“LOVE?”
I lift my gaze from the computer on Jes’s bed to find a man standing the doorway. He seems familiar—something in the way his blue eyes twinkle—despite my not recognizing his outward appearance. As my eyes peruse the good-looking human, I attempt to place him.
“Do I know you?” I question.
The man strolls in and thumbs through some of the albums stacked on the dresser, clearly stalling in his answer.
My eyes return to the computer screen where I check the time again. Jes asked me to stay behind while he ran an errand. He told me to watch the clock and gave me a specific time to change the song on his computer. The man always talks in riddles and has weird requests, but he does so much for me that I always oblige. And this time was no different. Every part of me begged to find Omega and help him in his endeavors. But Jes gently ordered me not to. While his order were silent and vague as hell, I still heard it loud and clear.
His “errand” involves Omega—I know it. I feel it in my heart. And if anyone is prepared to help him, Jes would be that man.
“I’ll give you three hints.” The man finally speaks again and I draw my attention away from the screen to regard him. “One, we love the same man.”
My eyes widen, but I know he’s not talking in a sexual manner—more along the lines of a brotherly way.
“Two, I make one helluva Hot Pocket dinner.” He smirks. “And three, I have wings. They may be inked, but my wife gave them to me and they remind me every day of who I once was—who I still am down to my core.”
Alpha.
After bursting from the bed, I bounce over to him and throw my arms around his waist. “Al!”
He chuckles and strokes my hair, kissing the top of my head. “I go by Connor these days. I’ve missed you, Love.”
I break away and regard the man. He’s certainly a human now, but he is, indeed, my old friend.
“You don’t hate me?” I ask with a quiver in my voice. Tears well in my eyes as I imagine the heartache he must have endured at seeing his best friend get banished to HEL—the banishment I was solely responsible for.
He runs a thumb over my cheek and swipes a tear away. “Love, I could never hate you. I always knew there was something good deep inside you. And if Omega loves you, I love you by default,” he teases.
I giggle but wriggle from his grasp so I can get back over to the laptop. Almost time.
“So, what are you doing here?” I ask as I sit down and check the computer to make sure everything is ready to go.
He saunters over to the mini fridge like he owns the place and pulls a bottle of wine out. Then he unscrews the lid and takes a swig. “I felt compelled to come here,” he says as if it is the most natural thing in the world. “What do you think that means?”
I bite my lip. “I’m not sure. Did you think you could help Omega?”
He smiles wistfully. “Nah. Not in this body. However, I believe my SG could.”
Scrunching my nose up, I glance at him with questions dancing in my eyes. “You think your Seraph Guardian came to help Omega?” I check the time once more while he sips on his bottle.
“Well, I’m not dumb. Even though I can’t see them, I know they’re there. I can feel them. And, by them, I mean Clarence and Asia.”
“You’re not supposed to know about them,” I chide.
He rolls his eyes at me. “Omega spilled the beans about Asia, and I already knew about Clarence. Anyway, Lark was right in the middle of cooking—and, by cooking, I mean boiling water for ramen noodles for Alysson—when, suddenly, she turns off the stove. Apparently, a craving for the Chinese restaurant that happens to be right across the street from HEA Corp hit her and she wasn’t to be persuaded otherwise. So we loaded up and headed over here. I told her I had some business to take care of and I’d pick them up after they eat. What do you think, Love? Think my angels were pushing us to get over here?”
I look down and see that it’s time to play the song. I push play and turn to Alpha—er, Connor—again. “Jes wants me to stay here and do busywork. I’m so worried about Omega,” I sigh.
With each passing moment, my soul feels more and more brittle. I don’t understand the intricacies of this world I am in, but one thing is clear to me. I want Omega safe and sound with his strong arms holding me against him forever. There has to be a way for this to happen.
“Do you always listen to Jes?” Connor questions playfully. “The Love I know never listens to anyone, much less some long-haired, weird guy who tokes it up all afternoon.”
