by Emilia Rose
Her gaze shifted from me to someone behind me. “Alpha Roman! Derek!” She motioned for them. Derek smiled at me, waving. He curled his arm around my shoulder when they had walked over to us.
Both Roman and Vanessa gazed at his arm around me. Then Vanessa turned to Roman, placing her fingers on his wrist. “Isabella met her mate.”
Roman gazed down at his arm and pulled himself out of her grip. He gazed at me, eyes a mess of green and gold. “She did?”
“No,” I said between clenched teeth.
Vanessa looked at Rachel. “Is he in our pack?”
Rachel froze beside me. Don’t you dare say anything. Don’t you dare say it. I pressed my lips together. Derek and Rachel both knew that I had been kind of seeing Roman, but if Vanessa found out…
“Yes,” I said before Rachel could ruin it. My hand curled around Derek’s wrist, hoping that she would put two-and-two together.
Her eyes widened, and she glanced between us. “You guys are mates? I thought you were just friends,” she said, frowning. She parted her lips to speak again, then wrapped her arms around her body as if she was shielding herself from us. Not a typical Vanessa reaction, but…
Derek shook his head. “We’re not mates.”
“Just seeing each other.”
“But you can’t tell anyone.” Derek continued my lie, and I thanked him twenty times over through the mindlink.
“We’re just trying to keep it down low,” I said.
Vanessa pushed out her hip and rested one hand on it. “I don’t believe it,” she said, eyeing me. “Kiss him if you’re together.” She stared at me, eyes flickering to my lips, and jaw clenched ever so softly.
I felt like I was in middle school with her sometimes. Hell, whether we kissed or not she would probably go blab to everyone that Derek was my mate and not just someone that I was seeing.
Roman tensed, his golden eyes staring right at me. I gazed at Derek. We had kissed when we were twelve, but there was no way I would kiss Derek now, especially with Roman standing there. I didn’t need to prove anything to Vanessa.
Rachel cleared her throat, tugging on Vanessa’s arm. “Vanessa, let’s go get a drink.”
Vanessa wouldn’t say no to that, and I silently thanked Rachel when they both walked away. I would definitely have to go out on that coffee date with her after that.
Roman’s gaze was burning into me, and I suddenly felt hot. Extremely hot. I grabbed Derek’s hand. “Well, lover-boy, let’s go get some food.” Because I needed some space to cool off.
Before I could drag Derek anywhere, Roman curled his hand around my arm and gave me a stern look that eventually faded into something softer. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. My arm was tingling again, and I bet his was too.
There was something unspoken between us, and we both accepted it without question. Neither one of us wanted to bring it up to each other, but neither one of us wanted to stop—whatever it was.
He released me and walked away.
~~~
Two hours later, Derek smooshed a marshmallow between two graham crackers, forgoing any chocolate in his smores because he needed to be lean for the warriors. I snatched the chocolate from him, sucked it between my teeth, and sighed in delight.
The moon was glowing high in the sky, and in a few hours I would have to meet Ryker at our borders. A weird feeling sat heavily in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t want to lie to everyone about what was going on, but I needed to.
Vanessa sat across from me, next to Roman’s sister Jane. She hadn’t taken her eyes off of me since she concluded that Derek and I were fucking. She burned her marshmallow in the fire; the light reflecting off of her eyes.
I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable under her gaze, and leaned closer Derek. “I’m going to use the bathroom.”
Derek gazed over at the packhouse, looking at Roman who was talking to Cayden at the backdoor Roman had taken a dip in the lake, his white v-neck hanging over his shoulder and beads of water rolling down his tan abdomen.
“No, you’re not,” Derek said.
No, I wasn’t. I couldn’t handle Roman anymore. Watching him walk around the whole night with a shirt that clung to his body, watching him walk out of the water and flipping his dark wet hair, watching his eyes flicker to gold every time he gazed at me. It was just enough to get my wolf going.
