Rue
Horror.
The silence was not empty, instead, it pulsed. Thick, wet and wrong in her throat, like something had crawled out from the dark and made a home inside the hollow of her chest. The swathe of her stupidity was disappearing so quickly that it left her on the ground shaking.
Horror.
The newly formed bond was half-bound, half-burnt and too goddamn raw. It throbbed like an exposed nerve, felt like a heartbeat that wasn't hers. A monster curled in her insides like a foreign, parasitic thing.
It didn't feel good.
It felt wrong.
The right way should have been her teeth in his throat. Her claim on his blood. His knot in her body, throbbing between her thighs as he allowed her to choose the perfect spot on his skin. The right way would have been an Alpha holding her close in his arms. An Alpha with his tongue on the column of her throat, cleaning the blood, sealing the wound.
The right way included an Alpha that should have guided her through a completed bond.
The right way was warm, comfortable and loving.
The right way had her mark on his skin, claiming ownership.
The right way was dog shit for Omegas on planets that were too advanced. The planets that did not care for women. The people who were determined to end biological relations. The aliens that saw the weaker sex as mere breeders.
She'd fucked up.
Rue dragged in a stupid breath that scraped down her throat like the most awful of glass. The room reeked of him and her, of Rut, of Heat, of blood and of their bond. Her thighs were slick with their juices, blood trickling from the ache between her thighs. Her shoulder was burning where his bite had anchored their souls together, blood still pouring from how deeply he's sank his fangs into her.
She fucked up.
And now each breath came in short, sharp gasps as she clung to the last twinges of her pleasure, trying desperately to understand. Because why the fuck was he looking horrified with a nasty twist in his eyes as if he hated what he saw. Why the fuck was he looking at her like that? And why the fuck did she feel so empty?
Dante stood before her, away from her. Bare, tensed, fists clenched, chest rising and falling, watching. But it was his expression that had her going insane. Gone was the heated reverence, the hungry worship; gone was the Alpha who'd demanded and begged like she was the only thing that kept him alive. The Alpha that wanted her. The Alpha who needed her. The Alpha who saved her.
Now in his blue eyes, she could see something that looked like hatred, like regret. Her Omega knew it before she did, wailing in despair. It wanted his knot in her, a knot he had ripped out painfully to get away from her. No Alpha should do that to his new mate, to deny them the final pleasure of the mating, to allow the wound on her shoulder to burn.
"What the fuck?" she'd gasped at him, a fleck of terror in her voice. A touch of dirtied hope.
The words echoed in the room, awful, horrifying. It hung in the air, along with the invisible thread that now pulsed between them slowly and steadily, aching on her shoulder, throbbing in his chest. And he seemed to snap, seemed to take a huge step back with eyes growing wider with fucking terror.
Oh God.
What had she allowed?
What had she done?
Horror, terror, regret. He recoiled like she was a curse, stepped back one foot after the other as if the sight of her hurt him. Her mind throbbed. Powerful Alphas never claimed an Omega; that was for the weak. Men like him should only breed them, fuck them, trade them, shared them. This was more for her, too much more. And she knew that, she knew it in that moment they shared, the moment of pain.
For emperor Dante, Rue was nothing more substantial than just a drunken grope, a cum dump. A whore.
"Fuck." He scrubbed a hand across his face. Her disappointment curdled into a growing nausea. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."
His anxiety was wrong, spat out in a rage. It tasted like a mistake, like jizzing in a woman and finding out that she was infected with clap. It tasted like disrespect, like detest, like hatred. His scent had turned sour. It stung worse than his teeth. Her Omega whimpered deep inside of her, confused, wounded, desperate. She resisted the urge to flinch, to curl into herself, arms shaking, as she tried to rest, but the bond demanded more. It demanded him.
It hoped.
"What?" she choked out, trying to quell the need to panic, to understand, to realise the extent of what she'd allowed him to do, what he'd done. Her words were filled with disgusting hope. "Dante, what's wrong?"
"Get out," he snapped, eyes flashing, his words stumbled on his tongue. There was despair in the timbre.
The words sliced her open.
"Get the fuck out."
She flinched this time, physically recoiled as if struck. Because it was not just the space between her thighs now that was on fire, it was something deeper. A tether that whispered that he was close, that her body should be pressed to his, her scent marking his skin, her soul open to accept a new mate.
The bond writhed as if stung, pulled like a leash around her throat. Her body begged for her to finish the claiming, but he rejected it, he rejected her.
It was unfinished.
Why was the bond so sensitive, so new, so painful, so hungry?
"Halcyon," Dante barked, his voice clipped, filled with panic. He waved a hand, stumbled back, held himself like he was the one burnt and not her. Not her who'd been used…Her body went cold. Her number one rule. To never let a man use her, exploit her, or dump her. "Get her out of here. Now."
"You're the one who bit me," she couldn't help but say, her words like ice, trembled from her throat. A finger pointed at Dante. "You marked me. I tried to stop you." Her hands had teeth marks; his teeth had swerved. His attempts. "You did this and now what?"
"It was a mistake," he hissed, lips drawn tight as he paced. Electricity sizzled across his skin, snapped upon the ground. But it did not scare her, it did not hurt her. No, she was afraid of his regret. "It was a mistake."
