Page 35 of The Alpha's Fake Mate

“But the claim and bond will be fake?”

“It will be so no one else can ever touch you,” Orion replied.

Why would he do this? For me? I couldn’t find the words to ask. It was almost as if I dared not, because I wasn’t ready to hear his reasons. If they were impersonal, I’d be insulted. If they were personal, I’d be disgusted.

“And you won’t touch me,” I said.

“No. Unless you give permission, nothing will ever happen.”

“We’d have to fake it, though. The mate-bond. Everything.”

“Yes.”

“What’s in it for you?” It was the closest I could come to asking why.

“Maybe to see you flourish again.”

“No. It’s more than that.”

“I will get to see you. We’ve worked well together. You can’t deny it. Maybe we can become friends.”

“Is that what you want?”

“It is.”

“Because you pity me?” This question was closer to the thing I dared not ask. I didn’t want to know that every time he looked at me he saw a victim, like everyone else here at Zilly’s.

“No. Because you test me. Challenge me. I like that. No Omega has ever done that to me.”

I felt the responses of the others in the room with us, even though I didn’t see them. The rustle of Chirl’s robes. Sen’s intake of breath. The lawyer’s foot tapping once upon the polished floor.

“You’ll hate being around me, I’m sure of it.” I needed to deflect. I needed him to see me as something other than a ruined being. He must not see me that way, wrecked and scarred, a mere specter of my former self. I couldn’t take it.

“Maybe.”

“And when you get tired of me, you won’t throw me back here to the farm?”

“No. I said that would be in the contract. A lifelong contract. You will always have a room at the house. It is part of the contract and part of the claim which will become binding after the mate-bond certificates are filed.“

“A fake claim. A fake mate-bond.”

“Yes.”

“When would we do it?”

“Are you saying yes?”

I nodded, trying to stave off the eagerness to get away from Bosk and Zilly’s with a slight shrug.“

“My other choice is the institution, and while that holds some intrigue for me, living a life with no demands upon me, sitting in the sun with my hat over my eyes, I suppose your offer also has its benefits.” I sighed as if it didn’t matter. But it mattered. Too much.

Orion raised his eyebrows at my casual indifference.

“When would you like to leave, then?” His voice came clipped.

“Now.” I needed to leave before Bosk arrived. I could not take seeing that Alpha again.

“This afternoon, then?”