“Evander tells me you’re a medical researcher,” Saskia said, breaking the silence. “You must be very clever.”
Clara shrugged, embarrassed. “I just studied hard. When my mom got sick, I wanted to do everything possible to help her.”
There was a flicker of sorrow in Saskia’s eyes. “I understand. I’m very close to my mom, even though I don’t see her often these days. So I can only imagine how you must have felt.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you working on anything in particular right now?” Arius asked, his dark eyes intent, probing, never leaving Clara’s face.
“A few things.” Something told Clara he was fishing, and she’d be damned if she mentioned suppressants.
“Clara is very dedicated to her work,” Evander added icily. “More dedicated than any other Alpha woman I’ve met.”
Arius grinned, his handsome face immediately lighting up. “That may only be because the only Alpha women you’ve spent any time with were the ones you bedded.”
Clara stared at a fixed spot on the sumptuous rug, willing her face not to heat up.
“Until now, anyway,” Evander said.
Arius merely raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Saskia came to the rescue. “Are there many Omega men at the Facility? I’ve heard there’s a bit of a dearth of potential mates for Alpha women.”
“The Omegas are about eighty percent female,” Clara said, wondering how on earth Saskia wouldn’t already know that, having spent several years at the Facility herself. She caught the look passing between the royal couple and instinctively knew there was something they were hiding from her—something Saskia had almost given away. “But there are some men.”
“It’s a shame we’re restricted the way we are,” Saskia went on, seemingly oblivious to the way Arius was suddenly glowering at her. “I got lucky, of course,” she patted Arius’s knee, “but there are so many unpaired Alphas out there who are just desperate to find their mate. You two, for instance. I think you’d make a lovely couple, if only it were biologically possible for you to have offspring.”
“Arius, can I speak to you in private for a moment?” Evander said suddenly, leaping up from the sofa as if he’d been stung.
“Of course. Let’s go into the drawing room.”
Clara’s heart began to race as the two Alphas disappeared through a doorway and she realized she was alone with Saskia. Now was her chance. But did she dare?
After taking a long swallow of wine, she leaned forward. “I know this is incredibly inappropriate, and you’re welcome to say no, but I was wondering if you could help me?” she said, finally allowing the desperation she had been feeling ever since last night to creep into her voice.
Saskia was immediately alert, leaning forward herself, her green-blue eyes wide with concern. “Of course, what’s the matter?” She patted the seat beside her. “Come over here, so we won’t be overheard.”
Clara moved as quickly as she was able to in the long formal gown. She was touched when Saskia reached out and clasped her hand as soon as she’d sat down beside her.
“I’m… I’m not really an Alpha,” she whispered, her words coming out in a rush. “I was born an Omega, like you. Nobody knows, not even my father. Especially not my father. My mother knew… we hid it from him. We hid it from everyone.”
Saskia’s eyes were like saucers but she did not interrupt.
“I took suppressants for years, and they worked… at least, until last night, at the Facility. They wore off, and Evander and I, well, it turns out we’re a match.”
A tiny frown creased Saskia’s brow. “Isn’t that a good thing? Evander’s been looking for his mate for so long, and he’s easy on the eye. He’s definitely loyal. I was just saying how great you seem together. So what’s the problem?”
Clara resisted the urge to raise her voice. “You don’t understand. I don’t want to be an Omega. I can’t be one. I have a career, my independence, not to mention the fact that I’ve been lying to everybody for all this time. My reputation would be ruined. My father would disown me. He’s always looked down on Omegas as being inferior breeding machines.”
“Oh.” Saskia was still gripping Clara’s hand and she looked down for a moment at their entwined fingers. “You have no reason to believe me but I understand your predicament better than you might think,” she said slowly. “I, too, hid my status. I pretended to be a Beta for years. I never went to the Facility when I turned eighteen like I was supposed to.”
Clara could hardly believe her ears. “Really?”
“Yep.” Saskia gave a small, embarrassed shrug. “One day I was out too late, I got caught by some Trappers and taken to the Facility, and it happened to be market night. Arius was there. Let’s just say that there was a good deal of stuff to sort out before we got to where we are now.”
“But you seem so happy.” Clara wanted to say so many things, ask so many questions, but the men could return at any moment and her pounding heart was making it hard to concentrate.
“I am—now. I wasn’t at first. Like you, I wanted more from life than to just be somebody’s mate, even if he was the next in line to the throne.”
Seizing on the most important thing she had to say first, even though she wanted to say so much more, Clara nodded. “Please don’t tell Arius about this. Please don’t tell anybody, at least not yet. If my secret gets out, a lot of my choices will be taken from me.”
“Of course,” Saskia said. “But I can’t promise Evander hasn’t already told Arius. Or that Arius hasn’t already guessed. You see how close those two are. More like brothers than friends.”
The bitter taste of bile rose at the back of Clara’s throat and she swallowed. “You think Arius already knows?”
Saskia gave a rueful smile. “We’ve only just met, and already you’re confiding in me because you had a sense that I would understand and might be able to offer you advice. So I can only imagine that Evander might be tempted to do the same with his best friend—who happens to be a fellow Alpha, who happens to have been in a similar situation.”
