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He sighed and gave me a patronizing look. I wanted to punch him, and my hands curled instinctively.

“I needed to observe the two of you in real action, not just fighting with each other. Not just sparring. But how you would react in a perceived life-or-death scenario.”

He cupped my face in his large hand and lowered his nose tomy neck, breathing in deeply. “You will be leading the Berserkers, after all. I knew of their potential as long as I could find someone to control them. They will be the front line, the first ones through the portals to the other realm.”

Alaroth looked up, laughing at the horror in my eyes. “You will be safe by my side in battle, of course. The shields I will cover you with are impenetrable.”

Nothing stopped those Berserkers except me, and the king wanted to unleash them on Earth. They couldn’t distinguish between soldiers and non-combatants. How many innocent people would they rip apart?

And how many Berserkers would get shot and blown up by human weapons? They were just as innocent in all this, failed experiments whose minds had been scrambled by the fae king.

Alaroth closed his eyes and leaned in for a kiss, but I backed away. I had plenty to still be angry about, plenty to keep me plausibly upset and my pack safe.

He gritted his teeth. “What now, beloved?”

“You offered me up to those alphas to fuck,” I replied, crossing my arms.

An annoyed groan sounded from deep in his chest and he rolled over on his back next to me. “You weren’t listening. I offered themanomega, notmine. There are several here we use to help keep the alphas in line.”

Somehow that felt even worse. Now I knew what happened to the omegas Alaroth didn’t find pretty enough to be his personal concubines—they just became comfort women for sex and pack-starved alphas instead.

Or sacrifices for the king’s stupid tests. That poor omega, torn to pieces…

Aside from Ezra and myself, shifters really meant nothing to him. Including Ezra and myself, we were just a means to an end.

Alaroth opened his arms and gestured for me to lay down on his chest. “Come, I wish to rest before dinner, and I would like to do so with my betrothed.”

Every cell in my body revolted at the idea of cuddling with him, but what could I do? I bit the bullet and laid back down, resting my head on his chest. His arm wrapped around me and rubbed my side, while he raised his other hand above his head.

“You and your brother,” he started. “Am I to assume this tiresome quarrel is finished? I would like it to be over now.”

So I couldn’t be mad at Alaroth, and now I couldn’t be mad at Ezra. He just wanted me demure and pleasant at all times. His quiet, smiling, obedient queen.

“Well, you don’t really get to decide that. It’s family business.”

His hand grabbed my ass tightly. Too tightly, and I whimpered as he hissed above. “I am to be your husband, Marlowe. That makes me family as well. And I won’t have discord in my house.Fix it.”

“Yes,” I whined quietly.

Like fuck I would. I might not necessarily want Ezra dead,again, but I’d be taking my grudge to the grave, thank you very much.

60

EZRA

“Don’t move, sir.”

Delicate hands cleaned the wounds on my chest, wiping away the blood and rubbing them with a strong disinfectant. I hissed at the sting and cursed under my breath, but the little omega was undeterred as she laughed.

“Mighty ‘alpha of alphas,’ can’t handle a little puribalm.”

I was lucky to be alive, I supposed. I had been off to the side of the brunt of Marlowe’s attack, where she’d burned the alphas from the inside out.

My lungs felt a little charred, and the cuts from the Berserker’s gross claws hurt like a bitch, but otherwise I was okay.

I sucked in a quick breath as she dabbed another wound. “Like you could do any better,” I grumbled.

She tucked the curtain of hair that had fallen across her cheek behind her ear, revealing a long, jagged scar across her cheek. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m used to it,” she replied softly.