Chapter 9
Wreck
“I thought you were gonna stand her up.”
Havoc’s voice carried across the gravel lot while I stood half inside my truck throwing away enough trash to qualify as a small environmental disaster.
I grunted and crushed another empty energy drink can in my fist before tossing it into the garbage bag.
The inside of the truck looked like shit.
Protein bar wrappers littered the floorboards.
Beef jerky bags jammed between the seats.
Coffee cups stacked in the cup holders from weeks of fourteen-hour shifts and emergency call-outs.
Usually I didn’t give a fuck.
Tonight I cared so much it made my skin itch.
Because Gia Anatoly was getting into this truck.
Gia with her soft curves and rainwater scent and grass-green eyes that glowed when she got emotional.
Gia who looked at me like I wasn’t something broken.
The Bear surged violently at the thought of her.
Mine.
I gritted my teeth hard enough that my jaw popped.
“I’m not,” I replied finally.
Havoc snorted from where he leaned against his Jeep.
“That’s it? ‘I’m not?’”
I slammed the truck door shut harder than necessary.
“I don’t owe you an explanation, dog breath.”
The Wolf just folded his arms over his chest.
“You’re getting close, man.”
My pulse kicked once.
Hard.
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“You know exactly what it means.” Havoc tilted his head slightly. “You already scent-marked her cabin.”
“So fucking what if I did?”
“The whole damn camp smells like you.” He shrugged. “So either you’re about to get yourself mated or your instincts are fucked. Just admit it, man, you already picked her.”
The Bear made a pleased sound.
Mine.
“Shut up.”
“You’re spiraling.”
“I’m cleaning my truck.”
“You’re nesting.”
I froze.
The word hit something raw inside me.
“Nesting?”
Havoc’s expression shifted slightly when he realized how close to snapping I already was.
“Okay maybe not full nesting,” he muttered. “But you’re acting weird as shit.”
Weird didn’t even begin to cover it.
The last twenty-four hours felt like someone reached into my chest and rewired every instinct I had around one female.
I couldn’t think straight.
Couldn’t sleep.
Couldn’t stop scenting her everywhere even though she wasn’t physically here.
The Bear paced nonstop beneath my skin, restless and agitated and so violently aware of her absence that it bordered on painful.
Go to her.
Need her.
Mate.
Mine.
The constant pressure of it was driving me fucking insane.
I dragged both hands through my hair and leaned against the truck.
“What if I can’t control it?” I asked quietly before I could stop myself.
Havoc’s eyes sharpened instantly.
The Wolf understood exactly how dangerous a question like that was.
“What’s the Bear doing?” he asked carefully.
Everything.
The fucking thing was doing everything.
Every scent reminded me of her.
Every protective instinct suddenly had her face attached to it.
The memory of carrying her through the fire replayed over and over until my chest physically hurt.
And worse?
The Bear didn’t just want her.
It needed her.
Like air.
Like survival.
“Wreck?”
I swallowed hard.
“It keeps pushing,” I admitted finally. “Every second.”
The confession tasted like weakness.
The Wolf didn’t laugh.
Didn’t joke.
“That’s not normal attraction,” he said quietly.
“I know.”
“So, are you seriously thinking about claiming her?”
“No.”
The answer came too fast.
Too sharp.
Havoc’s expression tightened.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Lie.
The Bear snarled instantly.
Claim.
Protect.
Keep.
The violent possessiveness clawing through me nearly doubled me over.
I could still remember the exact weight of her in my arms.
The soft sound she made when she finally relaxed against my chest.
The way my entire body calmed the second I held her close enough to feel her breathing.
Nothing had ever soothed the Bear before.
Nothing.
Not booze.
Not fights.
Not sex.
Not fire.
Gia did it effortlessly.
And that terrified me more than anything.
Because if she really had that kind of power over me—then she could destroy me too.
But not before you destroyed her, Monster, something scared inside me whispered.
“Fuck, you’ really are getting close,” Havoc repeated quietly. “Look, if you’re gonna claim your Omega, there’s some stuff you should know—”
“I’m not claiming her!” I snapped so violently the Bear surged up my throat with the words. “It’s dinner. That’s it.”
Havoc stared at me.
Then rubbed both hands over his face slowly.
“You really think your body’s gonna let this stay ‘just dinner?’”
“It has to.”
“No,” he said flatly. “It doesn’t.”
The Bear rose hard enough my vision blurred gold for half a second.
Mine.
Need her.
Touch her.
The instincts were getting louder every hour.
I hated it.
Hated how desperate it made me feel.
I’d spent my whole damn life controlling the monster inside me, and now one female smiled at me, and suddenly the Bear acted like it found religion.
“Yeah?” Havoc pressed. “Then what? You take her to dinner, stare at her mouth all night, maybe hold her hand, then what?”
“Nothing.”
The Wolf barked out a humorless laugh.
“You don’t understand. When a True Alpha claims his Omega, it’s not something you walk away from afterward!”
The word claim hit me like a strike to the ribs.
Because part of me wanted it.
Badly.
The Bear definitely wanted it.
Every instinct in me screamed to drag her close and scent-mark every inch of her skin until the entire world knew she belonged to me.
Mine.
The possessiveness was becoming unbearable.
I snapped.
One second Havoc stood near the Jeep.
The next I had him slammed against the truck hard enough metal dented beneath his back.
The Wolf snarled instantly, claws threatening beneath his skin while dominance rolled violently between us.
