Page 9 of Fated or Knot (UnseelieVerse: The Omega Masquerade #1)

9

LARK

T he world swam in a feverish haze. Kauz returned to sit across from me, a table between us. He had a kit open on the surface, containing a grid full of tiny bottles. “Any color preference?” he asked.

I inhaled through my teeth, but I was beyond words. An inferno was eating me from the inside out, and I felt so empty, my pussy clenching on air. I was mentally undressing this poor beta while it happened, imagining how good his cock would feel inside me even though he didn’t have a knot.

No. Stop that. Bad Lark.

I shook my head, and he nodded, lifting a brush and selecting for me. He shook the tiny bottle and infused the liquid with his magic in a swirl of starlight. If I were in my right mind, I’d mention the ink on my lower belly, where I preferred to hide the tattoo. I would probably succumb to full-blown heat if I took my dress off right now, though.

Kauz wetted the brush’s bristles by placing them between his lips. I imagined them pinching the little cherry at the apex of my legs and felt slick escaping the seal of my thighs, dripping onto the bottom of my dress.

I was slicker than a fish in the sea, my whole body aching to be filled. I needed…a knot. No. A bath. I needed a long, hot bath.

The first line of ink brushed the inside of my wrist and shimmered with the starlight of Kauz’s essence as magic suffused me. The tremors wracking my body eased.

“Come back, Lark,” he was murmuring, spinning essence with one hand while the other drew another line next to the first. By the third stroke of his brush, he’d taken hold of my fingers, running starry magic down my arm and straight to my core. It tingled over my skin, cool and soothing, and the temperature in my body fell, giving way to chilled shivers. A bit at a time, my muscles relaxed and my skin loosened.

He dipped the brush in the ink pot and ran the tip in a delicate pattern over the back of my wrist, his eyelids narrowed in concentration. I watched him work with fascination that had nothing to do with how horny I’d been moments ago.

His essence felt right in the places where it entwined with mine, as if it belonged there. My body responded to his power and obeyed what his spell work bid without a fight, going dormant once more and shoving my heat back where it belonged. And I caught a whiff of his scent through my overpowering cloud of perfume. It was just a hint of something nice, tickling my nostrils and disappearing when I tried to get another sniff.

“Would you like a fertility blocker?” he offered. He flashed a reassuring smile. “To prevent conception when you inevitably go into heat.”

“Such a thing exists?” I murmured. The essence spinner in Osme Fen had never offered me something like this, and I would’ve gladly paid extra for it.

“Of course.” He squeezed my hand between both of his, careful of the wet brush. “You should always have the freedom to choose.”

Stars, I practically wilted with relief. He had no idea about Pack Ellisar and the way they’d promised to breed me. They wanted a baby from the heat they’d purchased, and I shuddered with a spike of fear just at the reminder. I didn’t want to go into heat for them. I didn’t want to carry their child.

They’re not here. You’re going to be on a magirail to Zemosia as soon as possible.

“No one’s going to force you into anything, Lark,” Kauz said gently. It was like he’d read my mind. He brought me back from the spiral of my thoughts and lanced through the heart of my fears all in one go.

“How do you know my name?” I asked, refocusing on him. I wasn’t suspicious… I’d told him, hadn’t I? Silly me, forgetting that detail while my mind cooked from heat-driven fever.

“Fal mentioned it last night,” he answered.

My cheeks pinkened. Of course Fal had mentioned me. He’d probably sat his whole pack down to tell them what a disappointment I was. Some scent match, flying away the moment he was revealed as an Unseelie.

“I did,” confirmed the dark elf himself. Gasping, I nearly fell out of my chair, but Kauz caught my arm when I startled hard. Fal stood right inside the room, dressed down from the fancy suit he’d worn to the masquerade yesterday, but his navy getup and the glittering chains and earrings along his long ears still screamed prince . My heart just about galloped out of my chest to see him again.

His catlike gaze gleamed with interest even from several feet away as his nostrils flared. Kauz’s face twisted with a severe look as he turned toward the dark elf. “You scared her.”

“Apologies, my lady,” Fal said smoothly, nodding my way. “It was simply impossible to miss Marius panicking. I just had to investigate.”

I swallowed with a dry click. If I didn’t need to stay for another magical tattoo, I’d be bolting out the door right now. So, I nervously told Kauz, “I want the fertility blocker, please.” The sooner he applied it, the quicker I could leave.

