Page 10 of Meant for Them
Rayna glares at me as she places a large chicken salad in front of me, and honestly, I wouldn’t put it past her to have spat in it. Good thing I’m a wolf and can smell DNA.
My suspicion of her ends up working in my favor, because she did indeed put more than just her saliva into my dish, which was easy to find.
It’s the tiniest shavings of silver I find under a cucumber that have all my survival instincts flaring up. “Fuck you, Rayna.” I stand and throw the salad at her smug fucking face, which is greatly improved by the addition of greens and chicken, surely leaving Alex with a headache.
“What the fuck did you do?”
I think he’s talking to me until I realize he’s glaring at Rayna, who is spluttering as dressing slowly slides through her bangs. “What did I do? That bitch just threw her food at me!”
It’s easy to spot the cucumber she poisoned because she cut it into a different shape, no doubt so she wouldn’t accidentally put it in somebody else’s food.
I stab it with a fork and hand it to Alex before heading to the kitchen to make my own food. This is Alex’s house; she’s not going to fucking keep me from making food I want to eat.
I throw in some toast and grab a Greek yogurt, then I get to work on the dishes since that falls under my purview.
I forget about the toast as I start scrubbing, wishing I could simply exist without somebody hating me enough to try and poison me. I don’t feel safe here.
I’m elbows deep in scalding soapy water when Alex walks back into the kitchen, sans Rayna.
“Morgan—"
“Please, just don’t. She doesn’t like me, I get it. I’m a half-breed, and I’m stealing your attention away from her. Clearly, she’s harboring a crush. I should have never allowed you to include me in shit that she’s involved in. I’ll do a better job of staying out of her way.”
He stalks closer until his chest is only inches from me. “If you think for a second that was your fault, you’re dumber than I thought. You should be able to eat a meal in your new home without having to worry about silver poisoning.”
“Oh, she spit in it, too. Did I mention that?”
He cusses under his breath and then pulls my hands out of the sink, cussing again when he sees how red they are. “For fuck’s sake, Morgan. You’re terrible at taking care of yourself. You like hurting yourself? You trying to punish yourself for something you can’t control? Why?”
“If I don’t punish myself first, somebody else will do it for me.”
I don’t meet his eyes when he spins and gently dries off my hands, tsking at the red hue they still have. “What’s it going to take for you to put a little trust in me?”
“Alex, you literally haven’t given me a damn single indication you want anything with me other than professionally. You hired me for a job, so please let me do it.”
“Look me in the eye, Morgan. I know you have more backbone than this.”
I snap my eyes up to his but refuse to breathe. Don’t want his scent this close to my face because I don’t know what will happen if I inhale him.
“Fuck the job. I’ve hated every second of seeing you work today. You need money? I’ll add you to the bank account. Don’t like your bedroom? Come share mine. Want independence? I’ll go buy you a car and tell you how to get anywhere you want to get to. Just please, don’t make me have to ignore what I want from you. My wolf is on a fucking frenzy inside me, demanding I flip you onto your back and rut into you.”
I push his chest as hard as I can manage, unsurprised that it’s just about sex to him. “No, thanks.”
I intend to go scrub his bathroom, but he’s too damn fast and too damn strong. I’m not even halfway down the hallway before he catches me, breathing heavily as he carefully pins me to the wall. “Running from me is only making my wolf more dominant, little prey. No is an answer, but can I know why?”
“Because I don’t want to give myself to somebody who only wants me for what my body can do for them. If I ever decide to give myself to somebody, it’s going to be because they make my life better and because they make me feel like I’ll die if I don’t.
“I don’t want to be your pretty possession that you can dress up and ogle and then fuck and abandon when you’re done.”
“And you think that’s the kind of man I am?”
I shrug because I don’t know him well enough to answer differently.
He steps away from me, leaving me cold, giving me exactly what I want.
So why does it feel so awful?
five
