Page 14 of Rage

He grits his teeth and hauls her onto his lap. She giggles, her body pliant as he drapes her over his thighs and crotch. Alive.

“Ooh, you’re so strong,” she whispers, leaning in against him to press her breasts against his chest. Her breath ghosts over his throat, followed by a flick of her tongue on his Adam’s apple that makes him shiver. Slim arms wrap around the back of his neck as she buries her nose against the hollow, inhaling deeply. “Mmm, and you smell good.”

She rocks her hips, a slow grind back and forth. Back and forth. Around them, gasps of breath, female whimpers and the sounds of wet flesh speak with all clarity that the other soldiers have had no hesitations in taking what’s offered. He shouldn’t, either. There is very little light in his existence—precious few moments without despair.

Candi rubs her fingertips against his nape and raises higher until her soft lips press against his ear. “I want your knot, alpha. Please. Make me take it.”

No doubt she has been trained to say those words—has learned how to coax an alpha to give in to desire and part with his coin. It doesn’t matter.

AX2 groans and tightens his arms around her, burying his nose in her hair and succumbing to the instinctive urge to inhale her pheromones.

A strong scent of vanilla fills his nostrils, layered with peach and a musky hit of pussy—perfume crafted to entice an alpha—but he feels nothing as it fills his lungs.

Slowly, forcing down memories he still refuses to fully acknowledge, he pulls back.

“Is something wrong?” Candi asks, a flicker of genuine concern in her dark eyes.

“No.”

She tilts her head, gaze searching. “It’s okay if you’d rather just talk. Sometimes that can feel just as good.”

He very much doubts that. Even if Dr. Green would allow such a thing.

“Just let me hold you,” he says, more softly than he means to.

If she finds the request odd, she doesn’t let on. Likely she has encountered far more unusual propositions in her line of work. She sits quietly on his lap, her arms looped loosely around his neck as she watches the other women perform their duties on the scratchy gray blankets.

She feels solid in his arms. Real. AX2 empties his mind and allows himself to simply enjoy the sensation of a woman in his embrace. Of no longer being alone, at least for a little while.

When he closes his eyes, he can almost imagine the scent of floral shampoo in her silky hair.

Six

Addie

The knock on my door is not unexpected, but it still tightens the knot of dread in my stomach to the point of pain.

I hover in the hallway, hands clenched into fists, as I stare at my front door and force my chest to expand with long, slow breaths.

You knew this was coming, Addie.

Another knock, this time louder. My door vibrates from the force.

“Addie! Enough hiding. Open the door.”

My father’s voice, muted by the thick wood separating us, but still ringing with authority, cuts through my attempts at calming my nerves. My body reacts before I’ve given it permission to, taking me the last few steps forward.

Mechanically I raise my hand, unclasp the chain, and slide the lock open with a click that rings ominously all the way down to my toes. I don’t manage to plaster on the pretense of a smile before my father pushes the door open and steps into my apartment.

“Addie,” he rumbles in that tone that always makes me feel like a child again—chiding and vaguely disappointed, but also full of comfort and care. “Seven days? You couldn’t answer your phone? Your mother’s been worried sick.”

I turn around, unable to look him in the eye. He follows my retreat to the living room.

“I’m thirty-three years old, dad. She needs to accept that I don’t need her fussing just because I’m off sick for a bit. Besides, it’s not like she thought I was dead. I texted her. Twice. Coffee?”

He nods at my offer. “You know how she gets. She wouldn’t be able to handle it if something happened to you.”

“A stomach bug isn’t going to kill me.”

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