Page 154 of Ruled By The Alpha

Not for the first time, Rosemary questioned her decision to bring him into her home. What would happen when he was well? How would she set him free, but also ensure he wouldn’t harm her once she did? She had no idea.

The man voiced a low, plaintive moan, followed by a whisperedfuck.

“Are you hurting?” she asked, pushing up to her elbow, reaching for his name and realizing she’d forgotten to ask it during their limited interaction. He’d been sullen after the brief exchange, distress written in every line of his powerful body like an indictment of her. She’d fed him in silent, shameful acknowledgement of her actions, and afterwards, he’d turned his head away and promptly fallen back asleep.

“No.” Ceasing his wiggling with a beleaguered sigh, he stared up at the ceiling, leaving her free to admire his profile in the awkward silence. After three days, she could admit he had a handsome face. Not that she had a wealth of others to compare him to—only some of the young men in the tribe, although Papa cautioned her to keep interactions with them brief, but respectful, disallowing any kind of over-familiarity. But confronted with this stranger’s impossible green-brown eyes, surrounded by dark, thick lashes so long they dusted the tops of his high cheekbones, she found she failed to breathe if she stared too long.

Problem was when he awoke, there weren’t many other places she could look without finding herself similarly distracted and discomfited. Spoon-feeding him forced her to attend to his mouth, with its sensuous contour and plump lower lip that conjured up strange thoughts, like how that lip would feel against her own, and how his breath might taste as it puffed softly against her face.

“Is…” She swallowed, pushing down the strange thrill that asserted itself whenever her renegade thoughts meandered along those lines. “Is something else the matter?”

He squeezed his eyes shut and gritted out, “I need to piss.”

“Oh!” Rosemary threw back her covers. Anticipating this moment, she’d already retrieved the cylindrical vessel she’d used for that purpose with Papa from the back of the cabinet.Approaching the man, she dropped to her knees and began fishing for the edges of his blankets. “That’s no problem.”

“Wait, what are you doing?” The man jerked under her touch, recoiling his pelvis as much as he could as she uncovered his lower body. His voice rose in an agitated clip. “Holy shit! Am I naked? Wait, just wait!”

Sitting back on her heels, Rosemary did as he bid, not entirely sure what his hesitancy was. She was trying to help, not ogle the male member lying peacefully against his leg. Again, not the first one she’d ever seen, and yet she found this one to be oddly…compelling.“I thought you had to…” She hefted the container and gestured at his crotch.

“Ido,but…” He rolled his eyes toward his hairline. “…I don’t need a deranged Omega handling my cock to get the job done.”

Rosemary frowned. “First off, it’s not as if I haven’t already seen it, and I’d rather not wash any more bedclothes if it’s all the same to you.” She pursed her lips. “Second, what’s this ‘omega’ word? You keep muttering it in your sleep.”

His head popped up, those mesmerizing eyes taking hold of her as surely as if he’d wrapped his hands around her shoulders. “I’m talking aboutyou, woman,” he growled. “You’reOmega.I’mAlpha. We…” Another dramatic eye roll. “…go together, like mated pairs—”

“You and I?” That thrilling sensation she’d ignored earlier erupted from her belly, shooting warmth all the way into her reddening cheeks. “That’s preposterous. I’m ahuman woman. You’re ahuman man. There are no subspecies ofhomo sapiens.”

“Believe whatever you want.” His head flopped back on the pillow, yet conviction bolstered his words. “You’rea fuckingOmega.”

She knew enough about animals to understand mated pairs, although shealsoknew humans were not like barn owls or beavers in this regard. If the infuriating man would bother toexplainrather than throw out meaningless terms, maybe she’d have more patience for the subject. As it was, she was cold and tired, and he was ridiculous.

“You’re not making any sense.” Rosemary stood, planting a fist on her hip and staring down at him, “Do you need to piss or not? Because I’m exhausted, and I want to go back to sleep.”

Angry tendons strained in his neck. “If it’s such a goddamn burden,” he roared, “why don’t you let me go, you insanehuman woman?” He began twisting and wrenching again, grunting with pain or effort or aggravation. The leather squeaked and strained, and her bed rattled.

Heart kicking in her chest, Rosemary backed away, anxiety quaking through her as his growing strength challenged the restraints. Her eyes skipped to the two exits in the room. If he got loose, she’d have to make a run for it. Toby came to her side, sniffing her fingertips and whining softly.

She needed to stop this. All he needed to do was relieve himself and go back to sleep. Things had gotten out of hand, and in all fairness, he had some legitimate complaints. Naturally she couldn’t expect any kind of gratitude or equanimity from an obviously strong and virile young man, under the circumstances.

Rosemary raised her voice, “Because I can’t.”

“Why not?” he demanded, his shoulders lifting three inches off the bed and then slamming down, making the frame shudder.

“Look at you!” She hurled a hand at him. “You’re incredibly agitated. If I let you go, you’ll hurt me.”

He stilled, his gaze capturing hers. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “And how do I know that? I don’t know anything about you, other than you were half-dead when I found you, and now you’re spouting nonsense about alphas and omegas like some kind of Greek scholar.Papa…” She broke the sentence off, not wanting to give more away than necessary. This man didn’t deserve to knowanythingabout her Papa.

“Where is your papa? Is he here?” The man craned his neck in every direction, as if it had only just occurred to him she might not be alone.

Rosemary waited, staring out the window into the pitch-black night, weighed down by the knowledge that she was, in fact, quite alone. A deep and profound longing for her father brought stinging tears to the backs of her eyes. Even toward the end, when Papa grew confused and sometimes violent and she’d used those same ties to keep him in the bed, he would eventually come back to the present and tell her how beautiful she was, how special, and how much he loved her. It had been so long ago, it felt like something she’d read in a book, not something that had once been her reality.

A few tears spilled over her cheeks. Had she thought this stranger would ease her solitude and give her a taste of those old feelings? Had she hoped he would talk to her and ask her questions and listen to her thoughts as if she mattered beyond the confines of her own mind? If she had, those were stupid, silly wishes, because here he was, trying to break her bed and spouting nonsense as ifshewere the one who didn’t understand the way things worked. Alpha, Omega—whatthe hellwas he talking about? Papa was right: men were better left alone.

“Rosemary,” the man said, his tone quiet and conciliatory. She ignored him, bracing herself and keeping her focus out the window as the weight of her mistakes bore down on her.

“Rosemary.” He said her name again, only this time he added a gentle rumbling that resonated deep within her own chest. Rosemary gasped. The sound echoed as if coming from within her rather than without, even though she knew that was impossible. Passing a palm over the thin skin of her sternum, shestroked the vibration dancing a continuous harmony over her fingertips.

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