I froze.
His voice still mostly sounded the same. But it was deeper now, more roughened around the edges, polished with authority and coldness that sliced into the thin air. He looked different too, older and harsher, like he'd spent the last three years fighting monsters.
"Do I have to repeat myself," he asked, stepping forward. His boots were silent against the carpeted floor. Everything was so silent that I was sure he could hear my heart thudding in my chest.
His eyes were glowing now, the faint green glow that he acquired after he left. It used to be brown when he used to gaze at me lovingly. Now everything about him felt hard and soulless.
I still didn't move. I knew I had to but couldn't bring myself to do it. All these years, and this was the first thing he had to say to me? Not one word of recognition, not one word of an apology. Nothing.
He let out a slow, impatient sigh.
"You're an omega now. I don't know how you've lived your life up till now but if disobeying orders is what you have been used to in the filth you've crawled out of, then there'll be no place for you here."
I flinched.
No. I couldn't let that happen. I'd only got here.
"I…." My voice cracked. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to try again. "Do you…not remember me?"
It wasn't something I was planning to ask him when I saw that nameplate outside his door, but now it came tumbling out of my lips like it was waiting all this time.
His eyebrows pulled together for an instant, like he was confused, like it was the last thing he expected me to say.
That made me stop.
Did he really not remember me?
He took another step closer to me, and my feet instinctively pulled back. He was too close now, close enough that I could feel the warmth radiating off his skin, the scent of his wolf permeating the air, waiting. The hard ridges of his chiselled jaw caught the lights and it glowed too. I could suddenly feel my knees shake.
"I remember every omega I've fucked or ruined," he said coldly. "And you're neither. Not yet anyway."
The words were like a slap to the face. It sank like teeth into my bones and I resisted the urge to cry. This was worse.
For three years I'd waited in hopes of seeing him again. Right from when he'd promised to come back to me when the guards dragged him off to be an omega. The mist had damaged him more than we had thought. His wolf had been more powerful than the rankless.
The only thing that I hadn't taken into account was that he would have finally entered the rank of a beta and never looked back. That he would forget each and every figment of the memories that we had made right from before the mist hit us.
I opened my mouth again, maybe to ask him again, or fight, or argue, or plead. But I didn't know what.
What could I possibly say to someone who had no recollection of me?
His hand shot out and I braced for impact, just like I'd always done while living in the periphery, but this time it hadn't been to strike. He tilted my chin with two fingers firmly, both of them warm against my cold skin.
He studied me. Not like he was trying to remember but more like a buyer inspecting his merchandise.
"What's your name, omega?"
"Maeve Lester, sir," I said softly, clutching the tiny green pendant dangling from my neck.
There was the briefest pause and his eyes flickered for a quiet moment. It was so brief but I noticed. And hoped.
"Maeve Lester," he repeated, drawing out my name like he was tasting each word. He moved his fingers through his thick dark hair, letting it fall over his forehead. Looked at me like he was trying to figure me out.
Except he used to have me all figured out at one point.
"Turn around," he said quietly and with finality. "And strip."
This time I clenched my teeth and obeyed.
I hated myself for the lack of power but I did it.
Whatever Captain Malawitt required of me.
I turned, the silence in the room growing even louder, and fingers trembling as I slowly unbuttoned my grey shirt, letting it drop. The fabric slipped down my shoulders, pooling at my waist and leaving my back and all the pale ugly scars that came with it, exposed.
I heard his breath catch.
"So this is what three years in that rathole does to you," he exhaled. "Of course, what else did I expect?"
Then I felt it.
A lone finger traced the edges of my scars along my spine and I squeezed my eyes. It was so gentle and soft, so light that it felt cruel. I could feel the heat of his gaze against my skin and even though I burned with shame, a traitorous part of me, the wolf inside of me, shivered. I gasped as the slow awareness eroded my senses. Awareness that this man could completely ruin me with a single touch.
"It's still healing. I see they've been rough with you," he said quietly.
Valden paused and let his hand drop. The absence of his touch sent a moment of ache through my body but I recovered at once. And when he spoke next, his voice had turned sharp again.
"There's not much use for you with that body of yours. You're damaged beyond reasoning," he said coldly. "For now, you'll be housed at the Omega quarters in the north tower. You are to serve the Parthenn elite from tomorrow, no excuses, no tardiness."
I turned back around, pulling my uniform up slowly and locking eyes with him again. His authoritative stance was back, like he'd just flipped a switch, and I nodded quietly. I wasn't stupid enough to think that what I had now wasn't a privilege barely anyone from the periphery ever got, and I was going to make sure to keep that privilege.
Valden moved closer again, his steps more predatory and dangerous now. His face darkened as he towered over me. "Oh, and one more thing, rat. Next time I ask you to do something, there will be no hesitation. You do know the punishment for disobeying orders, don't you?"
His eyes dropped to my mouth.
I gulped and nodded again. "Yes, I do, Captain," I whispered.
"Good girl."
The words scraped over me like lightning, electric and cruel. It was meant to be a threat, dark and foreboding.
And I wasn't underestimating anything.
Because I knew.
Even though life at the Parthenn dome was a far luxury from anywhere else, the punishments were just as brutal and ruthless. Especially for women. And I was going to stay as far away from them as possible.
"You may go now."
I stepped out of the suffocating room finally, with my heart pounding and shame clinging to my clothes. Just before the door shut behind me, I took another glance at him.
But Valden Malawitt had already turned his back on me.