Chapter Forty-Two Rosemary

I dozed for a candle and when I woke Cantor was cuddled into my side and Bastian was reading on the settee. The room reeked of sex and I felt my face heat when I realized that Cantor must have come in some time after Lynter and Bastian had their way with me. The sweet alpha smiled at me with hooded green eyes when I hesitantly turned my face to his, but only rubbed at the faint pink marks on my wrists and murmured, "let me watch next time, OK my Starling?"

Overwhelmed by a mix of embarrassment and affection at his tender caress and easy acceptance, I kissed him, nibbling at his lower lip. Cantor groaned, shifting to nuzzle his nose into my neck, then tensed as Bastian cuffed him on the shoulder.

"None of that right now," Bastian said, looming over us. "She's got to get washed up for lunch."

I made a whining sound of protest, then slapped a hand over my mouth.

When had I gone from trying to seduce these men, to being comfortable enough to whine like a dog in their presence? I knew it was an instinctual omega sound, no different from an alpha growl, but it felt so foreign to let it out without an ounce of shame, as if I had the right. As if I were already part of this pack, and accepted a role as their omega.

Shame tried to latch onto me, along with fear, my constant companion, but the bonds I felt with Cantor and Bastian immediately flooded my body with warmth, like sunbeams inside me, and I couldn't quite convince myself this was wrong. I was starting to like these alphas. Maybe even love them. So quickly it felt like it should be dangerous, but was it?

Everything in me was saying that they loved me too.

I had a quick shower, then let Cantor help dress me in fresh underclothes and my hastily discarded dress, bemused by his careful attention. He had gotten much better at tying dress laces in the last few days. I still wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to undo them after he was finished but… Well, I was suddenly sure there would be someone around to help me with it.

Lunch was cheerful, full of banter and teasing. Lynter insisted I not eat too much for once, since he expected me to train that afternoon, and I groaned and acted as if it was the end of the world.

"I suppose I already had a snack this morning," I told him cheekily and took delight in the heat that rose in his cheeks as he glanced around the table sheepishly and Bastian roared with laughter.

Unfortunately for me, sucking my alpha's cock didn't win me any favors on the training field. In fact, he seemed more determined than ever to punish me, making me duel against Carlile until my hands were slippery with sweat.

"Aw, take pity on her, Lyn," Carlile said after knocking me on my ass yet again. "Our little Rainbow is all tuckered out." The youngest pack member winked at me and hauled me up from the ground. His touch was entirely respectful, as it had been for the last couple of days. I decided to let go of the resentment I'd felt around him ever since he cornered me in the herb room. I was glad I'd never told anyone what he did. I imagined it was hard being in a pack with two older brothers, and even more difficult that he seemed to be the only one I didn't feel attracted to at all.

Aside from Davos. I definitely wasn't attracted to him either.

Not one bit.

"How about we go to the springs with her?" Carlile directed his question to Lynter, before the older alpha could start in on what I did wrong in our latest bout. "I reckon we could all use a nice soak in the hot water."

He nudged me gently with an elbow, and I smiled at him. Gods, yes, if there were hot springs to soak in, I'd like to go every day. Even using the hot showers here was a luxury I would never take for granted. A whole pool of heated water sounded like a miracle, and I could secretly pretend that I was Zyle in Zyle and the Mushroom Fairy, when the fairy heats up an underground pool for him with magic.

"Not a bad idea," Lynter agreed, and then frowned. "Cantor is still working in the infirmary. Bastian has had to go to the market…" he shrugged. "I guess I will have the honor of your company again today, Rosemary, if that's alright. Davos wants two of us with you at all times."

We fetched towels and yet another set of underclothes for me. I was going to have to ask for more of the darn things at the rate I went through them. Lynter insisted we track down Ivan to refresh my spellstone.

My brother barely looked up from his lesson this time, just zapped me with his magic and then focused back on his tutor as if we weren't in the room. It made my heart pang, but Carlile slipped his arm into mine, as if in solidarity, and that made it easier to walk away.

