5. Kandi

five

The hotel room was nicer than anywhere else I"d stayed before. Onyx must have convinced Silas to give up one of the staterooms. It's located near the top of the building with incredible views of the inner Silver Falls city.

Jade goes straight to the windows and stares down, one hand resting tentatively on the glass. I don't know why, but she looks so sad from here.

"Jade?"

She turns towards me with a watery smile that isn't fooling me at all.

"This view is incredible, isn't it?" Her voice wobbles, and she sniffs and quickly turns back towards the windows. "Don't mind me, it just makes me feel so small in the world."

I don't know how to answer that because the diminutive omega is the largest person I've ever met. Her aura is everywhere. She takes up all the space.

I"m trying so hard to dislike her. I want to dislike her. Especially with Sven's strange behaviour, but she's really nice, and under that tough, flirty omega attitude, she's so vulnerable.

All I want to do is protect her. Wipe that frown away and make her smile again.

Wait, what? I think I'm going insane.

"Would you like to order room service?" I ask instead, following my head down the pathway of making the omega happy.

"Sure," Jade says and bounces over to me, all traces of that mature sorrow buried again.

I grin and help her order one of everything. As long as it takes that look out of her eyes. I don't care.

After that, I set up movies on the enormous screen in the lounge. I get the heater going and make us both a coffee.

"Okay, why lilac?" I burst out after ten minutes of trying to think of something to ask that doesn't make me sound like an ass or creepy.

Jade smirks. "You like it?"

"I love it. It's pretty." It's not. I"m lying. Her hair is beautiful. She is incredibly hot, and her attractiveness is only growing by the hour. In vain, I fight it.

"My grandmother used to wear lilac butterflies in her hair. She was a very opinionated woman. My mother stopped me seeing her when I was about nine. But I always remember the way she would say ‘horseshit!' and those lilac butterflies."

Damn. She's getting under my skin. I"m saved by the door. I get up, checking through the screen to find our room service delivery. With a wary glare into the hallways, I open the door and allow him entry. Five deliveries will come over the next four hours, but this is the start.

Jade wanders towards me as I let the man inside. He keeps his eyes down and, with exquisite professionalism, he arranges our entries.

Jade's eyes twinkle.

"This is incredible."

"It's just started," I say, suddenly finding myself looking forward to this night.

She watches the movie, her eyes wide. Laughing freely, so expressive.

I find myself watching the way her lashes fall on her cheeks. Her small hands and ultra feminine fingers. That quick smile.

She fascinates me.

She fascinates Sven.

Why?

I"m determined to find out, but with each mouthful of food, with each tinkling laugh, I feel like I"m sliding into her web.

There is something charming about the way she just blurts out what she's thinking.

She laughs freely, smiles quickly, and when she's sad, her face falls.

I"m as entranced watching her facial expressions as I am the way she gracefully moves. A couple of times, she's looked across at me, and I've looked away quickly, unwilling to explain why I"m staring at her and not the movie.

"Kandi?"

I make an appropriate hum sound. "Yes?"

"What is Sven like?"

"Sven?" I sit up from the slouch I've been in. "Well, he's a good guy. Why?"

"I just want to know if I can trust him to protect me?"

I relax. "Sven is methodical, but he's smart. He understands things most of us miss. He's loyal and brave and generous."

I half expect some catty comment, but she just smiles.

"You love him."

It's not a question. "I do. I have for years."

"That's good."

I repeat those words to myself over and over, trying to figure out what they mean.

She calls out that she's hungry. That tiny omega who ate her own weight tonight cries as she begs her mama to let her out. She says, "just a little crust, Mama, please?" and she cries. She cries in a way I've never heard an adult cry.

I lean up against the door, watching as she thrashes in the bed. I want to wake her up, but I"m scared that it will traumatize her more.

"Mama, I"m hungry," she begs, she pleads. Over and over.

I hate every second of it.

She goes still, and I wipe a tear away from my cheek. I"m relieved it's over. I couldn't take any more of it.

"Don't hurt me." The whisper of sound comes as I've got my back to her, my hand on the doorknob. It's said in a rush.

