Page 41 of Frenzy
“I was a little worried that our best of the best were broken hacks as well,” he snarked. “Glad to see I was wrong.”
Murphy tapped his nose. “You’re good, wolf, but nothing gets past my nose.” He turned to me. “I had an excellent night, Pryce. Don’t be a stranger.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek, and Merrick patted my back. Dominic growled low as they walked away, but he didn’t start anything.
“Checking up on me?” I asked lightly, trying to tell my stupid heart not to be happy that he was here. He’d interrupted my date—kind of, anyway.
He shook his head. “Just making sure they were respecting you properly, that's all.”
I looked at the ground so he didn’t see me smile. “Did you run down here?” Dominic nodded. “Do you, maybe, want to run back?”
He cocked his head to the side in what was a very wolfish gesture, and nodded. “Sure.”
I paused. “I, uh, might shift and run in my Manix form.”
Dominic paused, because I hadn’t shifted into my Manix form since they rescued me. My Beast had stayed below the surface, squished into the human skin. “Have you run since you got out?”
I shook my head. You’d think that would have been the first thing I’d wanted to do once I was released, but the outdoors had scared me. I felt like such a weak shit for even feeling like that, but I’d spent so long inside four walls that all this expanse—including the night sky that I now loved so much—scared the hell out of me in those first few weeks.
It had been Bonnie who’d helped, and like the fluorescent lights, she’d done so without really making a big deal of it. It started by taking the babies, as well as the kids from the Sanctum, on long walks. Bonnie said kids needed fresh air and good exercise, so off we’d go. And I was so busy panicking about the one who insisted on climbing the tree, or the one jumping off huge boulders, to worry too much about being outside. Bonnie had taken my natural protective, nurturing instincts and used them to help heal me. She was truly something else.
Dominic started peeling off his clothes. “I hope you wore your tighty-whities, Omega, otherwise you’re gonna be flopping all over the place.”
I laughed, glad I was too. A naked run through the woods might be too much for me just yet. I unbuttoned my dress shirt—well, Radic’s dress shirt, because he’d lent it to me for my date—and folded it neatly. I reached for the button on my jeans but paused to watch Dominic undress.
I’d seen Dom naked dozens of times; the man was supremely comfortable in his skin, and I’d also witnessed that extremely hot moment between him, Bonnie, and Courtland. That moment plagued my dreams, making me wake up soaked with sweat and achingly hard.
Dominic was all hard muscle. Broad shoulders tapered to a narrow waist, and his whole body was covered in tattoos, which he must have paid a fortune for because I knew that most shifters healed too fast for human tattooing methods.
“Like what you see, Omega?” Dominic rumbled, and I flushed. I was glad it was dark and he couldn’t see it.
I shed the rest of my clothes, keeping on my underwear, and when I looked up, Dominic was giving me a heated once-over. “Like what you see, Beta?” I snarked back at him, but he just took a step closer to me.
“Yes.” Leaning down, he licked my nipple, before giving it a gentle bite that went straight to my cock. “Leave your clothes over here. We’ll pick them up in the morning.” Then he shifted, and where was once a sexy ass man was now a huge red wolf.
I’d seen wolf shifters in the facility. It had been the first thing they’d tried to cross me with. But Dominic was absolutely beautiful, and his wolf knew it too. He stalked around me, his tail wagging slowly. I ran a hand over his fur, which was coarse along his back but softer around his sides. He spun, snuffling my hand and giving a yip. Guess it was time to run.
It was a weird sensation. I’d run before, of course, but on treadmills. I’d never had the wind on my face like this, or the earth beneath my feet. My heart started to thump as I followed the big red wolf through the trees, slightly uphill, until my breath was burning in my chest.
Dominic doubled back, running in a circle around my legs and yipping again. He was definitely mocking me.
“Hey, don’t judge me asshole,” I panted, and he made a noise that might have been a wolfish version of a laugh before bounding back off again. I raced to catch up and, not going to lie, I was kind of happy when I saw the lights of the house up ahead. But I’d never felt more alive than I did right now, with a pounding heart, in my Beast form, my cheeks stinging from the cool mountain air.
Before we stepped out into the light around the house, Dominic shifted back. Completely, utterly naked. He was grinning wildly as he stepped closer to me. In my full shift, I stood a head taller than him, but I didn’t want to tower over him right now. I shifted back, glad once more that my underwear had enough stretch in them to not tear off.
I could feel the tension in the air around Dominic and me, and the way he was looking at me told me his thoughts all too clearly. I braced myself for his kiss, because it felt inevitable, but when it came, it wasn’t hard and brash like the man himself. It was a gentle whisper of a kiss.
“So fucking glorious watching you run, Omega. I want to drop to my knees and worship your cock the way it deserves to be worshipped.”
My dick, hearing its name, perked up, growing hard. Well, harder. It was impossible to look at a naked, rippling Dominic and not have a semi.
Dominic sighed, stepping away. “But I’m not the right person for any of your firsts, Pryce. You need someone gentle like Bonnie, or powerful like Courtland. We’re the right Pack for you, for each other. I just need everyone else to pull their heads out of their asses and see it too,” he grumbled under his breath.
The burn of rejection stung me, despite knowing somewhat that he was right. Sensing my negative feelings, Dominic stepped into my space once more and rubbed his hand along my cock. “I might not be first time material, Omega, but I intend to be the best second time—or hell, two hundredth time—you’ve ever had. But you’ve got to choose. They won’t make a move until you choose.”
I chewed my lip and nodded. He gave me that smile that was full of mischief and waved me toward the house. “Let’s go home. A hundred bucks says they’re all still awake, pretending to be busy but really waiting around for you to get home safely.”
Turns out, I owed Dominic a hundred dollars.
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