She could hear voices roaring down the corridor, the rage crashing like waves. Glass shattered. They were fighting. Names screamed out like a curse. She closed her eyes, already knowing the contents of their argument. The insidious creep of her fresh bond, twinging with agony.
Horror.
Her fingers were reaching for her shoulder, bandages had been placed, wrapped over flesh. And pain bloomed at her shoulder, hot and tender when she dug her nails into the claim. A hand was on her then, soft, sure, settled upon her fingers. A body curled against hers like a shield. The bond, angry and desperate, stilled in his presence.
Valentino.
"It's okay," the voice was soft, murmured, low and warm like dusk. "They're just sorting things out." He was beseeching her, and yet there was a tremble in his timbre as if he were too close to unravelling too.
"Valentino," she whispered, but that came out too pathetic, whimpered out. It barely escaped her lips. She sounded broken. Maybe she was. "Valentino, I can't do this, I can't breathe here."
"Shhh," he whispered, holding her tighter, closer.
"I promised myself I wouldn't be weak," she breathed, ashamed. "I'm so weak."
"No." There was something watery in his voice, his palms possessing her waist, pulling her closer.
"I don't want to stay here. I don't want to be here. I don't want to see them, to be caged…Used—" Her words were choked out, rushed with a spill of tears. "What did I do?"
There was a tremor from him, a delicate, awful pause. "Nothing." There was a kiss on her temple, tentacles sliding warm and silky over her skin, massaging gently. "You did nothing wrong."
"Look at me," she stifled a wail, could not bear to face him. "Look at this fucking thing on my shoulder. He doesn't want me. So how could you?"
There was a tremor from him, a delicate, awful pause. As much as he tried to convince her, soften the blow. The evidence was there, painful and awful. And so, a sigh escaped him. "Will you come home with me?"
"Home?"
"My planet," he whispered. "You will be safe, protected. Five is the land of love. You will want for nothing. I will give you everything. And you know me, you know my heart. You know how I feel about you from the moment we met." There was a quiet from him. "You know I love you."
Her silence ached, but her bottom lip trembled. She had always secretly wanted this like a fucking idiot, and now she got it, got it after the pack Alpha had soured their growing bond forever. She sat up then, hand in his, clutched like a lifeline. It would be a matter of time before even Valentino would be ripped from her side, convinced by the fucked up leader of his pack.
She had to have a plan, she had to be stronger.
Her smile grew. "Come on then, let's go tell them."
"Rue," there was a sway in his voice. "You're not well."
"My mind is as clear as fuck," she spat, rage catching fire. "Are you sure?"
"About what?"
"Will you hide me?"
A heartbeat. "I will," Valentino nodded, a fresh wave of resolution tumbling from him. "I promise you. Nothing will touch you there."
She stared at him then, an alien who wanted for nothing in life. He'd been perched at the top since she first met him, elevated like a God. Something desperate twisted in her throat. She did not want to be used; she had to have leverage, had to have something.
She needed to use him.
Valentino was her way out.
"Are you sure you love me?" Her words were childlike, shrunken. And she watched as a roar of emotions morphed over his handsome features as if shaken by her words. Her tears, it seemed, dripping down her cheeks like a symbol of her weakness, floored him.
"I do," he said, passion pulsed from his throat. "I promise you I do."
"Will you let me claim you?"
There was a stumble then, a grapple as if he were suffocated by her suggestion. His eyes swam with a thousand emotions. But it was what she needed, what she fucking wanted. It would help her. The break in his expression had her pushing past him, gritting her teeth. He wouldn't go against his Alpha. "Claim me?" he rolled the question on his tongue. "You want to claim me?"
Her heart seemed to clench. "Forget it."
"I will." His pitch had plunged, deepened into a bass that pulsed with her broken bond.
She paused, turned to stare. "You're sure?"
"I am." There was no hesitation from him. Valentino had always been a being of emotions and feelings, a man of love, of pure instincts. And he did not seem to care that she was using him; they both knew she was. But his fingers were already laced with hers. "My soulmate, you are my soulmate. I'll let you do anything to me."
Her smile was twisted, but her heart seemed to unravel, tears springing from her eyes. Soulmates. How fucked up this was. "You're sure?" Her voice trembled. "Even if I can't…I can't…" She couldn't voice out the words, the lack of her promise to him. Rue didn't know what she felt now, trembling in her chest, the fear, the pain. Valentino seemed to understand, brows furrowing, eyes darkening.
"I am." His words remained just as deep, just as strong.
"Then let's go."
They stepped out into war. A hallway that thundered with voices, crashed like fucking lightning and thunder. Dante's voice rose above them all, wild, guttural and fucking vicious.
Bastard.
"What will the universe say?" he snarled. "What will our kingdoms say?"
"You owe her that!" Levi, raw and furious. "At the very least, you fucking owe her that!"
"I can't take her in. I can't have an Omega mate. We can't have an Omega mate. We need to get rid of her. We can't—"
His words stung like poison, twisted her insides like barbed wire. It burned up her spine, slashed her from the inside out. We? So he wouldn't even let her have them.
Bastard.
Valentino's body was standing before her, shielding her. But she was angry, so fucking disappointed. And she moved forward, furious and unstoppable. Valentino's hand in hers gave her the strength she needed.
"Why not?" Her voice cut through the air like a blade.
Dante froze.
"Why can't you have a woman in your pack?"
Dante's lips clamped shut. He turned, guilt, pain and cowardice shining in his eyes. He was always so fucking beautiful, so fucking wretched. But he was not hers anymore.
"Why can't you have an Omega in your ranks?"
