by Marcy Jacks
Evzen thought Cole would continue to ask questions, that he wouldn’t believe what Evzen had said without more details, but he just smiled, his tail working again. “I’m glad.”
Evzen’s heart thumped. His mate trusted him. This was a sign of trust. He needed to make sure not to break it.
Evzen smiled back at the man, petting his hair.
Cole then took Evzen by his hand, bringing them together, looking at them, comparing.
“Your hand is a lot bigger than mine.”
“It is.” Evzen nodded, flexing his fingers. “That’s what happens when you’re born either a beta or an alpha.”
Cole nodded. “But why is it so much darker?”
Evzen didn’t understand.
Cole looked up at him then back down at their hands, and Evzen thought he got it. “You mean my skin color?”
“Yes,” Cole said. “Why is it so dark?”
“I was born this way.” Evzen couldn’t believe it. “Have you really never seen a black man before?”
He should have at least seen someone on television. Did the omegas not have television around here? There were TVs in literally every room Evzen had been in so far, including this one.
Even if Varrick didn’t have other kinds of people around himself, and even if he’d entirely cut off his omegas from the outside world, Cole had been free for months. He should have seen someone at some point who looked like him.
Cole, meanwhile, was frowning about something. “That’s not a very nice thing to say about yourself.”
“Say what?”
Cole looked up at him then touched his face. “You’re not black. You’re more like…an earthy brown. Like the soil in the gardens or the bark of the pine trees outside.”
Evzen couldn’t help it. It was partly horrifying to know his mate had been so sheltered that he’d never seen someone who looked like him before, and yet so utterly innocent that Cole could think Evzen meant the word black literally, that he couldn’t help but burst out laughing right before kissing his mate again.
Between rounds of sex, he was going to have to turn on the television and find something for his mate to watch. Maybe he could rent some Jackie Chan movies, The Matrix trilogy, or The Dark Tower, if it was out yet, so he could introduce his mate to other kinds of people.
* * * *
They talked a bit, made love some more, talked some more, lazily fucked, and by the end, Evzen’s mate had clearly been struggling to stay awake.
It was nearly seven in the morning by then, long after Evzen should have been out of bed, and even Cole had been mumbling something about getting his chores done when Evzen shushed him and tucked him under his arm.
Evzen got maybe an hour’s sleep before he woke. He had too much to do. It was eight in the morning, and his men, his former men, were going to wonder why they hadn’t seen him at dawn when they usually woke up.
Evzen gently eased himself out of bed, careful to not wake his mate. The last thing he wanted was for Cole to rush out of bed, glance around himself, and worry about his chores.
If Evzen had it his way, the man would never do chores ever again.
He quietly cleaned himself up in the bathroom, shaved, dressed, and left, making sure to close the door quietly enough that the handle didn’t click.
He sighed then left.
Evzen needed to have a word with Seth about this.
Cole was an omega under Seth’s protection, and yet the man hadn’t bothered to notice how Cole had been working himself nonstop like this?
Cole basically acted as though he was still under vampire rule in this house. It was no wonder he didn’t know about other races of people. Whenever there was a television on in any of the rooms, he didn’t go in them. Television had been forbidden to the omegas, and Cole still obeyed that rule. He hadn’t even wanted Evzen to turn it on between rounds of lovemaking, and it had been more than obvious when Cole had tried to distract Evzen from the remote with his body.
In a way it made perfect sense. The vampires would want the omegas to know nothing about the outside world. It was the perfect way to keep them isolated and ignorant.
Forbid them from learning how to read, forbid them from television, and forbid them from knowledge.
It infuriated him now that he thought about it, and how many other omegas were walking around this house right now who still weren’t aware of the world outside of this place?
And why the fuck hadn’t Seth done something about it?
It was easy to find the man. Breakfast would have been long over. A house like this woke up early, but the red dragon was with his mate, and even some of Evzen’s clan members were standing around him in the foyer.
Evzen stopped to listen, folding his arms.
Seth was giving them the house rules for sparring. No flying, no weapons, and if possible, they had to do it in the basement whenever they did want to bring out their dragon forms. All stuff that made perfect sense, but Evzen tapped his finger on his arm, waiting for the man to finish so he could ask the questions that burned inside his mind.
Theron noticed him first, and then Lasius, Ares, and basically all the men he’d come here with before Seth turned his attention to where Evzen stood.
The man started to smile but then didn’t. He must have noticed the look on Evzen’s face.
“Can I talk with you?” Evzen asked, though his asking was more like a command. He wasn’t going to leave this up for discussion.
“What happened?” Ares asked, looking to Seth with a lot more venom. “What did he do?”
“Nothing you need to be concerned about. Seth?” Evzen didn’t want to give off any bad vibes around his men, though he knew that ship had sailed. Might as well get this out of the way now while he could.
Seth kept his composure, which Evzen supposed he needed to be grateful for but wasn’t. “Of course.”
Seth put his hand on Miles’s shoulder, a clear signal that he wanted his mate to stay back.
