Faith & the Dead End Devils (Sweet Omegaverse, #8)(63)

"I'm an orphan who was passed from foster home to foster home until I ended up in the equivalent of a holding cell for breeders. I ran away with my brother. I've been living on the road, out of cars and abandoned buildings and people's couches. I've been dumpster diving for food and conning gas station attendants for twenties," I blurted out.

King blinked at me. He'd gotten the story about Omikron, the omega trafficking network Adam and I had been spending years chasing and being chased by, but not the whole story. Now was as good a time as any to tell him.

"I've stolen and I've begged, and I've been caged and treated like an animal," I said, holding that crystal clear stare. "So I need you to listen and know I am not a princess."

King's head tipped. "You could be. Right pack of alphas, and you'd—"

"Still be completely traumatized and fucked up from a lifetime of running and hiding and knowing I was livestock to so many alphas," I snapped back before he could finish. "What makes you think, after everything I've been through, that some asshole alpha like the one you brought me, and all the shiny bullshit he would come with, would ever make me feel safe? That you could find me a nice house and nest, and suddenly I'm going to get over the past decade of my life and heal into a happy little omega?"

And maybe part of me asked King that because I'd been fooled by the same fairy tale for so many years. It was what Adam had promised for me, the pot of gold at the end of the tired rainbow I'd been chasing with him. Except we weren't chasing a rainbow after all, we'd been running for our lives. And I was tired now.

King didn't balk at my words, just lifted a hand to cup my face, thumb stroking over my chin.

"You will heal, princess. Just like your eyes healed, you will heal too," King said, so gentle and sweet. And I fell for those words, believed them immediately, thought he was making a promise. Until he opened that mouth of his again. "We find you the right pack, and your head will heal and your heart will heal. But Faith, I am not your medicine."

The bubble of hope in my chest burst, and I remained frozen and stunned as King leaned in, soothing his words with a silky kiss. Bastard. I pulled away, bracing my hands on the back of his chair, and his gaze dropped from my face down to my breasts.

Because he would not claim me—not in earnest, not with a bite, just false words to keep me temporarily safe until he could find someone else to lob me off to—but he would fuck me if I offered him the chance. If I begged.

King grunted as I struggled off his lap, one hand grasping my thigh briefly as if to hold me in place.

"I'm going out to sit with Chance," I said.

King scowled. "Gonna be messy out there. Guys are all wasted by now. You should stay—"

I shrugged, and King didn't fight me as I swatted away his hands. I wasn't sure if I was grateful or annoyed by how easy it was to push him off.

"Chance can take care of me," I said, bucking up my chin.

King huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "You gonna be a brat every time I tell you the truth?"

I growled softly at him, and his lips twitched again. "Probably. Just a princess, after all."

King waited until I'd reached the door before his chair creaked. "Faith, wait."

The music was blaring as I opened the door, and King didn't continue. Just “wait.” It was a fair request. He'd only just finished my heat. He was protecting me, sheltering me even when he knew the threat I potentially posed. “Wait” was simple. He deserved a little patience.

But I was selfish. Or maybe I just didn't want him to have the pieces of me he wanted and let him reject the rest.

I marched into the belly of the beast, the bar in high and sloppy spirits, the scents churning my stomach for a moment before I remembered to breathe through my mouth. Alphas' stares fastened to me, and a few with lewd and obvious interest in their gazes. King was standing in the hall behind me now, his shadow stretching almost to my bare feet. His warning to them was fresh.

I scanned the room, and it was easier than I expected to maintain a straight face and ignore the obvious debauchery taking place in the room. Chance was sitting in a booth near the bar, almost out of sight aside from the long stretch of his legs. And across from him was the same sweet and spicy alpha who'd interrupted our kiss earlier. The alpha was leaning across the table, speaking to Chance, and my beta's eyes were drifting over the crowd, almost ignoring the other man.

King's shadow was approaching, and I bolted forward before he could draw me back. Chance's stare snagged on me, and he straightened in the booth. For a moment, I could almost imagine myself on a tightrope between King and Chance, running from one end to the other, a narrow line of safety beneath me and any number of dangers I might fall into if I failed to keep my balance.

Chance had barely started scooting to the end of the booth when I arrived, and I pushed him back into the cushions, ignoring the stare of the alpha across from us.

"Birdy?"

"Do you want me?" I asked, and Chance's eyes crinkled at the corners with laughter. I shook my head. "Here, I mean. To stay."

His humor cleared, eyes flicking over my shoulder and then back to me. His hands reached for my hips, and I slid one leg over his to scoot closer.

"I do," he said, leaning in and kissing my jaw. His scent mingled together with the alpha's across the table, and I suddenly recalled the whiff I'd gotten on his shirt that first day I'd pulled him close in the closet nest. "Is King misbehaving?" Chance whispered in my ear.