Page 45

Laughter trickled down the hallway from those who’d gathered in the living room. A soft smile spread over my lips at the familiar feminine banter of omegas bickering over my taking time getting ready met my ears. I’d seldom cared about how I looked. It wasn’t that. It was the curve of my belly impeding my ability to find something suitable to see visitors in. Standing in the bathroom mirror, I deliberated on my changing physique and how best to conceal it.

In the last few weeks, we’d settled into a routine. He’d leave the apartment early to see his affairs, then return to watch mindless reality shows until we fell into one another or bed. Either one was bliss, but all bliss eventually ended.

I’d learned to never trust anything from Roslyn. One moment she’d be sweet and kind, then, in the blink of an eye, she’d order me punished for an imagined slight. There had never been one entire day that passed in which Roslyn didn’t have a meltdown over something.

Exhaling slowly, I twisted my lips, then scrunched my face before Rhys’ reflection in the mirror captured my focus. Uneasiness flowed through me like waves upon the ocean. Heat snaked my chest to my neck, then stung my cheeks. I held his gaze until embarrassment threatened to create tears.

“I just need a moment,” I assured quietly past the lump forming in my throat. Rhys wasn’t going to continue wanting me with how rounded my middle was becoming. That fact weighed heavily on me as each day brought more changes to my body.

“I . . . I don’t fit in regular jeans anymore.” I might’ve fit them had I rolled the waistband down, but I’d already been doing that for some time. “I’ll be out in a minute. I don’t need you to dress me.” Tears stung my eyes as he chuckled against my ear.

“You’re not fat, if that’s what’s playing inside that pretty head of yours. Even if you were curvier, you’d still be the loveliest creature I’ve ever encountered. You’re creating life inside of you. You’re gorgeous, Love.” He grabbed my hand, lifted it, then spun me around until I faced him. It forced me to tip my chin, meeting his molten, ravenous gaze.

“Liar.” I wanted to hide the bulge, to conceal it before he decided to go find someone who didn’t look like they swallowed an entire bowling ball. “It looks like I swallowed a cantaloupe.”

“A cantaloupe, huh?” Nodding in agreement, I observed the creases in the corner of his eyes from laughter. “No other woman has ever looked more beautiful to me than you do right now.” Gripping my chin, he tipped my head back as his lips brushed mine. It created a blossoming flower of need to swell in my belly. “If you don’t cool your ardor, you won’t be leaving this room tonight.” His hands slid over my lower back, gripping my hips. “One word and I’ll evict every single person from our apartments.”

I didn’t speak.

I couldn’t.

The lump in my throat trapped all speech behind it. Rhys was the only man to ever call me beautiful. He had a way of making me feel good about myself, sexy even.

“This might make me the biggest asshole. But I like knowing my child is nourished within you, Remington. That your body blossoms from my babe growing inside of his mother,” he rasped, then flicked his tongue before he slid it through the seam of my lips, beckoning me to open for his hungry kiss. One hand remained at the curve of my spine. The other glided up my back, cupping my cheek as he deepened the kiss.

Rhys devoured me with his lips, mouth, and tongue. His tongue found mine, then dueled against it like it was the crusader and I was the holy land he fought to claim. The hand cupping my cheek slid to the back of my neck, then brought me in closer, if even possible. A needy moan escaped my throat, only to be captured like a pilgrim seeking refuge.

He pulled back, his teeth nipping my lip as a growl escaped his throat. “Bloody hell, Love. You are a drug inside my system that gets me high. So . . . so fucking high.” The sound of footsteps coming down the hallway forced Rhys’ dark head to tilt, listening as our bedroom was invaded.

“Are you finished hoarding her, brother? These assholes are restless to see for themselves that she’s well and unharmed.” I squeaked at the sound of Cole’s voice, causing feminine growls to erupt from the omegas on the other side of the door. As if they sensed my shock, they wailed together, as if they were one.

