Page 31 of Defiant
Matthew speaks into the phone. “Again. He needs more.”
Black yells into the phone. “Cody, turn around. Now. If you take one more step, I’m going to consider that a direct challenge.”
Cody’s eyes clench shut and I watch him grit his fangs until slowly they retract. He turns and bounds up the stairs, a groan ripping from his lips as he clutches at his chest. But he doesn’t stop running.
“Is he gone?” Black asks, his own breathing heavy, like he’s running.
“Yes, he went upstairs.”
“Lock her in the bathroom. Tell her to get in the tub and use all that damned bodywash. Lock the bedroom. The basement. His room. I’ll be back in ten.”
Shock rolls through me.
“What the fuck is going on?” My hands fly to my hair. I always knew that becoming a wolf came with strange side effects. My dad always warned me that once my wolf came, life would never be the same. But I’m surrounded by chaos and no one is explaining a damn thing.
Matthew just hangs up the phone and shoves the basket in my hands, his eyes wide. “Please, Elena.”
I swallow hard and hurry into the bathroom with the basket clutched to my chest. The tiles feel cold on my feet and when I look into the mirror, my cheeks have grown pale. I glance back at Matthew.
“I’m sorry, but it’s for your safety. Cody’s not himself right now. Well, neither is…” Matthew cuts himself off before shutting and locking the door and I’m ninety percent certain he was going to say that Black Maddox isn’t himself either. I sink down on the tiles, wishing I’d brought one of the bottles of wine in here with me.
Is every male shifter insane?
No. Jonah isn’t,I remind myself. But right now, Jonah seems a million miles away. I’m locked in the alpha’s basement with no idea when he’ll release me. If he’ll release me.
My hand tightens around the basket handle. No. Bullshit. I’m not going to wait for Black’s go ahead—he’s obviously just as unstable as that other shifter who wandered into the basement. Black might have the upper hand right now, but he’s got weaknesses. And I just made a friend who might be able to help me exploit them.
11
Black
I’m notsure which emotion wrecks me more—fear or rage. Alphas can lose their shit around omegas, the pheromones can drive our wild side to darkness, depravity. Unmated omegas are fucking dangerous things—temptation and ruination rolled into one. I should know. I’m about to break all the damn rules to make her mine.
Elena’s face filters through my head, the soft curve of her cheeks, her sharp chin, the spark in those gray eyes.
Fuck. I never should have left her nor assumed that the sedatives from the hospital would keep Cody knocked out until I got back from the howl. I just should have skipped the fucking howl.
Arrogance is the only explanation for my stupidity—that or ignorance—and I’m furious with myself for letting either of them get the best of me. I pride myself on thinking straight, thinking things through … but if I hadn’t been able to spend another minute in that house with my elites trying to subtly adjust themselves as they caught her scent through the vents, watching their eyes dilate even as they pretended to listen to me and agree with my plan to defend her from Stone, my plan to keep her instead of handing her over.
I’d seen the truth in their eyes, smelled it in the aggressive eagerness that wafted off them as they heard that we had a damned omega in our ranks … if I would have stayed, it wouldn’t have ended well either. I would have had to fight one or even all of them. My wolf would have demanded it.
As it is, I’m not sure how everything is going to go down for Cody.
My fingers flex and I grab the neck of the gray Lobos sweatsuit I’m wearing, yanking on the cotton piece of shit because the damn things shrink in the wash and my neck swells when I’m irritated.
Pluto drives, flooring the gas, while I sit in the passenger seat of his Audi, fists clenched as I try to tell my wolf a damned car is gonna get him there faster than his own four feet.
“Mate,” he growls at me, pissed. His snow-white fur bristles and I can see him pacing, teeth clenched, head low—like he’s ready for a fight.
“Yeah, I know. But we have to make it official,” I retort out loud.
Pluto side-eyes me but doesn’t ask. Among alphas, it’s not uncommon to have your wolf instincts go to war against your human ones. It’s why the Lobos host weekly fights for the alpha wolves and why rank is doled out numerically, constantly changing based on the outcomes of those matches. Some wolves hate it, others love it … but the hints of blood and victory keep the feral side satisfied. That makes our pack more stable than most, our alphas less prone to violence—keeps our betas safer.
I glance outside as everything but the stars streak by in a blur. Only the sky is constant. The moon goddess stares down at me and I feel her reprimand for leaving Elena in danger as sharp as my own mother’s tongue would have been. An old memory resurfaces, of her face, hands cupping my cheeks, wiping away a drop of blood from a fight I’d gotten in at school, a fight I hadn’t won, because back then I hadn’t had my wolf for backup.
“That girl isn’t your mate, Tommy. She’s trash for even looking at another guy. You shouldn’t have fought over her.” She’d pulled me in for a hug, and I recall how her hands were slightly rough because they were covered in flour. Even now I associate the scent of flour with her—she was always baking. She’d whispered in my ear, “Someday, you’ll find your mate. And you’ll just know. Your wolf will just know. It will be like magic. Until that day, no girl is worth fighting for.” She’d pulled back from me but kept a grip on my shoulders as her eyes had flickered between my own. “You hear me?”
Thinking of mothers makes me remember Elena’s. Her pack profile had said that my mate’s father was gone, but Kathryn DeMarkus is still very much alive. And I’d planned to speak with her, do the whole antiquated ‘ask her permission’ routine. It’s what Mom would have wanted.
