Page 73 of Fortune Fae Academy
It was much easier to be patient with Axel than my Omega. She had an air of defiance about her that made me want to bend her over.
“You and Rowan must remain with either me or Axel at all times,” I insisted. “When Axel returns from the Collegium, then he or I can go with you while the other stays behind. And need I remind you that you’re still wearing that collar?” Did she forget what it was capable of? Had she already set aside the vision where the Elders controlled her and Etu used her while she wore the very collar she wore now?
I wanted to be the one to protect Gina, but I recognized I had to earn that right. Axel was more than capable of being her bodyguard and it was a compromise on my part to show I could be reasonable.
Letting her traipse out of here alone when we didn’t have a plan? No. I had my limits.
“Shit,” she cursed, but seemingly not at my decree. Instead, she set her coffee down on the tray and stood up. “Then I have to go now before Roderik claims another Omega. I can’t let thathappen, Seif. That’s why Axel is there, I assume? To give Roderik another dose of his toxin?”
I scoffed, which only earned my Omega’s fury.
“What’s so funny?” she said, her voice even more threatening than mine. Tiny twin fangs pricked against her lips. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen them. She was a special Omega, one that had power over time, space, and her own body.
She was no Alpha, but she knew how to behave like one.
“Nothing about this is funny,” I said, setting the tray aside harder than I’d intended and causing hot tea to splash onto the bedsheets. The disturbance finally woke Rowan, who had been sleeping through our conversation. The steaming liquid didn’t seem to bother him, though.
“What’s going on?” he murmured.
Gina propped her hands on her curvy hips. “Seifiek is trying to tell me what to do, and he’s about to learn why that’s a bad idea.” She thrust a finger against my chest. “Don’t underestimate me,Alpha. And by the Web, don’t try to fucking stop me.”
“Stop you from getting yourself killed?” I retorted as I grabbed her hip and pulled her to me. She wore her traditional Omega-style dress, leaving her cleavage and beautiful body on display. But it wasn’t her body that drew me to her. It was her spirit. Her gift of life and the essence I had searched so long for. Blood had never appealed to me, even when I hungered for it. That was because I had always been made for Gina. “I will tear apart the realms if it means a chance at saving your life,” I said, growling in her ear. “This world is not worth living in without you.”
I wanted to rip off her dress, fill her with my seed and my Dust, and show her the power of an Alpha, especially one she ridiculed. She didn’t understand her own value at all.
Surely I could show it to her.
I pulled that instinct back the second I felt it. Letting my instincts rule me was something that had landed me in trouble. I had to be stronger than that if I was going to fix our path.
Willing myself to calm down, I released her. To my surprise, she remained steadily in place with her warmth pressing against my body.
She trailed her fingers up my chest and caressed my face. “I know you’re worried, Seif. And I can feel that you’re beating yourself up over the past, but I won’t dwell on that. I remember enough to know you’re capable of leading us, but you have a lot to learn, my Alpha. And part of that is learning when to let me go.”
Didn’t she understand how impossible that was?
“No,” I said, unable to allow it.
I couldn’t let her leave alone, and I refused to abandon Rowan after all he’d been through. That would make me the monster that Axel painted me out to be.
She stiffened against the power of my voice. It hadn’t been intentional, but I’d used an Alpha’s command on her.
That had clearly been the wrong choice. Dust flared in her eyes and she snarled, revealing those adorable fangs again. “You’re going backward, Seifiek. Rowan is the one who needs protection right now, not me. If you can’t prove yourself worthy of me, then I will gladly leave you behind.”
My eyes widened, and I couldn’t move when I watched her blatantly disobey me and walk out of the room.
Not even an Alpha’s command could hold her down.
I unlatched myself from the floor, ready to go after her, when Rowan scrambled in front of me.
He glared up at me with his messy red hair shading his mismatched eyes. One was silver because Axel had claimed him, but the other burned with red magic.
“Let her go, Seif,” he said, surprising me with his direct challenge.
He was injured, weak, and barely able to stand. Yet he kept himself upright by sheer force of will. The effort disturbed some of his wounds, causing them to bleed again. The scent of blood made my nostrils flare. An ancient part of me repelled the urge it inspired to drink. I had abstained from blood until becoming an Alpha, and now I fed on Axel and Gina.
Rowan’s blood… enticed me. And that was something I found surprising. It hadn’t always appealed to me, but it did now.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t go after her,” I growled, entertaining Rowan’s little show for now. I didn’t want him to injure himself further.
