Page 39 of Filthy Beginnings

It didn’t help that the urge to fuck and knot Scarlett, mark her, and breed her had grown from a shout to a deafening roar inside his brain—and the longer he held out, the edgier he got. The harder it became to curb his aggression.

“Damien?” Wide, worried eyes peered up at him. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m… good. Just a little on edge.” He blew out a breath. “I don’t like those fuckers around you.”

“Me either.”

He couldn’t help himself. He knew he shouldn’t ask. He did it anyway. “So, what’s the real story with Stormhart?”

“What do you mean?” Her expression blanked. In the next instance, she pulled away from him, her lips tilting upward into a tight smile.

He told himself it was nothing. “Well, your brother sure has a hard-on for him.”

She stilled. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s obsessed with the idea of Stormhart winning the tournament and you. I thought it was just Egan who was jockeying for one of the Brotherhood-connected favorites to win, but clearly that’s not the case. Your brother wants him for you too.”

She studied him. “Luc spoke with you?”

“Yes.”

Her lush lips flattened into a tight line. “I’m sorry. Ignore him. Luc and Stormhart have been fighting against one another since they were young. They respect one another.”

Must be nice.

He shook off the sting.

“You know Stormhart well too?” He tried for casual. From the wary look that entered her gorgeous eyes, he was pretty sure he failed.

“Well enough. I’ve watched him fight since I was young. As a prize-in-training, I was required to attend a lot of the smaller tournaments, though they mostly had us stand around and smile, to add some sparkle to the event.”

He hated that he hadn’t been there to protect her from that.

But the ugly truth was he wouldn’t have been able to do much. While she was being carted to different tournaments, he’d been hiding out in ice caves on his home planet, a scrawny, angry youngling who’d lost his mother and his baby brother and sister in one go. While she was perfecting her fake smile, he’d been freezing his balls off, combing through trash cans and space dumps, trying to look older and scarier and talking shit to anyone who looked at him sideways or tried to take his stuff, trying to stay alive, and pretending to his younger sister Anya that he wasn’t afraid, so she wouldn’t be.

He’d been so useless back then. Weak and rudderless. But he wasn’t now.

And he was going to make things better for all of them, including Scarlett.

“Stormhart was often at the same tournaments.” His omega’s words pulled him from his memories and reminded him there was still something that made him afraid. “Luc too. I think in the end, Stormhart matched my brother in their number of tournament wins—though neither of them have competed in a tournament on this scale before.”

“But what doyouthink of him?”

She shrugged, but her gaze never quite met his. “He’s a strong fighter and a good male.”

Now it was his turn for tense shoulders. “Good enough for you to want him to win the tournament?”

“No.” Genuine distress sharpened her expression. “Luc thinks he knows what is best for me. He doesn’t.”

Damien breathed easier for the first time since his run-in with her brother. “Family.” He tried to make a joke of it. “They complicate everything. My sister Anya is always climbing in the vents. Eavesdropping.”

Scarlett’s pupils expanded in size. “Does she get in a lot of trouble?” He could only imagine how shocking such actions would be to an omega forced to conform to consortium rules her whole life.

“Nah. She gets away with a lot, but she’s also left out of a lot of family stuff because she’s the youngest and an omega and I, well, I know a bit of how that feels so… I should tell, but I don’t.”

“Yes.” She threw herself into his arms, the pleased look on her face making his chest puff wide. “Because protecting her is important. I feel the same way about my brother. He’s done so much for me. More than I could ever repay.”

“My brothers have done everything for me, too.” Damien stroked a hand down her spine. “They kept me alive when it would have been so much easier to dump me and focus on saving themselves. That’s why I’m here. To finally give back.”

---