by Emilia Rose
“Nothing.”
“Did you go out last night and kill a rogue?”
“Alpha Roman let a rogue on his property?” I asked, faking surprise.
He shoved me against the wall, clenching my jaw in his hand. “Don’t play stupid.” His lips brushed against my ear. “I smelled you out in those woods this morning when I was training with the warriors.” His fingers dug into my skin. “Now, what were you doing?”
I clenched my jaw. He wasn’t going to let this go. “Like I said before… nothing.”
When his eyes turned pure black, he growled. “All I want is to keep people in this pack safe, but you are set on putting yourself in danger.”
I growled in return, pushing him off of me and stepping forward. “I can take care of myself. I’m strong. I’m smart. And…” I crossed my arms. “I think you’re intimidated by me.”
It all made sense. If I was ranking close to Beta Cayden that could mean that I may outrank him… someday. All the pieces were fitting together. Well, sorta. Roman placed me in the hospital so I wouldn’t get better, so I wouldn’t threaten his innate dominance and rule. He wanted to shut me down, instead of letting me rise.
“I’m trying to keep you safe, Isabella! Safe!” He snatched my chin in his hand again and shoved me against the wall with more force. “That is my job, and I don’t care if you get angry at me for it. I will be placing a guard at your house at all times. You are not to leave your room at night until I say otherwise.”
“And if I do?”
“You won’t.”
“I will.”
“You won’t.” His voice was hard. “And if you do… I’ll have to lock you up in the packhouse with me so I can keep an eye on you.”
I brushed a finger up his forearm, watching him tense. “I bet you would like that, huh?”
He gulped, eyes flickering to my lips. “No, I wouldn’t,” he said. Oh, Moon Goddess, he totally would. “I would rather my pack members follow my orders.”
“You know I don’t follow orders, Alpha.” I gazed up into his golden eyes, my heart racing. “Guess you’ll have to tie me to your bed to make sure I don’t go anywhere.”
He growled lowly, and I felt him harden against my stomach. I didn’t know why I was still entertaining the idea of him after visiting the Lycans. I would have to leave this pack soon and get over this all… but right now… all I wanted was him.
Isabella
His minty scent drifted into my nostrils, and I inhaled like he was a drug. I wouldn’t mind him waiting outside for me, dragging me back into his room, and finishing what he had started. Staring at me from the foot of his bed, his muscles swollen, the pure dominance dripping off of every inch of him. My wolf purred.
“Fine,” Roman said through clenched teeth, his golden eyes fading to green. “No guards.”
My brows furrowed together. “What?”
He stepped away from me. “Go out if you want.”
Go out? He was just going to let me go out without consequences? Without guards? Without protecting me from rogues? I arched a brow at him. He would never do that. “What’re you doing?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He shrugged his shoulders and stepped away from me, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Do whatever you want to do.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. This was not how he worked. He wasn’t supposed to let me do whatever I wanted. He was supposed to fight with me. He was supposed to try to control me, try to dominate me.
“Later, Isabella.” He turned and walked all the way down the hallway toward the exit doors.
No way was I going to let him just walk away from me. I stepped forward. “You might not have a guard out there, Roman,” I said. “But you’ll be out there, waiting for me.”
With one hand grasping the doorknob, he gazed back with those dangerous eyes of his. “That’s where you’re wrong.” Then he walked right out of the building, leaving me dumbfounded.
I shook my head and growled under my breath. If he wanted me to go out tonight, then I would go out to get myself into trouble. Bratty? Yes. But he liked bratty. He was giving me a chance to do what I wanted. Whether he came out to get me or not, he would be watching.
Mr. Beck chuckled from his wheelchair. “You two are something else.”
“We aren’t anything.”
“I’ve been around for too long.” He gazed back out at the cardinals and grasped the mate’s necklace he had around his neck. “I know it when I see it.”
“You know what?” I asked, snatching his wheelchair and wheeling him to his room. “That he’s an asshole about 99% of the time?”
