Taming His Fragile Alpha

CHAPTER SIX: A CRUEL OMEGA

I felt a slight excitement tingle in my body, a traitorous fluttering sensation that defied the paralyzing fear gripping my gut.

Slowly, I walked closer to the door, my nose twitching as I sniffed the air, desperate to track him. Every instinct I possessed, every cell in my Alpha was screaming for me to find him.

But the moment I pressed my palm against the wood of the door, the scent suddenly vanished. It thinned and disipate into the palace air until there was nothing left but the smell of floor wax and old stone.

Disappointment flowed through my body.

My lips pursed in a small dismayed pout as I slumped, my shoulders sagging. He was mocking me. He had been close enough to touch, and now he was gone.

I turned back to walk toward my bed, my steps dragging with a sudden exhaustion. I reached the edge of the mattress and sighed. The silence of the room feeling more oppressive than ever.

Then, it happened.

The air shifted. It wasn't the faint, fading trail from before. It was an explosion of pheromones, thicker, sharper, and far more aggressive than anything I had smelled tonight.

I froze, my body locking into a defensive posture. My eyes snapped toward the arched window of my bedchambers, which I had left cracked open for a breath of fresh air.

The curtains were dancing inward, and in the rhythmic predatory sway of the cold night air.

But I know, It wasn't just the wind.

As the fabric shifted, I saw a dark silhouette against the glass. A tall, broad-shouldered figure that instantly dissolved into the darkness of the balcony outside.

'Someone had been there. Someone was still there.'

The air in my room grew more thick and hot, mixed with that unmistakable, intoxicating aroma. It was metallic, like the sharp tang of a freshly whetted blade, laced with the scent of frozen earth and wet pine like earlier but much stronger now.

My heart thrummed violently against my ribs with a chaotic mixture of sheer terror, and a strange desperate excitement running through my veins.

I let out a deep breath that sounds far too loud in the quiet room. I tremblingly stood up from the bed, my legs feeling like liquid, unstable and weak as I forced myself to walk toward the open window.

"Mate," I whispered into the air. My Omega had been right here. He had been watching me.

Reaching out with shaking fingers, I grabbed the edge of the heavy glass pane, my intentions was a frantic mess. I wanted to see him, to reach out for him, but I also wanted to shut the night air out, to lock the danger away, to pretend I wasn't just a fragile toy in the hands of a rebel.

But before I could pull the frame closed, a gloved hand clad in white leather suddenly shot out from the shadows of the curtain.

It clamped down with a hard bruising strength, pinning my hand firmly against the window frame.

I gasped, the sound dying in a strangled whine as the unmistakable sensation of a warm, steady breath fanned against the very back of my neck.

My heart rate exploded. Panic and a forbidden, burning desire warred within me, tearing at my resolve as I tried to twist my head, desperate to look back and see the face of my intruder.

But the person behind me just applied a sudden crushing force that pinned my upper body forward against the cool stone, forcing me to stay exactly where I was.

I was trapped, staring helplessly at my own reflection in the dark polished glass window.

I couldn't move, and I couldn't even catch a glimpse of the face of the person holding me captive in my own room. But the burning heat blooming across my lower ribs where my brand marks were, pulsed like a second heart that it left no room for doubt. It was him.

"W-what's your name?" I stuttered, my voice cracking like a pathetic trembling sound that shamed my royal bloodline. "Why are you doing this?"

My mate remained entirely silent. He didn't offer a taunt, a threat, or a greeting. The only answer I received was the slow steady rhythm of his breathing that was entirely too close against my skin.

It was the sound of a predator standing over his kill, waiting for the prey to stop struggling.

I began to tremble violently, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end as the hot breath lingered, tracing an torturous slow path up toward my hairline. The sheer dominance radiating from the person behind me was suffocating.

It felt as if the very oxygen in the room was being sucked into his lungs, leaving me gasping in the vacuum he created. I felt small, completely vulnerable, and entirely at his mercy.

