Page 29 of Glass Omega

Cursing under my breath, I shoved the gate open and took two long steps so that I could dive into the pool.

The water was a cold shock to my system as I waded over to the omega, yanking her up out of the water in one smooth motion.

Perrie began to thrash against me, her hand coming up to grab at my face.

“Hey!” I barked as one of her nails slashed my cheek.

Perrie’s body went stiff as she turned, her gray eyes wild for a moment before they filled with recognition.

“Rhodes?” she gasped, coughing as she rotated her body enough so that she could stand in the pool, her gaze dropping to my now sopping wet clothing. “What are youdoing?”

“What am I doing? What the fuck were you doing?”

When I saw her lying face down in the water every single nerve ending that I possessed came to life with a rush of fear. She’d looked dead.

“I was meditating!” Perrie pushed against my chest, trying to get away from me but I kept my grip on her shoulders.

“Face down in the water?” Perrie hadn’t seemed crazy when we first brought her here almost three weeks ago, but maybe the maids were right and the tower was cursed to drive whoever lived in it insane. “Who the hell meditates face down in the water?”

“I was going to come back up,” she grumbled, pushing her wet hair out of her eyes. “It’s quiet and peaceful, and I’ll have you know that I can hold my breath for almost three minutes.”

“And how the fuck was I supposed to know that?” My heart was still hammering away in my chest even as my brain came to terms with the fact that she wasn’t dead—though the jury was still out on whether or not the woman was sane. “And why do you come out here and swim like this every morning? It’s weird.”

The question spilled out of me before I could catch it and we stared at one another, my chest heaving while Perrie stood in her pale blue one piece swimsuit, rivulets of water running down her neck and into the valley between a pair of breasts that I’d been doing my damndest not to look at.

I wanted to know what Perrie was running from so desperately that she swam like a bat out of hell every morning.

But all she did was shrug a shoulder. “Because I like it.”

“Bullshit,” I shot back immediately. “No one pushes their body the way you do just because they like it.”

Instead of answering me, Perrie gently pried my hands away from her shoulders and moved to the edge of the pool to get out.

I stood watching her from the center of the pool like an idiot as she wrapped a towel around herself and began to use a second one to dry her red hair.

“Why do you even care?” she finally asked, her gray eyes much cooler than they’d been when I pulled her up out of the water earlier. “What does it matter to you if I was actually pushing myself too hard?”

Her words confused me.

“You’re going to be Edison’s wife, why wouldn’t I care?”

That seemed to be the wrong answer because Perrie’s expression shuttered completely until she wore the same look that I’d seen on her face as she moved through the motions of her sham of a wedding ceremony to Pack Ricci.

Perrie tucked the towel more tightly around her torso, nodding to herself like she was holding an entire conversation inside that pretty head of hers before she gathered up the basket of things she’d brought with her.

“Have a good day, Rhodes.”

Her tone brooked no argument, but I’d always been a contrary creature. “Perrie—” I started to move towards the edge of the pool.

I didn’t make it in time to catch her before she slipped out of the pool gate and headed down the cobblestone path back to her tower, the light from the fountain illuminating her pale skin as she disappeared through the french doors into the greenhouse.

Pulling myself out of the pool with a loudsloshI shrugged out of my water-logged jacket and stared mulishly at the brown leather. It was definitely going to need to go to the cleaners after this. Great. Just fucking great.

“Uh, boss?” Collum’s voice came from the gate and I glanced up to find the guard looking at me with a mixed expression of pity and confusion.

There was never a moment where Perrie was alone in this place. Someone was always watching her. Protecting her.

I should have remembered that, and yet the sight of her face down in the pool had spurred me into motion faster than my rational mind could keep up with.

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