I smile at his summation of Jes. “Yeah, I do listen to him. He looks after me, Connor.”
“I always knew you were a good girl,” he jokes with a wink.
At the mention of a good girl, a presence emerges from the shadows behind Connor. A beautiful woman with long, flowing hair and a fierce glint in her eye is watching me with an eyebrow arched in disdain and a pout on her plump, pink lips. Connor continues to chatter on, but I can’t take my eyes off her. Her white catsuit encases her perfect, curvy body, and she saunters in her matching knee-high boots toward me.
I’m jealous as hell of those shoes.
Then, when her wings spread out behind her, I decide I very much like the pink hue that glistens from them.
But why is she here?
“You should be helping Jes and Omega,” I blurt out as she approaches.
An ache bubbles and festers in my chest. The worry I have for Omega is intensifying with each passing moment. They should have their whole damn army helping him against Luc.
“Asia?” Connor questions as he tosses a glance over his shoulder.
She narrows her eyes at me. “Leviathans—always breaking the rules,” she grumbles. “It isn’t right for him to know about me.”
I roll my eyes at her. “He already knows about you, SG. No sense in getting all bitchy about it. Why are you here and not over there?” I demand, this time a little more snippily.
Connor takes my hand. “Love.” His voice warns me to calm down.
The man always had that comforting way about him, whether it be in this form or in Alpha’s prior form. Where Omega is fierce and passionate and ripples with unbreakable love, Connor radiates calmness and warmth and protectiveness. Lark is lucky to have him.
“My duty is to protect Connor—even from the likes of you, Leviathan.”
I gape at her and jerk to my feet, wrenching my hand from Connor’s grasp. “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?” I snarl.
Connor pops to his feet and stands between the two of us as if he, a human, could really stop a catfight between a monster and an angel.
“It means I will protect him from your lusty, evil ways. You can’t sleep with my charge, Leviathan,” she bites out, despite the way it comes across as tinkling bells.
Bells I want to smash under my goddamned feet.
“I would never hurt him! He’s like a brother to me,” I blast back at her, my voice as far as it can get from anything sweet or pure.
“Asia,” Connor warns even though he’s only hearing one side of the conversation, “I’m fine. Lovenia is my friend. You don’t have to protect me from her.”
Asia glares at me but ignores him. “Touch one hair on his body and I’ll rip you to shreds. Got it?”
Rage blossoms in my chest, and I’m seconds from ripping the hair straight from her pretty little head and stealing her boots. “Fuck you, SG!”
I charge for her, but Connor gathers me in his arms. For a human, he’s pretty damn strong as he holds me away from the bitch. Swinging my arm toward her, my claws bared, I attempt to make purchase, but she seizes it with strong hand.
And in a flash, I’m tossed into the past with no warning.
“Come in,” I purr, my voice thick and seductive as I wait for the man to enter my suite.
The door opens and Omega steps into my space. I don’t have to see him to feel him. In an instant, his scent permeates every inch of my home and seeps into my skin. Omega has an infectious way about him—a way even a monster like me can’t ignore.
The door clicks into place behind him before his heavy feet pad toward my bedroom. The moment he enters, my eyes peruse his solid body, which is still clad in a black suit, a white button-up shirt, and thin, sleek, coal-colored tie.
Today, he was given his final assignment. Now, he’s ripe for the fucking, and I didn’t want to waste another second before having him. As a Leviathan, my duty is to mess around with assignments—see if I can rattle the Minders as they face the most difficult challenge they’ve ever encountered.
But what I’m doing is so much more than that, because I answer to more than one person. Two different sides. Two different powers.
Luc wants me to do my normal job—fuck Omega and Alpha, get into their heads, make their lives a living hell while they attempt to pass their assignment.
Pallas has something alternatively challenging up his sleeve. He wants me to do exactly that. To betray Omega so that I can bring him to my side—HEL—but not because Omega is evil. Quite the opposite, actually. Because Omega is strong and fierce and as good as they come. If Pallas says that we need him, then we do.
