Page 11 of Forbidden Bonds
He presses the button, throwing a look over his shoulder in Lucian’s direction when it arrives, before glancing down at me.He wants to forget me, to erase me and everything about me from his mind. But there, underneath all that visceral hatred, I see the vulnerable man terrified to return to his mate, to bring this trouble to her door. Deep down, he believes she will forgive him, too, but that she will hate him at first.
And I see that he doesn’t really wish me harm. He said those cruel words already knowing that Lucian would never agree.
He was lashing out, wanting to hurt me because he was hurting himself.
He steps into the elevator and turns, looking at me with a sense of finality.
“Ethan,” I say quietly enough that only he hears, knowing I will likely never see him again—might not see the government or anyone official again, because he is giving me to Lucian to hide, as leverage. “Don’t trust a theta.”
His eyes widen, and a barrage of thoughts hits as the door clicks shut and the elevator descends.
I stare blankly at the closed elevator door, aware of Lucian on the other side of the room.
Lucian, who has agreed to keep me as leverage.
Lucian, who, as Ethan has just informed me, thanks to the mental deluge I triggered from him just before the metal doors closed between us, is a ruthless criminal. I am left with the one thought that stood out the most.
If you piss him off, he, unlike me, won’t hesitate to snap your neck.
Isn’t that just great…?
Slowly, I turn around to meet my fate.
Chapter Five
Larissa
The poor kid looks terrified. How does this bullshit keep happening to me? I’m sick of the sight of Ethan Black. If he shows his ass here again, I’ll have the fucker kicked out.
Lucian’s thoughts are a wild jumble, and I’m too mentally weak to block them out. “You’re not going to kick him out.”
He grunts, his eyes narrowing on me.
Trouble… and fucking tiny.“How old are you anyway? Are you even fucking legal?”
I blink a couple of times. “I’m twenty-nine.” I feel my temper rise. “Does my age make some difference to my ruination?”
He snorts a laugh.Poor little omega looks like she’s swallowed her own tongue. Still, she’s been lumbered with Ethan for a while, assuming he snatched her from the Uncorrupted’s clutches. Long enough to put anyone in an anxiety coma. The alphahole is not known for his winning personality. I’ve seen a corpse with higher empathy skills.
Okay, I’m rapidly warming to Lucian. I lower my lashes, but I feel the moment when he catches my smile.
Fuck—he said she can read minds—that this istheLarissa Olsen. What the fuck have I just been thinking about? Right, Sasquatch.“Yeah, he’s an asshole. But I’m not in the business of ruining omegas, whatever the fuck they’ve done and whatever their age. Neither is Black. So, clearly, you must’ve fucked up big time to get that response from him. You picked the wrong alpha to mess with.”
“I know that. You think I don’t know that?”
He thinks my eyes are sad and dull. He thinks my soft voice has a measured quality to it that is oddly soothing. The rest of me, in his opinion, is plain to the point of being lifeless.
I really wish I could shut his thoughts off, but I still don’t have a clue what he intends to do with me, and I need to know.
He’s still staring at me—and now I’m starting to shake.
…but maybe I need to call a doctor? This is already a clusterfuck, and the fewer people involved, the better.
His mind suddenly shifts without warning to a memory of a grim, abandoned warehouse. All the windows are shattered, and glass shards layer the scattered debris and the dusty floor. A naked female beta is chained to a metal girder. She is the image of fallen beauty, makeup running, and her body bearing the occasional cut that leaks blood in thin, gory rivulets.
Who she is, I have no idea, but I know immediately that she is someone who wronged Lucian, and this was her punishment—and at that realization I recoil. “You’re no better, though, are you? Is that whatyouwould do to a woman who caused pain to your omega?”
His grin is all teeth.She looks like she can’t survive a strong wind, never mind ten years with the Uncorrupted. How the hell has she caused pain to Lilly? What the fuck has she done?His grin fades. “That wasn’t an omega. Never heard of an omega who was truly malicious or evil. You feel you deserve to be broken?”
