by K. Webster
He lifts his wife beater to reveal his sleek Glock 19, which is tucked into the waistband of his jeans. The fucker is threatening me.
“Come on, Omega. I’m getting tired,” Love says suddenly, standing as well.
Pedro and I have a silent standoff, neither of us moving, only staring at one another. Finally, Lovenia grabs my fisted hand and tugs me out of the apartment. My teeth are nearly dust from angry grinding by the time we get back to my place.
Once the door is closed, the spell breaks and I want her close to me. Snaking an arm around her narrow waist, I pull her to me. Lovenia always smells like a hint of sweet smoke—a faint lingering of incense. Her scent is nothing like I’ve ever smelled—at least, not in this life—and I associate it only with her.
Dipping my head down, I capture her plump lips with mine. She might smell smoky and sweet, but she tastes like cherries. I devour her as if she’s my own delicious sundae. All that’s missing is the Cool Whip…
I want to carry her into my room and talk, but with the way her tongue dances with mine, I know that, once again, neither of us will be communicating with anything except our bodies.
“Wait,” I murmur, wrenching my lips from hers. My dick strains against my denim because fucking Lovenia is always his number-one priority. “I want you, Love.”
She raises an eyebrow in confusion. “Yeah? Then why’d you stop kissing me? Take me into your room and make mad love to me.”
Mad love.
All along, she’s wanted me to fuck her, but now, she wants me to make love to her—mad love. This girl, with her wickedly adorable ways, has me eating right out of her hands. I want her.
Forever.
My future job title means I can’t love her. There will be no forever for us.
Our forever is now.
“Do you remember, Omega?” she asks, tearing me from my sweet memory.
“Yes. I remember it clearly,” I bite out.
She looks directly into my eyes, and for once, the dark, calculating swirls that are always playing behind them are absent. With wide, innocent eyes, she whispers, “That was real.”
I glare at her. “Nothing was ever real between us, Love.”
Her eyes glisten with unshed tears. “Just because I had a job to do doesn’t mean I never lost focus.”
The look on her face, sad and remorseful, tells me she’s being genuine. But she’s confusing the fuck out of me right now with her sullen mood and lack of overt sexuality. The woman who always seems so poised and deliberate suddenly appears to be…vulnerable.
“You’re saying you loved me too?” I demand.
Her mouth opens to respond, but she’s interrupted by a pound on the door to my suite.
“What?” I snarl toward the door.
Whoever the fuck it is might just get their ass kicked for interrupting this conversation I’ve needed to have with Lovenia for some time. If we can’t be together, I need answers as to why not. Answers as to why she chose her career over me. Why she lied to me. Why she made me love her if the feelings weren’t mutual.
Gabe pops the door open and peeks his head in. Once he sees that I’m not balls-deep in some African goddesses, he struts in as if he owns the goddamned place.
I glower at him, but the fucker doesn’t seem fazed.
“Love,” he greets with a wary grin. He knows what went down with her six months ago, and I’m sure he’s surprised to see her here. And it probably looks fishy as hell considering she’s freshly showered and wearing nothing but a T-shirt. My T-shirt.
Lovenia stiffens, and I feel it. It’s almost as real as the air I breathe—the protective walls that come crashing down around her. I want to step inside them with her, but she’s already shut me out.
“Always a pleasure, Edward,” she smirks. Her shoulders have risen and her whole body is a pillar of assurance.
Gabe rolls his eyes and grumbles, “I’m not a gay-ass, sparkling, teenage vampire.”
Normally, I might chuckle at the banter going on between them, but I’m too pissed. “What the fuck do you want?”
His eyes widen, and he runs a hand through his hair. “Dude, calm down. You promised to have a drink with me tonight. Besides, I came to check on you. Why the hell did you piss off Corson? He was ready to bash your head in.”
“I’d like to see him try. He’s nothing but a Matt Bomer–lookalike pussy,” I snap back.