He swayed back and forth. “That you like him.”
I scoffed. “I do not like him.” His cock, maybe, but not him. Not someone who didn’t respect me. Not someone who placed me in the hospital when I was the best warrior he ever had. Not someone who got on every one of my nerves.
“You do, and that’s why you’ll go out tonight. You disobey him to get his attention.”
I clenched my jaw. Here I was standing in the hospital, listening to an old man tell me exactly how I was feeling and why I was feeling it. And the craziest part of this whole thing was that it was all true. Mr. Beck was right.
My wolf and I wanted his attention.
I didn’t know why. Maybe we had a connection… maybe he was my—No. He couldn’t be. A wolf wouldn’t disrespect his mate. Mates lifted each other up; they didn’t tear each other down.
After pushing Beck into his room and turning on the TV for him, I sighed. “Okay, well… I’ll be off.”
Before I could leave, he grasped my hand. “Isabella.” He pointed a finger at me. “I’ll be expecting those details tomorrow.” He elbowed me. “If he doesn’t lock you in his bedroom first.” Then he burst into another fit of laughter, his dentures nearly falling out of his mouth.
I tapped my fingers on the coffee table at The Night Raider’s Café, a large tree-shaded café perched between five different packs that doubled as a club during the wee-hours of the morning. Men and women from all the nearest packs bustled around it. I gazed down at the two extra-fudge brownies with cute little Moonflower-shaped sprinkles that sat in front of me and then the door. Where was he?
While trying to keep my eyes open until Derek got here, I rested my head on the window. It felt like forever since I hung out with him, even though it was just yesterday. All I wanted was to gush about my time with the Lycans last night, but Derek would blab to Roman about it. He was one of those goody-two-shoes. Not a brat like me.
“Your mate wear you out last night?” Vanessa sat down directly across from me, her screechy voice ringing in my ear. “Derek is such a cutie,” she said, annoyance laced in every word.
What was her problem? One moment she was angry that Roman was flirting with me, the next she was angry that Derek was my mate. She was so damn confusing, and I didn’t even want to deal with her. But… I had to keep up that lie so she didn’t find out about Roman and I.
When she found out about us, everyone would know. Even though I would leave this pack soon to become a Lycan, I didn’t want any rumors like that to spread.
And, plus, there was no harm in having a bit of fun.
“I know.” I smiled at her.
She placed an elbow on the table and leaned toward me. “Is he good in bed?” she asked with a blank face and curious yet angry eyes. “Tell me.” Her voice sounded almost desperate.
I grabbed her hands, hoping that she would stop. Stop this. Stop prying. Stop being so annoying. “He’s amazing!”
Her eyes widened. “No way.”
“And… his fingers…” I slapped a hand over my heart. “They do wonders when he’s giving it to me from behind.”
She made an ‘o’ with her lips, eyes softening. Then she smiled. “Isabella, I’m so happy for you!” Her voice sounded anything but happy. It sounded jealous. I bet she was just trying to get with any man that talked to me. Next, she’d be over Ryker when everyone fo
und out I had been recruited.
The bell on the café door rang, and Derek walked into the room. When he approached us, she stood. “Well, I’ll leave you two Love Birds alone for now.”
Derek gazed at her for a long moment, then at me. “What was that all about?” he asked.
I chuckled and slid a brownie in his direction. “Nothing.” Absolutely nothing.
Isabella
Let’s just say that word got around fast.
Vanessa blabbed to everyone in our entire pack that Derek and I were mates and that he was soooo good in bed. When we walked back onto pack property, everyone gazed over at us and whispered. Some elder wolves congratulated the newest couple, but most young she-wolves were staring lovingly at Derek like he was a sex god who could please them just by looking in their directions.
I walked up the porch stairs to home, smelling the faint scent of meatloaf in the garbage from the other night.
Stupid me for thinking rumors spread about me and Derek were better than rumors about me and Roman. My wolf retired inside of my mind, refusing to speak to me when I lied to everyone. Yes. Derek was my mate. No. Roman and I had done nothing together.