So, in either scenario, it is my job to fuck Omega.
Seems like an easy job to me…
“Now what?” Omega growls from the doorway as he works the knot on his tie. “I finally get to unwrap you?”
A sexy, throaty chuckle reverberates from me. My eyes never leave his as he sheds himself of his jacket.
“I promised you I’d be waiting for you with a bow on.” I’m wearing nothing but a thick piece of red ribbon tied in a lazy bow around my curvy hips. I knew that it would drive him crazy and he’d never be able to resist me.
“That you did,” he says in a hoarse voice as he effortlessly flicks through the buttons on his shirt.
Once his sculpted chest is revealed, my pussy throbs with need. I’ve had many lovers as a Leviathan, but something tells me that I’ll really enjoy this one.
Rolling onto my back, I drag a finger along my belly, over the ribbon, and toward my smooth pussy. My eyes find his, which are swimming with lust as he practically rips his pants from his body. His cock bobs heavily in front of him the second his pants are gone, and now, I know he’ll be a good lover. With a cock like that, how could he not be?
Long. Thick. Proud.
I’ve barely touched myself between my legs when he pounces.
“Don’t touch that sweet pussy. It’s mine,” he growls.
My finger remains poised over the throbbing bundle of nerves, and I drink in his beauty as he climbs onto my bed with me. The way he devours me with his gaze in an all-consuming way without ever touching me dizzies me.
I suck in a breath and remind myself that I’m the one in control here.
“Oh, Minder. Don’t you know I don’t take orders from anyone?” I taunt but an almost undetectable quiver in my voice reveals my weakness.
Nothing is playful though about the way he pushes my knees apart, opening me up to him. My heart beats rapidly at the sudden shift of power. He has very easily stolen what control I believed I had over him.
“If we fuck, Love,” he reveals in a low grumble, “then we fuck my way.”
Sex is my thing. My weapon.
And he thinks he can waltz in here and take that away from me.
I scramble to remember my job—the idea is to fuck him. Make him fall for me. Do the unthinkable for me.
Why?
Because we need him.
So I need to do my fucking job.
“What is your way?” I question, letting a little innocence shine through.
His eyes darken as he reaches a hand between my spread legs. I nearly whimper when he bypasses my dripping pussy and dips his middle finger into my belly button instead. I’m trying to not to squirm—not to beg him to fuck me—but I’m hanging on by a thread here.
“My way,” he explains as he pulls his finger out of my belly button and grips the end of the ribbon, “is the only way. I don’t share, Love. When I go into something, I go all in. One hundred fucking percent.”
I gasp as he tugs the ribbon, and it slips away from my skin, which is now riddled with goose bumps. Between my legs, he sits up on his knees and yanks both of my wrists to him. Within seconds, he’s trussed my wrists together with the pretty ribbon.
“I don’t fall in love, Omega,” I warn as he sits back and admires my body.
“Well, I do, Love. And if I see something worth fighting for, I never hesitate. Your constant flirting, the way you sway those gorgeous hips, the sexy way you say my name—I’m already halfway there, angel. If I fuck you, I’m going to fall into you.”
My heart has taken to beating me up from the inside. I know I’m supposed to be making him fall for me, but it needs to happen under my terms. Nothing could have prepared me for the fact that he would be so eager and ready. It’s supposed to play out over three months—him slowly falling for me. Not the first goddamned day.
“Omega,” I say, changing tactics, “Stop talking and fuck me. I want you deep inside me. Claiming me.”
He growls and grips his cock, teasing my wet entrance with it. “You won’t think of another man once I’ve had you,” he asserts in a firm, unyielding tone.
It works its way to my core, and I wriggle my body, urging him to enter me.
Where is the sexy vixen who controls the course of things?
“Of course not,” I placate him.
He pushes my knees until the tops of my thighs are pressed against my abdomen. My body is open and ready for him.
“Fuck me, Omega,” I beg in a sexy, innocent way.
Based on the angry glint in his eye, I expect him to slam into me. But he doesn’t.
