Page 4 of Possessive Alpha

One word and it arrows right through me, making me weak and desperate and hungry all at once. More dangerously, it makes me want to drag Ty close and never let him go.

Ty is an alpha who has found a thing he wanted. That thing is me, his mate, and no alpha would ever let the other half of his soul go.

I probe the forest for signs of Clara, relieved she’s not around to hear the dangerous word that would bind me to Dawley, and to Ty, forever. Even if I wanted to leave. I rarely keep secrets from Clara, but this is something I’m not ready for her to know.

I can’t have a mate.

All I need and want is to look after my little sister, who isn’t happy in Dawley, and who is itching to leave. The last thing I intend to do is tie myself to an alpha. Especially one who has spent the last two weeks fine-tuning a compass that always points to me.

If I have a reason to talk to a guy, Ty just… appears. The guy I was talking to takes one look at Ty and suddenly remembers there’s somewhere else he needs to be.

If I’m outside, chatting with Clara or one of the other women, and he’s inside talking with Jackson or someone else, his eyes lift as I pass a window, like he knows exactly where I am.

He doesn’t need to use his nose or his ears.

He just always knows.

Shaking my head, I nudge his heavy bulk aside so I can slip free. It’s the equivalent of attempting to roll aside Mount Rushmore. A waste of time and effort. Ty goes nowhere. He barely even registers I’m nudging. “I don’t know what you mean.”

One of those large, tanned hands I sometimes catch myself studying cups my right hip, and he hauls me so close, so we’re flush together.

It isn’t his hand or even his body that makes it impossible to want to move.

It’s his scent.

And it’s the bone-deep, soul certainty that he’s mine, as I’m his.

“Cinnamon, toffee apple, and warm silken sheets.” His husky words lift the hair from the side of my throat as he leans in close to murmur them right into my ear.

They make me shiver.

“That’s your scent, and it’s the most fucking addictive thing I’ve smelled in my life. How do I smell to you?” His voice is slightly raspy and deep, but all sexy.

Sandalwood, crisp mountain air, and some unidentifiable thing I need.

I flatten my palms on his granite-hard chest and increase my pressure to open up some space between us. Enough that I can breathe. Enough that I won’t want to drag him closer instead of shove him away. “Like a pushy alpha who doesn’t know how to respect personal space. Back up.”

One corner of his kissable lips kicks up in a heart-stopping grin. “Liar.”

“I’m not lying.”

“I showed you mine. Time to show me yours, sweetheart.”

“You didn’t show me anything, and I have nothing I want to show you.” I pretend I didn’t hear his endearment, didn’t like it, and that my wolf isn’t rolling over with the need to hear him say it again.

I have never in my life told so many lies in such a short amount of time.

Every time I open my mouth around this guy… lie.

Lie.

Lie.

From his boyish grin, he knows it.

“I have to go.” Somehow, I slip around him, though I’m sure it’s less about me using pressure and more about him letting me go. For now.

I’m walking away when he grips my wrist, halting me.

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