The Lycan King's Outcast Omega (by Cara Anderson) novel Chapter 82

Sage

The room feels impossibly small as the Beta leaves us with an awkward bow. One bed, two chairs, a small window letting in moonlight. No escape from this conversation we’ve been avoiding.

As soon as the door closes, I turn to Alaric. “Earlier, when their Alpha was describing the attacks – you had a theory. I could see it in your eyes. What aren’t you telling everyone?”

He moves closer, power rolling off him in waves. “No.”

“No?” I back up, bumping into the door. “What do you mean, no?”

“I mean,” he crowds me against the wood, hands planting on either side of my head, “that we’re not discussing pack business right now. We’re going to talk about us.”

My heart thunders traitorously at his proximity. Even angry, my body remembers his touch, craves it.

“There is no us,” I try to sound firm despite my racing pulse. “You made that clear when you kept the mate bond secret.”

“Is that what you think?” His voice drops lower, dangerous. “That I don’t want you? That I’ve ever not wanted you?”

“He speaks truth,” Aura purrs, responding to his dominance despite my anger. “Feel it through the bond.”

And I do feel it – waves of need and possession and regret pouring through our connection. But I can’t let that

sway me.

“What I think,” I manage, “is that we have more important things to discuss than—‘

11

“Than the fact that I’ve been going crazy these past days?” He leans closer, his scent of pine and winter wind making me dizzy. “Than the fact that my beast howls every time you turn away from me? Than the fact that I can feel your pain through the bond and know I caused it?”

“Stop.” But my hands betray me, rising to his chest like they belong there. “You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to cage me in with your big, stupid, sexy body and expect everything to be okay just because- because you get all growly and use that deep, husky voice you know makes me weak for you.”

His growl cuts me off, this time not to seduce but demand. “I expect nothing except for you to listen. Really listen. Can you do that, sweetling?”

The endearment makes my heart leap as much as it irritates me. “I see what you’re trying to do. Don’t call me that.”

“Why not?” His lips brush my ear. “Because it affects you? Because you can feel through the bond exactly what it means to me?”

“Because you lost the right when you lied to me!”

“I never lied.” He pulls back enough to meet my eyes. “I just… didn’t tell you everything.”

1/3

Chapter 82

“Same thing.” But my voice shakes as his thumb traces my jawline.

+25 BONUS

“No, it’s not. And you’re going to let me explain why.” His other hand slides into my hair. “You’re going to stay right here and listen to every word. And then, if you still want to walk away… I’ll let you.”

The mate bond pulses between us, making it impossible to ignore the truth in his words – or the way my body melts into his touch despite my anger.

I suppose this conversation can’t be avoided forever. Some truths demand to be heard, no matter how much they might hurt.

“Talk then,” I challenge, trying to ignore how his closeness affects me. “Explain why you let me think I was crazy for feeling so drawn to you. Why you watched me struggle to understand these feelings while knowing exactly what they meant.”

His forehead drops to mine, the gesture surprisingly vulnerable for someone currently caging me against a door.

“Because I wanted you to choose me,” he says roughly. “Not the mate bond, not duty. Me. With all my shortcomings and my responsibilities that I can never truly be free from.

“That wasn’t your choice to make.”

“No.” His thumb traces my bottom lip. “It wasn’t. I see that now. But sweetling, you have to understand – when I found you in that cottage, healing a stranger without question… I’d never met anyone like you.”

||

The memory hits us both through the bond – me tending his wounds, neither of us knowing what we’d become to each other.

“Then Blackthorn happened,” he continues. “I saw what Cassius did to you, how he used the mate bond to hurt you. And I… I couldn’t bear the thought of you feeling trapped by another mate bond. Feeling obligated.” “So you decided not telling me was better?” But my anger wavers as his pain floods our connection.

“I decided giving you time to heal was better. Time to know me, to trust me, to want me for myself rather than because fate said you should.”

“And after?” My voice catches. “After we grew closer? After I let you… touch me?”

His growl vibrates through both our bodies. “After that, I was a fool. A fool who kept waiting for the perfect moment, who let politics and duty delay what I should have told you immediately.”

“You told Garrett,” I accuse. “Iris.”

“Technically, I didn’t tell Iris. Garrett did.”

My pitiful excuse for a growl at his deflection draws a defeated sigh from him.

“I told them before we ever left Blackthorn. Because I knew I would go crazy keeping it inside.” His hands frame my face. “Because I knew watching you every day, knowing what you are to me… I’d need someone to talk to before I lost my mind.”

The raw honesty in his voice makes something in my chest crack. Through the bond, I feel everything he’s

2/3

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify