Page 134 of Bonds of Hate

Logan pounds on the door again, but the sound seems farther away now. Maya’s fingers thread through my hair, her touch anchoring me to this moment, to her.

When she pulls back, a tear escapes down my cheek. I don’t try to hide it. I’m too far gone to maintain any pretense of strength.

It isn’t her fault that this can’t be enough.

“Cillian,” Logan growls, putting the full force of his voice behind it when he speaks my name for the first time. “Open this door!”

There can’t be light without darkness, one is meaningless without the other.

My sweaty palms slip as I press them against the coolconcrete wall and my knees threaten to buckle as I rise to my feet. Heat pulses through me in agonizing waves. The room spins slightly, my carefully maintained control slipping away like water through cupped hands.

Maya follows me, wobbling on her feet like a newborn foal. “Cillian, stop. Don’t let him control you.”

I’m drawn to the door like a moth to a flame. With heat bewitching my senses, the Alpha command in Logan’s voice overrides my better judgment. Every cell in my body screams to obey, to unlock the door and fall to my knees before him. It’s been years since I’ve allowed myself to feel this pull so strongly.

“Don’t,” Maya pleads, grabbing my arm. Her touch grounds me momentarily, the scent of her heat mingling with mine in a way that clouds Logan’s influence. “You know what he’ll do.”

I do know. That’s the problem.

We get halfway up the stairs with Maya putting her full weight into an attempt to halt my progress. We might both be Omegas, but my strength is no match for hers.

“Cillian,” Logan’s voice drops to a whisper that somehow cuts through the metal door. “I can smell you both. Your scents together...it’s driving me insane.”

I close my eyes, forcing myself to remember why I’ve spent years fighting this bond. Some resolve settles over me, enough to halt my forward progress up the stairs.

Logan’s fist pounds against the door one last time before silence falls. I can feel his presence on the other side, waiting, calculating.

Then he says the one thingguaranteed to get his way.

“I need you,” he groans. “It hurts to be without you.”

I easily bat away Maya’s desperate attempts to stop me, holding her off with one hand while the other undoes each of the dozen locks, one by one.

When the door swings open, she tries to scramble back down the stairs. But I grab her arm, holding fast.

Alpha won’t like it if we try to run.

Chapter Thirty-Two

MAYA

Logan fills the doorway, massive and looming like a terrible specter of violence and destruction. Blood covers his clenched fists, a result of his violent attempts to break down the door.

But now, the violence in him is restrained by triumph, the liquid gold of his eyes practically brimming over with satisfaction. He stares down at us from the top of the stairs, chest heaving with ragged breaths, raging pheromones filling the air with each exhale.

The effect of Logan’s scent on Cillian is immediate and devastating. Cillian’s entire body goes rigid beside me. His hold on my arm loosens as a palpable tremor runs through him. The transformation is shocking. Even though I’m expecting it, I can’t quite believe that the disciplined, controlled guard commander can be so easily reduced to a raw and vulnerable pool of need.

Because no amount of control will overcome an Omega’s designation.

“Good boy,” Logan purrs to Cillian, who practically melts at the sound. “Lock the door.”

I manage to slip out of his grip as Cillian moves to obey. Logan watches with amusement as I lurch backwards down the stairs. He doesn’t so much as twitch to chase me, though my obvious attempt to flee must be triggering his Alpha instincts.

He knows as well as I do that there isn’t anywhere left to go.

But I still scramble back until my feet tangle in the blankets of my pathetic nest. My back hits the far wall hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs.

Logan gives me the faintest smile. “Why are you running, Maya? No one is chasing you.”

---