Page 8 of Bonds of Pain
“Please,” Logan adds, something almost like desperation in his voice.
With obvious reluctance, Cillian approaches and I renew my struggles. Despite the inevitability of it, betrayal still burns in my chest at the sight of him siding with Logan.
“Maya,” Cillian says softly, stepping closer. “I need you to relax.”
Something in his tone—gentle but firm, concerned rather than commanding—reaches past my rage. It’s enough to make me hesitate for a split-second as I yank against Logan’s iron grip on my wrists. But the moment, Logan tries to drag me back against his chest, I’m spitting and hissing like a pit viper.
“Enough,” Cillian snaps.
My body responds to him instantly, the fight draining out of me so suddenly that my knees buckle. Logan releases my wrists in surprise as I collapse backward.
Cillian catches me, his arms wrapping securely around my trembling form. I sink against his chest, breathing in his calming scent, my fingers clutching weakly at his shirt.
“I’ve got you,” he murmurs.
For a split second, I actually want to believe him.
“What the hell was that?” Logan demands, looking more surprised than angry. “Why did she obey your command and not mine?”
I feel Cillian’s chest vibrate with dark laughter before I hear it. The sound rumbles against my back. Despite everything, I find myself leaning into the solidness of his form. His arms tighten around me, the grip not possessive like Logan’s, but as if he can’t quite help himself.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the black amusement I feel rising up is an echo of Cillian’s emotions and has absolutely nothing to do with me. This is all about whatever fucked up thing is happening between these two men.
“You really don’t understand what you’ve done, do you?” Cillian’s voice carries a dangerous edge I’ve never heard before. Gone is the dutiful guard, replaced by something far more primal.
Logan’s golden eyes narrow. “Explain it, then.”
“The primary bond is between Maya and me.” Cillian’s words fall like stones into still water, creating ripples of tension throughout the room. “Your bond with her is inherently subordinate, superficial. It isn’t strong enough for your commands to work on her.”
“That’s not possible,” Logan snaps, but uncertainty flickers across his face.
“Isn’t it?” Cillian’s lips curl into a mocking smile. “Only you would think you could alter the basic laws of nature through sheer force of will. Your clever little scheme doesn’t change our biology, Logan. You already have an Omega—me. Whether you want it or not, whether you like it or not, our bond formed first. No Alpha can claim multiple Omegas, not while they’re all alive, at least.” The smugness radiating from him through the bond is almost enough to pierce the dark shadows of my despair and impotent rage. Cillian sounds like he has waited hiscomplete life to deliver to Logan the emotional blow he deserves. “Without me, you have nothing. Your connection to her only exists because I’ve formed a link in the chain between you.”
I feel my breath catch. The implication settles over me like a warm blanket. I twist slightly to look up at Cillian, searching his face for any sign he’s bluffing. His ice-blue eyes meet mine, and I see nothing but cold certainty there.
“That’s ridiculous,” Logan snarls, but there’s a note of doubt in his voice that wasn’t there before. “I claimed her. I feel the bond.”
Cillian’s grin is malicious. “Through me.”
I let out of snort of hysterical laughter, even though no single bit of this is funny.
It isn’t my amusement, not really.
Logan’s rage is a paler thing, though I sense how it overtakes the satisfaction he felt upon waking. Cillian might be right that he forms an emotional border between us, but it’s more of a hastily constructed fence than a solid wall. Logan still has a way of seeping in, even if he can’t reach me completely.
Cillian traces a gentle pattern against my arm, and I find myself leaning into him before I realize I’m doing it. “Try giving her another command. See what happens.”
Logan’s jaw tightens with a surge of disquiet through the bond, but the Alpha in him won’t allow for backing down from a challenge. His voice is a low growl. “Maya, come here.”
I hear the words, but they’re muted and distant, as if someone is shouting them from the bottom of a well.
And I stay exactly where I am, pressed against Cillian’s chest.
Cillian whispers against my ear, his voice barely audible. “Get off the bed.”
His hands slip away as I scramble off the bed. My feet have barely hit the plush carpet when I’m whipping back around with an angry snarl of my own.
“Don’t do that again!”
