And now there was an outsider—a beta—dangerously close to his property line.
Near his omega.
"Hope!" Maddox called her name before he realized what he was doing. He couldn't help it.
He knew she'd heard him. The water around her burbled as she spun toward the sound of his voice. In an instant, the fear rushed back into her scent.
He called her name again. "Hope. Come here now."
More water splashed as she stood, but she still didn't answer.
Maddox didn't have time for her stubbornness. He strained against the chain around his neck. His muscles tightened against the force, but the links still bit into his flesh. The tree behind him groaned but didn't give.
Fuck. He had to get through to her...and fast.
"There's someone in the woods," he yelled.
That did it. This time, she moved. Water splashed as Hope climbed from the spring. She didn't even stop to grab clothes. She just rushed to him.
As her instincts demanded.
Maddox sucked in another breath as she rounded the corner of the house—naked, wet, and glistening in the diffused morning light. She was gorgeous. Perfect.
And someone out there wanted to take her away from him.
Over his dead body.
Maddox's chest expanded. He pulled even harder against his bindings.
"Who is it?" Hope asked, stopping just far enough away that he couldn't quite get to her. Couldn't reach out and touch what he wanted—what he needed—most. "Who's out there?"
"Who do you think?" he growled in response. There was only one logical answer.
Her eyes were wide with fear. "The man who shot me?"
Maddox closed his eyes and threw back his head. It was easier to sense the intruder now that he was closer. His scent was marked with fear, but also with reckless bravado.
Not the same man…but one with the same intentions.
"Not him. One of his friends."
The color drained from Hope's face. The panic in her eyes, the scent of pure dread and terror pouring from her skin were enough to make Maddox forget about her nakedness. He barely noticed the single drop of water glistening on her taut nipple.
"Where is he?" Hope scanned the tree line, but Maddox knew she wouldn't be able to see a thing. Not with an omega's eyes.
"About a mile away," Maddox said. "And coming closer."
"What are we going to do?" Her lower lip began to tremble. Fear surrounded her like a fog, making her blind to the obvious.
"Get the key," he commanded her. "Unlock me."
Hope's eyes snapped to his. In a heartbeat, everything inside her shifted. All her fear, all her anxiety, focused on him.
"T-There has to be some other way," she sputtered. "There are weapons all over this place. Tell me what to do, and I'll take care of him myself."
Maddox shook his head. "The man out there knows what he's doing. He'll put a bullet through your head before you can draw back a bowstring."
"But…"
Maddox narrowed his gaze. He might not be able to grab her and physically bend her to his will, but he was still an alpha. Her alpha.
He would make her obey.
"There's no more time," he said. "Get. The. Key."
* * *
Hope couldn't believe she was doing this, but what choice did she have?
None.
She could either die from a gunshot to the head or be ripped apart by an angry, lust-driven alpha. That was no choice at all.
The last time she'd faced this decision, it hadn't gone so well. Hope could only pray she was making the right choice this time.
She snatched the key off the hook at the end of the bed and ran back outside before she could second-guess her decision.
The look in Maddox's black eyes made her stumble just a little as she flew down the porch stairs. There was murder in those eyes.
It was the same look she'd seen almost a week ago—fury that someone would dare come on to his property. That they would trespass on his soil. That they would dare to threaten what was his.
His.
Suddenly, Hope understood the fiery glint in Maddox's gaze. The one that always gave her chills. That made her both retreat and heat up at the same time.
Maddox looked at her as though he owned her.
In his eyes, she was his possession. His trinket. His omega.
And Hope had sworn that she would never belong to anyone again.
She paused, her toes just inches from the earthen trench he had paced into the ground.
"Before I do this, you have to promise me something," Hope said, holding the key in front of him, just out of reach.
"I don't have to promise anything," he snarled. "You need to unlock me."
Hope shook her head. "You need to promise that you won't take revenge on me for not doing this sooner."
Maddox bared his teeth. Yesterday, the sight would have sent her running for her life…but that was yesterday.
"Hope." His voice was so deep, so guttural that she would have sworn it shook the ground. "He's coming closer."
She didn't flinch. "Promise."
His jet black gaze narrowed. His lips curled. "Fine. I promise."
Hope let out the breath she'd been holding. That was as good as she was going to get. She only prayed that what she'd heard was true—that alphas didn't lie.
She stepped over Maddox's personal boundary line and moved behind him. She lifted the simple padlock, turned the key, and let the chains slip from his neck.
But Hope didn't retreat.
What would be the point? He was a free alpha now. There was nowhere she go that he couldn't reach her.
Maddox rolled his shoulders and neck, working out the kinks from his self-imposed imprisonment. Then he turned around to face Hope.
This time she couldn't help but flinch at the ever-intensifying look in his eyes. She bit her lip as he slowly lifted his hand toward her shoulder, but stopped just inches away. His hand clenched into a fist as if he were battling some deeper part of himself for control.
Then he backed away, still facing her.
"Not yet," he growled. "Soon."
