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His smile spreads across his handsome face. I guess heisintimidating, but maybe I’m in shock. That, or there must be something else wrong with me, because my fight-or-flight reflex hasyetto kick in. “You areveryforward,” he muses.
“For an Omega?”
“Foranyone.” He’s not displeased, I don’t think. “Surprised that a dyed-in-the-wool conservative like Lord Larsen hasn’t trained the impertinence out of you.”
“I wouldn’t call asking simple, straightforward questionsimpertinence,” I say. But then I add, reluctantly, “Lady Larsen and Lennart have been keeping me out of his sight. For a while, I think they even managed to convince him that I’d never formed a single opinion.” I shrug, still unsure about whether I should be getting the nakedness thing going.
Maybe the reason is that I’ve never been a procrastinator. Simply put, I’d rather be fuckednowand get it over with, than spend hours biting my nails.
“You know,” I muse, studying the general, “you’re not too dissimilar.”
“Who?”
“You and Lord Larsen. Maybe that’s why you don’t get along.”
He snorts. “The reason we don’t get along is that he’s a sociopath who would drive this stronghold and all who live in it into the ground, if allowed.”
“He thinks the same of you.” His deep scowl nearly makes me chuckle. “Oh, I’m not saying he’s right. But I’ve been in the room while you were being discussed. Several times. The nobles, they don’t understand?—”
“There is nothing for them tounderstand,” he drawls. “They just need to do as they’re fucking told.”
This time, I do laugh. “Do you really think they’ll bow to you, sir? They’re members of the Great House Larsen. The only way this will end is if one of you steps back—or in bloodshed. Bloodshed, I would like to add, that will befall not just the two of you but thousands of innocent bystanders.”
He doesn’t appear to be affected by my words—except for the muscle twitching in his jaw. When he moves, I expect him to finally come for his prize—me. All he does, however, is pull one of the chairs by the bed closer and sit across from me, elbows on his knees as he leans forward. He unlatches his cloak, letting it pool behind his back.
His eyes never once let go of mine.
“How lucky I am,” he says at last, a sarcastic tinge to his tone. “I expected a mediocre fuck and received some fine sociopolitical analysis from a cold Omega who knows very little about the true nature of the events that led us to where we are today.”
A burst of annoyance pops inside me; I tilt my head with acerbic sweetness. “Aw, ‘mediocre’? Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
“I plan to be hard onyou.”
“That’s what I heard, and yet…”
Could that be the issue? The reason I’m not bruised and bleeding, pleading for my life in a corner of the room? Maybe General Agard wanted to take me by force to punish the Larsens, but I’m not attractive enough for him to make that happen.
But I don’t believe so. I think that he mightlikethis. Talking. Being challenged. The pushback. It’s there, in the tug at the corner of his lips, the fine lines webbing his eyes. “Has Lennart taken you already?” he asks.
“You know how the noble-born are. It’s forbidden to take an Omega ahead of their?—”
“Mating, yes. Has he taken you?”
I don’t say, but the general knows the answer.
“He hasn’t, huh? Is that because you’re cold? Likely not pliant enough to take a knot? No children, probably.” A cruel twist in his eyes. “Are you no fun, Sofia?”
The jab hurts, but I smile through gritted teeth. “Apparently. Now that I have failed all the Alphas in my life, what shall I do with myself?”
“Whatwillyou do with yourself? After I return you, used, soiled, what do you think House Larsen will do? What do you think your beloved Lennart will do?”
“I don’t know, sir.” I lean forward. “All this talk of fucking me against my will, of ruining me just to get back at Lord Larsen, and yet here I am.” I point at myself with a flourish. “Still untouched.”
“And yet eager to be rutted.”
“Someone in this room should be.”
Another twitch of his mouth. His eyes flash with amusement and heat. “Mark my words, Lady Larsen: I am your Alpha tonight. I can make what’s about to happen extremely painful.”