Finally, we set off into the forest, using a direction I hadn't been in before. Carlile kept up a stream of bright chatter as we went, following a path that wound around the trees seemingly at random, as if it were once an animal trail.

In a lull of conversation, I piped up with a question that had been bugging me. "How long have you all been in the pack? And how did you, you know, decide to be one?"

Lynter shrugged. He had the towels in a neat bundle, and was carrying them over his shoulder.

"Davos didn't want to join the Gorgon Pack. I didn't mind them at the time, but I also didn't want to be without my brother." He frowned briefly, as if thinking. "Let's see. Davos met Sinclair in the city when they were both children and basically adopted him. He was made pack right after me. Unfortunately." A small line creased his brows, even as he gave me a weak smile, as if he were joking. I had noticed that Lynter and Sinclair didn't seem to get along, but I wondered now how deep that went. And what did ‘made him pack' mean exactly? Did he extend an invitation, or just bite him without asking?

"I knew Bastian because we both lived in the palace. We, um," he glanced sidelong at me. "We grew close. And then he had to leave the palace suddenly, and he lived with Cantor for a while. He was the one who insisted that Cantor join the pack."

I pondered that. While I was sure Lynter had said nothing but the truth, it also seemed like there was a lot left out of the telling. Why did Bastian live in the palace, and why did he have to leave? What was Sinclair doing in the city? How did Bastian meet Cantor? I suspected the omissions were deliberate.

"What about you, Carlile?"

Carlile snorted, and somehow the noise was angry.

"Me?" He said. "Oh, I'm not actually part of Pack Phoenix. I'm just the rejected brother that the king foisted on them."

I blinked in surprise and turned to ask what he meant by that, but Carlile was no longer next to me. He was standing over Lynter, and Lynter was lying on the ground with blood seeping from his head into the forest soil.

A scream inched its way up my throat, as if I were trying to spit up a jagged rock, but before it could get loose, Carlile had grabbed me, slapping one hard hand over my mouth, while the other arm banded my waist.

He picked me up and hauled me roughly off the path and into the trees as I fought to get back to Lynter. My alpha, whose pain had flared in my chest and then been snuffed out as if the bond was attached to nothing at all. Was he dead ? I was panicking too much to tell, clawing at my half-formed bonds in the hope that Cantor or Bastian or someone would notice and find me. They had to find Lynter, before he bled out, all alone.

Within candles we'd come across a horse, all saddled and waiting, and I realized this wasn't just an abrupt crime of passion. Carlile had been planning this.

He stopped as we reached the horse and took a deep inhale of my neck, and then huffed it out again.

"I'm glad we refreshed that stone because you usually smell fucking disgusting," he growled, the harsh timbre of his voice enough to make me cringe like I'd been struck. "Absolutely rancid. I've been fighting down nausea for days." He paused and then grinned at me, his eyes so cold my stomach clenched with fear. It just wasn't right seeing a smile like that on a face that looked so much like my other alphas.

"Not that I won't fuck you anyway, Rainbow. I've never had an omega before."

I sobbed, the noise caught by his hand, which was pressing so hard against my lips I could taste blood in my mouth.

"Now, since those jackasses were pussyfooting around, that makes this nice and simple."

I flicked my eyes about the forest, hoping that someone was riding to my rescue, that someone, anyone was going to stop this from happening.

But I knew this wasn't a fairy tale, didn't I? I'd been running from the real world for weeks now. The real world was made up of wounds and force, of shackles and bites, of the strong conquering the weak.

Angling my body, not the slightest bit dissuaded by my desperate struggles, Carlile latched onto my neck, his mouth hot against my skin.

He bit down and a bond flared to life.

The alpha poured into me, a foul torrent that washed away every precious connection I had painstakingly built. Cantor's sunshine, Bastian's soft sweetness, and even Lynter's quiet harp string, all gone.

Once again I was left, utterly and achingly alone.