Page 41 of Happy Valentine's Day, Omega
Panic rises and grips my throat. He's a smooth talker, and I'm certain lies would fall effortlessly from his lips. Is he lying to me now?
My voice squeaks. "What if I reject you for manipulating me with the Exclusive Courtship agreement?"
"You won't."
My nostrils flare. He thinks he's in control.
"You kept your identity a secret for months. Why wouldn't you just come out and ask me?"
He huffs in amusement. "Because I don't like to lose."
I blink at him.
Okay, so maybe he has a point about us being similar. Still, he manipulated me for questionable reasons.
"So, you admit this is a game to you?" I ball my shaking fists at my sides.
I still don't have the full picture, and I feel so silly for thinking this could end with my happily ever after.
Patricia was right.
I'm a dirty, poor dropout.
Alpha Novikov makes a snarling sound of frustration.
"I told you. I was hedging my bets. I only had one shot."
"One shot at what? Making a fool out of me?"
"You!" he shouts. "I didn't want to loseyou!"
I still and blink up at him. His mouth pulls into a desperate grimace, and his eyebrows furrow. Stray hairs hang over his forehead.
"Natalia, listen to me. Please. Just listen."
I don't move closer, but I don't keep walking away either. I stay still and incline my head.
Novikov inhales and scrubs a hand through his hair, messing it up.
"You were never going to see me as anything but competition in chess. That damn academy made you think you weren't worthy of an Alpha, so you never looked at me like as a potential mate. Nothing I did caught your attention. It was only when I challenged your competitive nature and pushed you to your limit did I make it on your radar. So I set in motion a strategy that would hold your attention, keep you guessing… keep your interest."
My nostrils flare as I breathe heavily, trying to untangle my confused thoughts.
"The gifts. The Exclusive Courtship. The Valentine's Day deadline. The letters. They were all part of a plan to get me to… What? Fall in love with you? Why? Why would you bother?"
He leans down and captures my face in his hands.
"Because, my brilliant, ignorant, beautiful Omega, I'm in love with you!"
"You're not!" I shout on instinct, fear pulsing through me.
He can't. This is a trick. A manipulation.
"And you're in love with me too!"
"In love?" I parrot, stepping backwards, suddenly desperate to leave. "No, I'm not. And if I am, it's with the Alpha in my letters."
"Inourletters. I wrote every single word in them. They're fromme. You fell in love withme, Natalia. I've got my claws in your soul just as deep as you have yours in mine."
