Page 29 of Shattered Omega: Part One

He’d cooked alot.

I don’t know why that made me panic. It just wasn’t supposed to happen. This was an academy for prospective elite packs; the alphas weren’t supposed to cook. They certainly weren’t supposed to cook every breakfast food known to man and lay it out across the counter like a feast.

Was he expecting guests?

“I didn’t know what you liked,” Dusk said, setting a glass of orange juice down on the table beside another glass of apple.

WhatIliked?

Thiswasn’tfor me.

That would be insane.

“Where are the others?” I asked.

“Umbra isn’t a morning person.” Dusk turned and held a hand out to me. I stared at it, frowning and fighting the urge to take a step back.

He was dressed well this morning, with dark jeans and a loose cream button up. He looked like a rich prick.

“I’d like to be civil,” he said.

I fixedmy eyes on his piercing gaze, almost choking a laugh at those words. He’d drugged me and stolen me from my mates. Now he wantedcivility?

I chewed on my lip as his eyes darkened, his hand still out. He didn’t like it when I rejected him. Finally, I stepped toward the table, taking his hand with a clenched jaw. I knew how fast he might turn this into another repeat of last night.

I would reject him, but maybe not so overtly. And ideally when he wasn’tinthe room.

His smile was irritatingly breathtaking as he tugged me toward him. Next thing I knew, he’d taken me by the waist and lifted me onto the one clear area of the table. He scanned my face and outfit, and I jumped as he brushed sleep from my eyes. The motion was… gentle.

He was far too close, taller than me even though I was sitting on the bar table. I could see every detail of his face, the specks of warmer oranges in the yellow of his irises, the ridge of an old scar discolouring the smooth brown of his left cheekbone.

I heard him slide something across the marble top and glanced down to see him line up a pad and pen beside me. “Write down all your favourite foods and anything you don’t like.”

“Why?”

I don’t know why I couldn’t take my gaze from him. “Tomorrowmorning, I’d like to bring you breakfastinyour nest with those lovely golden eyes free of contacts.”

His words drew my panic to a screeching halt. “I don’t want your nest or your breakfast.”

He’d told me the price of that nest, and I wouldn’t be saying yes to it. Still, the words felt like lies. And I couldn’t ignore that my stomach did a giddy flip.

Bring me breakfast in my own nest?

I shoved the thought away.

Dusk picked something small from the table and lifted his hand to my lips. I drew back, glancing down to see a scent blocking pill.

“No—”

“The deal for the photo,” he reminded me. “Your scent is ours.”

Knowing my expression was bitter from the curve of his lips, I let him press the pill into my mouth. Then he handed me the orange juice to swallow it.

Orange might be my favourite, but I grabbed the apple juice, fighting a grimace at the sweetness as I swallowed it down. The faster I got it down, the faster he’d back up and stop drowning me in midnight opium.

“Open up.”

“What?” I asked, startled.

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