Page 55 of Pack Rivals, Part One

She smiles at him.

"I think I'd find it very hard to be just friends," he tells her gruffly.

"Oh."

I groan inwardly. Nate just found us a way in and now Axel's going to ruin it all in one fell swoop.

"I think I've made my intentions clear, Bea. I want to make you mine. To make you ours."

"You don't know me."

"This ex-boyfriend of yours–"

"Ex-fiance," she corrects.

"How long did you know him?"

"I've known him all my life. We were together eight years."

"And it still ended badly?"

"That's one way of putting it."

"So what difference does it make? Sometimes you know."

"But you see it does matter," she insists, and this is interesting. Omegas can be spoiled and demanding, but they rarely ever contradict an alpha or go against his command. They're programmed to obey; to do as they're told. Sure, sometimes they'll try to fight it, grit their teeth and pull against their instincts. 99% of the time they relent to it.

Bea, she's different. Here she is sucking on a strawberry and arguing with our pack leader, despite his dominance, despite the way he stares down at her. Was it all those years spent as a beta?

"For example, you might absolutely despise strawberries," she says, lifting up the strawberry she's bitten in half for us all to see. "The smell might make you vomit. The idea of being around them might be enough to bring you out in hives. Yet, I love strawberries and I couldn't go my entire life without eating one again."

"I love strawberries," Nate says, leaning forward and taking a bite out of the strawberry Bea holds in her hand.

"Me too," Axel says, holding her gaze as he reaches to take her hand in his and lifts the remains of the strawberry to his face. He places the strawberry in his mouth, closing his lips and capturing her fingers too. Her eyes widen as he sucks the strawberry from her grip then releases her fingers.

She stares at his strawberry-stained mouth for one long second, then shakes herself.

"Strawberries were a metaphor." She picks up another and spins it in her fingers, keeping her gaze away from Axel. "What I'm trying to say is that we might not be compatible. You might hate the things I love, and I might despise the things you adore."

"What do you hate?" Nate asks, offering her a jar of cream to dip her strawberry into.

"Lots of things," she says darkly.

"Yeah, like what?"

She pauses to think. "Bananas."

"Everybody hates bananas. What else?"

"Erm … jazz."

"Yeah. Nobody likes that either. They just pretend to. What do you love?"

"Strawberries." She grins and swallows the one she's holding whole. "And I'm beginning to fall in love with the ocean." She points out towards the view. "How about you?" she says to Axel, "what do you hate?"

"Angel Boston," Nate responds before Axel even opens his mouth.

Bea fidgets on the blanket. "Do you?" she asks Axel.

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