He shakes his head. “Seriously, man. You don’t want him on your bad side. He’ll make your life a living Hell.”
I smirk. Too late for that.
“What were you doing down there in that closet anyway?” I question now that Corson isn’t around.
Lovenia stiffens and sits up slightly as if suddenly interested in our conversation.
Gabe eyes Lovenia, but when I nod, he sighs. “Nothing. Just giving something to Zo.”
That name again. Who the fuck is Zo?
Before I can ask him that question, Lovenia pipes in with her two cents. “Zodiac? He runs HEL’s servers. What would you need in there for?”
Good question.
Awareness prickles at my senses, and I’m overwhelmed with the fact that I’ll never feel as if I can ever trust anyone again. I would have trusted Alpha with my life and my darkest secrets. Al was a good guy, and I miss him like fucking crazy.
“I, uh”—Gabe pauses and his lips twitch as he so blatantly whips up a lie on the spot—“accidentally deleted some files for my next assignment from my computer. I was going to ask him if he could check the backups and get them to me.”
After what I sense is clearly a lie, he flashes a smug grin.
“Hmm,” Love murmurs in disbelief, mimicking my thoughts.
I’m about to tell him to stop lying when Love slides her hand over mine and squeezes it. She’s acting like the typical Lovenia in front of him, but the unspoken plea not to pursue Gabe’s lie has me halting. It’s clear that she wants me to let it go. Why? I have no fucking idea.
“So, what’s up with this new assignment?” he questions.
Again, I’m unsure about whether or not I want to tell him.
“It’s classified,” Lovenia smarts off, squeezing my hand again.
Gabe, typically an easygoing guy, glares at her. “You’re a bitch. A lying bitch. Omega, don’t get too close to her. She’ll rip your heart out again. Fucking monster.”
Lovenia can be a bitch. And she most definitely lies like it’s the truth. But she’s not a monster.
“Get out,” I growl. “If you ever speak to her like that again, I’ll kick your fucking teeth in.” My chest heaves as I believe every word that comes out of my mouth.
Gabe gapes at me. “She’s poisoning you, Omega. When she breaks you again, I’ll be waiting to sweep up the shattered pieces,” he grits out before storming from my suite.
Maybe she is poisoning me. Until this evening, my resolve to hate her was unwavering. I’d managed to avoid her for six straight months without incident. But the moment we had to spend more than five minutes together, I was already under her fucking spell—reconsidering every thought, word, and action that had transpired between us.
Dying from Lovenia’s poison seems like a sweet way to go.
“I don’t like him,” she pouts and looks up at me, batting her eyelashes.
This. Now I see what this is. When she acts like this, she’s Lovenia the Leviathan. The so-called monster Gabe speaks of.
“Stop.”
A flicker behind her eyes gives her away, but she continues on anyway. “Stop what, baby?”
Baby. Another one of her ploys.
“Where did you go?” I growl as I snatch my hands from her grasp.
She slides a hand over my chest and hikes a leg over my hips to straddle me. Just knowing that she’s probably nude under my T-shirt has my dick on full alert.
“I’m right here,” she purrs as she rocks her pussy against the rock-hard bulge in my jeans.
I want to forget what she’s done to me. To ki
ss her like old times. I want to flip her over onto her back and fuck her like a madman on this sofa. I want to feel her again. Taste her. Own her.
But I can’t. The woman she hid away is the one I am missing. Not this fraud who’s dipping her head down to kiss me.
I let her steal one kiss simply because I’m a selfish motherfucker. For one small moment, I want to devour her and consume the memory that is her. Her lips are soft on mine—teasing—and I’m holding on to a small thread of self-control.
“That’s the last kiss you get,” I murmur as I pull away from her. “Ever.”
Even I know that’s a lie.
EVEN I KNOW that’s a lie.
I can see it in his eyes that, if I push for another kiss—really hard—he would give it to me. I’m not going to push though. But I’ll get another kiss. I’ll make him go back on his word.
