Page 58 of Reckless: Collision

“Is that an order, Alpha?”

The challenge in her voice makes my cock throb. “It’s a suggestion. One you’ll follow if you want to learn how to fight instead of run.”

She rises with that liquid grace that first caught my attention, adjusting her sports bra in a way that has to be deliberate. “Maybe I like running. Especially when it means someone like you might chase me.”

Christ.

“Out.” I manage to grind out. “Both of you.”

Jinx’s laughter follows them as they leave, but just before the door closes, I catch her words:

“So, Havoc, want to show me that parkour course?”

Fuck.

I slam my fist into the nearest wall, relishing the bite of pain. Better than focusing on how perfectly she fit under me. How right she felt in my space. How much I want to...

“Problems?”Theo’s voice drifts through our pack bond, thick with amusement.

I slam my shields up, blocking them all out. But not before I catch the echo of their laughter, their knowing.

I need a cold shower. And maybe to rethink every life choice that led me to this moment—pining for a beta who sets fire to every careful boundary I’ve built.

Tomorrow I’ll do better. Tomorrow I’ll maintain control.

But even as I think it, I know it’s a lie. Because Cayenne Sterling isn’t just trouble.

She’s exactly the kind of chaos I’ve spent my life trying to contain.

And god help me, I want to let her burn it all down.

Chapter 13

Cayenne

“Alright psycho.”I clap my hands together as Jinx leads me through yet another ridiculously ornate hallway in this mansion masquerading as a house. The air here carries that cherry tobacco scent that makes my mouth water, mixed with something darker that speaks to his feral nature. Even with my limited beta senses, his alpha pheromones hit like a drug.

Not that I’d ever tell him that.

“Tell me all about whatever this is.” My fingers trace the wallpaper, mapping the space like I would a new system. Old house bones beneath modern security—the kind of layered protection that begs to be breached. “I’m betting there are secret tunnels behind these walls.”

“Already looking for escape routes?” Jinx unlocks a door that probably costs more than my old apartment’s rent, his movements carrying that predatory grace that makes my body remember exactly how he used those hands in that bathroom. “Ladies first.”

I snort because we both know I’m no lady. “Bold of you to assume I’d tell you my escape plans.”

The staircase ahead looks almost out of place—bare wood worn smooth by years of use, leading up into shadow. Eachstep creaks under my feet, a symphony of potential tactical disadvantages that my twenty-four hours with Pack Locke has taught me to catalog.

Halfway up, I turn to find Jinx’s eyes fixed on my ass. Fair enough—these leggings are basically tactical gear for my assets. “You’re not planning to murder me, are you?”

His gaze drags up my body with deliberate heat, that devil’s smirk playing on lips I remember tasting. “Baby,” his voice drops to that growl that bypasses my brain and goes straight between my legs, “the last thing I want to do is end you.”

He climbs another step, bringing us close enough that his scent floods my senses. Cherry tobacco and gunpowder, mixed with that dangerous edge that says his control is slipping. Even my beta nose can pick up the way his pheromones shift, turning primal.

“No,” he continues, close enough now that I feel the heat radiating off him. “I want to bring you to your knees right here, right now. Put that pouty little mouth to work.”

Something molten pools in my belly. The beta in me—the part society says should submit to alphas—wars with my natural defiance. I wonder if his cum would taste like cherries.

Damnit Cay, get your mind out of the gutter.Do not go there.

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