“Fuck,” Clara whispered, forgetting herself. Then, “Sorry.”
“It’s all right. If Arius knows—and we don’t know that for sure—I can promise you that he’ll be discreet. He didn’t tell anybody my secret, either. He’s more compassionate than he looks.”
Clara tried to absorb all this new information but the constant sense of urgency which came from not knowing how long they had before the men returned was making it almost impossible. “Can you help me get away if I need to?” she gabbled. “I don’t want to—I can’t—be with Evander, no matter what he says.” Or how my body reacts to him. “I know this is asking a lot of you and we’ve only just met, but I heard you’ve been helping Omegas… and I have no one else to ask.”
Just as Saskia opened her mouth to respond, the door opened and Arius and Evander emerged, both looking grim.
Clara only had to take one look at Arius’s face and her heart dropped into her stomach.
He knows.
Fuck.
It was hard to judge whose eyes were wider—Saskia’s or Clara’s. They sat side-by-side on the gold sofa, looking for all the world like guilty children who had been caught doing something they shouldn’t.
Mere seconds after Evander and Arius had re-entered the room, Clara got to her feet. “Thank you so much for the drink,” she said, “but it’s really late and I have to get going.” She exaggerated a yawn. “I’m so tired, it’s been a long day.”
“Are you sure?” Saskia said. Evander got the sense he and Arius had interrupted the girls’ conversation and that the new queen wanted to continue it.
“Absolutely,” Clara said. “It was so lovely meeting you, and you, Your Highness.” She inclined her head toward Arius. “I hope we can do this again sometime.”
Evander watched, bemused, as she turned and headed for the main double doors without giving him a second glance. As if she thought she co
uld escape him.
Of course she couldn’t know that, during his private conversation with Arius, Evander had confirmed his friend’s suspicions—and found out where exactly she lived.
“Oh, before I forget, Tavos asked me to give you these. You weren’t home when he tried to drop them off earlier.” Arius took Evander’s car keys from a nearby drawer and tossed them to him. “He said to tell you it’s parked in bay 16B on the second level.”
“Please thank him for me.” Evander had completely forgotten about his car.
“I will.” Arius raised an eyebrow and inclined his head towards the doors through which Clara had vanished. “Aren’t you going to go with her?”
“I’d hate to seem impolite. I haven’t even finished my drink.”
“It’s fine,” Arius said, “go.”
Evander returned his knowing grin, gave Saskia a quick kiss on the cheek, and strode out into the corridor.
He felt as if an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders after his brief talk with Arius. Now that he knew where Clara lived, the constant feeling of desperation had lessened somewhat—after all, she could no longer hide from him.
The elevator dinged in the distance and Evander knew it signaled Clara’s exit to the ground floor. Where before, the sound would have made him panic, now he relished the thought of her surprise when he knocked on her door just a few moments after she arrived home.
While he lived in the same building as Arius, Clara lived in another—just three blocks away, as it happened. Evander felt himself grinning. Small world.
The moment they’d entered the drawing room, Arius had rounded on him. “She’s the one,” he’d said. “I can’t believe Clara Pitino is an Omega!”
“I know. I would never have guessed.”
“Once you’re aware, though, it seems more obvious.” Arius had rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his fingertips rasping over the dark stubble. “She’s smaller than most Alpha women.”
“That’s about the only thing she has in common with the Omegas I’ve met,” Evander had retorted glumly. “She walks, talks, and behaves like an Alpha. And she’s determined to continue living as one.”
“She can’t.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Evander had sighed. “I’ve tried everything to convince her. Rational discussion, threatening, even cajoling. I’ve told her she can keep working, I’ve told her we can make it work but that she has to accept we’re meant to be together. She refuses to accept it.”
“Her father would freak out if he knew,” Arius said thoughtfully.
“And she’s scared of him, for some reason,” Evander said. “I’ve yet to find out why, exactly.”
“Neros is not a guy to be messed with,” Arius said. “He was very tight with Deimos and he isn’t above playing very dirty to get what he wants. He didn’t get to his position by being nice, if you know what I mean.”
“That may be so but I still can’t see how that would make Clara so afraid of him. He seems to dote on her.”
“She must be feeling all kinds of fear,” Arius said. “This is unprecedented. She must be terrified of anybody finding out, especially me. You must tell her I’m aware of the situation and that she has nothing to worry about with regards to potential prosecution.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Evander had said, although he’d known Arius would never be so cruel as to imprison the woman his best friend was meant to be with.
“After hiding Saskia’s secret, I’d be a hypocrite not to show Clara the same courtesy.” Arius had shrugged.
“Still… thanks.”
“How is she when you’re alone with her?” Arius went on to ask.
“A fucking contradiction. She keeps telling me to go and to stay away, but her body says otherwise. She’s in heat, there’s no doubt about it. And once I get my hands on her, she’s powerless to resist.” Evander had clenched his fists at the thought. “If she had been raised differently, if she wasn’t so fucking adamant that being an Omega—that being my mate—is the worst idea in the world, everything would be perfect. She would be perfect.”
