Chapter 81: A shroud of Secrets
Kayden
"The contraceptives," I began, staring at the sky and avoiding Rhys’s gaze on me. "They were the reason for the stomach bug and the fall on the ice," I admitted, letting out a sigh of relief knowing that I had finally told Rhys the real truth about what happened to me.
Then I looked at him, trying to find a shred of the man who said he wanted to make everything better.
Why did he have to make everything a game? We could have been inside, sitting on the sofa with Starlight and having a conversation like two normal people. Instead, I was pinned against the edge of the pool, naked and shivering—not from the cold, but from the way my body was responding to his proximity.
I was already turned on by the sight of him and, goodness, his pine scent was everywhere, making it impossible to think clearly. It felt like I was on the path of a humiliation ritual. He had spent days tearing me down with his words, calling me a liar, and yet here I was wanting him again simply because we were both naked.
When I trailed off and Rhys noticed, his grip on the lock of my hair tightened. Slowly, he trailed his hand down to my face, raising it to meet his eyes. "Is that all, Kayden? You’re hesitating..." he murmured and scoffed. "You know the rules. If you’re going to avoid the rest, bring your hand down. Start touching yourself for me. Let’s see how much you want to hide the truth versus how much you want to please me."
That sounded tempting. I really did want to touch myself in front of Rhys. I wanted to be vulnerable in front of him, and the thought of it was making my heart race fast in my chest. Part of me was tired; part of me wanted to grab my hard cock. It would be so easy to just give in to the command, to let him watch me and end the mental interrogation, but I forced my voice to work. I was not going to surrender to his commands just yet.
"I didn’t have a choice, Rhys," I added, my voice gaining a flicker of defiance. "Leo... he ran tests and told me the reason why the reaction was so bad was because we were, uhm..." I smacked my lips together, pausing for a moment.
"Uhm, what?" he demanded. "We were what?"
"Compatible," I answered, smacking my lips again.
Rhys’s brows knit together, his thumb tracing my lower lip. "Compatible? What the hell does that mean?"
"I am an Omega Primus," I whispered. "And you being a True Alpha makes us compatible... it’s like a lock and a key."
Rhys paused and shifted beside me. He raised his hands and then dropped them in the water. "Omega Primus? Pardon me, but I don’t know much about Omegas. What does that even mean?"
I picked up my glass and drank from it before speaking up. "In the hierarchy, an Omega Primus is a rare, high-tier evolution of the Omega dynamic. While a standard Omega is also built for compatibility, a Primus is specifically coded to match the intensity of a True Alpha. Our bodies are designed to withstand and balance the overwhelming power and aggression of a True Alpha’s knot and pheromones. And also..." I trailed off, rubbing my brows. "Omega Primuses are high attractors to True Alphas."
The look of confusion on Rhys’s face deepened as he stared at me, trying to make sense of what I was saying. Even I didn’t understand it at first when Leo explained it to me.
"In simple terms, Omega Primuses are the locks to a True Alpha’s key. On rare occasions, they could be a True Alpha’s fated soulmate."
Rhys let out a laugh and shook his head. "That’s a lie, because soulmates don’t exist. They never did. It’s just a made-up fiction by people who want a happy ending and..." He stopped when he saw me frowning. "Alright, whatever you say, but I am still not buying it," he told me. Then he leaned in again until our foreheads touched, and I could feel the heat of his body against mine.
Why the hell was he so close again? I thought. Can’t he speak without this proximity?
"An Omega Primus," Rhys mused, the words vibrating against my skin. He was too close—so close that I could feel his cock rubbing against my stomach. "Built for a True Alpha. And yet, you have been spending every day trying to kill that part of yourself with these pills." He shifted again, his hand moving to cup the back of my neck.
"Why, Kayden? Why go through all of this? The pain, the lies, the risk of your secret getting out and ruining your life... why do you want to be a hockey player so badly that you suffer through all of this trouble?"
I blinked, not expecting him to ask such questions. There was no malice or contempt behind it this time; it was just out of genuine curiosity.
"The ice is the only place where I can breathe, where it doesn’t matter what I was born as," I said, my voice cracking slightly. I was opening up to him, letting him know more about me because, behind his cold mask, Rhys did care.
"In the real world," I continued, swirling the glass in my hand, "an Omega—especially a Primus—people look at me and see a prize. They see something to be protected, or owned, or bred. They don’t see me."
I felt a tear prick my eyes, but I refused to let it fall, refusing to let Rhys see me at my weakest. "I started practicing to escape my father," I muttered, looking away from him.
"He made living unbearable for me, and the ice is where I could finally be myself. It’s the only time I feel powerful, where I am truly free, Rhys. If I have to poison myself to keep that freedom, I’ll do it a thousand times over."
Rhys went silent as his thumb traced the line of my jaw. He stared at me for a moment before whispering, "You are a maniac." There was no disrespect in his tone like I expected. "I have never met anyone as crazy as you are, to risk your health for a game." He paused, rubbing my lips again. "You really are built like an Alpha, even if your biology says otherwise," he told me, then pulled away to grab his drink.
He took a sip and turned to face me. "What about your father? Where is he now?"
"Long gone," I replied shortly, closing my eyes for a beat.
"Where, Kayden?" Rhys pressed, his voice dropping into that low, investigative tone. "Is he dead? Locked up, or what?"
I shook my head, the wet strands of hair flicking droplets against my face. "My father is not someone I want to talk about."
"You are deflecting," he pointed out.
My heart started racing fast as I braced myself, expecting him to point toward my cock, but instead, Rhys let out a sharp breath and moved closer to me again. He wrapped his hand around me and smiled. "Don’t worry. I don’t force anyone to say what they are not comfortable with, and I won’t make you touch yourself for that one."
I let out a sigh of relief, thinking it was over, until he spoke up again.
"What about your mother? Did you ever even know her?"