Page 35 of Knotting else Matters

I turned, stalking toward the door, desperate to escape before I did something I’d regret. But as I reached the doorway, Karl’s voice rang out behind me, sharp and clear.

“You know who reacts like that, Adrian?” he shouted. “Alphas with their mates. So what the fuck is going on?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t look back.

Because the answer was already clawing at me, wild and undeniable.

CHAPTER 10

Adrian

The cold water crashed over me like a shock, each icy drop biting into my skin, chilling me to the bone. But it did nothing—nothing to cool the burning in my chest, nothing to drown out the rage still twisting through me, and definitely nothing to silence the wild, desperate need clawing at my thoughts.

Fuck. No.

This was a mistake. Not the wild night we spent together—no, that had been inevitable, a perfect storm of tension and desire that I hadn’t even tried to fight. But prolonging it? Extending our reckless, hungry agreement to the full length of her visit here? That was insanity.

I leaned forward, pressing my forehead against the cold, tiled wall, letting the icy water cascade down my back. I needed to end this. To shut it down, to get her out of my head before I did something I couldn’t take back.

But even as I tried to focus, tried to force myself into that cold, controlled calm that had always been my strength, she was there. Olivia.

Dark, wild hair tangled between my fingers. Sharp green eyes burning with defiance, with desire. Her mouth, warm and wicked, tracing hot lines down my chest, her voice, low and breathless, whispering my name like a plea and a challenge all at once.

My jaw clenched, and I felt the familiar ache—thick, heavy, and completely out of place in this freezing shower. My cock was already hard, twitching at the memory of her—her lips, her body, the way she writhed beneath me, the way she fell apart in my arms.

Fuck. No.

I slammed my fist against the wall, the sharp pain racing up my arm a welcome distraction. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t lose myself in her, couldn’t let her twist me around like this. She was chaos—beautiful, wild chaos—and I was letting her tear apart everything I’d built, everything I’d controlled.

No. It ended now.

The second I saw her, I would tell her. No more late nights. No more teasing, no more touches, no more… everything. I would lock this down.

I turned off the shower, grabbing a towel, the cold air wrapping around me like a second punishment. But it didn’t matter. I needed the clarity, needed the sharp, biting cold to remind me that I was in control.

Olivia was a distraction. A wild, reckless distraction that I couldn’t afford. And it was time I proved that she was nothing more than that.

The cool, crisp fabric of the fresh shirt slipped over my damp skin, but even as I tried to force the buttons into place, the tension in my chest refused to fade. My mind raced, wild and tangled, clawing at itself with images of Olivia—her fierce smile, her breathless laughter, the taste of her lips—

The soft click of the front door echoed through the penthouse.

I froze.

My jaw clenched, and I turned just as she stepped in, her dark hair wild around her shoulders, two dresses draped over her arm. Her smile was bright, casual, but there was a faint flush in her cheeks, the lingering glow of sunlight on her skin.

Fuck.

Of course, I’d given her a key. Stupid. Reckless.

“Hey!” she called out, her voice light, her gaze sweeping over the room. “I got two, just to be safe. Lavender’s a tricky color, you know? And I didn’t cut the tags, so I can return whichever one Sophie doesn’t like.”

Smart girl. Always thinking ahead, always—

But something else hit me, a scent that shouldn’t exist—fresh spring rain. That clean, earthy sweetness, the kind that lingered on the grass, that soaked into the soil, that breathed life back into the world after a brutal, bitter winter. It wrapped around me, soft and soothing and maddeningly impossible.

It wasn’t raining. It hadn’t rained in weeks. It was August. Sweltering heat and dry winds. But that scent—warm rain, damp earth, and something else, something sweet and wild—wrapped around me like a fog, and I couldn’t breathe.

Olivia didn’t notice my frozen, rigid posture. She kept talking, her voice a casual, cheerful hum.

---