Maybe with him present, Fal wouldn’t lay into me for leaving him unmasked last night. Though he didn’t seem angry and was clearly scenting the air, those mischievous features turning smug.

Kauz retrieved a second brush from his kit and shook another bottle of ink. I took my eyes off Fal to see the new suppressant tattoo and cooed from how unexpectedly pretty it’d turned out. He’d given me a bracelet of silver ink, with four symbols worked into the design that were so intricate they looked like silver gems from most distances. I’d need to inspect his handiwork when he wasn’t turning my hand over with his brush poised over my pulse point.

“What’re you thinking for this one?” Fal asked. He’d moved soundlessly to the chair beside Kauz, and I sucked in a smaller startle.

The summery scent that wafted from him would smell even better mixed with the waterlilies and mint from Marius. It was unfair a pair of alphas could smell so nice and yet be Unseelie. I couldn’t trust them. Right? Maybe I shouldn’t allow Kauz to give me a second tattoo, even though he’d clearly suppressed my heat as requested with the first.

“Don’t make the lady ask you to leave,” Kauz said.

Fal leaned down to rest his forearms on the back of his chair. “Please. I’m just here for the ambiance. I can shut up.” He flashed me a quick wink.

“You? Never,” Kauz stated.

I blushed and ducked my head, glad to feel the cool tingles of Kauz’s magic as he started drawing the fertility blocker on my skin. Just the act of perfuming so hard for a stranger was bad enough, before adding in how he’d dumped me here and left. Now both of them would smell my sweaty body after the last vestiges of my scent faded. How mortifying. Fal’s alpha instincts probably wouldn’t let him leave until I disgusted him with my body odor.

I looked around at anything but these two males. This was a bigger suite than the one I’d slept in last night, with a table that sat four, a detail I’d failed to notice earlier. Kauz had his chair flipped around to account for the leathery wings he had mantled to either side of his lean body.

I clenched my free hand in my lap. “I hope Marius is okay,” I mumbled.

Both of them laughed. I peeked through my lashes, catching Fal’s graceful fingers forming a lewd gesture while he said, “Oh, just give him a moment. He’ll be fine.”

“He dropped her and ran like a raging redcap was chasing him,” Kauz said, still chuckling.

“Did he? I’m going to give him so much shit for that.” Fal then switched to Serian to add something else to Kauz, the language unfamiliar but earthy and lyrical in its own way. His every inflection made him sound like he was up to no good, his teasing edge verging on lustful.

Stars. I imagined him being in the pawn shop with me rather than Marius. With how he looked at me now, he’d probably have taken me back here to seat me on his knot. Even though a stirring of heat pooled low in my belly, I pushed it away. I’m very fortunate to get another suppressant tattoo. Not the added complications of a full-blown heat.

Kauz responded in Serian, but his tone was of warning.

The shift of mood the dark elf experienced was immediate. He schooled his expression as Kauz lifted my wrist and blew on the drying ink. “Sorry, li’l pixie,” Fal said. He sounded nearly serious, the mischief placed aside for a moment. It was interesting that he couldn’t fully pronounce little either. Like Tormund, it seemed his tongue was trained to flick the top of his mouth mid-word. “Not to make light of your moment. I’m sure no omega wants a suppressed heat triggering in a public place.”

“No,” I agreed quietly.

My inner omega perked up. Surely he isn’t angry about last night if he’s apologizing. That bundle of instincts wanted me to be held by my scent match. It was only natural for an alpha-omega pairing to bond over touch and comfort.

No, I can’t ask him for any of that. Maybe I’d get a chance to apologize, at least, and give him his mask back despite wanting to hoard it.

“How long has it been since your last heat?” Kauz asked. He lifted my fingers to brush a kiss over my knuckles before releasing my arm. A shiver of awareness passed up my skin from just that little touch of his lips.

I turned my wrist over. He’d picked a sparkling purple ink to make a separate tattoo that was attached to the first by a stylized swirl and a pretty knot that all seemed interconnected. The most prominent lines formed an “X,” and I imagined that was the point. No babies for this omega.

I was so grateful that I answered his question. “I’ve never had a heat.”

Glancing up, I realized both males were staring at me. “You don’t have an omega mark, then?” Kauz asked in surprise.

Fal whistled low. “And how old are you?” he asked.

