Page 18 of Noah

Her cheeks were upturned, and he wanted to touch them. Grumbling, he flicked his tongue off the roof of his mouth. “Pretend mate. Baby. Threaten it. Let me out. Come back for Ren.”

Her eyes drew together, nose wrinkling as she tried to decipher his words. Rubbing her eyes, she sighed. “You want to pretend I’m pregnant, threaten the baby so they get you out then break free?” A lock of hair floated down, and she blew the soft strand away from her face.

Shaking his head at the urge to play with her hair.

Touching her stomach, he said, “Pretend baby.” When she failed to respond. She bit her lip, watching him closely. “Threatened baby.” She muttered a faint sound, but he didn’t understand it. Trying again, he said, “Free Noah. Come back for Ren.”

Her hand covered his on her stomach and she gripped it tightly. Her fear rose and filled the space. His beast growled at the wrongness. He wanted to scream and rage at whatever threatened her, grab her by the throat, pull her close, and keep her safe.

He almost missed her faint voice as she said, “You’ll leave me.”

His ears strained to hear her, and he scowled at her uncertainty. “No,” he said, pinching his eyes. He nuzzled into her neck, keeping his mouth close to her ears. It would be even better if they could see him performing these behaviours. “Noah come back for Ren.”

She flinched as he gritted his teeth at himself for his stilted speech. If he wanted to get out of there, he needed to overcome his speech barrier as quickly as possible.

She surprised him by gathering her courage and asking, “How will we tell them about a baby? It takes time for a baby to show up on a test,” she said.

He didn’t know how pregnancy worked for humans, but he did know what he could smell. Surrounded by female captors who didn’t know about their pregnancy, he was always aware of it.

He rubbed his nose in response. “Scent,” he replied.

“You can smell the conception?”

Confused, he repeated, “Smell baby.”

“Okay,” she replied, burying her cold nose in his chest. “You’ll pretend to smell a baby on me. Then, threaten me and get free.” She took a deep breath and asked shakily, “You’ll come back for me?”

Suddenly, she sounded less certain, so he grabbed her hand firmly. “Yes.”

“They won’t let you go. They’ll probably kill me first, then throw another female in, hoping you’ll breed her and take her away before you can threaten her.”

He let out a growl. He should have thought of that. Desperation building, he wondered what he would risk for his freedom.

Would he eventually become a monster, like the people holding him there?

He would be a monster if he used her and placed her at risk.

As he contemplated doing unconscionable acts that would place him in the same category as his captors—monsters—his stomach turned. No.

He would never cross that line, no matter what happened. His sense of morality was not only shaped by the predator inside his skin but also by those around him. His captors were a lesson in what not to be. He could never be like them.

Suddenly fearing for her, he gritted his teeth and tightened his grip. He knew she would die if he did nothing.

His offspring could not be left in this hostile environment if he force-mated her, but what could he do?

Frustrated, he let her go. He needed to vent his frustration, and he didn’t want her to be in his hands when he let it out.

He stood up and stepped away from the bed because he was afraid of accidentally hurting her. In front of her watchful gaze, he began push-ups.

She watched him closely as he exhausted himself working out.

When the food arrived, he barely glanced at it. When she offered it to him, he shook his head aggressively. Her body shrank back onto the bed.

Her fear and despair were heavy, dark, and pungent, filling the air like smoke.

Noah couldn’t comfort her because his hands were made to shatter the world.

He had an endless supply of anger to work through. The longer he stayed, the more fury twisted him up. When he got out, he would not waste time annihilating humans. Instead, he would head somewhere green or open with space for miles.

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