Her breath came out in pants, a low exhale as she stared. "A mistake? A fucking mistake?" The strange ache in her voice scared her, twitching out messily. She felt awful. And it hurt, it fucking burned to have the face of her mother in her mind, haunting her, laughing at her. I told you so.
"We have to remove it, I can remove it," Dante snarled. He was in his own fucking world, in his goddamn head. The words were agony. The bond was agony. A moment of generosity, a moment that felt like love, ripped away like fire. "It's so fresh we can do it on Planet 2, by melting the mark, Seraphim—"
"You fucking claimed me. Y-you wanted me. You said I was yours." The anxiety rose, her voice caught in her throat and trembled on her tongue. His expression made her feel scalded, dirty, and used. He didn't even want to look at her, back turned, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose as he went through the process of erasing his fucking mistake like it could be erased. Her fingers found the bite, digging hard. "We have to talk." He ignored her like a wimp, wouldn't even look at her. "We have to talk now, we have to fix this."
"Halcyon," he called in his little corner in the dark. He only cared about his fucking Alphas.
The hands on her arms had a chill running up her spine, awful despite the clamp of a new bond twisting in her throat, telling her that it was just pack. Just Halcyon. She struggled, pushed off. Halcyon's voice was too soft, too gentle, too condescending. "Rue, it's okay—"
"Dante!" she yelled, feeling the burn of unshed tears. "Fucking say something!"
The monster turned then, eyes like fire. "What do you want me to say?"
"W-what?" Her breath caught in her throat, staring as a carousel of hurt roared through her. He didn't fucking care. She could see it in his eyes, in the lack of emotion. The steely hardheaded placidity as if he didn't give a fuck.
"What do you want me to say?" Dante said, but his words had nothing but the stoicism of a fucking general, flecked with a tinge of disgust. "That I mated with an Omega?"
The words were like knives flaying her skin.
He closed his eyes, and finally, a dip appeared on his brow. The fear, the horror, the trembling rage that revealed itself like a blossoming flower stung her, burned her. "I want you to leave." His voice rose then, transformed into an earth-shattering roar.
The door was closed, slammed shut. And she was on the ground, a shirt was placed around her shoulders. She couldn't look at them now, at the Alphas that stood outside, knowing her mistakes, knowing what she had done. She felt like the biggest fucking loser in the whole world.
"Rue…"
It all stung.
She made a fucking mistake.
She made the worst fucking mistake of her life.
Why did she let him touch her? Why did she let him bite her? Where was her voice? She could have stopped him. She could have. But her Heat, her Omega. She wanted him so bad it hurt—
A shake was what had her stinging up from the bottom of her anxiety, and her eyes twisted up to Levi's eyes, to Kieran, who shone down like the sun. Her eyes twisted to the ground, shame lacing up her spine. She couldn't look at them.
"Fuck. I fucked up."
"Rue, look at me."
"I let him fuck me like a fucking slut. I let him use me like a whore—"
"Rue!"
"I let myself go. I let myself believe my fucking Omega—"
There were fingers on her chin, forcing her to meet their eyes. Levi, Kieran, Seraphim, Altair, Valentino, Halcyon. She anticipated pity, fear, and failure. But instead, there was a strange peace. "Look at me, please," Levi repeated. "He's not in his right mind now, he's not thinking straight."
"It was a mistake." It was a mistake to dream of being a part of their pack.
Kieran's voice was far away. "He'll come around. He…He loves you."
Come around? Love? Was he fucking joking? Her fingers snagged on the mangled flesh of her shoulder. Blood and breath were a cacophony in the ringing of her ears. "I let him do it. I let him. The voice just didn't come out of me. I thought—I thought I was strong. I'm so stupid. I'm so fucking stupid—"
"Rue!" Altair's hands were on her arm, and she stared wide-eyed at the spread of his feathers, the hypnotic pulse as if he were trying to calm her down. "Listen to me, it's not what you think. It's not what you know." But the shame roared, the bond screamed. All she wanted to do was vanish.
"Seraphim, you need to burn it off me," her voice bubbled up from her in a wail, fingers digging into flesh. "Get it off me. Get it off me. I want it gone."
The poseidon was there then, watery, eyes oddly filled with tears. There were arms around her, his arms. But she could barely feel it. There was only an ocean of regret within her now. "I can't. No, no."
And suddenly everything seemed to burn too hot, too strong. Her doubts were swaying, growing. The bond tugged violently, trying to pull her back to what had just destroyed her. Was this all just Rampage? Was this all just a ploy to get her pregnant? Had they feigned their care for her just as Dante had? Her eyes swept over them, over a pack whose Alpha had just rejected her.
Had there ever been love?
Levi's hand was on her then, hands around her wrist, but even that felt like chains. How much could a member of a pack go against their pack Alpha? It was unheard of. They would have to listen. Their feelings did not matter. They would have to bow their heads to pack Alpha. Halcyon surged forward, hands on her cheek.
"Rue, listen to me. Just listen to me."
"Your pack Alpha just rejected me," she pointed out, heartbroken, collapsing, exploding like a star. Her world did not just crumble, it was detonating. She'd climbed to the tallest peak of the mountain called hope just to fucking jump. Her love story had ended, and it was time to wake up. "I need to go, I can't stay—I can't— It hurts."
The world seemed to fade away.
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