He shook his head. “It won’t be that easy.”
I started pacing again. Nothing had ever been solved by staying still. “Let me get this straight. You think someone working with the king is willing to throw me under the bus to get you to admit your secret.”
“That’s exactly what I think.” He was still stoic, and I was losing my mind.
“So what are you going to do about it?”
“I brought you here. You don’t have to be afraid anymore. Relax. Stop pacing.” He put his hands on my shoulders, sending a jolt of electricity shooting through me that practically ignited my core muscles. It was a miracle that his touch didn’t send me into a full blown heat. “Anything your heart desires is yours for the taking here.”
His scent surrounded me, and my mouth watered in anticipation of his promise. “Anything my heart desires?”
He nodded, trying to fight the smile, but he gave in and let one side of his mouth curl up. I was melting his defenses.
“Then what happens? We can’t stay here forever.” I didn’t expect him to have a complete plan. He’d rescued me in my wolf form from the middle of a street fight. But as a general, he was used to thinking of his feet when everything went to shit and lives were on the line. And he couldn’t tell me for a second that being an omega didn’t give him an advantage in that department.
“There are other places I can bring you. The king has a bunker.”
“So you’d rather spend the rest of your life running than let people know what you really are?” It was a slap in the face. “How do I know you won’t turn me in to keep your secret? Because if you do, I have no reason to keep quiet anymore.”
But would I be able to betray my mate, even if it was the only way to save myself?
Solen
Chapter Five
I sat in a thick leather chair across the room, watching Ashla as she slept, sprawled across my bed. She’d finally settled down enough to rest, and that fact gave me great relief. She didn’t think herself fragile right now, and maybe she wasn’t completely. She’d been fine enough to give me the real what-for when we arrived at my bunker. But I saw the way her eyes were swollen and red, the way her shoulders sagged and the slight limp from the blisters on her feet.
She was tired, and on the brink of a heat that could take us both by storm.
Resting was essential.
Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to close my eyes. My mind ran wild with everything she’d said. She thought of me as a traitor, just like my inner beast did. She called the omegas my people, but how could they be my people when I’d grown up as an alpha? They weren’t. And it wasn’t because I thought of them as unworthy, though maybe some were. Just like there were unworthy betas and yes, even unworthy alphas.
The omegas weren’t my people because they couldn’t be. Not if I wanted to keep my position. Not if I wanted to serve my king and protect the pack. I’d cut those bonds long ago, and opening them up again would only bring pain to the people around me.
I stared at Ashla.
All the people around me. My army and territory weren’t the only ones who’d pay if my secret was ever discovered.
It was easy for the king and other alpha generals to mate with omega females, to commit to them for life. Because those men actually were alphas. I was a poser, and my fakery ran deep. All the way to my soul. It had to be that way for me to survive in a place I didn’t belong. There’d been no room for feeling attachment. It meant giving up my parents, my friends, life as I knew it.
I died that day.
The real me, the Solen who was born to a hardworking but highly respected omega family was gone and a new Solen rose in his place. One who didn’t love anyone. Didn’t need anyone. One who bled and fought and ruled… because that’s what alphas do.
Now the dead wanted to be resurrected. I was coming unraveled, and it was because of the little omega female sleeping in my bed.
I’d seen this coming the moment Adalai set his sights on Zelene. When he mated her and made her queen, I’d resisted as much as I could. And gods help me, but it was for this reason right here.
My past intersecting with my present. The dead me threatening to come alive again. Who would I be in this new reality Adalai was creating for our kingdom?
I couldn’t look away from my mate as she dozed. Ashla was beautiful. Especially here, in my domain. Her dark locks were messy and splayed across the white pillow. Long lashes rested on her cheeks. Full lips pouted slightly, letting me know she was completely relaxed. Her form was curvy in all the right places, and her smile, the way it gripped my heart in a vice—even though I couldn’t see it now—made me hard enough to rut.
I could fall so in love with her if I was the old me. The dead me. The omega me.
But opening myself to those feelings meant opening myself to all feelings. Including the ones that I shut away when I became an alpha. When I became a traitor.
I forced my gaze away from her and walked to the small