He’s still doing things his fucking way.
“You’re so beautiful,” he praises.
I bask in his heartfelt words and flutter my eyes closed as he begins pushing his thickness into me. When he’s filled me to the hilt, I want him to fuck me hard. To own me and claim me. This’s what I am used to. This is how I fuck.
But he doesn’t.
He nearly crushes me with his solid, muscular frame as he lowers himself onto me. My bound hands remain squished between us, and I itch to touch him—to run my fingers through his chocolate curls. So I wiggle my hips and whimper—anything to spur him into action, to stop teasing me.
“Love,” he rasps out before he tastes the flesh of my neck, “you’re mine, angel.”
A tear rolls out of my eye and wets my cheek. The words. The gentle thrusting into me. The way he’s infecting my soul. It’s all too much. I’m out of my element here.
His mouth finds mine and he punishes me with a kiss that’s wrapped in promises—promises I can’t help but desperately hold on to.
He’s flooding my veins with his essence.
Filling my ears with whispered assurances.
Peeking into the cracks of my armored heart.
I can’t get away from the way he consumes me—the way he devours my very being. Not that I even want to. In this moment, the war that wages between two entities ceases to exist. This moment is sacred, stolen, only for us.
Our tongues continue dancing as one—never needing to learn the other’s dance.
He’s familiar.
And powerful.
And infectious.
He’s dangerous to everything.
“Oh, God!” I cry as an orgasm teases me, just out of reach.
The man isn’t touching my clit or clamping on my nipples with his teeth. He isn’t spanking me or choking me or talking dirty to me.
He’s making love to me.
“Love.” He says my name as if it’s the word and not my actual name—a word that hangs in temptation between us. Impossible and improbable.
This is all too soon and feels out of my control.
“Omega, please,” I beg. Right now, I want him run from me as fast as he can. I’m nothing but a toxic bitch who is going to ruin his life.
“Come for me, angel.”
The name again. Angel. I’m no angel.
Tears spill out as I finally give in to the orgasm. It rattles the very foundation of who I am. It affects her—Lillian, the true angel.
“Love. Love. Love.”
His mouth is all over mine, chanting my name between kisses, worshipping me. When his heat fills me with his own climax, my body shudders in response.
I can’t take any more.
This is going to hurt us both. Really fucking bad.
He lifts up and stares at me. My walls have been destroyed as he tries to see what’s underneath them. Curious but careful. He doesn’t want to hurt me—but he can sense my vulnerability.
I allow him one more glimpse before I harden the fortress around my heart. Swallowing the emotions and feelings that don’t have a place in my mission, I meet his loving eyes with a lusty gaze. It feels foreign and false, but I need it to continue on.
“I want to suck you off,” I coo with a moan, “while you eat my pussy.”
His sweet gaze darkens, and I thank God that I am able to manipulate him away from my stupid emotions and right into the palm of my hand.
“Where’d you go there, Love?” Connor questions, his thumbs swiping tears from my cheeks and, with them, the memory of my first sexual encounter with Omega. It was so much more than sex—that is when he stole a piece of my crumbling heart. I had no intentions of giving it to him, so he just took it.
“You bitch!” I sob as I send a venomous glare to Asia. “You had no right to see that!”
Connor squeezes me to him, and I crumple in defeat. Everything is unraveling around me—everything I’ve worked eight long years to complete is now disappearing right before my eyes. I don’t give a damn about HEA or HEL. My heart belongs to Omega, and I’m tired of waiting.
Asia’s hate-filled gaze has been replaced by a serene one, and she retreats back into the shadows. If Connor weren’t here, I’d be tempted to show that angel a thing or two.
“It will all be okay, Love. I promise,” Connor murmurs into my hair.
But the moment the words trickle from his lips, a crippling loss breaks me from the inside out and my knees give out.
All life is sucked from me.
Every single part of my soul rips from my body in an instant.
Something happened. I can feel it with every fiber of my being.
My love, my hero.
Gone.
“Omega!”