Paint it Black

ANASTASIA

"...Fuck, peaches! You feel so damn good," he thrust into me again, "So damn good."

I moaned, feeling him shiver against me. This unknown Alpha I had bumped into during my sudden heat. The tip of his nose brushed against my neck.

I blinked against the soft light, trying to piece together where I was, why I was naked—sandwiched between silk sheets and the slow breathing of a stranger whose scent still clung to my skin.

Sweating in this cold room that smelled of wild pheromones.

He kissed softly like I was made of porcelain. The sharp edge of his canines was proof that, just like me, he was being controlled by my heat.

Omegas cursed biology, but in a family of Alphas, I just had to have the misfortune of being one.

"I'm gonna... I'm gonna knot," he whispered, breathlessly, "Your legs... tight around me, peaches... I... I can't..."

But I couldn't let go, couldn't stop burying my head into the crook of his neck and biting into his shoulders so deep I could taste blood, yet he didn't even flinch.

Just growled viscerally as he thrust again.

"Mmmph, ah ah," I moaned through gritted teeth, my lips moving up to his neck, that dangerous spot that shouldn't be touched unless ready for shackles.

But his pheromones filled every corner of the room, so thick I could barely see through the curtains of my own primal lust.

An Alpha. He was an unclaimed, dominant Alpha. No wonder he was affected by my heat. What I couldn't understand was why he hadn't claimed me yet. If I were being pushed to claim him...

That meant he had had the urge at least thirty seconds in. Was he perhaps stopping himself?

Ha, funny.

Alphas were uncontrollable beasts who projected their weaknesses onto Omegas, and because they ran the world, Omegas were the ones being punished for their faults, indiscipline, and cruelty.

But this wasn't the same... because right here... was the uncontrollable need to claim this Alpha...

My body felt twice as heavy, and I didn't need a seer to tell me he knotted. "I'm sorry," he breathed, "I'll make it quick, peaches."

Okay, apart from that awful name he branded me with at the first taste of my mouth, I should be scared of this man, considering where I found him wasn't exactly a temple.

Combined with his aura so dark it choked me, but it never held the same darkness my stepbrothers carried. His... made me want to sink into him.

So, my teeth grazed that spot just above his collarbone.

"You do that," he rasped, "You do that and you're mine."

I looked up at the dark hair falling over otherworldly grey eyes, full lashes, and the glint of his gold earring against the soft orange light.

But the pheromones curled around my sanity, strangling whatever clarity was left.

And once again, I found myself back to his neck, canines on that forbidden slope sinking in, so his blood filled my mouth.

I felt him swallow, then hold me tighter, groaning against my ear that sinful sound that made my body jolt and tremble.

He smelled of the wild. Smelled of shackles and cages and... something that belonged to me.

I didn't even know his name, yet he reeked of familiarity, and familiarity in my world was dangerous.

And there went my descent, back into darkness.

---

SIX MONTHS LATER.

*Your father died yesterday. Call me when you see this.*

Today was quiet.

Usually, the office was rowdy, pins and paper clips thrown from desk to desk, slips holding the latest craziest gossip about clients, and Viktor slamming the door open for the tenth time before noon.

But not today. And it had to do with the news that we were just about to help make a notorious Bratva faction legal.

"Uh, Anastasia," Grace stammered nervously.

I glared up at her, and she flinched so fast the slip in her hand almost dropped.

I sucked in my breath. What was I doing? It wasn't her fault that good-for-nothing Link decided to throw all of his late mother's values to the wind, all because of a few more zeros.

I scowled at the check on the table. Okay, maybe a lot of zeros, but this wasn't what Kate Legal's firm was about. The integrity we upheld, making sure our hands weren't soiled.

In a world where Mafia rogues had run down the pack's laws and hierarchy, it was hard to do. But we had done it.

However, Kate died two months ago, leaving her son Link in charge, and there we go, agreeing to stand in for the notorious Bratva.

Link selling the firm's legacy for a seat at the underworld's blood table. I never liked that bastard.

It took me years to understand why.

I massaged my temple. "What do you want, Grace?"

She held out the slip almost shakily. "Uhm, Link says you'll take care of the case..."

"What?!" I barked.

Her spirit almost left her body.

"Alright, Anastasia, that's enough." Viktor came forward, taking the slip from Grace and sitting on my desk. "You can leave, Grace."

She thanked him quickly and zoomed off.

"You wanna tell me what the problem is, or you just wanna sulk?" he asked, hiding the slip under a pile of files. "You've traumatized Nathaniel, made Sarah cry, and now Grace?"

I buried my face in my hands. "God, I'm so awful. I'll apologize, I promise, I just need a moment to calm down."

"Of course you will." He flicked my red hair back, and at that moment, I heard the office sigh in relief.

"I know Link really isn't the problem." His voice dropped. "Let me guess. You still haven't found him?"

"It's like he disappeared from the face of the earth," I whispered, looking sharply at my trembling hands. "Once the six months elapse, I won't be able to break the bond."

"What did the clinics say?"

"After looking at me like the poster child of irresponsibility, the same shit, 'if we find him, we'll get back to you.' Like, how long does it fucking take to track an Alpha's scent? Those idiots practically piss everywhere, urrrgh."

Viktor chuckled.

I glared up at him, and he rubbed my shoulder remorsefully. "Maybe look at the brighter side. He might be dead, which means you can go on a date with me."

Death? Oh, poor child, if only he knew what that meant. When two were bonded, one death meant the other was just a step closer to losing sanity or giving up the ghost too.

I knew he was alive, the unknown Alpha, I could feel his heat and need, at every full moon, and goddess was his rut suffocating. How did I ever survive?

"Another no?" Viktor raised a brow.

I gave him a thumbs up.

But he only straightened up, looked at his watch, and shrugged, "Same time tomorrow then, Ma'am."

I laughed, shaking my head at him as I pulled out the slip from Link he had slipped under the file.

"Hey, before I forget." Viktor pulled out a brown envelope from his pocket, handing it to me. "Last two weeks, when you took leave for your heat..."

"Goddess Viktor..."

"This dropped." I took it from him. "It looks important," he says. "It's from *Sky*."

Skylar?

I waited until he left before I tore the envelope open.

And in it was the hurriedly handwritten note that held the words I dreaded since I ran

away from him at the age of twenty...

*Your father died yesterday. Call me when you see this.*

Skylar.

My world came to a standstill.