Wren didn’t need to sniff the air to know what ran down the Omega’s thigh was Caspian’s cum. He was still tucking himself away.
The stab that came with the sight, Wren would grow accustomed to. She didn’t own these men. They owned her for a time. And so long as they kept their word, she would play their games and remember what this was.
Natural feelings were unnatural here. They were to be ignored and forgotten.
And so Wren tucked that unwarranted stab of sadness away and smiled all the larger.
It didn’t matter that the other Omega hissed at her approach. It didn’t matter that she reeked of Caspian, and even a little of Kieran… whom Wren had given herself to less than an hour before.
Letters tight in her fist, Wren went to the First.
To the male who had stolen her.
To the first man who had told her she was not defective.
To a person she greatly feared and could never thank enough.
And slipped her arms around the stiff Alpha’s middle to give him a genuinely heartfelt hug. She didn’t even mind the hideous coat touching her, or the shock she sensed when he braced as if she’d burned him. She embraced him, her ear to his heart, and smiled as if all was right in the world.
He didn’t purr. That was okay. She did, loudly, so loud it rang in her ears.
Pulling back, she went on quick tip toe and pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek before stepping back.
Eyes on her mouth, he scowled, dragging his thumb down her split lip. “What’s this?”
Miming waking surprised and thrashing, she tried to get him to laugh. He didn’t.
His loss.
Letters somewhat rumpled from her fist, she smiled at the male and held out the one with his name scratched on top. Pinching it from her fingers, face utterly blank, Caspian waited.
So she spoke in her way. Hands flowing with her excitement, Wren ignored all others to tell him exactly how she felt, knowing he could not understand, but hoping the sentiment came across.
Mikael is going to live thanks to you! Do you know what that means to me? There is nothing in the world I love more than my boys. Nothing. And today I saw my youngest smile, I saw him feel like he might have a shot at the world. I saw him come alive.
He laughed and it didn’t hurt him.
Thank you! Thank you with all my heart!
I will repay this kindness. I swear it.
Glancing toward the seething Rosie, Wren gave her a friendly smile, knowing she had interrupted time the other female prized with Caspian. Pressing her hands together in supplication, she wordlessly asked the Rosie’s forgiveness for intruding. And backed away, still smiling.
The other Omega’s disgust was obvious. “What the fuck is she doing here?”
“Shut up!” Caspian snapped at his guest, pulling open the letter to read it over. It didn’t take him long to absorb the message or to turn rich brown eyes back upon the bearer.
They were furious. “You were told to rest! I forbid you from ever stepping foot down here again!”
The unexpected boom of his voice made Wren jump, avert her eyes in immediate submission, and back away. But she still had Toby’s letter to pass forward, so she held it out, glancing quickly to where the Third edged forward.
Caspian snatched the paper from her hands, tore it lengthwise, and threw it over the ledge. Sailing end over end, the two halves were caught up by all the pouring water. Ruined.
Wren’s eyes tracked the path, earlier exuberance melting into a chill when it fell into the churning cistern. Her page was caught up by clean water and washed down a path that led right where Wren had first entered Caspian’s domain.
A figure far below was waving, face alive with excitement to see her. A boy with the painted black handprint of the Syndicate marking his face shouting, “Jax!”
Alec.
The boy she had bought with her body, jumping and exuberant to get her attention.
This… no…
Why was he here? Why marked as if he’d joined this band of criminals and murderers?
Like a snuffed out candle, the joy in her heart extinguished. Horror wormed its way into the hollow place, snapped through sinew and limb, and the icy clarity that she should have known better.
Daring to look at the seething male who’d forbidden her to come here, accusation sat clear on her face.
Caspian held no guilt in those mud colored eyes, only the glinting sting of entitlement. Clutched in his fist was her letter, a physical manifestation of her gratitude, and she could not help but stare at it as if it might come alive and destroy her.
Toby marched closer, speaking as if moving his jaw was difficult. “Go back to your room, sunshine. Now! I will come to you later.”
This sinking feeling… this was what those who lived in the Warrens choked on every goddamn day.