To Seduce an Omega (15 page)

Iris kept her arms around him. “Jilly? She’s closeted with Fleur, but don’t worry, my sister never truly wanted to marry you. She’s too selfish to ever bond with anyone, and if she ever had cubs, she’d make their life hell. I plan to move in with Viola, always assuming she’ll let me. I can’t believe how she sacrificed herself to keep me safe. Thank you for rescuing her for me.”

Her artless chatter calmed him, and if Viola accepted him, he’d happily add Iris to their household. When he looked up, Fleur and Jilly strolled into the courtyard. Jilly stopped dead. Color drained from her face, and she offered him a shy smile. Fleur stroked her arm, then grabbed Iris and dragged her inside.

Alone with the woman he’d once planned to mate, Titus blushed. “Jilly, I’m sorry. It’s not you, it’s me, but…”

His voice trailed away when he spotted the tears that misted her eyes. He wanted to turn tail and run like a coward. Instead, he stood his ground. For Viola’s sake, he’d make Jilly understand their relationship, as pathetic as it was, had ended long since.

Jilly’s lower lip trembled. “Don’t you want me?”

He wiped his hand over his forehead and shuffled his feet. “It’s been a long time. After you walked out me, something I thought impossible happened. The Fates shattered our bond.”

Angry color flooded Jilly’s face. Her scream echoed around the courtyard, and she slapped his face. “You bastard! Look at you, a mighty warrior who abandons women and goes off to battle. Don’t expect any good to come of marching off to murder children. Just remember, if you touch one hair of their heads, I’ll kill you myself.”

He could have blocked her slap with ease, but he’d rather she beat on him than shed tears at his desertion. A moment later, her words registered fully. “I don’t kill children, whatever your opinion of me.”

Jilly lowered her eyes and dropped her chin to her chest. “Not purebred Lykae children, but what about those that are half-Lykae, half-sphinx?”

Teeth gritted, he enunciated slowly. “I. Don’t. Kill. Children. Wiping out those sphinxes won’t be hard once we find them, but I don’t intend to kill any children, half-sphinx or not. Extricating the cubs will be a nightmare, but those kids are pack, even if they don’t know it. We will bring them home. We’ll teach them how to be wolves, and once they’re old enough to make their own choices, it’s up to them if they stay or if they leave. Hopefully, they’ll serve in the Lykae army.” Then it hit him. “Gods, Jilly, do you have a cub back there?”

Jilly sniffed back her tears. “Those sphinxes took everything from me. My family, my home, my dignity, and even invaded my body. All they left me is my sons. Touch them, and I swear I’ll hunt you down and kill you.”

He clenched his jaw and curled his fists. “I don’t know the right words, but I swear we’ll get your cubs back home. They’re pack.”

Fleur shot back into the courtyard and pulled Jilly into a hug. “Can we believe him? Do you trust him?”

Jilly sobbed on Fleur’s shoulder. “I want to, but it’s hard. I’ve never known Titus to lie, but what if I’m wrong and mine and Fleur’s cubs die in the battle?”

Happy to let Fleur comfort Jilly, Titus had risen to leave. At Jilly’s words, he sat back down and waved the innkeeper over with a tray of drinks. Titus downed his first tankard of beer in one gulp. “I didn’t mishear? Your sons? In the plural? Ladies, whatever’s going on here, the children will be safe, I swear it. Now, sit down and talk.”

The woman shared a long look, then settled at a small table.

Titus forgot his former relationship with Jilly or that he’d considered marrying Fleur. The women’s pale faces, defeated manner, and low expectations of him hurt more than the cheek Jilly had slapped. “First, you should understand that King Caleb’s sending his army to fix up the town’s buildings and add new cottages out toward the burned-out mill. We need homes for those children and foster families to love them. It won’t be easy for anyone involved, but I’m not standing down as alpha until I’ve made this work.”

Jilly’s tears dried up as she clutched Fleur’s hand, but they both sat stiffly—as if terrified they’d already said too much.

Titus lacked the Lykae king’s easy charm, but he offered the women his most reassuring smile. “Okay, Fleur, you first. Tell me about your son.”

Her eyes lit up, and her usual oversexed manner evaporated. “Dion’s just turned four. His laugh is like bottled sunshine, and he’s curious about everything. Whenever I’m away from him, I worry he’ll wander off or something silly.”

Titus shook his head. “I don’t understand. You didn’t mention cubs when we rescued you from that witch’s castle. And what do those sphinxes want with your cubs? Explain, please.”

