Page 10 of The Demon's Pet

I laughed ruefully. “If any alpha had given a shit about me, he would have intervened sooner when I was getting the shit kicked out of me all over the place. When I was getting assaulted—”

His gray eyes met mine, and there was real regret there. “Omegas should be protected. It’s true. Maybe an alpha wanted to intervene but couldn’t. Maybe he finally can.”

I blinked up at him, wondering if he was saying what I thought he was saying.

“I’ve always noticed you, Cleo,” he said. “There’s fire in you. I admire that. If molded to the right situation—”

“I can’t be molded,” I said. “I’m a person, not a lump of clay. My heart is the way it is. I won’t be molded.”

He nodded. “Would you accept me as a mate?” He slowed his jog when we were still a good distance from my house in the worst part of the village, but I could see it in the distance as we walked around the wheat field rather than through it.

His wolf buddies were following us a little way behind.

I swallowed, looking up at him to see if he was joking. But his gray eyes were dead serious.

So I considered his question earnestly, because he’d caught me in a serious infraction and hadn’t beaten the life out of me as any other alpha would.

Perhaps a life with him, as the mate of the pack alpha’s son, would finally protect me from bullying. Make me immune to the misery of being the omega I was.

I would stay home every day, cook and clean, and as long as I behaved, my life would be safe and comfortable.

As long as I behaved…

“I don’t think so,” I said, almost sorry to turn him down, if he was truly even asking.

I was still a little astounded that such a powerful alpha would even want me.

“Why?” I asked. “You don’t even know me. How could you want me as a mate?”

He cocked his head, and his smile almost charmed me. “I like a challenge.”

I wrinkled my nose, frowning at him. “I’m not a game or a challenge. This is my life. I genuinely hate being ruled over. No part of me feels like an omega. And a collar would feel like a chain.”

He nodded. “Then what will you do?”

“Fight,” I said.

He let out a weary sigh. “So you’d rather be a pack whore than the mate of an alpha?”

“I’ll bite off the next dick that comes my way without consent,” I muttered. “So no, I don’t think so.”

He stopped, looking down at me with what felt like genuine sorrow in his eyes. “I don’t want you to die, Cleo. It’s a waste of so much fire and energy. You’re special. I can feel that sometimes, even watching you in the congregation.”

“Kinda creepy that you’re sitting up there eyeing potential mates when you’re overseeing religious services.”

“I can’t help it,” he said. “If you just tried, you’d be beautiful, you know.”

“Try to get more attention? Not likely,” I said.

I didn’t know why, but I felt comfortable talking with Bran, despite his position and me barely knowing him.

He kept walking, and when we got closer to my home, he stopped, waving away his other wolves as they gathered around him.

Shrugging, they headed off, probably toward the chapel where the ordinations would take place.

He set me down, then rested his hands on my shoulders gently, holding me in place. “Will you at least think about it? It’d be a good life. Better than any other you could hope for. And you deserve it, after everything.”

I just stared at him, still shocked by this turn of events.

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