Page 2 of Bonds of Pain
“She’s an Omega. I’m giving her protection, status?—“
“Stop.” Cillian’s voice drops to something dangerous. “Don’t pretend this is about her welfare. This is about your obsession, your need to possess her.”
He seems to have forgotten who I am. It takes effort to prevent myself from delivering a painful reminder.
I feel my lip curl. “And what would you know about it?”
“I know that I can already feel her emotions.” Cillian taps his temple. “The bond is forming whether either of us wanted it or not. And let me tell you something, my prince—“ he spits the title like it’s poison “—she may look calm right now, but there’s going to be a firestorm when she wakes up.”
The thought of Maya’s rage should concern me. Instead, I feel a thrill of anticipation. Her anger will be glorious in its force, and I’ll enjoy being the one to harness it.
She’s always been at her most magnificent when she’s in a rage, all that carefully controlled power finally unleashed.
“Let her rage,” I say, returning to sit beside her sleeping form. “It won’t change anything.”
“You really don’t get it, do you?” Cillian shakes his head in disbelief. “This isn’t just about Maya being angry. This is about you violating her autonomy, her right to choose. You’ve forced a permanent bond on her through me.”
“A bond that will protect her.”
“A bond she never consented to!” Cillian’s voice rises, and I glance at Maya, concerned the noise might wake her. “Neither of us consented to this.”
I ignore the twinge of conscience. Guilt is a useless emotion. I did what had to be done.
Even if I don’t know all the secrets of Maya’s past, I know she came here for a reason.
Whatever threat compelled her to return to the palace, to sign a mating contract with me, has been effectively neutralized.
“She signed a contract,” I remind him. “It isn’t my fault if she misunderstood the terms. I saved her, just like I saved you. She’ll understand that, eventually.”
“No, she won’t.” Cillian’s unwavering certainty breaks through the barriers of our bond. His resolve is so cold that it burns with paradoxical heat. “I can feel her right now. Confusion, betrayal, and something building that feels like...like a fucking lightning storm.”
I study Maya’s peaceful face, trying to imagine the tempest supposedly brewing beneath. “I think you’re being a little dramatic.”
“And you’re being willfully blind.” Cillian approaches the opposite side of the nest, placing himself between me and the door as if he thinks I might try to escape. “What do you think is going to happen? She’ll wake up, realize she’s bonded to both of us, and just fall into line?”
Doubt has never been a kingmaker.
I stand abruptly, unwilling to show how his words affect me. “I did what any Alpha would do.”
“No. You did what Prince Logan always does. The most selfish and entitled thing imaginable. Taking what you want with no consideration for anyone else.”
I turn my back on Cillian, ignoring the rest of his lecture. His words are nothing but noise—irrelevant, inconvenient noise. I’ve done what needed to be done. Maya’s safety is secured, and my position is protected. Everything else is just details.
“Where are you going?” Cillian demands as I bend over Maya’s sleeping form.
I slip one arm beneath her knees and the other around her shoulders, lifting her against my chest. She’s heavier than I expect, even as dead weight, as if the mass of everything that just happened has settled into her very bones.
That’s fine. The bond will eventually settle, and so will her shattered psyche. I have the rest of our lives to make sure that happens.
Her body instinctively curls into my chest. Her hair glitters with a jewel-tone under the fluorescent light.
“We can’t stay down here forever,” I say, adjusting my grip. “She needs a proper bed. We all do.”
Maya’s head rests against my shoulder, her breath warm against my neck. The intimacy of it, the rightness, sends a surge of possessiveness through me that I don’t bother to hide.
“You can’t just—“ Cillian starts.
“Maya is your Omega, too. Don’t you want to make sure she’s comfortable? Can’t you feel it? The need to see her taken care of?”