Fleur swallowed hard, then picked her words carefully. “The sphinxes plan to raise our cubs, then see if they can impregnate the she-sphinxes. That way their bloodline will still be three-quarters sphinx even though their males and females are infertile together.”

Titus still tried to puzzle things out. “I don’t get it. You’re the last alpha’s daughter. How the hell did you have a sphinx baby?”

Fleur dropped her gaze to the floor, and her cheeks turned red. “I didn’t realize what an utter bastard Pops was beneath all that swagger. I’m glad he’s dead.”

Titus frowned. “Still not understanding.”

Fleur looked up and met his angry glare. “I was just seventeen when I threatened to tell King Caleb how Pops treated the pack. The next thing he gave me to one of their sphinxes, and he… Hard as I tried, I couldn’t fight him off. At least it was over quickly.”

Titus growled, but he had no words to comfort her. Instead he reached across the table and squeezed her hand.

She shrugged, her face as deadpan as her voice. “I got lucky, I guess. I fell pregnant the first time one of them raped me—not that I felt lucky at the time. Horrid as the experience was, I gained a beautiful son. Dion is my world. Pops threatened to hurt him if I didn’t stay here and do his dirty work. The whole pack hates me, but as long as it keeps my Dion safe, I can live with that.”

Titus nodded. “Then it’s time we brought young Dion home. Jilly, tell me about your child.”

She took a drink of wine, choked, and spluttered as Fleur patted her back. Finally, she managed to squeak, “Sorry. I have two sons, which to the sphinxes makes me a top-quality breeder. Getting anyone pregnant’s hard for male sphinxes, and God knows how many of them… I don’t even know which one fathered my boys. After Silas and Simon were born, I became their top breeder, but whenever they came to… Well, I just lay there, stared at the ceiling. The only way I could get through it was by thinking about my boys. I’d endure anything to spend just another minute with them. That’s why I went back after you’d rescued me.”

Titus rubbed his hand across his lips, but he couldn’t stifle the growl that rumbled through his chest. “Jilly, I’m so, so sorry.”

She stared at the tabletop, unconsciously tracing the patina of the wood with her finger. “It’s not your fault. We weren’t mated or anything. My family should have protected me, and my brother left to join the army. My father should have stayed home rather than gone out drinking with the alpha. There’re other things I need to tell you, though. The sphinxes ship any woman with three boy babies off to the arena to avoid interbreeding later. They planned to impregnate me one more time before they killed me. Fortunately, Fleur slipped me some herbs to stop me from conceiving. Every moment with my boys is a special event even if I have to put up with the sphinxes touching… Anyway, my boys are my world now, which is why I screamed so hard when the Fae king’s dragon scooped me up and carried me back to the Lykae.”

Titus took a swig of ale. “You should have said something.”

“And risk you killing my boys?” Jilly snapped.

Titus ground his teeth. “Instead, you made my life hell, then came back to twist me around your fingers.”

Fleur hugged Jilly; then the pair of them stared at Titus. “We didn’t know what else to do. Better to break your heart than let the sphinxes hurt any of the cubs. Pops always claimed the Lykae would wipe out our boys for their mixed sphinx heritage.”

Titus whistled out a breath. “The lying bastard! Those cubs are Lykae. I should have taken Zebadiah’s throat the instant I met him. Ladies, we should be begging your forgiveness along with every other she-wolf the sphinxes have mistreated. Jilly, can you explain how that redhead kept you prisoner for a century but you’ve only had two children?”

Jilly started to sob again, so Fleur answered for her. “She’d labored in their kitchens for decades, and occasionally one of the males raped her. Eventually, one of them impregnated her, but her first baby was female. The sphinxes didn’t want girls diluting their bloodline, and they made Jilly watch while they slit the child’s throat.”

The tankard in Titus’s hand buckled beneath his grip. “I’m so sorry.”

Jilly shook her head and sniffed hard. “It damn near destroyed me. That’s why my Silas and Simon are so precious to me. The other captive females feel the same. All we have left is our sons. God help anyone who lays a finger on them.”

The primal wolf inside Titus howled. So many women, so much pain and fear. Most of all, so many boys to bring home and teach how to be wolves. Listening to these women’s story was the hardest thing he’d ever done.

