Page 143 of Sweetheart: Part One

“Huh.” He was too cool as he regarded me. “Well… if that’s the case.” He took a step back, and for the smallest fraction, I felt a burst of relief.

He wasn’t toying with me at all.

Then, instead of carrying me back down the stairs, he stepped toward the door.

I let out a frightened gasp, flailing in his arms, trying to kick him—to do anything to stop him from dragging me out there, but he didn’t even need his aura to hold me.

A roar of wind and rain slammed into me, and then we were outside, the door to the roof closing behind us.

Everything fell away but for the storm that raged across the sky above.

EBONY

The moment we stepped outside, Vex stopped fighting me. I tried to peel her away from me a little, to get a glimpse of her expression, but she wrapped her arms around me and held on like we were on the edge of a cliff.

Her whole body shook.

It was cold out here, sheets of rain hammering against tile and rough waves of the pool. It soaked me to the bone in an instant.

It wasn’t until a crack of lightning split the sky did Vex move again. She tried to dive away from me with a cry, desperate to get to the door. Holding her tight, I finally caught her expression of absolute terror.

I waited for my own response to the victory.

I’d found people’s weak points before. I never went for the easy blow—I found the thing that made them terrified, a weakness that made me sure they’d never challenge me again. That’s what victory looked like.

And I’d done it a million times before.

But right now I felt no flash of satisfaction. Quite the opposite.

This was because she was an omega…

But that wasn’t true. I’d despised a good number of the omegas we’d worked with. I’d definitely felt vindicated when a co-actor broke her ankle on set after ignoring my warning that she wasn’t using the equipment right. And I’d never wanted to scoopherinto my arms and make promises that she’d never hurt again.

In my distraction, my grip had loosened, and Vex finally managed to break from it. It took everything in me to grab her arm before she could make for the door. A part of me wanted to haul her there myself, to make sure she was safe and happy.

Madness.

She was wild with panic, nothing of the woman who’d lived with us before now. I dragged her across the roof, burying every soft edge that proved how ruinous she was, ignoring how each of her whimpers was a dagger in my chest.

Ihadto do this. My pack needed the truth.

Drake needed the truth.

It wasn’t until we were standing on the edge of the pool that she stopped fighting. I heard the unsteady breath catch in her lungs even through the thundering rain.

“W-what are you doing?” she asked, shying back against my hold on her, lowering her centre of balance to use her weight to put distance between her and the pool. Her skin was deathly pale, drops of rain mingling with silent tears tracking down her cheeks.

You did that, a furious voice hissed in my mind.Shattered the promise you just made.

It didn’t matter.She didn’t fucking matter.

Her eyes were darting between me and the pool. “You can’t. I c-can’t swim.”

I snorted. “You aren’t as good a liar as you like to think.”

I shifted, dragging her closer. “N-n-no!” Those pretty doe eyes now orbs of fear, soaked hair stuck to her cheeks, her lips quivering pathetically. “I r-really can’t. P-please—” She cut off with a sharp inhale as lightning split the sky again. She squeezed her eyes tight shut, chipped, black nails carving crescents into the flesh of my arms as she clutched me. “E-Ebony…” She shook her head, voice choked. “You s-said… y-you said… you’d protect me.”

And you believed me?Every other time in my life, that thought would have come with a laugh.

---