Page 231 of Unhinged Omega

"I don't give a shit what those animals think," he mutters, looking away. "That's not the point. But you… You've made sure I'm completely dependent on you. And then you act surprised when I want you."

I flinch. "It's not like that."

"No?" His laugh is bitter. "Then what's it like? Everything I have, I have because of you, Nikolai. You're my entire fucking world, and I'm just a sliver of yours. I'm not even your sidekick, I'm just a toy you can pick up and put back on a shelf whenever you feel like it. You think that doesn't fuck with my head?"

The accusation leaves me cold. "I was trying toprotectyou."

"From what? Sex? I've had plenty. Choice? That might be nice for a change."

"You know damn well that's not what I meant," I growl, anger finally cutting through the guilt. "You think I don't see how you freeze when another alpha gives a command? How you'll do anything, risk anything, the moment someone raises their voice in that tone? You think I don't know what that means?"

His face goes blank in that way that tells me I've hit too close to home. "Fuck you."

"No, Raven. I'm serious. You're not in control when you're like this. You're not capable of?—"

"Of what? Consent?" He laughs harshly. "Look at me, Nikolai. Look at what I am. Look at what they made me. When are you going to accept that I'm never going to be normal? That you couldn't fix me?"

"I'm not trying to fix you," I snap, the words tearing from my throat like barbed wire.

Raven launches himself off the bed with a sudden burst of energy I didn't think he had left. His face contorts with something that looks dangerously close to hatred.

"Yes, you are!" he shouts, the sound bouncing off the metal walls of his quarters. "You think the same shit the rest of them do. The same shit everyone hasalwaysthought my entire life." His voice cracks, and I see the first tears start to trickle down his flushed cheeks. "That I'm just a broken alpha. A failure. Afreak."

The last word hangs between us, dripping with all the venom and self-loathing he's been carrying around like a second skin. Those tears… fuck, I can't handle his tears. Not when they're my fault.

I'm on my feet before I realize what I'm doing, grabbing his arms to hold him steady. To hold him close. To keep him from falling apart.

"That's not true," I growl, giving him a slight shake. "That's not what I think. Not what I'veeverthought."

He reacts in an instant, like a cornered animal, and shoves me. Hard. Hard enough that I actually stumble back a step, which catches us both off guard. His face instantly transforms from rage to horror.

"I'm sor?—"

I don't let him finish that apology. I can't. Something inside me—something I've been fighting for years—finally snaps. I surge forward, one hand tangling in that golden hair, the other gripping his hip, and I crush my mouth against his.

Raven goes completely rigid in my arms. For one heart-stopping moment, I think I've read everything wrong. That I was right all the years I've spent convincing myself if I ever let my guard down around him, if I ever let my control falter, even an inch, I'd be the thing that finally breaks him.

Then, instead, hemelts.

His body softens against mine, his lips parting on a broken sound that's half sob, half moan. His arms snake around my neck, pulling me closer, deeper. The kiss turns desperate, hungry, years of restraint burning away like paper in a wildfire.

I back him against the wall, pinning him there with my body, cursing myself even as I press closer, even as I drink in the taste of him.

"I never—" I break the kiss just long enough to grit these words against his lips. "I never saw you as any of those things.Never."

Raven's eyes are fever-bright as they search my face. His lips are already swollen from my kiss, his chest heaving as he stares up at me.

"Then what?" he asks, his voice small, vulnerable in a way Raven never allows himself to be. "What am I to you?"

I search his face, all that golden beauty I've been denying myself since the day I pulled him out of that hellhole. My teeth clench so hard my jaw aches as I finally admit the truth.

"A temptation."

Something flashes in his eyes—shock, hope, hunger—and then he's kissing me again, fingers digging into my shoulders hard enough to bruise. Any last semblance of control I had shatters. My hands are everywhere, tearing at his clothes, his at mine, desperate to feel skin against skin.

We stumble back toward the bed, a tangle of half-shed clothing and frantic touches. I push him down onto the mattress, following him down, settling between his spread thighs like I've dreamed about a thousand times but never allowed myself to want in the waking world.

Raven arches against me, his nails raking down my back through my shirt, more aggressive than I'd ever expected. More demanding. This isn't the vacant-eyed doll I feared he’d be. This is pure Raven. Willful, fierce, and utterly desperate for me.

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