Page 38 of Forfeit

With a disgusted scoff, Devin brought her arms down. Too weak to even hold a gun aloft for more than a few minutes, too wrung out to cling to her anger, the depression pulled at her muscles until she sagged against the sun warmed leather. She was exhausted and hungry, the trials of… Devin realized with a start she had no idea how long it took them to get there. She only remembered part of a day and night, but surely they must have fed her and taken her to the bathroom at points. Everything was sticky, refusing to become clear in the murky depths of her mind.

Then suddenly the door was open. Filled to overflowing with Alpha aggression as Max returned on silent feet. She hadn’t even heard the lock click.

With a wordless sound of anger, Devin swung the gun up. Didn’t bother keeping her aim close and tight as she fired a round. Trembling so bad she mucked it up and hit the wall with a splintering crack that reverberated through her skull, she wasn’t prepared for the kickback. All those sessions with Beau for nothing as she managed to get off one more wild shot before Max ripped the pistol from her hands. Trying to evade, Devin dropped to the floor. Grabbing for the bat only to find it clattering across the floor as Max kicked it well out of her reach.

“She’s got some fight in her,” Max said, seeming not at all fussed that he’d had a gun pointed at him by an angry Omega.

If anything, Devin would swear she heard a note of pride buried within the gruff tones.

“What the hell, Devin?” Ashley’s shriek came from well outside the door, her pallid face lurking deep in the shadows. The wall beside her shoulder bloomed open to show splintered paneling and bursts of plaster. “You could have killed yourself with that!”

“I know how to use a gun,” Devin shouted, feeling strange and off-kilter as the world dipped and swayed with something unknown. She reached for Max, all clawed fingers and impotent rage as he easily handled her.

“Who taught you to shoot?” Max caught Devin’s hands, quieting her ever weaker display of anger.

“My Alpha did,” Devin screamed as that thing in her chest twisted and bucked, sending a violent shudder through her entire body. Devin doubled over, dry heaving as blackness swirled up around her. Technicolor spots danced across her vision with the force of it, nothing but Max’s sure grip keeping her from crashing to the floor.

“Very brave man,” Max said with a chuckle that died as fast as it formed. Crouching so Devin wasn’t a helpless puppet dangling from his fingers, he tried to gather her closer. He began to purr, uncaring who heard him.

Devin expected some calm to return, for her to become obscene in her need for comfort, but the sound grated across her nerves. It enraged her all the more that he sought to soothe away the black void ripping apart her insides.

“I don’t want you.” Devin’s shout came out as nothing more than a whimper despite how fervent her words.

It made little difference. So small were Omegas, it was easy to physically dominate when they wouldn’t bow to an Alphas demands. Max was no different than any other, plucking Devin from the floor to cradle against his chest. Pushing that sound into her, making it grow loud and horrifying as he took Devin back to the bed.

He paid no attention to Ashley’s shifting weight or the way she wrung her hands just outside of the busted doorway. He climbed right into the bed, tucking Devin tight against his heat and comfort as he pulled the heavy blanket over her. He even tugged it a little higher, burying Devin beneath its folds to offer a burrow for her to hide her discomfort in.

Hot and cold in turns, Devin shivered, teeth chattering as she gave ineffectual shoves at the chest before her. No other information came to her from beyond the heavy blanket. Not Ashley’s departure, if there were others nearby. She smelled nothing but smoke and spruce, the woodsy scent enveloping her to block out everything. It tried to waylay her fears, to dampen her anger, but Devin clung to both. Using them as a shield to keep her true horrors at bay.

In the muddled darkness, she waited for another moment. It would come, and this time she wouldn’t miss when given the chance to deal a death blow.

* * *

Devin fell asleep at some point. Things had gone from bad to worse, the shivering lapsing into a constant tremble that no amount of purring or firm strokes of Max’s hands could quiet. Her low whines of terror had filled the too hot space beneath the blankets.

Now she stumbled awake into the fouled darkness, the depth of it proving she’d slept the day away. Max’s slow, even breaths against her cheek told her he slept as well. A cautious shift tightened his hands, though his breaths remained quiet. Even in sleep an Alpha could control, she thought with overwhelming bitterness.

Tears burned the back of her eyes as she blinked hard to clear them away. She wanted Rey, the earthy darkness of his scent with its hint of sweetness. She loathed the scents of forests surrounding her now. There was nothing about Max that endeared her to him, and past that however long when he’d used all his power against her, he’d failed to quiet her. Even in the darkest moments with Rey, he’d been able to turn her body to his, to comfort even when Devin wanted anything but. He’d given her safety even when everything seemed to be going to hell.

“He’s mine,” Devin whispered in the dark, shoulders sagging as something within loosened at the admission. She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but with the taste of it on her tongue, she felt a surge of something bright and clean.

“What,” Max asked, and there was nothing sleepy or confused in his tone as his hands tightened over Devin.

Devin kept her mouth shut, unwilling to share her secret. Not daring to breathe past shallow gasps, she had an inkling that Max understood from the way his grip became unyielding. He didn’t grope and fondle as she half expected, but instead clutched at her. As if someone tried to pry her from his grasp and he sought to hold on.

Devin’s breath left her in an airy whine as he suddenly rolled them both, his oppressive weight pushing her into the bed. He surrounded her, limbs caging her in as he loosed a quiet growl that offered no succor. It was demand and entreaty both.

Thoughts spinning at the very idea, she was unprepared for his next move.

Leaning down, Max brushed his lips against the corner of her mouth. Pulling away long before she thought to bite and scratch, he travelled the line of her cheek with his nose to inhale deep at her temple. Following the line down, his lips hovered over the long line where neck and shoulder met, another breath taking in her scent where Rey’s claim sat.

“It’s true then? You can do it,” Max demanded in a hoarse whisper.

He wasn’t angry. His tone marveled at the very idea, something about him softening as he carded rough fingers through Devin’s tangled curls.

“I-I don’t know what—”

“Don’t lie to me.”

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