Page 59 of Defiant
Jonah sets down his beer and turns to look at me. This time his eyes fill with tears. None fall, he shoves them back. But that, right there, is my answer. No alpha would ever let an omega roam free.
I’m going to spend the rest of my life a prisoner.
I look up at the ceiling and flip it off.
“Um, Elena? What are you doing?”
“Telling the moon goddess she can shove this shit up her ass. Telling my dad he’s a dick for leaving me here. I don’t fucking know. I’m doing the only thing I can.”
Jonah plops his elbow onto the bar top and tosses up a middle finger to match mine.
We flip the universe off together.
I’ve never wanted to kiss him more but if I do, it’ll be a death sentence.
There’s a long moment of silence before I find the tiny, microscopic silver lining. “I guess there’s one upside to all this bullshit.”
“One?”
“You can finally order me around. Apparently, anyone can. If my wolf ever shows up again that is.” I laugh bitterly.
Jonah sits back down and swivels his barstool so he can look directly at me. His lazy posture contrasts the look on his face as he studies me carefully. “What do you mean?”
“She’s gone. I mean, I still want to get rid of her permanently. But I can’t get her to show back up on command. Pisses Black off. He wants me to go into he…” I trail off and stare at the bar glasses, chastising myself for the fact that I almost said “heat” in front of Jonah. “He thinks he fucking owns me.”
I change the subject and am a little shocked by how angry my tone comes out. I am angry, but when Black’s in front of me, he just swallows that anger like it’s nothing, soaks it in like it energizes him. But without his alpha presence to warp it, the fury is blazing hot.
Jonah crooks a brow and tilts his head, just listening, like he does whenever I need to rage about Mom. “He just fucking claimed me, Jonah. Like he’s got the right to do that. Like I’m justa bodyand not a person.”
“You know he wants more than that,” Jonah shakes his head. “There’s a wedding planner upstairs.”
I leap out of my chair, knocking it backward and nearly nicking a tooth on the back of Jonah’s stool as I fall to the carpet. I ignore how humiliating the entire fall is as I whip around and stand, a hand on either side of my head, clutching at my face. “WHAT?”
All of a sudden, I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I just see a veil and a dress and then shackles…myself chained to a wall in a wedding dress. Guards are one thing. Marriage…is worse.
My lungs don’t work, while my stomach works overtime, churning so quickly I think I might puke. I crawl toward Jonah and latch onto his pant leg as a tear escapes and any pride I have is left shredded on the floor. Desperation is the only thing I know as I beg, “Jonah…run away with me. Help me escape. Please.”
20
Jonah
Black’s mansiongrounds are abuzz with activity as I stroll around the yard on the afternoon patrol. The perfectly manicured grass doesn’t have a single weed and the lawn slopes for almost half a mile before Black’s own personal forest is visible.Fuckwad.
The place is big enough that guys drive around in golf carts doing rich people shit like “restocking the koi pond”, whatever the fuck that is.
I stand in the heat of the sun and pretend to stare at something in the distant trees. But I’m actually thinking about Elena’s proposal. She wants to run away with me.
She threw out the suggestion so calmly at first that I’d thought she was being sarcastic. But then she’d leaned forward from her barstool in the basement, the look on her face stealing my breath. Her gray eyes had sought out mine, dark hair falling forward over her shoulders.
“Jonah, find somewhere we can go. Somewhere only humans live. Where we can be together. Please.”
The sun heats my face, but it’s not the reason I’m sweating. Elena wants me to abandon my pack. My family. My stomach churns. Every step I take through the grass feels like my last.
The strangest part of all is that my wolf wants to do it. My wolf, who loves pack, wants to leave.
Mate,he whispers in my ear, as if that word is all he needs to know.
She wouldn’t have said this a week ago,I argue.A week ago, fuck buddies was good enough. Is she just using me?