"It's forbidden," his words were grumbled out, glacier-like.
"Am I not good enough?" she sneered. "Am I not strong enough?"
His eyes were hard, voice feral "You're not," he answered. "You represent my loss of control. You're a mistake I let happen. The seven planets will not allow this."
"So, I make you look fucking weak," she answered for him. "A clown. Mated to a breeder." Her voice turned singsong into a stupid little taunt, because she was going fucking crazy. "Stupid emperor who couldn't even control his fucking mouth."
Dante's growl was horrible. "You're right," his smile was so fucking cruel. "Mating with an Omega is a practice for the uncivilised."
Seraphim's voice was shrill then, cracked with panic. "Let's all just calm down—"
"Hypocrisy," she snapped, eyes narrowed. "If you thought so then you should have left me to die in that fucking cave. Or was I just seen as a means to an end?"
Dante seemed to flinch as if scalded by her words.
"You put your teeth in my shoulder and now you're the one who's fucking scared," she snarled. "But you're the one who said you wanted me. You're the one who broke. You're the one who bit me. And now you're telling me it's fucking savage? So what now? What are you going to do now that you've practically killed me?"
Dante's eyes flashed, pressed to hers. A tightness in his jaw, a bead of sweat on his brow. "You should not have entered my room." The blame was sharp on his tongue, his eyes poised on her. "You knew what would happen."
That had her walls collapsing. "I just wanted to help you."
"Help?" His bark of laughter burned. "You fucked us all up, and you know it."
She knew it? How would she know that he would bite her? Mark her? Claim her? Rue just wanted to help him. She just wanted to make him feel better. She just cared for him, for the Alpha that saved her life, for the Alpha that went insane because he believed her to be dead.
Her tears burned at the back of her eyes, insanity growing in her mind. His blame tasted like the words of the world. Girls don't walk out at night. Girls shouldn't wear short skirts. Girls know better than to look at an Alpha. Girls should know better.
So at the end of it all, it was her fault? Her fault for caring, her fault for giving a damn. Her fault for thinking he loved her. Her fault for loving him—Dante bit her. He took that from her. He made her believe he was good, that he wanted her, needed her, loved her. The thought burned in her chest. And now what? He was going to wash his hands off her?
He was just like all the other Alphas in the world.
Kieran stepped forward. "Please don't fight. We thought we could handle it. Dante, we didn't know how deeply bonded your Alpha was to her Omega—"
Dante's eyes flashed. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Levi was there in a flash. "It was my fault. I told her you were unwell because you worry about her, so she wanted to help you—"
Dante snorted. "Worry? All of this because you thought I was concerned? An Omega should know her place in the hierarchy."
Halcyon seemed to snap then. "How would we know that your Alpha would go against us like that? Command us to step down? Even I couldn't do a thing!"
Dante snarled. "I told you all to put pack first over a mere Omega."
Fuck this. Fuck it all.
"Dante, I'm not going to fight you," Rue hissed. She felt cold, and something awful bubbled in her throat. "Because you're never going to see me again."
Dante's eyelashes fluttered, and surprise widened his beautiful orbs.
There was a new talent within her now, twisting in memory, twitching in her fingers. Edmund's talents, his words, his hypnotism. The ink, darkly running up her vein, trembling in her throat. It tasted like him, the voice, and that was why she didn't want to use it. That was why she couldn't use it then, when it had felt like the darkest of sins.
But now she wanted it to come.
Her world seemed to flood with darkness.
Halcyon's voice was sharp with concern, but she turned to Dante with her hand raised. "Rue—"
"You won't smell me. You won't hear me. You won't be able to see me," she commanded, the words seemed to thunder in the air. "In your eyes, there will be no Rue, but you will feel my absence and you will know my pain."
It struck Dante, hammered into him. And she could see his Alpha twitching within, twisting as she severed their bond. The agony as he fell to his knees, clawing at his empty shoulder. Her agony.
"You will remember my Omega," she commanded. "You will remember that you bit me, and you will remember that I reject you. But you will not be able to find me. Because you're not worthy to be my pack Alpha. You're not worthy of me. You're not worthy of my bite. I reject you, and I will tear your pack apart."
She felt the twist of her Omega wailing, but she could see the blindness. The way he stared into the air, squinting at her as if he truly was starting to lose the ability to see her and only her.
Good.
She felt like the devil.
Such a fucking shame.
"What did you do?" Seraphim's voice was growing with horror. The others were closing in "Why would you do that—"
"Rue," Kieran's voice pitched. "Rue, you're going too far—"
"Valentino," she whispered. And the eros held her then, pulled her back into a teleporter at the door. She sank into him, the strength almost leaving her immediately. "Please."
Altair charged forward, eyes wide like saucers. "Valentino?" Halcyon stared, lips parting.
Levi ran.
She watched as they yelled, watched as their fingers reached towards her.
Running.
She was so damn good at running.
But this time, Rue was going to take what was hers.
Her teeth sank into Valentino's neck as the final clamp of her command swallowed Dante's eyes. He wouldn't be able to find or touch her from now on, for he would never be able to see her ever again. The understanding of that seemed to dawn upon him then, and she watched with a strange delight as his vision tunnelled on her mark on Valentino's neck. A claim on his Alpha, his pack, his mate. His clean little pack of seven emperors.
A howl twisting from Dante's throat.
Her darling Valentino only moaned with a bass that shuddered up her skin. Something in the bond seemed to twist, the parasite growing only fatter. Her pain was there, but it was now accompanied by a newfound pleasure. Valentino's eyes were only filled with a strange well of infatuation, starvation replaced by a sated bliss.
And Rue beamed.
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