Even though my wolf didn’t want it, maybe this was exactly what I needed. A perfect distraction as I flirted with Roman and began my recruitment to the Lycans.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
* * *
From: Rachel
Message: Did you find your mate?!?! Mr. Beck is saying you did?!
* * *
I took a deep breath through my nose and reached for the door, but someone pulled open before I could. Mom grinned at me, clapping her hands together. “Izzy!” She pulled me into a hug. “Derek is your mate?! You’ve been keeping it a secret for—What?—five, six months since he turned eighteen?! Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Mom… he’s not my mate.” I awkwardly patted her back and looked at Dad. “It’s just something that Vanessa made up.”
Dad wrapped her arms around her shoulders, trying to pull her away. “I told you. She won’t know for sure until it’s her birthday. And besides, Sweetheart, if they were mates, Derek and her would’ve been all over each other when he turned eighteen a few months ago.”
Mom playfully slapped his chest, her mate’s necklace shifting on her chest. “He might be! You never know!”
Since we had been in diapers, Mom wanted us to end up together. So, I decided not to argue with her. Derek was the “perfect boy” for me, she had said. But, for me, he was too… how do I say this lightly… too submissive. Roman could order him to do anything, and he would do it at the snap of his finger. I wanted someone who was just as hard-headed as I was.
A vicious warrior. A strong wolf. A Roman.
Moonlight flooded in through the window. I inched toward the stairs, hoping that Mom and Dad would let me get out of another meatloaf dinner. I loved Dad, but… his cooking was… for the rogues.
“I’m going out with Derek tonight,” I shouted once I had successfully snuck up the stairs. I tossed my white doctor-in-training jacket onto my bed and looked out the window. Expecting Roman to be waiting for me. Expecting to see his golden eyes. Becoming disappointed each minute he wasn’t there.
The woods were empty and quiet. The only light came from the Moonflowers on my windowsill and not his glowing eyes. Damn it. I didn’t expect him to actually stay home. I expected him here.
I tugged on some shorts and a t-shirt, walking back downstairs and right out the door. “Love you,” I said to my parents before leaving. “Sorry about lying,” I said to myself and shut the door behind me.
Like Roman promised, no guards were perched at my front door. And I felt… weird. I didn’t want him to just let me do whatever. I wanted him to push me back, to scold me. It was exciting to see him standing above me, tugging off his belt, pushing his cock against my lips.
I shredded my clothes, shifted into my wolf, and ran through the woods.
Everything was silent. No wolves. No guards. No Roman.
After blowing off a deep breath and saying, “fuck it”, I ran to the packhouse to find him. Though the packhouse was unusually quiet, a single light flickered off on the second floor, and I stood outside his house, my tail wagging back and forth like a dog’s. He was here.
Roman appeared downstairs in the kitchen, a black sweater hugging his muscles, his hair tousled to the side. He opened the fridge, took out a bowl of grapes, and walked back up the stairs. The light turned back on.
I growled lowly, glaring up at his window. Damn him. What was wrong? Why wasn’t he outside, trying to find me? I slammed my paw into the dirt like the immature little brat I was and furrowed my brows together.
All I wanted was a damn good night, running away from him through the woods, letting him chase me. We didn’t even have to have sex; we could go to the cave and spend hours there. My wolf was just craving him.
After another minute, I sighed. Well, if he didn’t want that, then I was going back home. Settling on Dad’s meatloaf, lying in my bed, staring at the Moonflowers. Perfect fucking night.
I turned around, growling under my breath again, and stopped suddenly when I saw him. Staring at me with those dark eyes, he approached me slowly and kept his head low.
My eyes widened, and I stepped back. Ready to run. My heart was racing inside my chest. He bared his teeth at me. And, in a moment, he had clamped them into the scruff of my neck and began dragging me to the back door of the packhouse.
I whimpered and squirmed in his grip.
