Tell me to stop

Terra

The elder bowed deeply.

"I apologize, Prince Damien. Please consider-"

I turned away, unable to listen to the rest of the conversation. As though if I ignored what I heard, it would make it disappear.

I was getting too good at that. Ignoring things. Ignoring the side glances and hushed whispers about me at court events.

Ignoring the pitiful looks my maids and guards gave me any time I tried to talk to Damien only for him to ignore me and walk away.

I ignored it until I couldn't ignore it anymore.

"Tonight you will visit the Prince," Sophia informed me barely two days later, her eyes filled with compassion and sadness.

I began to shake. Only later would I realize that it wasn't just from pain and humiliation but also rage. After almost six months of ignoring my existence, Damien wanted me to make an heir with him to secure his right to the throne.

I wouldn't have gone but it was a chance to speak with Damien alone. One I hadn't gotten since coming to this palace. I couldn't waste it.

So I let them scrub me clean, rub oils and scents on my skin, tease out my hair. And as I walked towards Damien's room, I felt like a lamb primed for the slaughter.

I'd been sitting at the edge of Damien's bed for over an hour when he walked in.

He was wearing a simple robe with silk pants that fell to his ankles, his chest bare. His ink-black hair fell over his forehead and while I could smell the booze this far away, his gray eyes were razor-sharp and clear.

His robe hit the ground and for whatever reason, my lungs refused to function properly, my heart racing in my chest as Damien walked towards me.

All the words I had to say, all my anger and protests disappeared.

Damien reached me and I found myself shuffling back on his bed scrambling to keep the distance between us.

Damien didn't say anything, those gray eyes steady on me as he reached out, grabbing my thigh and pulling me back towards him.

His hand on my thigh burned and I found myself shivering.

"I can't do this." But the protest was weak as it left my lips.

Damien's hand traveled up my thigh bunching up my nightdress while his other hand bared my shoulder, pulling my robe and the thin shoulder strap of my nightdress to the side.

My fingernails dug into the duvet, an unwanted moan building in the back of my throat.

"I can't," I repeated.

Damien ignored me, as he leaned over dropping a kiss on my exposed shoulder.

The sudden heady shot of adrenaline and desire coursing through my veins had me fighting the urge to submit to him. An urge I thought was long erased by all of Damien's cruelty.

"Please, Damien," I begged, my voice trembling, a lone tear traveling down my cheek.

Damien paused, his face a perfect porcelain mask.

"You don't need to pretend.  I know you overheard the conversation between Elder Hardt and I." His voice was soft but no less cold and unfeeling.

It was a sharp contrast to the warmth of his caress as he traced the back of his hand down my cheek wiping away my tears and stopping at my chin, his thumb hovering over but not quite touching my lips.

"I will do my duty to my people even if it means being with someone I despise, Terra."

I think it was at that moment that it really sank in that my mate hated me.

My eyes burned with unshed tears.

"Why do you hate me so much?"

Damien didn't hesitate.

"You are a lowly omega unworthy of being my mate. You schemed to deceive and seduce me to escape your pack. I had to break the heart of the woman I love because of you."

For the first time I heard something other than contempt in Damien's voice, I heard pain.

He really loved Miranda, his ex-fiance. He still loved her.

My cheeks were wet and my words came out as a strangled sob.

"But I have no control over the bond, neither of us do. That night-"

Damien didn't let me finish.

"That night was the biggest mistake I've ever made." He said unflinchingly.

My heart hurt as though someone had stabbed me. Diana didn't want to believe our mate's cruel words while I just sat there trembling and utterly lost.

"Then what are you doing here?" I asked Damien.

"Today is your most fertile day according to the physicians and my duty comes before my emotions," Damien shrugged, those callous grey eyes focused on me. "But I won't force myself on you, Terra,"

Damien cocked his head slightly to the side. "Just tell me to stop."