“What’s going on, Love?” he questions as he grips my shoulders and pushes me slightly away from him. “Why didn’t you want me telling him anything?”
From the moment Gabe showed up, I felt the need to protect myself. And when Gabe started fishing around for information, I felt the need to protect Omega. I’m not sure when I started to care about anyone other than myself since I came to work for HEL, but right now, I do care about someone. I haven’t admitted it to myself until now, but I care about Omega.
“He was lying. That’s to be expected around here, but I don’t like the fact that he was in the server room. If he needed data recovered from his computer, he could have just called Zo. He was in there for a reason, and I intend to find out,” I say.
His eyes darken, and his jaw clenches. “He’s my friend. I don’t think he would do anything malicious. Besides, who cares? Luc deserves whatever it is.”
“What if he was doing something to HEA Corp?” I muse.
This time, he shoots me a murderous glare. “I would kill him.”
His answer interests me.
I give him a curious, playful smile, but I want to grab his shoulders and shake the answer out of him. “Why do you care, Omega? They banished you for what you did—for what you did in the name of Love.”
He shakes his head. “Pallas was always like a father to Alpha and me. He recruited us and trained us. They’re the good guys, Love. We’re the bad guys. And even though I’m on HEL’s payroll, I’ll always root for the other team.”
Narrowing my eyes at him, I search for any sort of deception. He’s never been a very good liar. I need for what he’s saying to be the truth.
“Omega, you’re still one of the good guys,” I murmur.
His eyes lose their hard edge as he regards me. “And I feel like there’s more to you than you let anyone see. I’ve only witnessed it tonight. That’s the only reason”—he squeezes my bare thighs, which are still straddling him—“you’re still here. The old Love is a person who hurt me beyond repair. But I think someone else in there still cares. Who is she?”
Lillian. “I don’t know what you mean,” I lie, only to earn a disappointed sigh from him.
“Stop it, woman. I know who you are. You’re a good person inside.”
My eyes tear up as a memory from my past haunts me.
“You’re a good person inside,” Father Paul says with a smile as he steeples his fingertips together from across his expansive oak desk.
I fidget nervously. If I were good, I wouldn’t think he’s so handsome, would I? He doesn’t appear to be any more than ten years older than my eighteen-year-old self and I’m attracted to him. That certainly won’t do.
“Maybe I should go,” I whisper meekly. I’m not sure why I thought coming here would be a good idea. I suppose I’ve always seen myself as a do-gooder. But now, as my eyes trail along the scruff on his chiseled jaw, I suppress a needy whine.
I’m a virgin. Virgins aren’t supposed to look at priests this way. That’s lust and a sin straight from Momma’s Bible.
“Dear girl, please stay. I see such a light in you. You’re the perfect person to help mold these children. Many of the orphans here have never known what it feels like to have a family. We’re their family.” He flashes me a handsome grin. “And we’d love for you to join our family.”
I blink rapidly at him. After Momma, my only family, passed away from breast cancer a few weeks ago, I longed to have a family again. And here, this man is offering one up on a silver platter.
“What’s the catch?” I ask.
He stands and walks around to my side of the desk. With his proximity, I’m forced to clench my thighs together because my body responds to him. I’m ashamed of my inner evil ways. When he reaches out, I flinch but don’t move. Then he slides his finger under my chin and lifts it up.
“There is no catch, sweetheart. Please join us.”
He grins at me in amusement as I chew on my bottom lip and wonder. Am I ready to give everything up to help Father Paul and the children?
I think I am. Momma would have wanted it, which means I want it.
Pushing my lustful thoughts out of my head, I smile timidly back at him. “Okay. I’ll do my best, Father.”
“I know you will,” he says with such confidence that I almost believe him. “Welcome to the family, Sister Lillian.”
“There. Right there, Love. Where’d you go?” Omega demands, interrupting me from my memory.
I blink it away and frown at him. My head hurts when I think about my past—the past that was supposed to be wiped from my memory yet I can somehow recall every horrible detail.
