Page 19 of Omega Forged (Hartlock Omegas #2)

“—of the human rebels. Even years on, the lingering effects remain.” The news presenter, a waspish redhead, stood next to my parents' memorial.

“With the anticipation around the gala celebrating Esta Hartlock, some Designated wonder how much things have changed. One thing is certain: Starhaven still remembers and celebrates the Designated who have sacrificed for Starhaven. Back to you, Denise.”

Seeing my parents' faces in stone made me whimper. The news report cut back to the studio and my fork clattered to my plate as I saw a close-up of Chase’s face. His pack was perched on stools. Chase smirked behind his brother, Tomas. The flash of his white teeth hit me like a blow.

“Thank you, Sara. It’s times like these when we need to celebrate our innovators.

Please welcome one such pack, responsible for one of the most exciting creations of our modern time.

Imagine you’re an unbonded omega? Suppressants are an option, but what if you have an allergy or need a quick solution to mask your scent?

Going outside can be a challenge, but not with these.

” The journalist brandished a dark package with gold lining for the viewers at home to see.

Chase even used my design ideas. Bile scorched my throat as Chase’s hand squeezed Seph’s shoulder.

“What was your inspiration for these scent wipes?” The journalist flushed as Chase leaned down to answer.

I couldn’t blame her. His sharp jaw, gold-flecked eyes and boy-next-door cowlick had grabbed me from the beginning. Too bad it was a front for a narcissistic alpha that swirled under his handsome visage.

“So much of our society is still difficult, especially for omegas. We wanted to create something that helped bring more freedom.”

“Scent wipes aren’t new, so what makes these particular ones stand out?”

Chase pulled out a wipe with a flourish. “These pretty little squares—”

A buzz in my ears drowned out his words and while his mouth still moved on the screen, all I could hear was the echo of his self-assured voice, hot against my ear.

Stand still, pretty .

I couldn’t control the way my scent soured. Seph stared at Chase and her awe and happiness were palpable. My stomach turned and so did I, needing to move. I lurched up, the stool clattered behind me. I needed to run. Hide. No destination in mind, except away from Chase’s sharp grin.

What made them different? My family’s recipe . But he wouldn’t admit that, would he? That would mean explaining how he came by it in the first place.

“I’m sorry, Tully.” Walden stood, but I darted out of the room.

The sound of a discordant piano guided me, and I stumbled into a darkened room.

The crescendo of keys cut through my rising panic.

Pan leaned over a piano, his left hand flew over the keys with a frantic urgency while his right was curled in a fist. The curtains were partially closed and one beam of light illuminated his face like a spotlight.

His head was thrown back, twisted like he was in the throes of pain.

Grape bubblegum, as sour as my scent, permeated the room.

I lingered in the doorway. The music was dark, broken and needy, and my heartbeat answered its call like a siren.

I crept into the room, mesmerized by the passion that thrummed through Pan’s body.

He made a mistake and let out a furious shout as his fingers slowed their wild pace.

Finally, pressing deeply on the keys until they groaned.

“I thought I scented something sweet.” Pan spun around on his bench seat. He tucked his curled right hand in his lap while his gaze glinted with something I couldn’t decipher.

“I didn’t mean to distract you.” My body froze in place until he beckoned me to him.

He scooted over the bench, a wordless invitation I accepted. What was I doing? In a darkened room with an alpha like Pan? His hazel eyes pierced through me, and he ran his hypnotizing fingers down the side of my face. I flinched, resisting the insane urge to lean into the touch.

He promised oblivion, and the surprise appearance of Chase shook me enough to consider taking it.

“Why so bitter, angel?” His nostrils flared as he caught my scent in full.

“I got kicked out of my apartment yesterday,” I breathed out the plausible lie. “What’s your excuse?”

Pan’s laugh was a hollow pretense, and he withdrew his touch.

I swallowed a whine. From the moment I’d seen him, I’d wanted to know what his fingers would feel like on my body.

Pan ran his touch along the keys, too light to make music.

His shoulders hunched and his collar glinted in the shard of light.

“Tully Hartlock. You’re like the omega blueprint, did you know that? Everything Walden ever wanted.” Pan smiled, but it was a twisted parody.

My stomach knotted. “What do you mean?”

“Someone to care for and look after. Is that what you’re looking for, omega, someone to coddle you?”

I jerked away as his words lanced my chest. How did he reach past my ribs and straight to the throbbing want I held against my heart? It was a cruel question because, regardless of what I might want, I was an omega. My instincts craved exactly that.

I thought that was what Chase was doing, albeit from the shadows. His ‘care’ left a deep soul scar, and the prospect of accepting anything close to it made me tremble.

Was that why being here felt good?

Because I couldn’t remember the last time I had anyone else think about my needs. But saying it out loud would mean admitting I couldn’t do this on my own. That I really was as weak and useless as my parents thought I was.

“Do you remember me?” I whispered.

I don’t know why it mattered so much, but I needed to know if I was as forgettable as Chase made me feel.

“Who could forget you, angel?”

“You weren’t yourself.”

