Page 18 of His Snowbound Omega
“This says I’m not allowed to break the contract until I provide you with an heir,” Thorn stated incredulously. “That isn’t fair. I’m infertile.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t get pregnant,” Baal said.
“It means my chances are extremely low.” He clutched the device and read the next part. “The only way to end this is either I give birth—to a healthy baby, no less—or you decide to call it off.” That put all of the power squarely in the alpha’s hands. “This contract is a joke.”
The ones his friends had been presented with had been fair for both parties, a clear agreement with the purpose of enriching both of their lives. That was not the case here.
“Are you saying I’m not offering you enough?” Baal tsked. “You’ll be set for life. I don’t see how you’re interpreting this as you getting the short end of the stick—especially when you already know how big a stick I’m packing—but I assure you, you’re mistaken.”
Thorn scrunched up his nose. “Don’t refer to your cock like that. This might not seem serious to you, but it is to me. I understand you’re used to these types of games, but I’ve never—”
“This is the first breeding contract I’ve ever offered anyone,” Baal interrupted him. “And it will be the last.”
“Yeah, because I won’t be able to get pregnant!” He almost tossed the device a second time. “Just admit it, this isn’t about heirs at all. This is a slave contract. You want to own me!”
Baal tipped his head, but he seemed more thrilled by Thorn’s outburst than anything. “I love when you lose control of yourself, frosty omega. When that icy exterior cracks and you offer a rare glimpse at the fire beneath the ice. Tell me, does this happen with anyone else?”
Thorn scowled. “What are you talking about?”
Baal sighed. “Have you gotten to the part about lodging?”
“I won’t move in with you.”
“That’s a common clause with these contracts.”
“When it’s a short contract,” Thorn corrected. “If this was Glyph, sure, because I’d get pregnant within a year. But here? Us?” He vehemently shook his head. “I could end up trapped in your house for the rest of my life, don’t pretend otherwise.”
“I won’t,” Baal surprised him by saying. “Just as I won’t sit here and lie that you trapped and at my mercy isn’t exactly what I’m after.”
Thorn’s frown returned.
Chapter 7:
Baal was reconsidering his options. He’d chosen to go with a breeding contract simply because it’d seemed like the easiest avenue at the time. Through it, he could provide the omega with everything he needed and legally bind them together in the process.
He should have known Thorn wasn’t the type to be so easily bought.
It hadn’t been a lie when he’d said he knew all there was to know about Thorn Winters. His frosty omega was the independent type, hardworking and used to carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He didn’t accept help lightly, didn’t shirk his responsibilities, and rarely, if ever, put himself before his family.
A family that had run him to the ground unapologetically. The father had been a coward and a leech, the brother…Well.Baal supposed he couldn’t fault the kid for his condition. No one asked for a pheromone disorder, he’d merely been given a shitty hand.
Except Thorn was the one paying for it, both literally and figuratively, and this contract was a means of lessening that burden, so to speak.
Of course, it wasn’t coming from the goodness of Baal’s heart.
He wanted the omega. He wanted him on his knees, head bowed. Wanted him wrapped around his finger, seated on his cock, and collared to his bedpost. Last night, it’d taken every ounce of willpower Baal possessed not to bite the omega and be done with it.
Maybe that’s what he should be doing now, instead of sitting here pretending like this was going to end any other way than with him as the victor and the omega as his prize.
He’d wanted to ease Thorn into things, give him a chance to get used to having him as his alpha before making it permanent. But if his kindness was going to go disregarded, the same way the roses he’d left for him had been, perhaps Baal shouldn’t bother with it.
It was all an illusion anyway. He was kind because he could afford to be, and no other reason but. If this were a hundred years ago, Baal would have sunk his teeth into Thorn’s neck the moment he laid eyes on him. He would have claimed him right then and there, and enjoyed having the omega writhing beneath him every night since.
Thorn was correct in his assumption.
This wasn’t about heirs.
Baal couldn’t care less about having a kid.