Page 43 of Mercy & Her Devils

Antonio blinks. “Thanks for the offer. You’re both beautiful, but right now, you can’t consent. The whole abuse of power thing, you know? So, let’s put a pin in that, okay?”

Lark sighs. “Do you flirt all the time?”

“Sometimes I give myself Sundays off for good behavior.”

Lark turns to me and a smile lights up his face that makes my heart swell, as he holds out the plate with the delicious sandwich and real lunch for the first time since I woke up in this room.

Lark makes to stand up and move toward me, but is stopped by Antonio.

“Hold up there, old man,” Antonia calls. “I’ve been told that you don’t eat. So, as much as you look adorably like the caveman about to drag the felled buffalo back in triumph to his woman (and she’s the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen)…” Lark shoots him a glare, but Antonio appears impressively impervious to it. In fact, it makes him sit up straighter, while his smile widens. “…make sure that you save some of it for yourself.”

A faint blush tints Lark’s cheeks, although I’m certain that he’d deny it.

How long has it been since anyone looked after Lark for once?

Unsurprisingly, Lark responds to this care in typically bristly fashion.

“What can you do about it?” Lark smugly sits down on the mattress next to me, shoving the entire plate onto my knee with a defiant tilt of his chin. “Threaten to force feed me, pup?”

Antonio’s chestnut eyes dance. “I’ll hand-feed you.”

Lark’s blush deepens. “Impertinent. I’d bite you.”

“What if I’d enjoy that?” He winks. “What about you?” When Antonio’s gaze slides to me, I find myself blushing just as deeply as Lark. I have the sense that this Beta is dangerous but not to Lark or me, and in ways that I really want to experience. “Would you like me to hand-feed you?”

Yes.

“No.” I pick up half the grilled cheese sandwich, ignoring the way that my stomach is clawing with hunger like it’s eating itself. “I have an Omega to hand-feed myself.”

Lark watches me with wide eyes, as I beckon him closer, holding out the sandwich. Then his expression softens with awe, as he crawls across the mattress and takes a neat bite, even though I know that he must be desperate to devour it.

Lark’s eyelashes flutter, and he moans. “Fuck, that’s amazing.”

Seeing him eat and being able to provide for him finally fills me with a deep contentment.

Our gazes meet, and we share a smile.

Lark reaches for the cupcake, before lifting it to my mouth.

I’m shaking at merely the sweet scent.

I force myself, as Lark has done, to only take a small bite after so long on bland and plain food. But still, the delicious taste hits me, rich and decadent.

I swallow, licking my lips. I moan even more obscenely than Lark did.

“This is why I watch OmegaHub,” Antonio says, dreamily. “Fuck, I didn’t know that I was into food play though.”

“Shut up,” I mumble around another mouthful of food.

When did I become daring enough to tell Betas or guards to shut up?

What’s special about Antonio?

Antonio only laughs. “You’re the one who’s making love to my cupcake right now.”

“Hey, she’s my cupcake.” Lark finishes off the grilled cheese, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? Someone to brutalize or outrageously flirt with?”

“Nope,” Antonio says, popping the p. “I’ll bring you coffee tomorrow. My sweet, sweet coffee. Shit, what I wouldn’t give for a cappuccino right now.”

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