"I am… so sorry." Hunter said falling on his hand and knees in front of the Omegas.
Amity stared at the Alpha, not knowing how to respond. Largely because she found that her body was already reacting to his presence. She wanted to move over to him and comfort him in his distress. But she couldn't tell where her own desires ended and where her instincts began.
She looked at Luz, expecting an answer. She was a lot better at emotional stuff. However, Luz wasn't going to give her the answer. She was sweating and had scooted away from Hunter as he'd approached the couch.
She's scared of him, Amity realized. That makes sense.
Amity remembered how it felt, the utter helplessness and submission. But more than that, she remembered the feeling. It felt right, in a way that she didn't like. Not so much that it was where she wanted to be, but where she belonged, regardless of her desires. An uncomfortable comfort. And afterwards, even as their minds realized it was wrong, it still didn't feel as wrong as it should have.
She looked at Hunter, his eyes glued to the ground. Amity felt, drawn to him. An unconscious pull to his presence that she hated. It was the false attraction, born not out of her experiences, but her instincts. It was confusing.
However, someone needed to do something, and Luz wasn't in the right headspace to act.
Amity stood up and walked closer to Hunter, looking down at him.
Hunter clamped down on his instincts, even as they protested an Omega, his Omega, standing above him.
"Hunter." Amity said. "I'm not sure what to do with you. I'm questioning every nice thing I want to do because I can't tell if its genuine."
Hunter flinched.
"However," Amity continued. "Luz and I have come to an agreement." Amity glanced back at her girlfriend. "What happened wasn't your fault."
Hunter's head snapped up. "What?" He asked. "Of course it was my fault. I let myself indulge in my instincts."
"You didn't indulge in them." Amity said. "You resisted as best as you could."
"Yeah, until I didn't."
Amity got one knee, questioning every decision she was making as she did, before hugging him.
Hunter froze, shocked at the contact. And then he found himself sinking into her arms. He breathed in her scent. It felt so… comforting. And then the Alpha wretched himself back out of her arms. "Wait," he said. "This feels wrong. I mean, it doesn't feel wrong, but it feels wrong."
Amity sighed in annoyance. "Well," she said, "being nice isn't working." She stood up. "Get up."
Hunter did as he was told.
Amity blinked as she remembered that he was half a foot taller than her but shook her head. "Stick your hand forward, palm up."
Hunter blinked but did as she instructed. It was only then he realized that he wasn't wearing any gloves.
"Now." Amity said. "We're going to see how good you are at resisting your instincts." She drew a spell circle, conjuring a purple flame.
"Wait…" Luz said. "Amity, what are you…?"
Amity mover the flame under Hunter's hand, the tips of the flame touching his skin.
Hunter flinched and removed his hand. "What are you doing?"
"Put your hand back." Amity said.
Hunter stared at the Blight.
"What?" She asked. "Ignore your instincts to avoid the fire and let me set you on fire."
Hunter continued to stare.
"Okay." Eda said. "I think we should end the conversation while minor burns are the only injuries of note."
Everyone looked at the Owl Lady. "Fact of the matter is that something horrible happened to all three of you, but because it involves losing control, I've seen two out of three of you blame yourselves in the last 10 minutes. But it's about as logical as thinking something that happened because you were drugged is your fault and not the person who drugged you." She looked at Hunter who looked away. "Fact of the matter is, none of you are at fault for what happened. And now you have to deal with the consequences."
The teens didn't say anything.
"Now," Eda said. "We have a lot of things to consider. For instance," she looked at Hunter. "Does the Emperor know where you are?"
Hunter's blood ran cold when he thought of his Uncle. "I don't know," he said. "I left as soon as I woke up."
"He knows we mated." Luz said. "I saw him. He was looking at us as we escaped, but he didn't try to stop us." She paused. "We were carrying Hunter from the destruction. He must have thought that meant something."
"Well we don't know how long that will last." Eda said. "And we all know how he'd try to get you back."
Everyone looked at Hunter.
"No…" he said. "I won't. I won't let him." He knew one thing was a fact. Belos was a danger to Amity and Luz, and he wouldn't let him get them be hurt again. They were his.
He flinched at his own thoughts. They weren't his. But still… they were bonded, and his instincts as an Alpha was to protect them. If that was the case, he'd happily give into those instincts.
"There's also the matter of Hexside." Emira said drawing everyone's attention to them.
"I think we can take a sick day." Amity said.
"You can't." Edric said. "Not if you don't want Mom and Dad to ask why."
Amity ground her teeth. "Dammit."
Luz got up and put her hand in her girlfriend's. "I'll go with you."
"Luz…" Amity began.
"No arguing." The human said wagging her finger. "We can handle going to school."
"Okay." King said. "What do we do with golden boy?"
Everyone looked at Hunter.
"I guess he can stay here." Eda said. "I wanted to talk to him anyway."
Hunter sweat dropped. He gave the Omegas a glance.
Luz didn't meet his eye and Amity shrugged.
He looked at the other Blights. Edric shrugged and Emira gave him two thumbs up.
He looked at the rat, dog, demon thing.
It made an adorable throat cutting gesture.
He wasn't quite sure which reaction filled him with the least confidence.
/
Next chapter, Lilith gets involved and Belos makes his move.
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