Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

FREYA

H arsh lights blind me through the pinks of my eyelids. A chill sweeps over my skin and when I shift my weight to get more comfortable, my shoulder blades and butt cheeks stick to the ground.

Groaning, I point my toes in a stretch, but startle when I touch something solid wrapped in soft fabric. Not the wall and certainly not a bed or blanket.

A burnt dark chocolate scent makes my nose tingle, then everything comes crashing down. My eyes fly open, and a garbled gasp escapes my chapped lips.

Elliott!

I hardly notice the effort it takes to force my body to sit upright or the large black T-shirt that falls into my lap, but I'm seated in a flash and staring at my alpha. Elliott's head hangs and his large hands grip his hair. At my sudden movement, he straightens and faces me, immediately showcasing his toned skin. Just laying my eyes on his bare, dark chest makes the teeth marks behind my right ear throb and tingle with joy.

My gaze slowly falls from Elliott's heaving chest to his jean clad thighs that my toes touched. My eyebrows dip in confusion when I comprehend that he's wearing pants. Pants that look like they are strangling the life out of his rock-solid cock. It bounces under my scrutiny, drawing a pained grunt from my mate.

Snapping my gaze to his face, my chest constricts with worry and concern right before I finally recognize our bond fizzling and weeping in my chest. Alarm flashes from my side of the tether, making him flinch, but seeing tears tracking down my stoic alpha's face is fucking terrifying.

"Eli, what's wrong?" I whisper and scramble to my knees, not caring that I am completely on display for him.

Elliott huffs and reaches forward. He doesn't pull me into his arms like I hoped he would, instead he snags the black shirt off the floor and drapes it across my sweaty thighs.

"I covered you as best as I could," he mumbles, not meeting my eyes. His focus is entirely on fussing over making sure the hem of the shirt in covering my pussy too.

My throat tightens and I have to wrangle my emotional omega pouting in my head about this being a rejection. I'm in no space to be caring about my appearance, so it's nice that my alpha is taking care of it for me.

Swallowing, I whisper again, "What's wrong?"

He shakes his head, still not looking at me and even going as far as flinching when I lay my hand on his thigh. My emotions are all over the place. I feel completely and utterly overwhelmed with the anger firing down the bond from Ronan, the complete despair from Elliott, and now my omega's hurt feelings.

Why won't my mate look at me?

Does he not want me?

Did I do something wrong?

"Fuck, Freya, you didn't do anything wrong."

He heard that?!

Elliott nods and sighs. "You projected it pretty loud. I'm assuming my proximity made it easy to pick up on."

I blink, so many questions tumbling through my messy, murky brain. But one is the most urgent. "Please tell me what's wrong, Alpha."

He's silent for a minute, making my anxiety ratchet higher and higher until he finally mutters out an anguished, "I'm a monster."

My chin pulls in as I reel back in shock. "What? What do you mean?" I will ignore everything pulling me a million directions if it's the last thing I do because my alpha needs me.

"I'm so, so sorry, Freya," Elliott chokes out, his body crumpling before my eyes until his head hangs between his knees and a deep sob rattles out of his chest.

"For what?" I demand, frantically.

My god, I have never seen this man anything but his brooding self. What the hell happened while I was too sex crazed to be lucid? I'll never forgive myself for not being here for him when he needed me.

"I-I bonded you," he croaks, finally, fucking finally , looking at me.

His mark behind my ear tingles and the bond hums happily beneath my breastbone. In my mind, though, he's a complicated mess of alpha satisfaction and... guilt. He's guilty.

I search his collarbones and finally find my bright pink teeth marks in the center of his throat for all to see.

Instead of responding right away, I lean forward, bracing my shaky hands on his knees, and swipe my tongue over my mark. His breath catches while I tend to the tender flesh a few moments longer. The tether that binds us brightens and strengthens before he's gripping my biceps softly and pushing me back onto my haunches.

"I can't control myself if you keep doing that much longer, Omega," he grits out, stubbled jaw clenched and eyes screwed shut. "I've been holding on by a fucking thread for hours now, and won't allow myself to break your trust further."

"Break my trust?"

Elliott's eyes flutter open, pain clear to see in his dark, dilated irises. "I touched you, Freya. I made you come on my fingers. On my fucking fist when you begged for my knot. Fuck, I wanted to give you what you asked for, but you weren't asking. The heat spike was." He drags his trembling hands down his face and growls. "I bonded you without your consent, Freya!" Elliott shouts. "I did everything without your consent!"

"Alpha," I whimper as I reach for him, needing him to know that he absolutely does not need to be guilty of doing everything in his power to save me from these fucked up heat spikes. "You didn't do anything wr?—"

"Hello, pets!" Ken's voice cuts me off as the door is thrown open and a group of enforcers flanks the doctor inside. "Now that was interesting to watch, young alpha! Who knew a fist could satisfy a greedy whore in the throes of a vicious heat? But I see you didn't waste the opportunity to bond her."

"He saved me, you piece of fucking shit!" I snarl, lunging for him and changing direction when I notice the enforcers reaching for my alpha.

"Careful, remember what happens to your mates when you are anything but obedient?" Ken drawls, flicking lint off his shoulder. Or I bet it was just a grey hair .

I clench my jaw so fucking hard, especially when I see my alpha is hardly resisting their forceful hands dragging him away from me.

"Eli! What are you doing?! Fight back!" I plead, my wrists protesting my lunge.

The bloodshot eyes and trembling bottom lip of my bonded mate are the last things I see before searing pain makes me believe my heart is being ripped out of my chest.

"No, please!" I gasp, crumbling to the ground. Black spots flicker through my vision, the pain of our separation and my alpha's despair becoming too much.

"Please. Please, come back," I whimper into the now empty room, only for darkness to steal my consciousness before disappointment and loneliness can descend and break my heart, mind, and soul all over again.