When he reached the door, he shifted, and I followed. With his hand wrapped around the back of my neck harshly, he pushed me into the garage—grabbing a thick piece of black rope on the way—and then shoved me toward the stairs.
“Let me go,” I said, struggling in his grip, my whole body naked and exposed.
“No.”
After shoving me into his bedroom and onto his bed, he snatched my wrists, bound them together tightly, and tied the other end of the rope to his headboard.
I pulled against it, my breasts bouncing. “Let me out.”
“This is what you wanted. I’m finally giving you what you want. Be fucking happy.”
“This isn’t what I want.”
His lip curled angrily at me, a golden fire raging in his eyes. “Well, what would please my dear Isabella? Do you want me to get Derek for you? Maybe you want him to fuck you from behind? Would you like that?”
Fuck.
Vanessa the Bitch was at it again.
Isabella
My heart thrashed against my ribcage. This was, oddly, exactly what I had wanted. Him to drag me up into his room. Him to slam the door and lock it. Him to take me anyway that he wanted me. But I never expected this rage.
Ravenous eyes, razor-sharp canines, and claws that could tear me piece by piece, he stood on the other side of the room and stared at me. I had seen angry Roman, but I had never seen furious Roman.
I scurried to the headboard, my tied hands now at my side. “We didn’t do anything,” I said, struggling with the rope.
His jaw twitched, golden eyes fixed on mine, hands balled into tight fists. He parted his lips, showing me his viciously long canines that I wanted to just sink right into me. “Don’t give me that.” He growled. “Don’t lie to me.”
After debating my options, I decided to be a good girl for once and to tell him the truth. A part of me screamed at myself to just obey him, just do what he wanted, but that part of me obviously couldn’t see how fucking sexy my alpha looked right now. Dominance dripping off of his every word, his every fucking move.
“Fine.”
His nostrils flared. “Fine?”
“I would very much like you to call Derek over. Unlike you, he actually fucks me when he tells me he will. He takes me from behind and thrusts his cock deep inside of me until I’m thoroughly fuc-”
He yanked me as close to the edge of the bed as I would go by my ankle. Then he flipped me over and pulled my ass into
the air. The rope dug into my wrists, becoming tighter and tighter, and I whimpered.
“I’m not going to fuck you, Isabella.” He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at his darkening eyes. “Not until you learn.” After placing one knee on the bed between my legs, he pressed his hardness against my bare pussy, grabbed a fistful of my hair, and drew me closer to him. “But I guarantee you that when I’m done with you, you will have learned a lesson.”
My lips curled into a smirk. “But I have work tomorrow.”
“Oh, Isabella...” He gently caressed the side of my cheek, his lips moving against my ear. “... it won’t take that long.”
“You sure about th—”
He plunged a finger into me, his thumb rubbing small circles against my clit. I pressed my lips together, trying to suppress a moan as it moved around inside of me. His minty scent drifting into my nostrils, and my wolf purred.
Oh, Moon Goddess, this was an amazing way to teach me a lesson.
He groped my breast in one of his large, calloused hands and massaged it. Then he pinched my nipple between his fingers and tugged on it roughly, making me scream out in pleasure. After shoving another finger inside of me, he continued to thrust them in and out while pulling on my nipple, moving in a rhythmic fashion.
I clenched around his fingers, the pressure growing in my core. He growled lowly in my ear, fingers stilling. My mind buzzed with thoughts of his canines inside of my neck, of the pure pleasure that would rush through me like adrenaline. When I thought the pressure in my core subsided, he curled his two fingers and hit my g-spot. My legs shook, and I collapsed and moaned into the mattress, desperately pushing my hips back and forth on his fingers.
Once I had rode out my orgasm, he grabbed my hair, forced me back onto my knees, and rubbed his fingers on my bottom lip, making me taste myself. “Count for me,” he said. I sucked his fingers into my mouth, my whole body still tingling. He tugged harder on my hair, holding me close, and seethed in my ear, “Count, Isabella, or I’ll make you.”