After the whole Vanessa incident, Roman was pissed. I swore he growled when Derek and I played together with some pups and when he drew his arms around me. Everything about Roman was driving me insane tonight for some reason, especially his jealousy.
I gave Derek my burnt marshmallow stick and walked over to the packhouse. Cayden nodded to me, smiling. “You look happy. You enjoying the hospital?”
“It’s doable.” I shrugged my shoulders and lingered near the door.
Roman gave me a soft, genuine smile, which made my wolf purr.
“Roman said that you’re working under Jakkobs now,” Cayden said.
Did he now? He wasn’t hiding the fact that I was supposed to be a nurse and not a doctor? I gazed at him, brow arched, but Roman didn’t say anything. Instead, he stood there with his huge arms crossed over his chest, beads of water dripping off his dark hair, and eyes such a soft gold.
The epitome of confusion.
He didn’t want me to be a doctor. He didn’t care that people knew I was. He didn’t assign me as a warrior. He expected me to practice during try-out week. He wanted me out of his hair. He couldn’t leave me alone.
“I am…” I gently patted Cayden’s forearm, fingers brushing over his skin. “... which means that I’ll be treating you if you end up in the hospital.”
Roman growled, his eyes shifting from a soft to a sharp, scathing gold. He stood taller, fists clenched and canines emerging from under his lips. Well, that was my cue.
“I should be going.” I smiled at them both and stepped into the house, glancing briefly at Roman. I walked down the hall, brushing my fingers across the walls to leave my scent for him to follow.
My core clenched when I heard his footsteps behind me, coming closer and closer, his minty scent so fucking strong. I could get high off of it if I wasn’t careful. I opened his office door and walked into the room.
When I was here last time, I was screaming at him. Now, I wanted to scream for him.
He closed the door softly behind us, and I hopped up onto his mahogany desk, my skirt riding up the sides of my legs. His gaze traveled down my body, then back up it. He tossed his shirt onto a chair and stalked toward me, each step dreadfully slow.
“Does the alpha want to talk again?” I asked, sucking my bottom lip between my teeth. Moon Goddess, he was so fucking sexy.
His fingers danced across my knees, sending tingles up my thighs. He parted my legs and stepped between them, pushing his hardness against my thin black bikini bottoms. He grabbed my chin roughly, his thumb brushing against my bottom lip. “I’m about to do more than talk to you.”
I raked my fingers up his taut chest. “And what is the oh-so-scary-alpha going to do to me?”
In one swift movement, he pulled me to the edge of the desk. I posted my forearms on the wood, leaning back and watching him yank down my bottoms and throw them to the other side of the room.
He leaned down, tongue immediately finding my clit. I drew my knees together, but he forced them apart and pinned my thighs to the desk. He inhaled deeply, eyes turning completely gold. “Fuck,” he mumbled. “I’ve been waiting so long to taste you.”
Pushing one finger inside of me, he continued to lap at my clit. I gripped the edge of the desk, trying to still my trembling body. My pussy clenched around him, and I bit my lip to muffle my moans.
He stared at me, golden eyes like the sun. Daring me to push him away. Daring me to try to push him away.
I shoved a hand through his hair, pulling him even closer. There was no pushing him away. I needed him closer, was aching to feel him inside of me, right here on his desk. Hi
It was what I had wanted. For him to claim me.
“Roman,” I said between shaky breaths.
He sucked my clit into his mouth, his tongue still moving in torturous circles, and pounded two fingers deep into me.
Someone knocked on the door, and I pressed my lips together, eyes widening. My core was aching with a rising pressure.
Roman didn’t stop. He continued to devour me—his stubble ticking my inner thighs, his hands pinning my legs to the desk, his fucking eyes taking in every inch of my body. I gazed at the door, worried.
They knocked again, and I bit my lip to hold in my moans. “Roman,” I whispered. My legs began to tremble, and I knew I was seconds away from releasing myself onto him. “Roman, please stop.”
“Alpha!” Vanessa’s nasally voice rang out through the door. I pressed my lips together. Oh, my Moon Goddess. I gulped, trying to draw my legs together again, but Roman pushed them down.
