Page 35 of Royal Omega

He laughs cruelly, shaking his head. “I was sure it was a mistake when you disappeared,” he whispers.

“WhenIdisappeared?”

He continues as if he hadn’t heard me, pushing away from the door and turning his back to me. He runs his hands through his hair as if trying to keep himself in check. “I was so sure that you would never betray me like that,” he says. It’s as if he’s talking more to himself than to me. “I called you. I wrote you. I even came to your house to see you. But you shut me out. And my family... what your parents did to my family...”

He turns to face me. I feel exposed, panting with fear and confused lust. I stare at him, unable to form words in my shock.

Conrad lets out a small, humorless laugh, and shakes his head. “You’re a monster, Carissa. We both know it. And now everyone else will, too.”

***

YOU’RE A MONSTER. The words repeat in my head long after Conrad has thrown the door open and stormed away. I watched him go, and then staggered to the couch, clutching fistfuls of my dress to try to keep control of myself.

I’m so fucking confused. My heat is close, and the scent of sandalwood lingering in the air is making me crazy. The fear and anger and resentment and confusion are only making the lust stronger, which is just so unfair.

I’m thinking about how I might be able to find some damn relief when there’s a quiet knock at the door. When I don’t respond, it cracks open, and Lily, my producer, steps inside. “Hey there, Carissa, you ready to talk?”

I shake my head.

Lily clears her throat. “I get it, I do, but sometimes it really does help to talk it out.”

“I’m not ready,” I say unsteadily.

“I get that too, but... and I hate to be that girl... you kind of have to do a confession right now. Contracts and lawyers and stuff. Sorry.” Her eyes scan over my clothes. “I think you can keep these clothes on instead of changing into your confessional stuff, if that helps.”

I close my eyes, struggling for control. I can’t think straight, still in shock, and when Lily offers me her arm, I take it, letting her lead me out of the suite and down the stairs to the basement confessional.

She sets me up in the chair before settling herself across from me with her tablet in her lap. I stare at her, too emotionally drained to do anything but wait for the questions to hit me.

“What did Conrad want?”

“To talk.”

“Sorry, Carissa, I need you to answer with full sentences, remember?”

“Right.” My throat is dry, and I reach for the water bottle on the table, opening it and draining half of it before I answer. “Conrad wanted to talk to me.”

“About?”

I close my eyes and try again. “Conrad wanted to talk to me about our past.”

“So you have a past?”

“We do,” I say, my voice shaking.

“Carissa...” Lily sighs. “Full sentences, ok?”

“Right. Conrad and I have a past. Though apparently I remember it differently than he does.”

“How so?”

I swallow hard. “We... sorry. Conrad and I met when we were young. After we first revealed. We were both from families that were part of the omega ballroom circuit. We had a lot in common.” A small smile comes over my mouth as I remember the fun we used to have. “I remember this one time, we snuck into the garden outside one of the mansions, and threw berries at each other, trying to catch them in our mouths. That was the night we had our first kiss.” He tasted like blueberries and alpha essence that night. His tongue had teased my own, and my heart had pounded so hard I thought it would beat out of my chest.

“What happened?”

“One day, he was just gone. I was shocked. I had thought... I thought we were going to be bonded. That was what we had agreed, anyway. But then he was just gone.” I frown at the memory, remembering how horrible it was.

“What did you do?”

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