Page 36 of Defiant
Her eyes flash at me and her hand comes to my chest—she tries to shove me away. I take a step back, letting her have this space … for now.
“I’m not a fucking omega, you dickhead!” Elena’s features contort until she looks feral, wild, almost unhinged, even more so than she did earlier.
I chuckle. “We both know that’s not true.”
She uses both hands to push me again, this time taking me off guard, forcing me back a step in the plush carpet toward the bed. “Fuck you! My mom’s an alpha wolf and so am I!”
“You’re the farthest thing from an alpha wolf there is,” I tell her. Disbelief and confusion color outside the lines of reality, turning my mind into a mess of scribbles. How can she not know? The second my wolf came in, I knew.
“Your parents don’t determine what kind of wolf you become,” I try to speak gently, holding up my hands to calm her when she starts to pace, grabbing at her white-streaked hair, clearly agitated. Goddammit, this is not the reaction I expected. Most girls would kill to be an omega, to be valued and treasured above all others…to be capable of starting a war between men who beat at their chests and beg to give them multiple orgasms a day.
Elena gives a laugh that’s as bitter and broken as a shattered beer bottle … and just as dangerous. “Oh, I know that. Just like I know parents don’t determine the person you become.” She stops pacing and stares at me, jaw tight, and I wonder what the hell she’s thinking.
“You’re a liar.” Her feet are planted and her hands fisted at her sides, and she looks like a statue of some defiant goddess with all that smooth silky skin. An angry goddess.
“I haven’t lied to you.”
“You lie to yourself to justify what you’re doing. I told you I was pack. You could have checked easily. But you didn’t want to. You’re lying now.”
I can see she believes what she’s saying, that her words ring true inside that skull of hers. I’ve dealt with a lot of people who insisted they were right in my time, a lot of people who can’t bend, can’t see the other side of the coin. I’ll be damned if my mate becomes one of those. I’ll be damned if she makes me into the villain in all of this. I stalk toward her, well aware of how she slinks backward, how I intimidate her, how underneath her bravado, she’s scared of me.
I don’t want her scared, but I’ll settle for that for now … until she sees the truth.
“I found a naked girl in the woods in disputed territory splayed out on the grass like an offering from the moon goddess herself. A girl who ticks every single one of my boxes.”
She hits the beige wall near the television and can’t back up any further. I take the opportunity to pin her in with my arms, reaching out and planting my hands on the wall on either side of her shoulders and dragging my gaze over every inch of her perfect body. “That girl has legs for days and creamy skin. She’s got the most piercing light eyes I’ve ever seen. And sheclaimsshe can’t get her wolf to show. As an alpha, I’m bound to protect her.” I let my eyes find Elena’s once more, locking our gazes together as I continue. “Less than ten minutes later, I’m attacked by Dark Nights. Tell me, princess, what would you have assumed if you were in my shoes?”
I see her plush lips part but she doesn’t argue, which means this girl has a decent head on her shoulders. Thank fuck, because a stupid mate would have been more than I could bear. I watch the play of emotions on her features as she reconciles the fact that I couldn’t quite trust her.
“You didn’t have to leave me naked,” she finally settles on a retort.
I bark out a laugh. “I like you naked. Pretty sure I just proved that.” I lean closer so that I can inhale her deliciousness again. I love the salty musky mix of her sex mingling with the lighter notes of her everyday sweetness. I think I could drive myself mad just scenting her all damned day.
She crosses her arms and I watch her become smaller as her voice grows tight and taut. “I’m not an omega,” she repeats.
“You are, sweet thing.”
Elena glares before ducking out from underneath my arms and striding toward the door. “Omegas are pathetic. They’re weak. I’m not agoddamnedomega. If I was, I’d fucking reject my wolf and live as a human!”
She might as well have shot me. Reject her wolf? That’s unheard of. No one does that. Your wolf is part of you. It’s integral. Annoying at times—my own wolf nips at me internally for that thought, but I dismiss him, too filled with pity for Elena’s creature. No wonder the poor thing doesn’t want to come out. I wonder if Elena had thoughts like that while she was running. My own wolf’s hackles rise and his gums peel back from his teeth, showing true anger toward our mate for the first time as she continues to rant about how having a wolf isn’t worth it if her life is stripped away. He wants to bite her for her insolence, for her potential denial of her sweet wolf. But rather than punish her, I want her to see the truth. I don’t think she realizes what being an omega means.
“Elena,” I call out, yanking my shirt off my head, balling it up, and tossing it toward her. “Put that on. And then wait here.”
“I’m done waiting. I’m done being here.”
I ignore her as I stride past. If she wants to leave my house, there’s no way she’s going to do it without going for the pants and shoes that Matthew brought down. I take the stairs up to the top of the basement two at a time, reaching into my pants pocket as I do. I retrieve the key I got from my butler and unlock the door, bellowing into the front hall, “Pluto, get down here!”
Pluto’s in front of me, eyes curious and brow raised before Elena even reaches the bottom step.
“What?”
Her scent makes his eyes dilate. I hold up the hand I had inside of her so that the smell of her sweet pussy can reach his nose. Though he’s been a rock-solid best friend for years and has amazing self-control, it’s too much. With a flash of gold, his eyes change from human to wolf and he darts past me. I let him.
I stride down the steps just as Elena screams. When I reach the bottom, I turn to see Pluto pinning her to the carpet on her front, one hand holding down her neck, the other pawing at the pants she’s donned. My brows shoot up—the craze has taken over faster and more intensely than I expected. I run forward and yank him off her with a roar, pinning him to the wall. “Mine!” I snarl.
“Omega!” He thrashes against my hold and I watch as his upper body transforms into the half-human half-wolf monsters we typically reserve only for the most intense of shifter battles. His torso elongates and shaggy gray fur erupts from his skin. His fingers stretch and widen into long, dangerous claws. He stays on two feet, but his pants stretch to nearly bursting as he grows and his legs thicken to giant proportions. His head turns into that of a snarling wolf, ears tilted forward aggressively.
My body responds instantly, my own fiend erupting, white hair covering every part of my upper body. My pants were designed with extra elastic in the seam, so they strain but don’t rip as my body expands until I’m a third bigger than Pluto, my head nearly brushing the ceiling.