Jilly kept tracing the wood rings in the tabletop. “They hadn’t known a sphinx could impregnate a Lykae, and my first pregnancy took them by surprise. It took another five years, but eventually I fell pregnant again. Thank the gods I carried a boy that time—my oldest son, Silas. That was when the sphinxes started kidnapping Rock Prowler females and force breeding them, but there’s a big gap in my sons’ ages. The next one’s only seven. Fleur’s boy is four, but by the time the sphinxes took her, Zebadiah was selecting their victims.”

Titus took Jilly’s hand. “I don’t even know where to start apologizing. You’ve both been through hell, but I swear the surviving she-wolves and those cubs have my full support from now on.”

His sympathy opened floodgates, and both women wept so hard they became incoherent. Finally, Jilly hiccupped and told him, “There are thirty-five boys of various ages and another on the way. My Silas is the oldest, but most of the Rock Prowler women perished in the sphinxes’ arenas. They use silver bracelets to keep them human, then loose wild animals and…”

She folded her arms on the table, rested her head on them, and sobbed until her whole body shook. Fleur stroked Jilly’s back and blinked back her own tears. “We try to tell the boys about their Lykae heritage. Maybe one day, they’ll find a decent home away from the sphinxes. Meanwhile, we watch over them in every way we can.”

Titus felt pretty damn emotional too. Those she-wolves were pack, and the sphinxes dared to abuse them. For once he agreed with his beasts when they demanded he hunt those sphinxes into extinction. “We’ll bring our boys home. I give you my word as the new alpha. Sorry, ladies, but I need you to repeat everything you’ve told me to King Caleb.”

Jilly lifted her head. “Don’t let him hurt our cubs.”

Fleur stared at him long and hard. “If King Caleb lays a finger on them, I’ll go for his throat. If he’s really willing to help, then I’ll tell him everything. Maybe if we really bring our cubs home, we could camp out in Zebadiah’s tower. The boys will be happier if they stay together.”

Titus took both their hands. “That sounds like the start of a plan. We’d already decided that Queen Meena will spend tomorrow crafting amulets that trap the sphinxes in human form and stop them from flashing away—just the way silver works on us.”

Fleur nodded. “I’m in. Anything to get my Dion away from that hellhole.”

Jilly nodded. “Me too. Titus, I’m truly sorry that things didn’t work out between us, but please will you stay with us when we talk to the Lykae king?”

Titus’s wolves urged him to find Viola and persuade her to be his, but as Rock Prowler alpha his duty was to support these women and rescue their cubs. He’d have to put his personal business on hold, but he’d never rest until he had Viola beside him as his mate.

Iris crept into the courtyard. “I’m sorry. I eavesdropped. Oh, Fleur, I can’t believe that Pops did that to you.”

Fleur managed a small smile. “Dion is worth it. Listen, Iris, about last night. Pops spotted you giving that cash to Viola, but he hid behind my skirts as usual. If I didn’t make a good job of beating you, he swore he’d give you to the sphinxes. Honestly, sweetheart, anything was better than letting those monsters take you. Besides, I’d never risk anyone hurting my son.”

Iris frowned, then nodded. “It’s okay. I get it. It’s hard to believe I’m an auntie, but I can’t wait to meet my nephew. What can I do to help?”

Considering the horrors these women had endured, Titus almost sent Iris to wait with Viola, but he sensed how the teenager’s acceptance helped Fleur. “Come with us and support your sister while we talk to King Caleb.”

Iris waited to see Fleur’s reaction. After a moment’s hesitation, Fleur nodded. Her voice broke as she reached for her younger sister’s hand. “I’d like that, and Iris, you’ll make a great auntie.”

Hoping this wouldn’t take long, Titus scooped Iris into the crook of his arm and joined hands with Fleur and Jilly. He flashed them to the Lykae court, but he’d have rather flashed back to Viola. He’d have mated her in that cell if he hadn’t been chained, but he’d no idea if she felt the same. The Fates had already tormented him with one mate who wanted nothing to do with him. What if they did it again?

Chapter Fifteen

Hands linked with Fleur and Jilly, Queen Sylvie bit back tears. “No one should endure the things you have. I’m so, so sorry. My cubs are the most precious things Caleb and I have. I can see from the way your eyes light up when you talk about your sons that you feel the same. We will bring them home along with the surviving she-wolves.”

Fleur nodded. “My boy’s my world.”

“They’re the only things that make my life worthwhile,” Jilly added.

King Caleb’s fangs dropped, and his claws flicked out. “Those boys are coming home. I swear it. So, Jilly, when are you going to tell us the rest?”