Page 43 of Sold to the Alphas

Her touch grounded me, and I continued with a strength I had never felt when recounting the story.

“My family loved each other. The simple life was nice, but staying isolated put us at a disadvantage. When a rival pack wanted to take our omegas and our pack alpha refused, they attacked. We won, technically, but they killed our alpha and most of the leaders. No one made it out alive without the scars to show for it.”

I knew what would happen. She would take in my scars and I would see nothing but pity. I wanted to crack a joke, tease her, or sneer, but when I opened my mouth, I was stopped by the resolute expression in her eyes.

She wasn’t scanning my face and body and she wasn’t looking down at me.

“You had to step in as the new alpha,” she said, her voice still wet from her own emotions.

“Yes,” I answered, nothing left to do but give her the ugly truth. I wasn’t the alpha because I was the best leader or I fought for it. I was the alpha because there had been no other choice. “I didn’t want it. I just… did what I had to. I’m not exactly the strong alpha you were hoping for.”

I tried to sound like I was joking, tried to lighten the mood with the offhand comment, but Elisabed didn’t let me get away with it. She stared at me, unwavering and squeezed my hand once.

“The most powerful leaders are the ones who didn’t want the power in the first place. Trust me, I’ve seen enough weak alphas to know you aren’t one of them.”

To see her, so obviously distraught, eyes red-rimmed and filled with unshed tears, stand up to me and face my insecurities head-on, it made me crazy. Her mix of sincerity and sharp wisdom, it was maddening. I couldn’t deflect or argue. I couldn’t push her away.

Without thinking, I scooped her into my arms, feeling the weight of her body against mine, and I carried her toward my room.

When we entered, I set her down gently on the bed. My hands moved instinctively, starting to draw a warm bath for her. Something about my story had calmed her, but she still had a slight tremble to her body. She needed to relax, to calm down, and the water would help. I even added bath salts—I wasn’t sure why; I just knew it would help. I did everything I could to make it right, even when everything about me—about us—was so wrong.

When the bath was ready, I gently helped her out of her clothes like I had all the time in the world.

“I’ll wait outside,” I muttered, turning my back to give her some privacy.

She just chuckled, the sound surprising me, full of a teasing lilt. “Did you add bath salts?”

I turned back to her, raising an eyebrow in worry. “Was that wrong?”

Her eyes danced with something that caught me off guard. “No,” she said. “Thank you.”

I didn’t answer; I just smirked and left the room.

The sound of the water splashing echoed through the room as I stood there, my heart thumping erratically. The way she’d looked at me as I’d helped her out of her clothes—those soft, trusting eyes, the curve of her body just under the surface of the water—had driven me to distraction.

The room was quiet when the door creaked open. My muscles tightened instinctively, and my wolf was immediately alert. But I wasn’t prepared for the vision of her standing in the doorway, wrapped in nothing but a little towel.

She looked like she was crafted by the gods, her wet skin glistening under the dim light and her hair still damp, hanging down her back in soft waves. The small towel clung to her, outlining the curves of her body in all the right ways—the swell of her breasts, the curve of her waist, the delicate line of her legs that I could barely keep my hands from reaching for.

For a moment, neither of us moved. She stood there, looking at me with those big, knowing eyes, and I couldn’t think straight. Every muscle in my body was on fire, the need for her slamming into me with a force that felt like it could swallow me whole.

“Finn,” she said, her voice low and teasing. “You didn’t leave me any clothes.”

The way she said it, with that playful smirk and the sadness gone from her eyes, hit me like a punch to the gut. It was both an invitation and a challenge—a subtle dare that made my wolf growl in the back of my mind. My breath caught in my throat as I stared at her, stuck between desire and control.

“Did I not?” I managed to rasp out, my voice rough, not trusting myself to speak more clearly. “Guess I didn’t think you'd need them.”

Her eyes sparkled, and she let the towel fall slowly and deliberately, the fabric slipping from her shoulders and pooling at her feet. The sight of her naked before me sent a surge of heat through my body, and I took a step forward without thinking.

She stood there, completely exposed, the cool air of the room kissing her skin, but it only made her seem even more enticing. Her body, flawless and tempting, was mine for the taking. She was waiting for me to move, to do something. But even as my instincts screamed at me to claim her, to take her the way I’d been wanting to since I first saw her, something in me held back.

Her eyes never left mine, and there was something in the way she stood—confident, bold, knowing exactly the effect she had on me—that made the wolf inside me snap.

I couldn’t wait anymore.

In one smooth motion, I was in front of her. The towel was long forgotten, lying on the floor. My hands moved to her waist, pulling her closer, and without hesitation, my lips crashed down on hers. She gasped against me, but I didn’t give her the chance to pull away. My mouth claimed hers, and she kissed me back just as greedily.

She was mine—every inch of her.

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