me again, looking utterly self-satisfied. He was confident that he’d won.
“Yes, you are,” Tobias said.
“No way.”
“She’s in immense pain,” he said with a shrug. “Only going to get worse, too. Omegas aren’t meant to go through heat without an alpha or some drug to shut them up. If you accept the bond, she can go in that room with you.”
My gaze flitted to Kiara, but I couldn’t see her face. Her hair was damp with sweat, and I had the sense of her through the bond. Fear was the prominent emotion. She was terrified of that bond being placed on her neck. Or was she terrified of going through heat alone, with no one but her brother taunting her? The bond was too ambiguous to tell.
I had to guess.
We’d barely known each other for a week. How was I supposed to guess? She’d been willing to bond any pack on the goddamn street when we first met, offering up her neck in exchange for her safety.
This wouldn’t be for her safety, though.
She’d be forever bound to her brother if the Ashby pack claimed her.
I hated that I had to make this decision for her, but even if I’d shouted the question, Kiara was in no shape to answer. Every sound that came out of her was a whimper or moan, sounding increasingly more choked each time.
“I’m not letting some random pack dark bond my omega,” I hissed.
“Do it, Cordian.”
The alpha struck without more hesitation. His teeth sank into Kiara’s neck, the attempt at a bond right beside mine. She screamed, the sound echoing around the basement and then bouncing around in my brain.
A bond lit up, a sickly grey glow in my consciousness. It was tenuous, shuddering, not as tangible as the bond I had with Kiara. And it was inquiring. Asking me silently for permission, prodding at me to give an answer immediately, a yes or a no.
For a split second I considered saying yes.
She could be with me through her heat and I could take away the pain. We could deal with the consequences after—killing the Ashby pack would break the bond. I wasn’t above doing that to someone who dared to claim what was mine without her permission.
But that would break her more than a painful heat would.
I was confident I was right, as confident as I could be. She wouldn’t trust me anymore if I let this pack bond her, and she would have to suffer through the pain of a shattered bond when I killed them.
