Chapter 57 Plan B
Bambi's POV
The silence that followed Alpha Dawn's revelation was evident, charged with things I didn't want to hear. We were still in the cabin, the air felt colder now that the heat of the revelation had been replaced by a quiet, gnawing dread. The bond felt like a hot, bruised band around my soul, connecting me to the man standing before me.
I traced the fresh, angry mark on my neck with a trembling fingertip, the mark of his claim. It was an involuntary gesture, and a physical acknowledgment of the power he held over me.
"So, you know I was an Omega?" I asked, the words barely a rasp in the large and echoing space of the room. My voice still had a terrible wobble, like a scared child's.
His dark eyes, appearing like the color of wet earth at midnight, held my gaze. They were impossible to read, neither cruel nor kind, just... absolute.
"Yes," he confirmed, the single syllable presenting itself like a statement of knowing fact. "I knew."
I swallowed, the dryness in my throat making it hard to breathe. "And... and you marked me that night?" I asked, my heart thrumming a fast rhythm against my ribs. "The night of the selection? You made me believe it was... it was the night I used the safe word, back at the manor..."
His expression didn't change, but something shifted in the atmosphere, a subtle tightening.
"The bond was finalized that night, Bambi, the night the Onyx Power accepted you," he clarified, his voice still low, but edged with a certainty that brooked no argument. "The mark you received that other night, after your little escape attempt? That was merely a claim marker, a minor reinforcement. I needed the world to think you were mine already, a way to keep unwanted vultures away while I assessed the finality of the true mate bond. But the real mating, the one that transferred the power and completed the link? That happened that night. It was the moment you became truly indispensable."
I simply nodded, taking a slow, shaky breath
"Okay," I whispered, the weight of his words finally settling itself deep on me. It wasn't the deception that hurt, but the knowledge that he had been playing a game with my entire future, a game he had already won before it even began.
I pushed myself to ask the question that clawed at my mind. "What more happened that night?" I asked, my eyes searching his for a truth he hadn't yet shared. "The breeding night. What else did you... what else happened that I demanded you erase my memory and never revive it even if I went on my knees to beg?"
He took a slow step forward, the movement is commanding and deliberate. He stopped just shy of touching distance, his shadow falling over me.
"I will reveal it to you," he stated, his voice becoming a promise and a threat ag the same time. "But at the right time. There are forces at play, Bambi, that you do not yet understand, forces that have been set in motion by this bond. Sharing the full truth now would only bring you distress and put both of us in danger."
He took the final step, and his large, calloused hand cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing over the fine scattering of freckles there. The gesture was surprisingly gentle, a completely, total opposite to the hard, unyielding authority in his eyes.
"I would never do anything to harm you," he murmured, his gaze intense. "My survival, my very sanity, is now bound to yours. I need you whole, and safe. More than that... I want you protected."
The raw possessiveness in his voice made my chest ache. It wasn't love, I knew, but something far more potent and dangerous—obsession.
I leaned into his palm for a fleeting moment, savoring and taking in the warmth, before pulling slightly back. My eyes, still swimming with unshed tears, looked up at him.
"Why?" I asked, the word loud with emotion. "Why didn't you expose me? For being an Omega and for disguising myself? I broke the fundamental rules of this pack. You could have exiled me, had me killed, or handed me over to Luna Odessa."
A slow, chilling smile touched the corners of his mouth, a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Because I wanted you," he simply stated. "From the moment I smelled your scent—that strange, confusing mix of Omega and raw, untapped power—I knew you were it. The one wolf who could anchor the darkness within me. You were my prize, Bambi, and I will not let anything, especially not an inconvenient rank, stand in the way of what is mine. Your secret was a key. It was my leverage, a way to ensure you remained pliable. And look," he paused, his thumb tilting my chin up slightly. "It worked."
I closed my eyes briefly, the truth stinging and aching but also oddly relieving in its brutal simplicity. He hadn't exposed me because I was a solution to his problem, a living cure for his curse.
I opened my eyes and nodded, the tears finally starting to fall, tracking warm paths down my cheeks. The power of the Alpha's obsession was terrifying, but I was still alive, still breathing, still chosen. The world was cold and selfish, and at least his selfishness benefited me for now.
"Okay," I repeated, a final word of acceptance.
I finally managed to pull away, my skin prickling from the prolonged intimacy. Alpha Dawn's cabin, his presence, was too overwhelming. I needed air, and more importantly, I needed to process this impossible reality alone. I made a mumbled excuse about needing a shower and left the cabin, the Pack guards parting silently before me.
The short walk back to the manor felt like crossing a desert. When I finally reached my room, I pushed the heavy door open, expecting the blessed solitude I craved.
Instead, I found Luna Odessa waiting.
She was sitting primly on the edge of my bed, dressed in a sweeping black silk robe that made her pale skin look almost translucent. Her hair was just like a coil of flames against the dark fabric, and her green eyes, usually sharp with malice, were surprisingly still and thoughtful.
I froze in the doorway. The scent of her expensive perfume clashed violently with the lingering scent of Alpha Dawn and the bond on my skin.
"Luna Odessa," I acknowledged, my voice flat. "I had a feeling I might run into you."
"Did you, little Omega?" she asked, her voice softer than usual, lacking its customary venom.
I shut the door and leaned my back against it, crossing my arms. "I have nothing to say to you," I stated, the exhaustion making me dangerously blunt.
She simply smiled, and it appeared as a thin, almost sad expression. "I am not here to ask you anything, Bambi, or to demand anything from you." She slid off the bed and walked slowly toward the window, her back to me. "I am here to tell you a truth."
She turned, and her eyes, for the first time, looked genuinely troubled.
"Did you ever wonder why I stopped bothering you?" she asked, her voice coming out as a surprisingly low murmur. "Why I suddenly dropped my campaign to expose you, to crush you, in exchange for not revealing your dirty little Omega secret?"
I shook my head slowly. "No. I assumed you were playing a longer game."
"I was," she admitted. "But I changed the parameters of the game. I stopped because I found out the Alpha knew."
The words hit me like a physical blow and like a brick, or the both, even though I had just confirmed it with Dawn. Hearing it from her, from his supposed mate, was different.
"He knew you were an Omega," she continued, her voice suddenly growing strained. "He knew, and yet, he still chose you. He still took you to his bed. He chose to look past everything I have worked for, everything I am, for a mere servant with freckles."
A single, ragged breath escaped her lips. She stepped closer, her eyes blazing with a mix of fury and desolation.
"As a matter of fact," she whispered, leaning in, "he knew about the plan I wanted to initiate you into, that plan I told you I wanted to use you for? It was the final test that would have revealed your rank and had you executed, and he threatened to kill me if I touched a strand of your hair."
Her voice finally broke. Tears, large and coming in quantities, began to fall, streaks of liquid sorrow down her flawless cheeks. She made no move to wipe them away.
"He hates me, Bambi," she choked out, her facade completely shattered. It broke me as well. "Alpha Dawn utterly despises me. I was his temporary convenience, his public shield, and now that you are here, I am nothing. Less than nothing. A humiliation."
She wiped her eyes roughly with the back of her hand, and the sadness hardened back into cold, calculating resolve. "And that," she finished, her voice dangerously steady, "is why I think it is a great opportunity to execute my Plan B."
I stared at her, my exhaustion momentarily forgotten, replaced by a charge of what looked like pure adrenaline.
"What is Plan B?" I asked, my own voice coming out hushed.
Luna Odessa gave a slow, terrifying smile, her eyes glittering with cold madness. She didn't bother to wipe the remaining tears.
"Stealing his power," she said, her voice a low, fierce whisper. "With your help."