Page 62 of Resisted

“Maybe that’s the point, Vincent. You’re like a boring old man. I’m so damn bored, and you’re not even trying to entertain me.” She stuck out her lip and pouted. Even I could admit it was the cutest damn thing.

Cute, but not effective. “I wasn’t put on this damn earth for your entertainment, Bella.”

She took the few steps to the closest chair and threw her body into it. “But I always thought you were the cool one.”

Thought? No, ma’am. “I am the cool one.”

She gave me a look laced with skepticism. “Okay, Vincent.” She rolled her eyes. “Careful with those reading glasses. I would hate for you to strain a muscle pushing them up your nose.”

“It would take a lot more than some finger movement to strain these muscles, baby.” I flexed my arm, and she just rolled her head to the side.

“Please,” she said with a sigh. “Those puny things?”

“Bella, I’m warning you,” I rumbled, and her posture straightened just a tad.

“Warning me of what?”

Of what? She had to know what poking at a man’s ego would do. There was no way she’d spent her life in a pack of alpha males roaming the streets and not realized that even a smidge of questioning would result in a challenge for dominance. She wanted entertainment? I guessed I could entertain her.

I stood, stalking slowly toward her. “Run.”

My words were a whisper, and she didn’t hear me at first. “What?”

“You wanted entertainment, a game, to challenge me with your insults? Run.”

She shook her head. “No.”

I smirked, my steps not faltering. It had been a long time since I’d played this game, probably since I was a tiny pup chasing after a girl on the playground, but my mind was already satisfied with the thought of chasing her. Capturing her. Pinning her down.

As I approached, she held her hand up. “Vincent, come on, stop. We aren’t kids.”

“No?” I had to fight my wolf for a moment, fight against the desire to shift before I was fully ready. “Not the entertainment you were hoping for?”

“I…” She looked both ways, searching for an easy out, only there wouldn’t be an easy out. She had two directions she could go from there, and whichever she picked didn’t matter to me. I’d catch her. “I don’t know what entertainment I was hoping for.”

“Did you play stalk the prey in school, baby?” I knew she had. Every wolf out there had. It was instinctive, a game of predators.

“Yes, but—”

I inhaled a deep breath, her scent filling my lungs, entering my body, and heading straight for my soul. “Then you know that the instinct to chase and hunt is undeniably there. I won’t stop until I get you, baby.” I took in air, trying not to shake as I controlled myself. “Ground rules, baby. You can’t leave this property.”

“I just wanted to play video games or something.”

“I’m not Boyce,” I said on a growl. “You insulted my vitality. My wolf begs to prove differently.”

The violet eyes rolled again, and my body shivered with barely controlled urge to pounce. “The wolf is always so in control of the man.”

“We are animals,” I clarified, though I knew she didn’t need it. “Do not leave the property. Do not enter Silas or Boyce’s spaces.” For no particular reason, other than my wolf did not want their scents around her. “Remember that my wolf will not give up until a neck is offered.”

She tilted her head. “He wants me to submit?”

“He’s begging for it.”

“That’s a lot of demand for a wolf who isn’t even the alpha of our subpack.” A single brow rose in challenge, and inside, my beast pushed and roared, begging to be let free so he could show her just how wrong she was about her assumption. He was an alpha when he wanted to be. He could show her just how alpha he was when it came to her.

“Run.” The word that fell from my mouth was more animal than human, and she knew with absolute certainty that she had no choice. My wolf would get her, and when he did… Well, I couldn’t think that far ahead.

She bolted, throwing open the front door and nearly skating on the tile in her attempt to exit the house. I let her go, let her run as fast as she could to find a spot where she thought she could hide from me. She couldn’t, of course, not with my senses. Not when her very essence was part of my wolf and me. I would let her believe she’d escaped for a while, let her believe she had the upper hand.

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