Page 102 of Bubblegum Pop

“I’ll always be here,” I said, looking firmly up at Odin and Apollo. “I’m not going anywhere. Whatever it is, however we do it, we’re going to be together. We’ll work it out together. Agreed?”

Apollo’s gave a wide grin, lighting my heart with hope as he nodded, and Odin’s firm stare confirmed the same.

Zeus’s laugh blew across the bottom of my neck, and he sighed against me. “Agreed.”

Apollo

We sat before Michael’s desk, Candy next to me, our hands clasped while Zeus and Odin stood behind us like great guardians. The room was more imposing than it had been two years ago when we first entered. It was still filled with oak and leather and the smell of old books, and Micheal still dominated the space, despite being tucked in the corner behind the desk.

He had been staring at us for the past two minutes. We’d walked in, heads held high, so sure of what we wanted. As always, Michael’s solid gaze was punishing, and I refused to crack, though I could feel Zeus was ready to go. Candy was still in heat, and she was doing her best to stay calm.

It was no surprise we were all shaken by what had happened. It had barely been a full day since we left the house, and stinging jabs of guilt kept catching me when I least expected it. The madness of the rogue state clawed at the edges of my mind, but my pack kept me stable. And with Candy’s presence now bursting through our bond, there was nothing that could let the darkness in.

Michael smiled at us as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn’t created a huge elaborate play to show us how serious he was about keeping us fixed in our contracts.

Candy’s face was fully bruised, and she proudly wore the blue and purple marks across her jaw and cheeks as a fuck you to Michael for what he had done to her.

“So…” Michael said, curling his fingers together on top of the desk. Candy’s heart jumped, but we were all so focused on her that, as soon as we reached for her through the bond, she calmed instantly. I kept her close, squeezing her hand despite the pain.

Odin and Zeus were even more tense. It might be one small alpha sitting at a desk, but he could do anything he wanted to us.

We really had no idea how this was going to go.

“This is certainly an interesting turn of events,” Michael said. His gleaming eyes danced over the three bite marks on her neck—her other source of pride.

Michael took a slow breath as he leant forward, resting his chin on his knuckles. None of us spoke; it felt safer that way. We discussed different strategies after Zeus calmed down, though nothing we suggested was new. We’d promised her to find a way out of this, but it had been years of us trying, and nothing had happened. Yet.

As we spoke in bed, it became clear we didn’t know what to do. All the power was in Michael’s hands, as it had been since we each signed away our lives years ago.

“I can see you took my suggestion of using your time wisely quite literally,” he said, a small smile on his lips. “Though, I must say, I commend you for holding out this long. I fully expected you to last no less than a year.”

“What?” I said, my voice heavy, forcing myself to contain my emotions, despite that a single word from Michael had already triggered my anger. “What do you mean?”

“It means I’m deeply impressed by your level of commitment, not just to your mate, but to the job itself. Usually scent matched hosts last three or four months at most. Though, personally, I believe you could have been a tad more subtle in your execution.”

There was another pause as he waited for it to sink in.

“How did you find out?” Candy asked quietly. Her fear tremored through the bond. She finally understood what we meant whenever we told her it was too dangerous, but the cost for her realisation was too high.

“Candy, my dear, you couldn’t possibly think that the cameras going dead at the beginning of your heat, at exactly the same time your… hmm…” he twisted his lips, “bodyguards decided to transfer overseas was going to go unnoticed.”

Her mouth clamped shut in a hard line as she glared at him.

“Yes, exactly. Well, it was rather fun watching everything unfold. Though, again, I apologise for Mr Roberts’ enthusiasm.” Michael gestured towards her cheeks. “I’ll have a very thorough conversation with him when he eventually wakes up. But I can assure you he won’t be bothering you in the future.”

Zeus sucked in a breath beside me while Odin tensed further. We didn’t need to ask what would happen to Mr Roberts, and I didn’t want to know. I didn’t regret what I did for her.

“What I’m more curious about is what you plan to do now that you’ve thoroughly ruined yourself.” Michael smiled at her again. “You are—or were—my top-earning omega. I can’t exactly let you service guests with those marks, now, can I?”

“We’ll pay you.” I jumped before any of my pack could speak. “Everything we’ve earned since we started working for you. Whatever it will take to pay back the years you’ve looked after us.” Though he had given us a house, cars, furniture, clothes, food, and anything else we could have possibly wanted, all in return for loyalty. But, as he said, we were more loyal than he had expected.

“No,” he replied bluntly, sighing as he straightened his back. “It does not work like that. I did not ask you to sign a contract so you could simply leave whenever you felt like it.”

“Then what can we do?” Odin asked. “Is there anything? Just so Candy can stop being a host?”

Michael hummed, his smile growing with his presence, cloying as his energy bloomed. Candy let out a small yelp, the four of us pinned to our seats. I tried to hold back my gasp, but it was hard when it felt like my lungs were being crushed from the inside. Zeus choked as Odin gripped the back of my chair tightly, the pressure building up around us.

I thought I had lost control when I had gone rogue, with nothing there to stop me from destroying everything at first. This had the same flavour, the only difference was Michael was fully composed.

---