“And you let a little kid send me off in the wrong direction.” He clicked his tongue. “I won’t tell if you don’t. While I wonder what a Hartlock was doing in The Barracks, let’s keep it to ourselves. I don’t need Walden being disappointed in me again.”

“Is that why you call him daddy?” I changed the subject. “Does he baby you, too?”

Pan’s hand snapped out and clamped around my chin. He leaned in until his breath puffed against my lips. Something riotous turned in the haunted depths of his expression as he searched my face. In The Barracks, he’d been lost, but jovial.

There was nothing humorous in him now.

“Have you ever wanted something you can’t have?” Pan whispered.

Chase’s perfect white smile flashed into my memory. How many nights had I built dreams around his sparse, harried promises?

Pan’s thumb dug into my chin. Severing the harrowing memories and bringing me back to the present. The edge of pain was an anchor to the present, and I leaned into it.

Chase would never touch me again, not any part of me.

“Hasn’t everyone?” I replied.

This alpha was perilously close to secrets I tucked safely in the shadows. The combination of his voice, eyes, and rough touch threatened to coax it to the surface.

Pan chuckled softly, licking his lips. “You’re right, sweet little angel. Do you want to know what I always wanted?”

“What?” I breathed.

The dark room was a cocoon, and the shadows weighed over my body. Pan’s scent swirled up my nostrils, invaded my every pore. Begged me to let him play. To use me like a toy.

“I want to be like you.”

Before I could protest, Pan circled his hands around my waist and lifted me to straddle him.

I squeaked when his hard cock pressed against me.

His fingers spanned over my back, and he forced my breasts to soften against his rigid chest. I couldn’t breathe.

The thread of desperation in his tone belied the sneer painted on his face.

“Pan.” I wriggled in his biting hold, but the friction only encouraged a flood of slick.

Pan’s forehead pressed against mine. For a moment, we shared a hot breath. I could taste him everywhere, and my body responded with a rush of heat through my veins.

“Gods, I can feel it. If I slipped my fingers in those god-awful shorts, how sopping would you be?” Pan crooned.

My hips jerked as my mind flooded with the vision of grinding against Pan. No clothes between us. His teeth flashed and his fingers tightened on my hips. I slid down a tunnel into darkness, but he came with me.

“If I ordered you with my bark, would you toss that pert ass in the air for me? Would it feel right? To submit to your alpha? Tell me what it feels like.”

Disturbingly, his forceful tone tapped into the instinctual side of me.

My senses blurred on the edges in the grip of his tight fingers.

A willing captive. I would have been afraid if not for the desperation in his voice.

He didn’t want to do those things to me; he wanted to know how it felt.

I shook my head, dislodging his hand from my chin.

“You’re not my alpha.” My voice warbled.

His cock pressed insistently against me, and I had to fight the urge to ground down. Pan was wild. Pan was dangerous. He was the kind of alpha that broke omegas like me. Just like Chase. I struggled in his hold.

“You’re wrong, angel. You were mine the second I saw you in The Barracks.” His laughter echoed off the walls. “You were trying so hard to blend in, but I couldn’t look away and now that scent.”

His fingers slipped into my hair, and he wrapped the blonde strands around his refined fingers.

I froze, and my nostrils flared with alarm.

He massaged my skull until I sagged against him.

I wandered into the spider’s web. Now the silky threads had me tangled and the more I stared into his gaze, the deeper I fell.

I whimpered.

“Sweet honey and ripe fig. Decadent innocence. So soft. The perfect omega.” He continued to press his fingers into my head. Our scents tangled together, the bitterness gone. Now there was only perfume, sweet and cloying.

“Please.”

What was I asking him for? To let me go? To keep me forever? I couldn’t make sense with his nails digging so hard. Before I could process the desire ramping inside me, Pan lifted me off his lap. This time, my whine escaped.

Now I knew what I wanted.

More of his dark, strangling possession. I wanted him to make the memories of Chase disappear. I wriggled toward him, but Pan held me at bay with a flash of his sharp teeth.

“See?” He leaned forward and kissed the end of my nose. “Perfect. Angel. Omega.”

“What do you want from me?” My voice was shaky with lust.

Now he’d denied me, I couldn’t stop it pooling in my stomach. Desperate for his tongue tangled in mine, swallowing his growls. Pan slid down the bench with a shaky breath. Further away. I dug my nails into the black leather seat to stop from following.

“Tell me what it feels like to be you?” His dark nails flashed as he reached out and tugged at the hem of my shirt. “They smell good on you. Especially Walden.”

His smile was like dark chocolate. Bitter and lacking sweetness.

“I don’t understand.” Something about the dim room made me whisper, like this was a secret to hide in the folds of my confused heart.

That made me rear back. Secret liaisons landed me in this house. The first day outside of Fenella’s apartment and here I was, ensconced in a room with an alpha I shouldn’t trust. I stumbled off the bench and away from his alluring scent and hypnotic gaze.

“I don’t understand either. Run along, Hartlock, before I take a bite out of you.”

I heeded the warning and fled.