They were way too interested in this, and their intensity spooked me. “How old are you ?” I countered nervously.

It was easier to respond to Fal rather than admit I’d purposefully made myself packless for four years. Without my first heat, the omega mark wouldn’t manifest on my body and I couldn’t be bitten and soul-bound into any pack against my will.

Alphas and betas simply had their mark appear when they hit adulthood, but I had pushed the moment as far back as I could. I’d find my freedom in Zemosia before I was forced into becoming a breeder for any alphas, especially the likes of Pack Ellisar.

Fal’s brow rose. “Old enough to recognize a deflection.”

“I…thank you,” I said to Kauz, gesturing to my wrist as I drew to my feet. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without your timely intervention. If you need a favor or money, just let me know?—”

I was edging toward the door, ready to declare a “none of your business” if they pressed any harder. I’d try to run to the magirail station, not that these males wouldn’t follow me. After the moment in the pawn shop, it was clear the Unseelie pack wanted something from me. They hadn’t done anything yet to convince me they had darker intentions, but they couldn’t help their nature as the tricksters of the fae race.

Kauz opened one of his wings to stop me, creating a living barrier that I nearly bumped into. His wingspan was huge, but what caught me off guard were the patterns of swirling silver ink that were exposed while it was extended. The bottom half of the inside of the leathery span looked a little like the night sky full of falling stars and misty clouds shimmering in place. An incredibly talented essence spinner had inked these tattoos.

Wow. I just wanted to touch him. Maybe see if he’d let me lie on his wing like it was a blanket and trace every sparkle and glimmering trail. I wondered if he could fly, really fly, with his big bat wings. If so, he could carry me into the sky, and I could experience more than a few short glides on my comparatively tiny wings.

You can’t have him either, I reminded myself. This sudden neediness was unsettling. All he’d done was touch my hand and wrist, and my inner omega wanted to jump straight to him hugging me with that impressive span.

“Just answer the question. How long have you pushed off your heat?” Kauz asked. The concern in his tone had my insides tying themselves up. He was being way too nice, considering the circumstances.

“Four years,” I breathed.

Kauz gasped and Fal growled. I backed away from the unspoken aggression that rose from the alpha’s chest. “Why?” Fal demanded.

“I need to go,” I said, moving around the edge of Kauz’s wing.

“Tell me why you’re endangering your health. Lark!” As predicted, Fal followed me out of the room, his tall stride keeping up with my hitching gait effortlessly. “Has someone intimidated you into suppressing yourself this long?”

“It’s not that.”

“Give me a clue,” he beseeched. “Help me see you.”

I stopped before the stairs. Fuck. We’re on the third floor again. Turning to face Fal, I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. He wasn’t going to let this go. I saw his determination, but also far more tenderness in his expression than I expected. He hadn’t laughed off my desire for freedom as omega silliness, either.

After all my imagined versions of him returning to his brothers and laughing about the pathetic pixie who didn’t have a dress for the masquerade… maybe that didn’t matter to him. Not like this did. In my wildest dreams, I’d never expected this male to care .

“Lark.” The way he said my name had my wings quivering. “No omega pushes off a heat for four years willingly. Tell me what’s wrong. My brothers and I would fall over ourselves for a chance to help you.” Closing the distance between us, he cupped my cheek. I nearly whined, torn between how much I wanted to be touched and how little I could open up to him. Cymora had ordered my silence on too many occasions.

There were stairs behind me, empty air. I couldn’t escape the gentle brush of his fingertips unless I wanted to aggravate the scrapes I’d gotten from last night’s fall.

I didn’t want to hurt anymore. Tilting my head, I leaned into the warmth of his presence and lidded my eyes. It’d be far too easy to get lost in his enticing scent of sun and grass. “I’m leaving,” I murmured.

“You’re fleeing,” he corrected.

“Is there a difference?”

“Aye.” His free hand combed through my hair.

Do not purr, I hissed at my inner omega.

He’s Unseelie. He’s going to use what I say to trick me later.

“I…” Just opening my mouth released a soft sound, a bubbling pre-purr that threatened to deepen. Despite my misgivings, I wanted to trust him. I guess I was a moth this afternoon, daring to fly closer to a fire. “I’m going to a sanctuary city.”

“Are you?” Those sharp fingernails grazed my scalp just so. Oh, that felt amazing.

“Yes.”