“Stop,” he ordered. “Look at me.” I gazed down at him, then back at the door. He growled and snatched my chin. “Me,” he said, voice full of dominance.
I gnawed on the inside of my cheek. “She’s going to come in,” I said in a hushed voice. There was no doubt in my mind that she would stroll right into Roman’s office in her little fucking bikini.
He released my chin, thrusting a finger back into my pussy and watching me squirm. “I will finish what’s mine. She will not interrupt me.” He pressed his tongue against my clit. One hand wandered up my torso to my breast, and he grasped it in his hand, pinching my nipple between his fingers.
I parted my lips, slapped a hand over my mouth to muffle my moans, and came all over him. Wave after wave of pleasure pulsed out of me, sending me higher than I had ever been. My mind was foggy, my whole body tingling. Yet he didn’t stop massaging my clit with his tongue.
Pressure rose in my core again. I curled a hand in his hair, brows furrowing. “Roman”—I threw my head back—“I’m going to...”
He wrapped an arm around my waist and picked me up off of the desk. I dug my fingers into his shoulders as his thrusted up into my pussy, hard and fast and so damn roughly. His canines grazed against my neck, poking the skin just barely.
“Yes,” I said softly into his ear. A rush of heat warmed my core. Hell, I didn’t even know what I had said or what he had done or what he would do. All I knew was that it felt too fucking good, and I wanted more. “Please.”
“Alpha Roman!” Vanessa said.
He growled loudly, and she quieted down, departing back down the hall.
Roman pressed his lips against my ear. “I want to hear you scream, Isabella. So fucking loud that everyone at this fucking party hears you.” He brushed his thumb against my swollen clit. “Cum for me.”
I parted my lips, my toes curling, and moaned his name, unable to hold it back.
“Fuck, baby,” he said, fingers slowing down until I had totally collapsed in his arms. He set me on his desk and leaned over me, placing his hands on either side of my thighs. He hung his head low, taking deep breaths to try to control his wolf.
After I ran my fingers through his hair, admiring it, he lifted his gaze to meet mine. His eyes were a beautiful, breath-taking gold.
All I could think about was staring into those eyes for the rest of my life, and it scared me because alphas were known to sleep with more than a few girls before they mated, and—it was so fucking wrong—but I wanted to be one of those girls. I’d be one of the lucky ones who got to see him under the moonlight, to draw my fingers across his cheeks when he was sleeping, to feel things like this because of him.
We gazed at each other for a few intimate moments, then he pulled away. I looked down at my lap, eyes flickering over the contents on his desk.
That look he gave me… it was so… so… different.
The crumpled sketch of me was sitting on his desk, next to his journal and a drawing of a Moonflower, his mother’s favorite. I brushed my fingers across the drawing, watched him retrieve my bikini from the other side of the room, and quickly hid the paper under the waistband of my skirt.
No, I would never be the woman in the drawing. But the picture was beautiful, and I wanted to keep it for my own selfish reasons.
Roman walked back over and handed me my bottoms. He leaned against his desk, watching me put it on. “Isabella,” he said softly. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
He paused for a long moment. “For giving the hospital a try.” His words were sincere, like he thought I had obeyed him for once in my entire life. “I’m really glad that you like it more than you thought you would.”
I pressed my lips together, my heart suddenly hurting. Staring into eyes filled with so much passion and at a smile that shattered my heart into a million pieces, I hated myself for going behind his back, for going to meet Ryker tonight, for giving up on this.
Whatever we were.
Chapter 18
Roman
She stared at me with the most beautiful eyes that I had ever seen; they glimmered under the moonlight that flooded in through my office windows. And that smile. Moon Goddess, her smile got me every time.
But, instead of one of her over-joyous or flirty smiles I had come to know and love, her smile was filled with sadness, and I didn’t know why. Maybe she didn’t like the hospital as much as I thought she did. Sure, I didn’t expect her to love it. But this morning when I visited her, she seemed to get along with everyone quite well.
