Page 17 of Bait Wolf
He leaned down and suddenly pressed his face into my scent gland.
It took me a moment to realize what Coal was doing. He wasscentingme, dousing me with his own pheromones.
A mark of ownership.
A shiver traveled down my spine as his pheromones overwhelmed my senses. It was dizzying and comforting, like he could make me fall but would just as easily catch me.
Finally, Coal pulled back, meeting my eyes.
“Understood?” he asked, voice low and gravelly.
I managed a dazed nod.
Pleased, Coal pressed our cheeks together and took a deep breath, openly inhaling my new scent.
“And as for that other matter, I am not staying here and letting them use my family as pawns any longer. It’s time to take matters into my own hands.”
I had no clue what he was talking about. No explanation was given either. Instead, Coal went to the locked door and, standing back a few feet, took a deep steadying breath and then ran full tilt into it. With a deafeningbang,it smashed off the hinges, wood and dust splintering around him like a cloud.
I stared as the dust settled.
There were two betas at the door, guarding it, but when they saw Coal standing there, the broken door spread around him, they stood back.
Coal reached for me, not looking to see if I would come, if I would obey. Expecting me to listen.
I did, but partially because my wish was being granted. I was getting the fuck out of this hellhole, and I was going to walk out the front door. No running or climbing through windows.
Coal gripped my hand almost too tightly and led me into the hall. He was glowering at the guards, and I realized the only reason they weren’t being attacked was because they weren’t alphas and Coal’s scent was already all over me as a warning.
“Your phone,” he growled, holding his hand out to one of them.
The beta handed it over, stepping hastily back when Coal’s chest immediately rumbled with a growl.
The moment the beta was back far enough, Coal began to pull me through the halls.
How were we going to get anywhere like this? How, when he couldn’t stand anyone coming too close to me?
The things Coal had said appealed to me on a base level. My omega instincts yearned for a companion, for protection and safety, yet my stomach twisted with unease because Iwasn’tatypical omega.
I was a street rat. I’d been on my own for most of my life. I knew how to take care of myself. Coal’s statement of ownership rang in my ears, but the alpha hadn’t mated me on the spot. For whatever reason, he hadn’t forced me to take his bite yet. Probably wanted to get me to his home first, where we wouldn’t be disturbed and where I would be confined in a different way.
I’d seen them all my life, the omegas so controlled by pheromones that they weren’t even themselves anymore. They were nothing but glorified slaves, baby-makers and little more with no autonomy and no freedom. I’d always rebelled against becoming that and now, after being imprisoned, my freedom meant even more to me than ever.
Coal pulled me through a door and, suddenly, we were in the front entryway. My breath caught, because I’d never seen it before and it looked so normal. A big open space, an information desk. High glass ceiling and beautiful dark wood floors. I could imagine all the people arriving, looking respectable and clean and expensive. Ready to watch the bloodshed.
We stepped through the large front doors, onto the street in front of the stadium. It was late at night. There was no one around, just a vast empty street lit by neon lights. The sign for the fight stadium glowed above us.
And just like that, I was free.
Sort of.
I looked at Coal. The alpha immediately caught my eye, flashing a smile.
I wanted to run, to dance and shout and laugh. I’d thought I was going to die, but instead, I was alive and I was out! I almost felt like I might cry.
Coal’s scent, his confident speech about us owning each other, it had been good. It had nearly reeled me in, but the facts were, whether we really were fated or not, I would not sacrifice my life to being an alpha’s toy.
I needed a bit of time. Some food, rest, and a plan and then I was leaving. I’d hide so well, no one could ever take me again.