I turn back. She's sitting up, staring at me with sightless eyes.

"Please. I don't want to be your omega. Just let me go. It doesn't have to-"

The sound she lets out is a shriek of pure pain. I rush to the bed and reach out, but I hesitate before we touch. I can't leave her like this. The agony in her eyes. Even if she is asleep, I just can't do it.

"Please. You don't want this. I don't want this. Trevor," his name comes out in a desperate whine.

She yelps again, her body curls into a ball.

"How did you find me?" Her shout startles me. "Why? Why?" she wails.

I reach out, determined to end this. She twists, kicking out and fighting me.

I grab her and hold her tight. Locking my legs around hers to stop the kicking.

"Shhh, I got you."

She sobs, and it's only then that I become aware of the fact that she's crying.

I stroke down her back. "Come on, little omega, wake up. I need you to come back to me now. Come on. It's okay, Jade. You're safe. I won't let anyone hurt you. You've got me now. Wake up, that's it."

I shift as she starts to wake up and pull her so that she's sitting across my lap, her face buried in my shoulder.

We don't say anything for a long time. I just let her words play over and over in my head until they are so far sunk inside me that I"m not sure I can ever forget them.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask her softly.

She shakes her head. "I don"t know how he found me. I was so careful to only order online or get my land lady to deliver the food. The money I had was running out, but I pulled it all out when I first ran. I was living in a shitty apartment, with no bed, and then he was there on the street. Saying I"m his in front of everyone. No one lifted a finger to stop him, even when I screamed. They just let him drag me away."

I hug her tighter. "That will never happen again. I won't let him take you away. I won't let him lay a finger on you."

She exhales and snuggles into me, and I realise something that was hidden from my perception. I like her. I like her the way I like Sven.

She's fascinating and adorable, cute and vulnerable. She's sexy and sweet. And an omega. And female. I take a moment to assess her gender and promptly dismiss it. I don't care what gender she is. It's what's on the inside that's shining out and is drawing me in. Much the same way Sven drew me in.

I go to move my arms, but she just snuggles deeper into me, and I find I can't move away. I don't even want to.

What is that smell? Blackberries? It"s delicious. I inhale deeper, drawing the scent into my lungs.

"Kandi?"

"Yeah?" I murmur and stop my hands from their sensual circuit of her back.

"When I first met you, I was jealous."

"You were?" I ask in shock because it's the last thing I"d have expected to hear.

"I was. Very jealous."

"Oh, okay." I continue stroking her back, unsure what I should be saying. In the back of my mind, I know I"m crossing a line with this client, but I can't seem to find it in me to care.

"But it's all right now. It's going to be okay." Jade yawns and lays back down in the bed, pulling the blanket up to her chin. Her eyes close, and she smiles sweetly.

I want to lean down and kiss her forehead. What is this? This tender warmth inside me. I"m rattled.

"Wait, why is it going to be okay?" I ask in confusion.

Her eyes open but slip closed again.

"Because…just because," Jade says with a sigh. She curls around her pillow and lets out a soft mewl.

I shift my weight to leave, and then freeze. What if she has another nightmare? I don't want to leave her alone while she's having dreams like that. I glance at the door. My room isn't far away. It's too far. That tears it. I"ll stay here. We're both women. We can share a bed with no problems.

I pull back the quilt and slide under the sheets. Her scent is everywhere, but as soon as my head touches the pillow, she wraps herself around me. I hold perfectly still, and then exhale roughly.

This is nice.

Her hand glides over my stomach, so small and soft, and I hiss, tensing. It pauses. I want to push her hand away and drag it down to where I ache.

Fuck! Control yourself.

Jade murmurs in her sleep and rolls onto me.

I lay there as she slots her thigh between mine and nuzzles the tops of my breasts. My lungs are like bellows, blood pounds in my ears. My thighs tremble, and all I want to do is lift my hips. Rub against her thigh. Get more of that delicious friction. My nipples harden as she murmurs, each sleepy sound making the coil of need even more intense.

The night drags on forever.

I can't bring myself to regret a second of it.