“The first time I restrained you, it was without sexual—”
“Choose your words incredibly wisely, King. Even if you did it to help get my energy under control, that doesn’t change the fact you left me attached to a sex object for days on end without my consent.”
“Consent?” Oberon chuckled viciously. “This is Synastry, Wolf.”
“I don’t like being called that.”
“By me?”
“By anyone.”
“What does it mean?”
“That I’m her pet.” Hundreds of years ago, the alphas of their species supposedly kept wolves as companions. Now, only the Imperial family sometimes kept them, but ever since Fenrir had recovered, Michelle had taken to keeping him at her heel.
“The Wolf is said to be seen with the Mistress of the Wardrobe more than her right-hand man, Trick P’at.” Oberon twisted so that he was fully facing him. “Yet his identity has been carefully kept under wraps all this time. We first got wind of you about a year ago, when the whispers began, but even our hidden soldiers couldn’t catch sight of you.”
“I wasn’t allowed to leave the fifth or fourth levels of the estate,” Fenrir explained. “Those are her private floors. No one is allowed up without permission. She even keeps a separate cleaning team.”
“From the sounds of it, that means it was just the two of you and possibly a handful of guards at the exits. So, why didn’t you make use of your power and free yourself?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“I’m failing to see how that could be the case.” Oberon took a step closer. “When your energy spiked, you destroyed my living room. It kept snowing indoors on and off for three days. Then you passed out, and I moved you here.”
The bed he was lying on wasn’t wet—unless the puddle of drying come and slick counted.
“Seems like this room was safe,” he said.
“The point is, if you have the power to conjure a storm, surely you could take on Michelle, alpha or not,” Oberon persisted. “They say the Wolf is the only male she’s ever shown an interest in.”
Fenrir clicked his tongue. “Don’t believe everything you hear. She and Trick have been screwing behind the scenes for close to a decade.”
“How do you know that?”
“They’ve told me.” If his arms weren’t bound, he would have shrugged, wanting to downplay it so he wasn’t misunderstood. “It wasn’t because they trusted me. It was because they trusted that I would never get out from under their control. The fact I’m a Shout mix breed is the only reason they’ve kept me this long. Michelle used me to deal with business setbacks and traitors. Invite them to her personal floors at the estate, introduce me as a docile omega, and let me get close. The Wolf rumors were meant to help bolster the illusion. People let their guards down when they think they’re in the presence of a pet. Guards they would be wary of. But they paid me no mind.”
“You killed them.”
“That was my purpose. A weapon to be turned on her enemies.”
“Like me.”
“You weren’t supposed to be there that night.”
“Ah,” Oberon hummed. “I get it now. That’s why you tried so hard to ignore me at the auction. Let me guess, Note Hex was your target all along? That means you’d failed right from the start. It’s interesting that Michelle allowed me to take you at all.”
“There was no set target,” he confessed. “It just had to be a member of the White Frost. Michelle has felt threatened by you guys ever since the Dominus of the Eumia joined hands with Imperial Prince Altair.”
She’d feared the Wardrobe would be next in their crusade to rid the planet of illegal substances. The fact that they were located in a city far from the capital had worked in their favor thus far, but there was no telling how long that would last.
“It’s no big secret that Altair plans on scrubbing the streets of Rebirth and drugs like it once he takes the throne,” Oberon said. “But the White Frost and the Eumia are far from allies.”
“That’s the problem. It’s no great secret that your Dominus frequently finds himself in competition against theirs.”
He didn’t deny it. “When the Wardrobe was ordered by Altair to cease production and hand all of their research over, they did so without a fight.”
“You don’t believe that.”