“Then why haven’t you left yet?”

His lighthearted tone was back. I looked up at him and the quirk of his mouth. I wanted him to hold me, and he probably knew it on instinct. Yet he wasn’t merely joking with me; he was challenging and prompting me to leave. Right now.

What I wouldn’t do to have his brand of confidence.

“It’s the stairs,” I answered, hoping to catch him off guard. I was second-guessing my whole plan, and that would get me stolen away by a pack of Unseelie after all.

The side of his lips lifted further. “What?”

“The stairs,” I repeated. “Going down them hurts.”

His blue, slitted eyes dropped to my feet, and I saw his moment of clarity. He smoothed my hair before drawing back enough to bow. “It would be my infinite pleasure to assist you with this part of your journey, my lady,” he said with a dramatic flourish of his hands.

I fidgeted, blushing again. “I’m not a lady. I’m…a servant,” I said, like he didn’t have eyes to see it for himself.

“Not anymore,” he said smoothly. “No matter where you go from here, you are my lady.”

Oh no. I could feel my defenses fizzling away. My fingertips tingled. This prince was claiming me as his. So unlikely a true reaction and so clearly a trap, but…I wanted to believe it so badly.

“There’s that lovely smile,” he said. “I mean it. Please let me carry you.”

I hesitated another moment before nodding, and he bent, lifting me as Tormund had, one arm around my back, threaded between my upper and lower wings, and the other under my knees. The moment he secured me against his body, I couldn’t help it anymore. I snuggled into the strength of his chest and inhaled with a purr. He descended the stairs slowly, careful not to jostle me too much.

“Neither of your brothers asked,” I said.

“No accounting for manners, hmm.” He nuzzled my neck, leaving the mark of his warm scent on me again and inhaling with a possessive growl.

“Hmm,” I echoed, part agreement and part enjoyment.

His lips brushed my skin, feather light. I tilted my head for more, an unconsciously submissive gesture. “You keep purring for me like that, and I’ll carry you straight to the next train to Serian,” he said.

“I can’t help it,” I mumbled in a weak protest.

His hold tightened around me. “That’s fate, my lady. You belong with me.”

Belonged with him, not to him. I flushed, sensitive to the distinction. Stars, if he didn’t stop talking soon, I’d go right back into pre-heat.

“Who caused your leg injury?” he asked.

I stopped purring. His tone hadn’t shifted, so it wasn’t quite the change of subject that it seemed. “Huh? No one. I mean, I was born lame.”

“Hmm.” This hum sounded disappointed. I wondered what he’d do to Cymora if he knew about the vow she’d tricked me into. Just a fanciful notion of revenge for me to daydream about later.

Now that the moment had passed, I wished there were more stairs for him to carry me down. I still had an apology to say before I found my way to Zemosia. “Hey, Fal. I’m, um, sorry about last night,” I blurted before I lost my nerve.

His smile returned, pure mischief glinting in his eyes. “Oh aye, about which part?” he teased.

Stars, all of it. “About tricking you,” I said carefully, trying to get to the heart of the matter.

He released a deep laugh, burying his face in the crook of my neck again. It was a wonder we didn’t crash down the rest of the stairs. “Don’t be sorry. I loved it.”

I practically tingled with disbelief. He couldn’t mean that.

He moved his mouth to my ear, giving it a nip with those extra sharp alpha fangs. I shivered, feeling the sensation down to the end of my toes. His whisper against the pointed shell felt like an intimate invitation. “Try doing it again, tricksy li’l omega. I’m certainly going to return the favor.”

This had to be an Unseelie thing. Or a dream. I couldn’t imagine conjuring a more perfect male, willing to look past both last night’s illusion and my station. It was simply too good to be true.

Perhaps that’s why Laurel called out in the next moment, “It’s Lark!”

My heart dropped, and my nerves stood on end like I’d been submerged in icy water. We’d reached the hall leading out of the inn, and there was my stepfamily, like the stars had decided I’d had too much freedom and wanted to put me on a crash course with reality.

Fal glanced up when he felt my muscles tense, a more aggressive growl rising in his chest.

For one beautiful moment, Cymora looked completely bewildered to see me carried in the arms of an obvious noble male. As I’d come to expect, though, she recovered first out of all of us. “Lark, there you are!” she exclaimed, hand resting overtop her heart. “I’ve been so worried!”