He spun around, moving so swiftly and stealthily that he disappeared into the shadows of the forest in a heartbeat. In seconds Hope had lost track of him completely. She couldn't even hear his footsteps.
No wonder she'd nearly run straight into him that first day. How could someone so big be so silent? So invisible?
It was only when he was gone did Hope glance down and realize that she was totally naked. She hadn't grabbed her clothes when she'd bolted from the hot spring.
Oh, God.
A fresh wave of shame crashed over her. She dashed back into the cabin and grabbed a shirt from Maddox's closet and pulled it on. Even though the hem fell past her knees, Hope still felt exposed.
And she always would, she realized.
Maddox's gaze would always strip her bare. It would always cause her core to heat and her hips to shift involuntarily. The intensity in his dark eyes would always make the slick start to pool between her thighs.
No matter how hard Hope fought against the idea of Maddox owning her, a part of her had already ceded his claim. It was that part that kept her from running away. That part that kept her in his house, in his clothes, in his bed.
And now it was keeping her hovering anxiously by the window, scanning the trees for his return.
Minutes ticked by, and shadows shifted in the woods, but Hope still didn't see a soul. She hadn't heard anything, either.
No gunshots. No screams. Just the wind and the birds.
Of course, that didn't mean nothing had happened. The beta could have had a suppressor on his gun. He might have come with a crossbow. Hell, he might have gotten in a lucky slash of a blade across Maddox's neck.
And her alpha could be out there sprawled in a shallow grave.
Just like Dave and Sandra.
The knots in Hope's stomach twisted unbearably. Oh God, she
was going to be sick.
She stepped away from the door just as it crashed open. She let out a yelp as the massive slab of wood crashed against the wall, but it wasn't a black-masked killer standing in the doorway.
It was Maddox.
She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of him—bare-chested, dripping wet, and very much alive.
Instantly, Hope's eyes were drawn to the broad, hard expanse of his chest. She wet her lower lip with her tongue. The heat returned to the vee of her legs.
Hope took a step back and tried to shake the image from her head. It wasn't the time.
"What happened?" she asked.
"The same thing that happened to his friend." Maddox dropped his discarded shirt over the back of a chair. Hope's breath hitched at the blood dripping from the edge.
Oh, dear God.
"Don't worry," he continued, already twisting open the button of his jeans. "I washed what was left of him off in the hot spring before I came back. He doesn't get to touch an inch of you. Not even a drop of his blood."
Chapter Eight
"Maddox…" Hope said his name out loud for the first time. "I don't… I'm not…"
The alpha came in through the door, and Hope stepped back, retreating from the coal-black gaze that she now knew that she would never escape.
"You're not what?"
Oh, God. The room wasn't big enough to escape the rumble of his voice.
It had been hard enough to control her desires when Maddox was at a safe distance, chained with unbreakable iron links. Now that he was standing a few feet away, his power and ferocity undeniable, it was almost impossible. Her thighs were already starting to dampen.
Hope twisted her hands behind her back, interlacing her fingers just to keep herself from reaching for him. She desperately wanted to run them over the tight, defined plane of his abs, up to his broad chest, and back down to—
"I'm not ready for this," she blurted. She didn't have to explain herself. Maddox knew exactly what she was talking about.
He came a step closer, making a show of taking up all the space in the room, towering over her. A tingle of electric desire ran up Hope's spine as Maddox closed his eyes and took a long, slow breath, savoring her scent.
"Yes, you are," he said, opening his eyes. "Now, take off that shirt."
"But—"
"No more talk," he cut her off with a growl. He didn't ask again. He simply seized the fabric of her collar and ripped the fabric, tearing the shirt in half so that it fell to the floor, exposing her to him.
Hope struggled to breathe as his eyes somehow became even darker, taking in her naked body. She hadn't bothered with the underwear that couldn't even begin to keep up with her slick. Every bit of her was on display, and he took his time looking, making sure that she knew it.
Then he picked her up. His arms—as strong and firm as she'd imagined they'd be—wrapped around her middle. One moment, Hope was standing on shaking legs; the next, she was being tossed into the center of his massive bed.
Maddox stood at the foot of the bed, piercing her with a predatory stare. Like a cat with a mouse, she thought.
And now he's going to swallow me whole.
Still, Hope didn't even try to get away. She bit her lip, pinned by his gaze like a moth to a board. Her body was already under Maddox's control, ready to comply with whatever he wanted.
Hope waited, holding her breath, to learn what Maddox had in store for her, her resistance shattered.
She was ready to submit to him—all of her. Her body and her mind. She had no choice. What was the point of struggling? Where was she could she possibly go?
But that was all bullshit.
The truth was that her lust was burning hotter than ever because of her submission. Hope couldn't explain it. She would never have expected it. But she wanted this. To be told what to do. Ordered, even.
To be used. To be owned.
The proof was pooling on the bare mattress—more slick than her body had ever produced before.
Hope tried not to squirm as he pulled off his pants. His cock was already hard and ready.
"Spread your legs for me," Maddox growled.