And then, I felt that sharp sudden press of teeth.

He nipped the sensitive skin right at the base of my neck, his lips grazing the pulse point that was fluttering like a trapped bird.

A sharp, breathless gasp tore from my throat.

My bare toes curled down on the carpet, and a sudden, violent flush of heat rushed straight to my face, turning my cheeks a deep red. My thighs shook, completely overwhelmed by the intense, raw sensation of my omega mate’s teeth scraping against my flesh, like a mark of ownership, a claim that made my knees weaken.

But before I could even process the wave of heat pooling in my stomach, the warmth touched vanished. In its place came a biting, icy cold.

I stiffened with the sudden dread in my body.

I felt betrayed and also foolish for letting my guard down from his simple touch.

Because right now, a silver dagger, cold as the winter air, was now pressed firmly against my throat.

The sharp edge bit into my skin, threatening to draw blood if I dared to make so much as a tremor or a sound.

I held my breath, parched with fear and small betrayal, my eyes widening as I stared at my reflection in the dark polished glass. In the reflection, its the shadow of a man behind me, a tall, broad-shouldered, lean shape, but his face was obscured by the same white veil in dim moonlight.

'He was a cruel poison, a whisper of death, and he was mine.'

"You smell of fear, Prince," a voice rasped, low and smooth, vibrating right through my body. It was a voice that tasted like smoke and honey. "And yet, your mark burns for me. Tell me, little Alpha... does it hurt to want what you are told to destroy?"

My tongue felt heavy, glued to the roof of my mouth. I couldn't answer. I couldn't even nod. The pressure of the blade increased by a fraction, just enough to sting. "I asked you a question," he murmured, his breath fanning against my ear, the tone deceptively gentle.

"I—I don't know," I managed to whisper, the confession spilling out before I could check it. "I don't know anything anymore. I don't know why you are acting this way."

There was a pause, a long deafening silence where I could feel his gaze scanning my reflection, perhaps judging the pathetic state of the alpha he was fated to be with.

Then, just as quickly as he had appeared, the weight behind me lifted.

I spun around frantically, my hands flying out defensively, clawing at the empty air. I stumbled back, nearly tripping over the hem of my robes, but there was absolutely no sign of another person in my room. The heavy velvet curtains fluttered quietly in the breeze, mocking my desperation. The shadows were empty.

He was gone.

The heavy, commanding pressure vanished so instantly it felt like a trick of the mind.

My knees finally gave out. I let my body buckle and slumped heavily against the wooden table beneath the window, completely drained of whatever strength I had left.

I breathed hard, gasping for air as if I had been drowning, my chest heaving rapidly as the adrenaline began to fade, leaving me trembling from head to toe.

I was alone. The room was deathly quiet, save for the frantic, uneven rhythm of my own heart.

With a shaking hand, I reached up and cautiously touched the side of my neck where the blade had been. It felt raw, the skin sensitive and humming with a lingering from the earlier touch.

"Ah..." I let out a sharp, pained hiss as my skin stung beneath my fingertips.

I pulled my hand away, staring down at my fingers in the dim moonlight. There, coating the tips of my skin was a fresh, glistening smear of blood.

I stared at it, frozen. As if he hadn't just threatened me. He had also left me his mark.

'And I let him. I f*****g let him. I didn't fight. I didn't resist. I didn't...'

My mind raced, spinning into a whirlpool of confusion and dread. He was a rebel. He was an Omega. He was a killer. And he was my mate.

I bit my lower lip as I shook my head with a bitter laugh.

My father would see this blood and demand an execution, but looking at the smear on my hand, I didn't feel the need to call the guards.

I felt betrayed yes, but beneath it was a sickening, undeniable hunger for him to come back.

Because the knowledge about me being an Alpha, and being hunted by my own fated mate is not even the worst thing I could ever think.

It was realization that I didn't want to be saved, I wanted to be caught.