“One wouldn’t be opposed to her wearing nothing,” Hunter chimed in, a silken promise of pleasure rushing through my spine with his inhuman hum carried in his voice. “We’ll take her however we can have her.”

“Indeed,” Ian’s brogue was heavier than usual. I’d expected it once he’d returned from his castle in the Scottish Highlands. Before he’d left, he’d warned me that when he returned, his brogue would be heavier for a time. He reminisced on how being in his homeland reminded him of what he’d been before his immortal life had begun. Ian still watched over his ‘borne bloodline’ , as most vampires often did. “Not a single one of us would issue a complaint on that accord.”

“You’re all incorrigible,” I groaned, returning my focus to Rhys’ handsome face. A face that was simmering with possessiveness, sharpening his features.

“I need popcorn, Acyn. This might turn into porn. I need to be prepared if it does turn into an entire production,” Nyx stated, her nonchalant tone causing my cheeks to redden at the imagery it created.

“Is she coming, Alpha?” an omega asked, her voice full of hope.

“I do believe that’s his intent with her right now,” Mikel supplied in a thick raspiness that caused my eyebrows to push up on my forehead.

The sound of masculine laughter filled the bedroom as heat seared my cheeks. Conrad’s grunt told me he was being groped by more than one omega. Nyx’s happy squeal and commentary confirmed it as Rhys continued to hold my stare, a smile curving his lips.

“You make the omegas wait much longer, and we’ll need to sterilize the entire apartment,” he murmured against my ear. “Stop trying to hide the changes, Love. You’re glowing. Never has anyone else ever looked more beautiful than you do in pregnancy.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Rhys,” I returned, twisting around to face him. “I don’t feel pretty. I feel like an Oompa Loompa.”

The corner of his mouth jerked up in a smirk as I drank in the subtle, delicious scent of dark whiskey, bergamot, and sage as Rhys leaned in, kissing my throat. Heated breath fanned the delicate, vulnerable flesh as my legs pressed together tightly, staving off the aching throb he created between them.

“I’ve never thought of fucking an Oompa Loompa before. Until now,” he growled in a raspy tone that made my clit pulse painfully, needing his attention.

“Put on a potato bag for all we care, Silversmith. Just do it before these horny bitches have Conrad’s cock out and start slobbering on it!” Acyn bellowed, then moaned loudly. “Not now, Nyx. I’m already struggling not to bend your pretty ass over my brother’s couch. Be a good girl and put it on the back burner for an hour. You wanted to visit your ‘bestie’ , remember?”

“We may actually want to sterilize the entire apartment once they depart,” I muttered as Rhys threaded his fingers through mine, then brought them to his lips, brushing a kiss over them. “Stop worrying about what others think, Love. You’re beautiful.”

“I love you, Rhys,” I declared, then felt heat singe my cheeks. The realization of what I’d just blurted out caused my stomach to somersault, before it dropped to the floor at my feet. “Shit. I love your cock. Jesus rice on animal crackers. Shut up, Remington!” I felt my stomach twisting as all emotion left Rhys’ face.

It was so quiet after I’d blurted it out that I could hear the violent beating of my heart as it thundered against my chest. I couldn’t believe that I had just word-vomited that from my lips!

The entire apartment went silent after what I’d blurted out. Sweat trickled down my neck as nausea burned the back of my throat, threatening to heave up what I’d managed to keep down this morning. My head slowly moved from side to side, searching for a way to assure him I hadn’t meant those words.

“You should go entertain our guests,” he returned in a cold, dark rasp of sound. All the emotions his tenor held moments ago had vanished. “I guess they’re your guests.” Rhys released my hand, turned on his heel, and started from the room without another word.

“She just said—” My face turned mottled as every immortal with enhanced hearing heard me blurt out my feelings for Rhys. The sound of footsteps told me everyone was exiting the bedroom, moving back toward the living room.