The way she walked around the hospital reminded me of Mom, so caring, so nurturing. She’d make a perfect Luna someday. Yes, I hated going back to the last place I saw Mom, but Isabella made it so much easier.
She parted her plump lips and pushed past me. “I have to go.”
I wanted to pull her back, to keep her here with me, to show her all of my drawings of her. Though she didn’t like the first one, she was just hurt. If she saw the other ones, if she saw each one that I had drawn each night, she would love them. She looked so strong in them, just as she was.
Instead of pulling her back, I watched her leave and sighed through my nose. I couldn’t wait until she turned eighteen. Every day was pure torture now that I didn’t see her. And every night was pure torture, killing rogues in the woods near her house and knowing that she would be safer with me in my packhouse.
“Rogue spotted at the border,” a guard said through my mindlink.
I clenched my jaw, inhaling her lingering scent. “Kill him,” I ordered. There would be more tonight, like every night. I just needed them to stay away long enough for Isabella and her family to get home safely.
After clearing my head, I walked out of my office. Vanessa was waiting in the kitchen for me. “What’re you up to?” she asked, brow raised.
“That’s none of your business.”
“You were with Isabella.”
I arched a brow at her. “Like I said, ‘That’s none of your business.’”
She placed a hand on her hip. “Why were you with her?”
I growled. Did she not hear a word that I just said? She had no place to ask about my Isabella. She was in no place to ask questions. “What’s your obsession with her?”
She crossed her arms over her chest, jaw clenched, huffed, and walked out of the house. That woman was crazy. Absolutely crazy.
I grabbed a spare shirt from my bedroom, tossed it over my shoulder, listened to my guards speak through the mindlink about the growing number of rogues outside the borders, and walked out of the house.
“Five spotted to the North,” another guard said through the link.
There were so fucking many of them.
“Three to the West.”
“Two more to the West.”
I frowned at Isabella. This was more proof. Proof that I made the right decision—keeping Isabella as a nurse. No matter how much it hurt me. Dad couldn’t protect Mom, but I would protect Isabella.
Her gaze caught mine. “Guard the forest,” I said through the link. “No rogues get within fifty feet of the property until everyone gets home.”
After my parents died, I hunted down all the rogues that I could find and killed them. Now, after six years, they were back. And I would not chance losing Isabella to them too. They targeted my family before; I didn’t put it past them to do it again.
Chapter 19
Isabella
After listening to Roman praise me for lying to him, I walked right out of the room without speaking a word. I couldn’t listen to him. I couldn’t look at that smile of his and that softness in his eyes.
My stomach turned. I hated every second of it. When he found out that this was all a lie, he would be so hurt. He wouldn’t look at me the same. He wouldn’t give me the same smile.
I shook my head and made a beeline for Mom and Dad. This wasn’t my fault. If he would’ve just accepted me as a warrior, I wouldn’t even consider becoming a Lycan. Sure, becoming a Lycan was always a goal; but I just wanted to protect. A warrior would have sufficed because I enjoyed being in Roman’s pack, under his command, with him.
Mom was curled in Dad’s sweatshirt by the fire, staring at him with the flames reflecting off of her eyes. All I wanted was a relationship like theirs, and I hoped the Moon Goddess would give me that soon with a mate. Then—maybe—I wouldn’t feel bad about leaving Roman.
“There you are, Izzy,” Mom said.
“Your mother and I are leaving,” Dad said. Good, I needed to get out of here. I had to meet Ryker soon. “You can stay with Derek a little longer if you—”
“No, let’s go home.” I watched Roman walk out of the packhouse with that same soft expression that he had. For the briefest moment, his eyes met mine. But I looked away, the guilt smothering me.
~~~
When we finally got back to the house, it was nearly 11pm. I retired to my room, shut my door, and breathed in the refreshing scent of Moonflowers. They twinkled on my windowsill, lighting up my room like Christmas lights. I brushed my finger against the Luna Raya’s keychain and smiled.
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