Evzen growled at that. Did the alpha really think Evzen was going to try to hurt him or something? Or, worse, did Seth not want Evzen knowing about how sheltered he kept his own mate along with the other omegas in this house?
“We can talk in the breakfast room,” Seth said, his eyes flashing red very briefly just as he walked by.
Evzen wanted to smirk at the man. He knew what that look meant, though he still followed Seth down the brightly lit hallway.
Seth could be taking him to a death trap for all he knew, but he was willing to bet that wasn’t the case, even if the man was a prick.
“I suppose all the open windows means your vampire friend won’t be out and about?”
“Sorin sleeps for the first half of the day, usually,” Seth growled. “He knows how to get around with the windows open anyway.”
“Uh-huh, wonderful.” Evzen could hardly contain his anger. “And are the omegas supposed to hide themselves as they do their chores? Do they have to walk through special doors to keep them out of sight from you and the dragons who took this place over?”
Seth walked through another door into what appeared to be a smaller dining room. The tables had white frilled tablecloths on them and glass vases with fresh flowers that were in colorful bloom. The tables were beneath tall arched windows and the thinnest curtains, which really looked more for show.
It was bright in here. If Evzen had a mother, he could have brought her here for a nice brunch.
“I’m shocked the vampires wouldn’t have had tinted windows.”
“They did,” Seth growled. “They were clear until direct sunlight hit them, but the omegas thought it looked nicer with real windows, so we asked Sorin and had them replaced.”
Evzen looked at the man. “I’m shocked you would have asked for permission in the first place. Or was it not that kind of permission?”
Seth shut the door behind him then gave Evzen a stare harder than anything he’d given since the day Evzen and his clan had saved Sorin’s ass from the assas
sins in black. “What’s this about? Why do you have sand in your vagina?”
Evzen grinned, though he wasn’t going to deny how pissed off he still was. “Sand in my vagina, that’s good. Cuts real deep, okay, well, possibly there’s sand in my bag because I just found out last night that you still treat Cole like he’s a fucking slave.”
Seth’s head jerked back. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that he’s never watched TV before. He can’t read, and he was terrified when I tried to get him to hold a book. He still walks around this place like he thinks he’s going to get punished at any second. You know I had to explain to him why my skin is dark? He’s never seen a black man before. Ever.”
Seth blinked at that news. He seemed shocked. Seemed. Evzen wasn’t going to let himself be lulled by that because the more he spoke, the more enraged he became.
“No, that’s not possible,” Seth said. “All the omegas here have had the chance to socialize. They’re learning how to read, and I’ve seen them clustered around the TV. Even if they’ve never watched TV or movies before, Varrick must have had guests in his house from time to time.”
“Yeah, well, he didn’t, and I want to know why the fuck the omegas around here are still working to begin with if they’re so damned free.”
“Because they’re choosing to, you fuck,” Seth snapped. “You really think I make them do anything around here? You think my men don’t have chores of their own to see to? We all work in this house.”
“Yeah, some more than others.”
A soft knock sounded at the door. They both spun around. Miles stood right there, the door half open, looking embarrassed. “Sorry.”
Seth groaned. “Sweetie, you don’t need to be here for this.”
The little fox shifter stepped into the room anyway, quietly shutting the door behind him. His ears twitched, as though he wanted to lower them but was struggling not to give away that sort of physical tell that he was nervous. “I think I should be in here,” he said, glancing at his mate, still looking worried.
And that was setting Evzen off even more. “What do you have to be scared of, Miles? If your mate isn’t terrorizing you.”
Seth growled, snapping long teeth at him. Evzen didn’t back down.
Miles stepped next to his mate, taking Seth by his hand and lacing their fingers together.
Great. Now Evzen wouldn’t be able to attack if he wanted to. He wouldn’t be able to keep himself from harming Miles by accident.
“Evzen,” Miles started, glancing nervously up at him. “I know your heart’s in the right place, and I’m very glad you love Cole enough to want to help him, but I promise, he’s being taken care of here. He’s not in any danger, and no one is hurting him.”
“Uh-huh.” Evzen looked at Seth, not really believing it. “Are you learning how to read and write? Do you get time to yourself to watch TV? Have you ever left this house?”
“A couple of times,” Miles admitted, lifting a hand and scratching the back of his head. “To be honest, I don’t like leaving the house. Seth tried to take me a couple of times to town, to show me the world, but it’s just…it’s too noisy. I don’t like going down too much. Some of the other omegas here haven’t been in town at all. They don’t want to leave the house.”
“That’s no excuse for not keeping the option open to them.”
“The option is there, you fucking—”
“Seth,” Miles said, and his soft voice was all it took to calm the other alpha, to make him shut his damned mouth.
Miles turned his attention back to Evzen, and Evzen looked hard at Seth.
They both knew that, had this omega not been here in the middle of them, a fight would have broken out by now.
Evzen couldn’t take this. “I’ll listen to what you have to say, but don’t mistake that to mean I’ll agree with anything. Cole should not have been so sheltered. He’s been free for a year.”