Pacing within the bathroom, I wrung my hands together as I physically shook with the uneasiness I felt. The walls of the chamber seemed to push in, threatening to close in around me. Each step I took created more discomfort as I inhaled the earthy, ghostly scent in the tension filled air of the small space.

The entire room spun around me, as if my world was careening off its axis. Blood throbbed between my ears, like drums beating to a chaotic beat. Tears pricked my eyes, burning with the threat of falling.

Feminine laughter followed Acyn’s hesitant statement. Nyx cut him off before he finished. “She didn’t mean to say it. It doesn’t count. Right?” Bless her heart.

“Remington’s supposed to love you , Alpha! Not him . It’s our baby!” One of the omegas whined as tears flooded her eyes, threatening to fall.

“That was straightforward of her,” Hunter grumbled. I could imagine him shoving his fingers through his dark hair as he commented. “Lucky fucker.”

“You just wanted the baby,” Ian snorted in reply. “Same as the rest of us. She’s the symbol of life and rebirth. It’s why we flock to her. She’s what we’re all missing. A living, breathing symbol of hope for what we’ve lost. A chance to be a father. To watch a child of our own grow, to carry on our lineage, even if not ours by blood.”

“You all want something from her,” Nyx interjected herself into their musings. “She’s not a rabbit foot. You don’t get to use her for what you’re missing. You need to find your own rabbit’s foot. Stop using her as a crutch. Remington’s soft and gentle. None of you knows how to handle someone like her. Rhys does, he just needs his head knocked around a few times to get some sense into the damn overly inflated thing,” she scolded, rebuke sharply embedded in her tone.

“Jesus, enough with the honesty already. I’m feeling like shit, and I don’t like feeling anything,” Hunter grumbled.

“This wasn’t listed on my list of shit to go sideways,” Conrad grouched. “Felicity, not now. You’re not in heat yet. My knot’s still fucking sore from Cassie trying to drain it for nine straight hours last night.”

A pang twisted in my chest as the truth of why they’d been with me was laid bare. None of them had been around because of me. They’d been close at hand because of the baby, which each one of them had plainly stated from the very beginning. I’d just been too stupid to hear what they’d all been clearly saying.

They’d never wanted me. Not the gaudy, clumsy offspring of a murderous bitch. The alphas clearly only wanted the child I carried, which made them no better than the asshole who impregnated me in the first place.

“That didn’t have shit to do with balls. She was nervous and blurted it out,” Mikel’s dark, whiskey-drenched timbre added. “Right now, she’s probably trying to find a way to take it back.” Grunts and sounds of agreement followed as Mikel released a deep, loud exhale from his lungs.

“Poor Rhys, having to deal with shit. He’s made it very clear to that girl that he’ll never love her or want her for more than what lies between her thighs,” Arryn added with a soft snort, following his negation.

“Shut the hell up,” Nyota snapped, her irritation mirroring my own. “She can fucking hear you. If I know Remington, which I do, she didn’t mean to blurt that out in such a manner. Rhys won’t handle it well, either.”

Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I slammed the bathroom door hard enough that the wall shuddered from the force of it closing. Locking the handle, I walked to the shower, twisting the nozzle until the water was as high and hot as it would go. Steam promptly billowed from the showerhead, floating into the room.

Moving to the counter, I jumped up onto it. Sliding back, I let my head fall back against the mirror, then hugged my knees against my chest, or as close as they’d get to it, then allowed the tears of anger to fall. My heartbeat thundered against my ribcage as I freed the tears, which I’d barely been able to hold as rejection stung through my soul, slicing it to ribbons once more.

How had I allowed it to happen again?

Why did I continually allow Rhys to breach my defenses, only to then drive a blade into my vulnerable, wounded heart?

He had a way of showing me everything I’d ever wanted, then crushing it at my feet. I was the idiot who allowed him in, who handed him the mallet, and then stood beside him as he destroyed it all.