CHAPTER 5: KAI

My head pounded, dragging me back to consciousness. My body snuggled deeper into the bed, softer than the one in the cabin. I didn't remember falling asleep on anything this soft, my last memory was the floor.

The bed shifted beneath me, and my eyes snapped open. What the fuck?

My gaze landed on the soft fur my fingers had wrapped into, and the sleeping wolf it belonged to.

For a second, I thought it was just the hangover messing with me, until Damien opened his eyes and those grey ones bored into mine.

"When did you get here?" My breath smelled awful, even to me. The whiskey felt choking.

I rolled off him, landing in a heap on the floor and then heading to the bathroom. He shifted back to his human form, bones crunching and shrinking.

"Where are you going?" His rough, husky voice filled my ears like honey.

"To brush my teeth, and maybe flush my head down a toilet." My headache was elevating quickly into a migraine.

"Let me put something on. You must be starving. There should be pills somewhere for your hangover, though I'm not sure you deserve it."

I paused in my tracks, leaning on the doorpost of the bathroom and glancing back. He was still naked, his dick swinging like a goddamn baseball bat between his legs.

Thank God he hadn't brought me here for the same reasons as all his other hook-ups. Though it wasn't even certain what he wanted. It never was with an alpha.

"Why is that?"

"Because I've been hoarding that bottle for years, and you downed it in one morning." His face didn't appear angry or irritated, but Damien rarely ever gave away emotion on his face.

After spending time with him, the differences between him and Lucien always became more evident. Minus the gap in their dick sizes, Damien's quiet aura was more dangerous than Lucien ever was.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought... I wasn't..."

"Don't worry about it. Just go brush your teeth. There's a new toothbrush in the cabinet above the mirror. I can smell your breath from here." He pushed open the closet door, disappearing into it.

Irritation nearly blinded my vision. His kindness and good looks didn't seem to extend to his attitude.

Sure enough, there was a pack of toothbrushes in the wooden cabinet above the mirror set on the white marble sink. I picked one out, scrubbing my teeth harder than necessary.

He was already dressed when I came out, standing at the stove and frying something while his biceps flexed in his short-sleeved shirt.

"What are you doing?" The toothpaste had this spicy alpha-like scent I didn't like. The strawberry-flavored ones were much better. Food was the only way to get rid of the taste since water worsened it.

"Bacon and toast. Sit down, it'll be ready in a minute." He gestured at the two metal stools in front of the counter.

Watching him work from behind felt like some kind of dream. An alpha cooking for an omega... it was a ridiculous sight that would have my parents turning in their graves.

He set two ceramic white plates in front of both stools, sitting next to me. "So how was your day? Before you got drunk and passed out on the floor, I mean?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. I got kicked out of the place I thought was my home. Almost froze to death. Got saved by my mate's twin." My sarcastic tone died down. "Ex-mate."

"You weren't kicked out, but I understand why you left. I should have helped you do that, not tried to force you to keep staying near him." He reached out, gripping my hand that had reached out for a bronze fork to eat with.

"Don't ever regret leaving him. The things he did to you that I ignored."

"Forget about it." I pulled my hand out of his grip, digging the fork into the bacon and shoveling it into my mouth.

Physically, sexually, mentally, in every way he could hurt me, he had. I wasn't ready to face those things, not now. Maybe not ever.

Damien didn't push, rather mimicking my movements and eating. When we were done, he took both plates to the sink, rejecting my offer to wash them and doing it himself.

It was so strange. He was the first alpha to ever cross paths with me who could cook and wash. Judging by how well-kept the cabin was, he could probably clean too.

"Listen, I know you probably want your space back. If you could just point me to the nearest pack from here, I'll be on my way."

He turned from his spot at the sink, raising an eyebrow. "You want to try to join another pack?"

It wasn't the most ideal choice, but there weren't exactly many options to work with. I just shrugged, unable to give an answer.

"Do you know what most packs do to a lone wolf wandering around on their turf?" He wiped the dishes down, tone casual.

"Oh, please enlighten me." I'd gotten lucky all those years ago when my pack was attacked, leaving almost no survivors. Lucien had found me half dead in the forest and brought me home with him.

"They might assume you're a rogue wolf. You know what happens to them?" He wiped his hands with a cloth, then walked past me.

"They get killed?"

"Oh, it's much more than that, darling. They hang them. With a silver rope. Imagine that, Kai." My name sounded like poison from his lips.

"You're choking and being burned alive by the silver. Is it worth the risk?"

"What if they listen and believe me when I tell them the truth?" There had to be a pack that would take me in. Wandering alone in the forest was almost as dangerous as being mistaken for a rogue.

"You're an omega, Kai. An omega who'd have just joined a new pack, who's an adult and has gone through heat. What do you think will happen?"

My lip quivered. It was pretty obvious what he was implying would happen to me. He didn't need to finish it.

"If you're not forced to mate, you might get traded. It happens in every pack. It happens in ours too, only Lucien protected you from that fate."

"Protected me?" The irritation from before morphed into anger fast. "He saved me from being forced to mate a random alpha by forcing me to mate him."

"Kai—"

"No. He didn't protect me, Damien. He wanted a toy he could fuck up while he waited for his time to get a real mate. He only wants to keep me close because he knows he can hurt me in ways he can't hurt any mate from a noble family."

He pursed his lips, pulling on a pair of boots. "Where are you going?"

"It's your choice, Kai. Make up your mind by nightfall. I'll be back. If you choose to leave, I'll take you myself. Think it through. There's no going back."

He pulled the door open and left, slamming it hard enough to make me flinch.

His last words repeated in my mind, and my choice was clear. I rushed to the door, pushing it open.

Damien had taken off his shirt, ready to shift.

"I've made up my mind."