Page 124 of Queen of Diamonds

I wouldn’t do it in front of her since she didn’t need to stress out more. She was on suppressants around the clock, had physical wounds that were still healing, and the lingering after-effects of how touch-starved she’d been—whatever they were—made her hormones erratic as fuck.

She didn’t need to worry about Zed on top of that.

“He’s working things out.”

“I’m all for that, but she needs him, too.”

“He… told me not to tell.”

“Are you fucking joking?” I asked. “Our Omega nearly died. We don’t have room to hide shit!” My fist closed around his throat as I pinned Kyan to the wall. “You’re going to tell me.”

“He’ll be back soon?—”

“Kyan.” There was a snarl in my voice, primal instincts rising as they so often did with him. “Tell me what the fuck you know.”

“Or what?” There was a challenge in his voice, one that always baited my Alpha. My instinct rose, a sneer curving my lips. But then, with a jolt of shock, it all tumbled off the edge of a cliff and I released him.

Insecurity gripped me.

Were things the same now?

What was between Glade and Kyan was special.

I wasn’t sure.

Kyan’s eyes flashed, darting between mine, and by the look on his face I might as well have struck him. With a snarl, he took advantage of my hesitation, twisting in my grip.

Pain split my chin as his elbow caught it, and I staggered back, tasting the tang of iron. He was on me in a second, his weight enough to send us crashing to the floor.

Shit.

He was pissed—a storm of fury in the bond. Fury that masked something else.

That was… good. I thought.

It felt good.

I shoved him off hard enough that he went sprawling to the side. He was pushing himself up by his palms, blood dripping from a cut lip, when I launched at him, getting my knee on his back to use my weight to keep him down.

“Fuck you!” he spat, using his full body to shove back up against me. There was something desperate in those words, and he off-balanced me enough to slip free. He moved faster than I could react, his knee smashing up into my side. I let out a hiss of pain as he staggered to his feet, fist closing in his hair before he could turn.

He grunted with the force of it as I rammed him against the wall.

I felt the fury falter through the bond, revealing what was beneath. He was panicked.

Damn.

I was still catching my breath, hip and chin aching from his blows.

The foundation of our relationship had never been words, and maybe that was fucked up, but that was all he could manage.

It wasn’t like with Glade. He felt safe with her. He was the protector, playing the role he’d always been taught to.

That was the opposite of what we had.

Glade… She was his missing piece, but I realised she wasn’t going to offer him more sanity—and he could push that sanity until he tumbled off into the abyss. I was the pull back, and the only one who ever had been that for him.

Kyan had been raised a monster, taught to fight and kill without blinking. What he’d never learned was how to ask for help. Anything his father considered weakness was burned away, pieces of him left to rot.

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