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stain remained. "Better me than one of the others."
"You tried to kill me." Gillian blinked on every word, not knowing
where to look.
"If I'd wanted you dead you would be. It's not like you could have
stopped me." Patryk clutched his fists into his sides.
"But..." Gillian tried to speed think.
He stamped off and hit the far wall with his balled fist. "What
choice did I have? Huh?" He whirled around and paced. "It was you
or him. Should I have made a different call?"
"But..." She was hoping another word would start coming out of
her throat.
"Need it figured out for you? I bring the clean clothes to leave
outside the door and he brings the food. He brought you, nothing else.
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Do the math." Patryk ground his teeth and kicked at the stain on the
floor.
"Then..." She ran her fingers through her tattered hair.
"Precisely. He was going to rape and kill you or kill then rape you.
One way or the other you were dinner." He picked up a scrap of
Sebastian from the wall and tossed it into the incinerator, closing the
door so quickly it bounced back open before closing.
"You choose me." Gillian spoke each word distinctly.
"Your disappearance would be noticed a lot sooner than his..." He
choked back the last words.
"But then why did you bite me?" She backed up the wall until she
was standing, not wanting his cock to be the first thing she saw when
looking in his direction.
"Rules are rules." Patryk strode back and forth across the room.
"No human can see us change and remain..."
"Human." Gillian finished his sentence before he could.
Patryk turned to look at her. "It was that or kill you. Rules are
rules. I told you that. Anything else puts us in danger. It's survival."
He looked away and down at his feet.
Gillian inspected the front and back of her hands.
"You won't change until next moon. No one will be able to see it,
not even you, until then." he shuffled his feet.
"Is this for real?" She looked down her top. Her breasts were still
there, just where she left them. Good breasts, not hairy.
"Yes, though, you'll start to get stronger and larger gradually over a
number of moons. People will just think they misjudged you. Their
puny minds won't have any other recourse for making sense of you
otherwise." He trudged closer to her. "I'm sorry. I really am. I had
no choice except kill us all."
Gillian tested out the strength of her legs and threw a high-five
punch into the air. "This is fucking, freaking, awesome."
Patryk raised his eyebrow. "You didn't lose that much blood." He
slowly put his hand out to feel her head.
"I didn't say you could touch me." Gillian looked at the hand until it
retracted.
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"This is permanent, you know that, right?" He wrung his hands.
"Which is what makes this so fucking brilliant. I'm not the thing
everyone steps on anymore. I'm the monster this time. No more
damn weakling that scampers after everyone else bidding. They can
get out of my way once in a while now." Gillian puffed out her chest
and raised her head high to meet his downcast eyes. "Just you wait
and see."
"Shit." Patryk covered his eyes.
"Oh don't give me that. I'm not doing a Sebastian, but there's no
reason I can't be like you." She licked her lips.
Patryk eyelids flickered.
"So you can be stopped, talking at least." Gillian's lips widened into
a smile with teeth bared.
"I'm an alpha. Taking me down isn't easy." Patryk's chest caved in.
"Stop looking like you lost your puppy. No reason I can't be a
monster on the side of decency. Still can do my job most days of the
month, helping the humans that deserve it."
"There's a bit more to it." He scratched the back of his neck.
Gillian's mouth stopped widening. "And that would be?"
Patryk looked at his cuticles.
"I'm waiting." She jumped as the door clicked open. They both
looked at it and Gillian moved to block it, making him go through her
to leave.
He swallowed audibly, rubbing at his nose. "When an alpha bites
his first female she sort of well becomes his mate like when an alpha
bites his first male a new alpha is formed."
"You asshole." Gillian spread her arms to fill the door.
"Would you rather be raped and killed? What should I have done,
let him kill you and then try offing me?" Patryk turned his back to her
and walked the circumference of the room.
He rubbed his face raw with his palms. "When the monster came to
our boarding school and took us Sebastian became the murder always
lurking behind his swaggering good looks and I went from school
president to alpha. The virus rules, not the sorry ass humans that get
infected. I'm just a host like all the others. Take it out on the one that
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claimed us and made us be brothers in his clan if you want one to
blame, or maybe the one who turned him and on and on."