“I know,” Miles said, his fox ears briefly falling flat against his head, as though he thought he had something to feel guilty about.
He absolutely didn’t. Evzen felt shamed for giving the omega that impression.
“We were really closed off from the outside world growing up here,” Miles started. “When I was younger, even in my teen years, I never understood why the house would suddenly have a lot of people in it. I never knew where they were coming from. The omegas the other wealthy vampires brought with them weren’t allowed to talk to us. No one wanted to get their tongues, tails or ears cut off, so we all followed the rules.”
Evzen’s heart slammed. It was bad enough knowing his mate had been used so terribly by the vampires who used to live here. Hearing a first-person account of it was the straw that was snapping this camel’s back.
“I know those things. Cole and I talked last night.” Evzen crossed his arms and then uncrossed them because he didn’t want to look too big to the omega. “I’m talking about what happened since your mate came to this house. Why can’t he even spell his own name? What the hell took so long to teach him about anything in the world?”
Miles looked beyond uncomfortable, which was not Evzen’s intent, but it seemed to be what was on the agenda. “It…it’s hard, learning how to read. I have an easier time when it’s all capital letters being used. A lot of the other omegas here haven’t even started learning yet.”
“Why?” Evzen asked, his attention fully fixated on Miles.
Miles shrugged. “They’re scared. Force of habit. It took me the longest time to get used to not doing so many chores, though I still make our bed and help out in the gardens, and if anyone asks for help with the laundry, I’ll still do that, too.”
“You do?” Seth asked, frowning softly down at his mate, as though he honestly hadn’t seen that coming.
Evzen rolled his eyes at the man. “You need to keep better track of what’s going on around here. I’m starting to doubt whether it’s a good idea for me and my men to follow your leadership.”
Seth growled at him.
Miles stalled that reaction with a hand on his mate’s arm. “It’s not that Seth doesn’t want us to go out into the real world,” he said softly. “It’s just that…we’re not used to it. Cole, honestly, he’s the worst of all of us. There are a few other people who are nervous about watching television. They’ll only do it when the other dragons are around and we’re having a movie night. They won’t do it alone because it feels bad to do it alone, like we’re breaking the rules.” Miles’s ears fell flat against his hair, a shamed look if there ever was one. “I knew Cole was having more trouble than anyone else. He wouldn’t even take part in movie nights, and he refused to look at any of the books I wanted to show him. Even when I started talking about all the new things out there, I could tell he didn’t like it. So I left him alone. If you want to be angry at anyone if he’s not the way you would like him to be, then you can be angry with me.”
God, if that wasn’t a punch to the gut and balls, nothing was.
An omega, a former sex slave, was standing in front of Evzen asking forgiveness for not helping Evzen’s mate enough.
For not helping when it was clear the man hadn’t wanted help to begin with.
Evzen sucked back a deep breath. He sighed. “It’s not that Cole isn’t the way I would like him to be. Cole is perfect as far as I’m concerned. I just…overreacted.”
Evzen looked at the other alpha. He hated apologizing for anything. It tasted bad on his tongue, but he had to do it. For Cole’s sake. “I apologize. I should not have jumped to conclusions.”
Seth nodded. “I might react the same way when it comes to Miles, so no harm done.”
Seth put his hand on Miles’s shoulder, and those fox ears perked right back up. “It was actually my mating with Seth that made it easier for me to want to learn how to read and write. Sorin helped me out. He was always very kind, nothing like his father, but maybe since you’re Cole’s mate now, Cole might be more inter
ested in…opening himself up to the world. He’ll think he’s doing it to please you, so it will be a good incentive.”
Now Evzen was scratching the back of his own head, ashamed of himself and wondering how in the hell he was supposed to work around this.
“I want him to learn. I don’t want to pressure him into doing something he doesn’t want to do. He’s my mate. I want to protect him.”
That seemed a little too manipulative. He wasn’t going to push something on Cole that he didn’t want to do. What if that caused more damage? What if it pushed Cole away from him?
The man had barely wanted to be near Evzen in the first place. Now they were fine, but was one night really enough to give a mating the kind of strength they both needed?
Before he could collect his thoughts, before he could pull himself together so he could articulate these thousand and one thoughts that were going through his head, Theron’s angry voice sounded off.
“Your mate?”
Evzen spun around. Theron stood in the doorway, outrage on his face, staring at Evzen as though he had no idea who the man in front of him could possibly be.
Then he turned and marched off, the rest of Evzen’s clan standing out in the hall, watching Theron go before turning their attention back to Evzen.
As if he was a traitor.
Chapter Eight
When Cole opened his eyes, waking up alone, he wasn’t surprised, though a little sad.
His vampire masters never exactly wanted someone to cuddle with, so Cole had usually been sent back to his own thin, cold bed whenever they were done with him.
He supposed he should have been grateful that Evzen had allowed him to sleep in the same bed all night.
He sat up, his ears falling flat against his head, and he looked at the spot next to him, rumpled. He touched the spot. Not warm. He’d been gone a long time then.
Cole brought his hand close to his chest, holding his wrist.