This time Hope obeyed immediately, driven by the intensity in his eyes. There was something new between them. The protective walls around here were turning to rubble, as insignificant as dust. Maddox meant to have her, and his control took Hope to a place beyond resistance, beyond intent…beyond thought.
Even so, when Maddox took a rope from his pocket and started winding it around her ankle, she instinctively tried to jerk her leg back.
"What are you doing?" she gasped as the rope pulled tight, holding her in place.
"What does it look like?" Maddox said, not looking up from his task. Before Hope could react, he'd lashed her ankle to one of the posts at the foot of the bed.
She kept her mouth shut as he attended to her other ankle. Didn't say a word as he moved on to her wrists.
But as he started to tie the final knot and Hope realized how helpless she was, spread-eagled in the center of the massive bed, her trance lifted, and she struggled against her bonds.
It was no use. Maddox's grasp was too strong. Too brutal. The ropes held, and the final knot pulled tight.
And when he finally stood back to check his work, nodding slightly in satisfaction, she melted again, the fight leaving her. It was clear this wasn't a game to him. This wasn't play.
He wanted her restrained, helpless not just against him—but helpless against her own fears and discomforts and inhibitions. Helpless against everything she thought she knew, everything her life had taught her until this moment.
He meant to bend her to his will, to force her to comply with his desires, no matter how raw or shocking.
"You promised you wouldn't take revenge," she whispered.
The alpha made a sound that wasn't quite a laugh.
"This isn't revenge," he said. "This is justice. I spent five days tied up for you. Now you're going to be tied up for me."
* * *
The scent of the slick pouring from between Hope's spread legs was driving Maddox mad.
He'd spent five days on edge, desperate for a taste of her. He'd barely noticed that he hadn't eaten, that the ground below him was covered in rocks and brambles. That the nights were cold and the afternoon sun relentless. The only thing that existed for Maddox had been his need to plunge his fingers, tongue, and cock into her sweetness.
And now he was going to have her. Over and over again, until the fire inside him was finally doused. Until he could finally look at the omega without needing to bury himself inside her. Until every maddening thought was fucked out of his head, and he could be free of this madness.
Five days ought to do it. An even exchange for the time he'd spent in agony.
It had to work. Had to deliver him from this need that robbed him of his will. Had to finally drive her out of his system.
Five days, starting now.
Maddox wrapped his hands around Hope's ankles and slowly slid them up her legs until they rested on the smooth skin of her thighs. Then he slowly bent his head between them, flicking his tongue between her wet lips.
Hope hissed in pleasure. A new rush of slick poured out of her, splashing against his tongue.
Yes. This was what Maddox wanted. All he ever wanted.
He dove in for more, tasting, and licking, and sucking the delicate nub of her clit between his teeth. His ears echoed with the staccato beat of her heart, growing faster and harder with every motion of his tongue.
Fuck, she tasted like heaven. Every bit as amazing as he'd imagined.
And she sounded just as good too. Above him on the mattress, she panted and moaned, her soft cries tinged with frustration as she struggled against her bonds.
He could practically taste how badly she wanted to touch him. To let her hands and fingers explore his body. It was an omega's primal desire to take her alpha inside her.
It was the reflection of his own n
eed, the answer to his body's call. Every cell of his being raged to enter her. To fill her. To knot her. To claim her completely.
But just as he'd been denied for so long, he was now denying her.
Maddox gave her pussy one last swipe with his tongue. Justice never tasted so sweet.
Somehow Maddox managed to pull himself away from between her legs and prop himself above her. Her eyes, glazed with pleasure, stared up at him.
"Please," she gasped, her voice tremulous with emotion. She was asking him both for mercy and release. Her primal instincts eclipsed reason, obliterating all of her reservations and fears and objections.
She was begging him to show her want she needed.
In that instant, Maddox saw her with total clarity for the first time. Hope was a woman who had no idea what she was feeling. Who didn't know what she wanted. An omega who had been through her first heat but still hadn't felt the touch of her alpha.
Maddox couldn't take it any longer.
He slid the tip of his cock along her pussy, back and forth, creating delicious friction and covering him in her slick.
Hope squirmed beneath him. Her golden skin flushed with every movement.
"Please," she begged again.
Maddox would have teased her more, would have pushed her body to the very limits of what she could endure—all in the name of justice, he told himself—but he was already there himself.
He gave in and drove his cock against the hollow of her opening.
Hope gasped, and Maddox gritted his teeth as he sunk into the glorious heat of her pussy. He didn't go far. He couldn't.
She was so amazingly tight. The inner walls of her pussy resisted his intrusion, but her body didn't put up much of a fight. He felt her shudder as he pulled back, arching up against him, reclaiming him. And again, as he pushed back in.
With every stroke, Hope's body opened to him, answered him, echoed his rhythm.
Only for him.
Cries of pleasure filled his cabin, echoing off the walls as Maddox plowed into his omega again and again.
Her begging sharpened into indistinct cries as orgasms began to wrack her body. Slick flowed over Maddox's cock and soaked the mattress beneath them. The muscles inside her clenched and squeezed his shaft.
Maddox (The Boundarylands Omegaverse Book 4) Page 6