The Rotten Omega

“29days”

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Zevran didn’t teach me how to lie.

He taught me how to bleed without making a sound.

“Again,” he said.

We were in his private quarters. No witnesses. No Mara. Just the fire and the mark on my shoulder that wasn’t real.

He stood behind me. Not touching. His hand hovered an inch from my skin. Heat without contact. That was the trick.

“Bond pain isn’t random,” he said. “It pulls here.” He pressed air against my spine. I felt nothing. Then everything. “Like a hook. It yanks when I’m angry. When I’m close. When I want you.”

My jaw clenched. “You want me to fake wanting you.”

“No,” he said. “I want you to survive 29 days.”

Ch 13 bought us time. Ch 14 was about using it. Mara would watch. The pack would watch. If the fake mark didn’t react right, they’d know.

“Focus on the scar,” he said. “Not me. Pain needs an anchor.”

I stared at the scar on my collarbone. The one from before Valecrest. The one he noticed and looked away from in Ch 12.

I thought about the knife. The cold. The years of running alone.

My breath hitched. Shoulders trembled once.

“Good,” Zevran said. Voice rough. “That’s real. Use real.”

He stepped closer. Now I could feel his heat for real. Cedar and ice. The bond tug from Ch 12 pulled under my skin.

Don’t react. Don’t lean. Don’t give them anything.

“Closer,” he said.

He moved until his chest almost touched my back. Close enough that his exhale hit my neck. Close enough that the fake mark started to tingle from proximity alone.

My knees went weak. Not from him. From fear. From remembering Mara’s blade.

Zevran’s hand finally landed. Not on the mark. On my shoulder. Above it. Holding me up.

“You’re shaking,” he said. Observation. Not pity.

“You’re standing too close,” I said. Covering it with teeth.

“Let them think it’s the bond,” he said. “Not fear.”

For ten seconds we didn’t move. His hand steady. My breathing unsteady. The fire popping like it was counting days.

29 days.

Then he let go. Stepped back. The cold hit my skin like a slap.

“That’s enough,” he said. “For today.”

I turned. “That’s it? No speech? No ‘we’ll be fine’?”

Zevran looked at me. Silver eyes, flat.

“Speeches get Omegas killed,” he said. “Lessons don’t.”

He walked to the door. Paused.

“Mara will test again,” he said. “Not with a blade next time. With people. She’ll send wolves close. See if your body reacts to me or to them.”

My stomach dropped. “And if I react to them?”

“Then the lie breaks,” he said. “And I can’t stop what comes next.”

He left. Door clicked.

I sat on the floor. Not because I was weak. Because my legs were done pretending they weren’t.

29 days. Learn to bleed silent. Learn to want the right person.

Ch 1 Veyra survived by running. Ch 14 Veyra survived by staying still while the world tested her.

I pressed my palm to the fake mark. It burned.

Not from magic. From the lie we were both selling.

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