Gillian waved away his diatribe. "So I'm your whore?" Her nails
tapped on the door frame.
"No, but you've been marked so no other male will mate or sleep
with you, meaning it's me or celibacy. None of them around here are
as stupid, lewd, or insane as Sebastian was." He coughed on saying
his brother's name and bowed his head for a second. "Even if I didn't
like you, I'd still fight for you."
"Then it's time I lay the ground rules. This time it's your head
smashed into the wall and I hump you for all I can get." Gillian
grabbed her crotch and pretended to jerk off like a man beast with
tongue lolling out.
Patryk looked around at the walls. "You sure Sebastian didn't crack
your head against the tile?" He gave her a worried glance
"I'll add sexist pig to your list of faults." Gillian braced her elbow
against the doorjamb and glared. "Did you want me a quivering mess
shrieking and howling because my life is in ruins and running to you
for protection as I try to beat you senseless out of anger? Would that
make your male pride happier?"
Patryk's jaw dropped.
"I've had it with people not respecting me because I'm small and
too good to say 'no.' Now it's payback time. People are going to share
the sidewalk with me and have to say thank you and please. And that
includes you." She stamped her feet and snorted. "No more perfectly,
demure, and silent throw away girl who cowers in others shadows
apologizing for existing. You got that?"
Patryk's head went up and down like a yo-yo.
"Got a problem with that?" She squinted and tried to elongate her
spine to the point of popping.
His head swiveled into side-to-side motion.
"Seen too many emotionally devouring partnerships to be the
psychologically addictive kind. A mate should be good in bed and
have my back. You've proven yourself on both fronts."
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She stopped talking to watch him blush which was good because
the words coming out of her mouth were as shocking to her
as him,
and it was her lips that moved. She'd never spoken like this before,
ever, to anyone, not even to herself.
He slowly walked towards her, keeping his palms open to her and
in full view. "It's overwhelming, isn't it, the first time it hits your
system. Makes all the wants come tumbling down past the crumbling
censors. You feel invincible, right?" He stopped short of plowing into
her.
Gillian wedged herself in the door, backing up as much as she
could without losing her vantage point.
"When the pack caught us," he paused and steadied himself, "I felt
it too, so did Sebastian, too much so. Sebastian never came down
from the high, never grounded himself in repercussions of waking up
human and living with what you do during a full moon."
Her muscles quivered, making it hard to stay upright. "Sebastian
never cared about others so there was no regret. You're like me and
will wake up too scared to get through the day if you don't keep to the
rules."
Gillian grasped the door and frame to keep from falling. "Don't tell
me who I am."
"I'm not. You already told me that much about yourself." He put
his hand gently on her shoulder. "Come on let me take you back to
your place so you can sleep this off and get some food into your
system. The roller coaster ride you're about to start will eat up all
your reserves and make you sick if you don't get nourishment."
She wanted to shake off his hand but couldn't. "What going to
happen to me?"
"You're going to feel higher and sicker than you ever have for the
next three days. You'll want to kill yourself in between fucking
anything alive to get rid of energy." He put his other hand on her
shoulder and gently pulled her into him.
"And is it your cock you're offering then?" Her head slumped into
his chest.
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"You've already been introduced to it you might as well get as
much from it as you can." He petted her damp hair.
"Because it's the only one I'm ever going to see." She started to
slide down him until he caught her.
"I was hoping you'd forget that part for now, but yes." He gently
placed her on the floor.
"A woman normally gets a ring for this kind of commitment you
know." She felt the world start to fade away again.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amber Rose Thompson lives and works in New York City. By day
a public librarian, at night and in the early morning she spins erotic
tales of romance with heavy BDSM and paranormal influences. Her
books are the type no public library will ever carry.
Born a woman, Amber Rose transitioned to a man part way through
her writing career. Writing under a pen name, Amber Rose enjoys
playing with gender roles and shifting power play.
Married to the women of her dreams, she uses her wife to both test
and inspire her writing. Her major writing block is a small tabby cat
who believes hands are for petting.
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OTHER BOOKS BY AMBER ROSE THOMPSON
Sanya's Nights
Pushing Boundaries
Taken Bi Love
Scheherezade's Gift
Tied To Passion
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