“I have an idea,” Arius had said suddenly.
And as he’d listened to his friend, Evander had realized what an idiot he’d been. The solution was so obvious, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t hit on it himself.
It was simple.
It was foolproof.
It was brilliant.
He couldn’t wait to put it into action.
The cool air stung his face as he stepped outside and made for Clara’s building. He wondered if she’d already made it home. Whether she’d already kicked off her heels and perhaps even slipped out of her gown.
His cock was pounding at the thought—as it had done all evening—aching for relief. Soon, he would have it. The only time Clara was pliant and submissive was when she was naked and writhing beneath him.
All the more reason to move forward with his plan.
As he entered the lobby and looked around for the elevator, he asked himself why he had been so accommodating toward Clara up until now.
It was guilt, he figured, for having taken her virginity so roughly. For being so unable to control himself that he hadn’t realized it was her first time. She’d been so stoic and brave, he’d been full of admiration and respect.
But ever since that night, she had done nothing but antagonize him, and he’d gone along with it, allowing her to call the shots and keep him at arm’s length.
The elevator doors opened on her floor, and Evander permitted himself a smile.
Clara had only been thinking of herself up until now. Not about him. Not about his needs.
Squaring his shoulders, he lifted his chin and marched up to her door, taking a deep breath before rapping on it sharply.
Arius was right. Evander was the Alpha. No matter what Clara thought, or said, she was an Omega. And Evander was about to take what was his.
Whether she wanted him to or not.
Chapter Eight
Clara knew exactly who was banging on her door in the middle of the night. She obviously hadn’t been fast enough. He must have followed her home.
“Go away!” she called, her heart pounding. While she had taken off her heels, she was still in the gown, which suddenly felt much too tight.
“It’s me,” Evander growled. “If you don’t let me in, I will kick this door down.”
“You wouldn’t!” she retorted, but her voice came out as a breathy squeak. His tone had changed; gone was the amiable, friendly Evander and in his place was a dangerous Alpha in rut.
“You have until the count of three. One.”
Clara closed her eyes, her mind racing. Would he really—
“Two…”
There was such menace in his voice, she already felt herself reaching for the handle.
“Three.”
Clara yanked the door open and there he stood, towering over her, his russet hair escaping from its ponytail, his dark blue eyes almost black with hunger. His scent assailed her nostrils and sent her reeling. Her nipples beaded into hard points, pressing against the bodice of the gown, and a bolt of desire shot from her lower belly right to her sex, which clenched hard, drenching her panties with a gush of slick.
In the next moment, he was on her, his lips crushing hers, his tongue invading her mouth hungrily, his hands tugging at the zipper on the back of her dress.
Clara moaned, the sound muffled by his kiss, as he walked her backward, kicking the door shut behind them.
He’d gotten the zipper all the way down and was now sliding the dress off her shoulders and to her waist, grunting with exasperation when he realized how tight it was around her hips. Lifting his lips from hers, he said, “If you don’t help me, I’ll tear it off.”
Drunk on the taste and smell of him, she wriggled obediently, desperate to feel his tongue on hers once more. Once she’d successfully shimmied out of the gown, he reached down and slid her panties aside, thrusting two fingers deep
inside her as his mouth came back down on hers. His other hand found her breast, squeezing it hard enough to bruise, pinching the nipple cruelly. Clara yelped in pain but that seemed only to inflame him more and he twisted the swollen bud, still licking her tongue greedily, his fingers working that spot inside her pussy which never failed to make her gush.
She felt his growl before she heard it, and it tipped her over the edge. Wrapping her fingers in his velvet hair, she sucked on his lower lip and climaxed hard, riding his thrusting fingers, her pussy contracting around them, her slick dribbling into his palm and trickling down the insides of her thighs.
He milked every last throbbing spasm from her until her knees gave way and she sank to the floor. To her astonishment, instead of holding her up, he supported her on her way down, and once she was on her knees, she realized why as he undid his pants and guided his huge, hard cock to her mouth.
“Suck it,” he snarled, still growling, the vibrations humming through her very being.
The tiny remaining rational portion of her mind was shocked and humiliated by his request, but Clara was in heat and suddenly she wanted to taste every part of him. His scent was overpowering now, and it was sweeter and more potent than the best wine. Clara licked the crown of his shaft tentatively, his taste flooding her tongue, and Evander responded with a growl, gripping the back of her head and shoving his entire length into her mouth.
When he hit the back of her throat, Clara gagged and tried to pull away but he held her in place with an iron grip.
“Take it all, sweetness. For me,” he ordered, withdrawing enough to let her catch her breath before sliding back inside.
Clara wanted nothing more than to please him, to make him feel as good as he’d made her feel. The texture and taste of his shaft was intoxicating and she sucked it greedily, relishing his groans and the way his fingers tightened on her scalp.
His thick thighs were trembling and she suddenly felt inordinately powerful. She was the one reducing this huge Alpha to a shuddering, groaning mess. Relaxing her throat, she found she could take him deeper, and he responded with a roar, his hands rigid on the back of her head. His cock pulsed against her lips and she realized he was coming, shooting past her tongue and straight down her throat.
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