Page 8 of Ondine: Vol. 2

“You’re a monster.”

I sigh and pace in front of him. “You know, when I met Ondine, she was running from someone. Running. She had his cum on her leg. She was scared.”

Arnold tracks me back and forth, not wanting to miss a single word.

“Why was she scared, Arnold?”

I stop and face him.

He swallows. “I don’t know.”

“Not good enough. Shadow? Break one of his fingers, will you?”

“No, no, no, what the fuck? I don’t know why she was scared!”

Shadow gives me another second or two to change my mind, but I do not.

He walks around to Arnold’s hands tied together behind the chair, and while I can’t see, I know the moment it’s done because Arnold screams in pain. I don’t like it. But he has to know the sum of things.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Let’s try again. See if you’ve learned yet. Why was Ondine so scared?”

I place my hands on my hips and tip towards him.

His voice is shaky, and he’s starting to sweat. “She ran away from me. She ran because I’m a beta and she’s an omega. She thought she did something wrong. She was ashamed. We weren’t supposed to do what we did.”

“Come on, you’re almost there. Or do I need to break your thumb next?”

“No! Ok. Ok. When Ondine came early to the Clinic, she didn’t catch me just changing out the LEDs. She nearly caught me getting a new SD card into the camera I hid in her nest.”

I smile and clap my hands. Bravo brave Arnold.

“Go on.”

“And I couldn’t go after her when she ran because I needed to hide the camera.”

Shadow makes a noise and I look over at his shocked face. “How did you know, Jake?”

I leave the room for a moment and return with three large print photographs. I hand them to Shadow. He’ll see what I found in Arnold’s apartment. He’s a hobby photographer. A good one. And the pictures tell a little story. He’d taken photos of her after her heats. Asleep. She was naked, but they weresurprisingly tasteful photographs. I assume one was her first heat at the Clinic. There are three photographs. It’s obvious from the angle a camera was placed in the room for the third one. Again, Ondine looks so beautiful. Satisfied and peaceful.

It was film and not digital. I’ve already taken the original film and any copies I found developed. Arnold had a dark room box in a bathroom where he developed them himself.

He’s seething through his teeth. Quietly. Thankfully. His eyes are bloodshot and he’s trying really hard to keep it together. It’s admirable, honestly.

“You said something to her to make her leave too, didn’t you?”

He nods. “I said that we shouldn’t have done that. I was right. But that’s not how I really feel. I didn’t lie to your friend. Ondine can have anything from me. My job. My dick. I don’t care. I’m in love with her.”

“And yet you took dirty pictures without her consent.”

“She’s everything, and I wanted to capture it. She knew I took photos. I asked if I could take one of her and she said yes. But I, you’re right, I didn’t tell her when I did it.”

He’s got great bones, I think. I’m glad he’s completely obsessed with her. That helps a lot.

“Shadow,” I call and he looks away from Arnold and up at me. “Come here.”

He comes to me and I pull him into a hug. He is wary at first, but then relaxes into me. I pat his back and hold him close. I pull back so I can look him in the eyes. “How’re you feeling after everything?”