“Nowhere,” I lie.
He rolls his eyes but cups my cheek in a tender move. “I’m onto your lies now, babe. I can see right through them. So do yourself a favor and stop doing it. If we’re going to be partners, we might as well have some trust in one another.”
He’s right.
“I trust you.” This time, my words are completely honest.
His face lights up with a beautiful smile I haven’t seen in a really long time. A pain in my heart slices through me so forcefully that I almost yelp out in shock.
“I know. And every piece of me screams out that I shouldn’t trust you in return, Lovenia.” He narrows his eyes as his grin falls.
My lips form a pout, and he runs a thumb across them so delicately that a shiver skitters right through my body.
“But I want to trust you,” he whispers.
His hot breath just inches from my lips drives me insane, but I don’t move. There’s so much I want to say to him. Like the fact that he can trust me—her. Lillian. But instead, I nod with tears in my eyes before burying my face into his neck. His hands slide up my back, and he holds me until I fall asleep. Just as it should be.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Omega grits out. “I read our assignment. It’s fucking ridiculous.”
I sit up on the couch and realize he covered me with a blanket after I fell asleep. He must have slept in the other room. My eyes skim over his bare chest, all the way down to the V-shaped muscles that lead right into his dangerously low pajama pants. Even though he isn’t hard at the moment, his dick is thick and visible under the fabric. God, I miss the way he makes me feel.
Hot.
Bothered.
Distracted.
Shit—focus.
“Why? Where are we going?” I ask as I peel my eyes from his most valuable asset and look up at him.
He eyes me with a smirk, clearly amused at having caught me as I checked out his cock. “We’re going to church.”
Groaning, I roll my eyes and lie back down on the sofa. “No.”
“What do you mean, Love? We don’t have a choice,” he states.
We always have a choice. Unfortunately, I know the choice I have to make even though I’m aggravated as hell about making it. “Fine.”
He walks to me and sits down on the coffee table so he can look at me. “I don’t understand how we’re supposed to corrupt a priest though,” he laughs.
Rubbing my palms over my face, I sigh. “It’s a little easier than you woul
d think.”
His eyes ask a million questions, but I don’t feel like giving answers.
“Omega,” I plead sincerely, “just trust me. This might be a cakewalk for us. And for that, I’m concerned. This throws a huge fucking wrench in my plans.”
“What plans?” he questions. “I want to try this new partner thing with you, Love, and to try to trust the person you’ve recently revealed to me, but you have to give me something. Tell me, please.”
Omega wasn’t originally a part of the plan, yet here he is, changing the game.
Fucking with priests’ lives wasn’t a part of the plan, yet here we are, about to go wreak havoc.
Shit, the plan needs to be reevaluated. I need to make a phone call.
“I think we need to go see someone,” I tell him cryptically.
He stares at me as if he expects me to give him a name.
I toss my legs over the edge of the couch and stand in front of him. His eyes look over my bare legs for a moment before sliding up to my face.
“I’ll run up to my suite and get ready. Meet me in the lobby in an hour,” I instruct.
As I start to walk away, his large hands grab my waist, his grip is firm as he tugs me between his spread legs where he’s still seated. I suppress a shiver because it’s always distracting as hell when he touches me.
“Who are we going to see?” he demands, peering up at me with a dark, raised questioning brow.
His chocolate-colored eyes are swimming with questions. With confusion and distrust. Chewing on my bottom lip, I do what feels natural. I slide both hands into his wild hair and I clutch him.
The moment freezes for a short while.
I could get lost in his eyes. Forever.
He leans his head forward and rests it on my belly.
Why does there have to be a Heaven or Hell?
Good versus evil.
Why can’t there just be this?
Us.
Omega and Love.
Forever.
“We’re going to see someone who can help us—two caring Leviathans in a world that has no room for compassion. We’re different, Omega. Do you trust me?”
After a long pause, he mutters, “I trust her.”
Lillian rejoices.