My Bear exploded fully forward.
Threat.
Eliminate.
“Don’t,” I snarled directly into Havoc’s face. “Talk. About. Her.”
The words barely sounded human.
The Wolf fought back automatically at first, growling low in challenge, but eventually his gaze dropped slightly.
Submission.
Enough to stop the Bear from escalating further.
Barely.
I released him immediately and staggered back, breathing hard.
Fuck.
This was exactly what I was afraid of.
“What the fuck?” I barked, furious mostly at myself.
“See, man? Your control is slipping. You could hurt her, Wreck.”
“I couldn’t hurt her—”
“You could,” Havoc snapped right back. “With your knot.”
I froze.
“With my what?”
The Wolf stared at me.
Then swore loudly.
“Fuck! You really don’t know shit.”
“I know I’m about two fucking seconds away from ripping your worthless throat out.”
“Yeah, proving my point real well there, buddy.”
The cabin door nearby opened.
Justin stepped outside carrying a beer, sharp eyes immediately narrowing when he saw the tension still crackling between us.
“What’s going on with you two girls?”
“Fuck you,” Havoc and I said together.
The Dragon sighed.
“He doesn’t know about knotting,” Havoc informed him.
Justin stopped walking.
“No shit?”
“I’m standing right fucking here.”
The Dragon looked genuinely disturbed now.
“How were you never taught this?”
“My Clan barely taught me how to survive,” I snapped. “Not weird mating bullshit.”
The words hit harder than I intended.
Forest Ridge.
Chains.
My father’s voice.
Abomination.
Monster.
Something ugly twisted beneath my ribs.
Justin’s expression darkened slightly, but he kept going.
“Okay,” he said calmly. “Basic explanation.”
I crossed my arms tightly over my chest because the Bear was still pacing like a fucking lunatic beneath my skin.
“In old Shifter lore,” Justin began, “True Alpha and Omega pairings were created by the Fates specifically to preserve dominant bloodlines.”
I already hated this conversation.
“Most Shifters never experience it,” Havoc added. “Most males can’t even form a knot.”
“What exactly is a knot?” I demanded.
The Wolf looked horrified again.
“You really don’t know shit.”
“Answer the question.”
Justin took another drink before responding.
“During mating,” he said bluntly, “a True Alpha’s cock swells at the base.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“It’s biological.”
“No.”
“The knot locks the Alpha inside the Omega’s pus—”
I snarled my displeasure loudly, and the Wolf grunted with the force of it.
“I mean, her body, b-o-d-y, okay? Anyway, the knot locks you together temporarily,” Havoc continued. “It improves conception chances. Reinforces the bond chemically and magically.”
The entire world seemed to tilt sideways.
Absolutely fucking not.
No knot!
I wasn’t reproducing.
Wasn’t passing this shit on to another generation.
Wasn’t risking Gia with instincts I barely controlled myself.
“No,” I repeated harshly. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not fucking her.”
The Bear went apeshit.
Mine.
Claim.
Breed.
The raw possessive need behind the instinct hit so hard my knees almost gave out.
I turned away from both males immediately, chest heaving while my control frayed another inch.
Because the horrifying truth?
I wanted her more every second.
Wanted her close.
Wanted her scent all over me.
Wanted to hear her laugh again.
Wanted to bury my face in her throat and breathe her in until the Bear finally stopped clawing at me from the inside.
It wasn’t just lust.
That would’ve been easier.
This felt older.
Meaner.
Like something ancient inside me had finally woken up starving.
“You don’t have to mate her tonight,” Justin said carefully.
Tonight.
The word alone sent heat crashing through my bloodstream.
Images slammed into me instantly.
Gia beneath me.
Gia moaning.
Gia wrapped around me while the Bear purred in savage satisfaction.
Oh, fuck.
Please.
No.
Yes.
Mine.
I shoved the thoughts away violently.
“No mating,” I bit out. “No claiming. None of this.”
Havoc looked deeply unconvinced.
Justin looked worse.
“Wreck,” the Dragon said quietly, “remember what I already told you. A mated True Alpha doesn’t become less dangerous after finding his Omega.”
The mountain wind shifted around us.
Smoke and pine filled the air.
“He becomes dangerous for her,” I answered, but that wasn’t the entire truth.
After what they just told me, I could be very dangerous to Gia. And I didn’t think I could risk that.
The Bear surged so hard pain shot through my skull.
Protect.
Keep safe.
Destroy threats.
Everything suddenly made horrifying sense.
The possessiveness.
The obsessive scenting.
The panic every time distance stretched between us.
The way my entire nervous system settled only when I held her.
Jesus Christ.
I was already gone.
And the worst fucking part?
I didn’t even think Gia realized what was happening yet.
She just looked at me with those huge green eyes like she was curious.
Interested.
Attracted maybe.
Meanwhile, I was over here one bad instinct away from chaining myself outside her cabin like a feral guard dog.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
Havoc laughed softly, without humor.
“Yeah. That about sums it up. But maybe wait before you fuck.”
My fist shot out, and I decked him in the chin.
I barely heard him snarling and coming after me. Hardly was aware that Justin was holding him back.
Because all I could think about was Gia waiting for me.
Gia smiling when she saw me.
Gia getting into this truck smelling like forest rain and female warmth while the Bear completely lost its fucking mind.
I dragged a shaking hand down my face.
“I can’t hurt her,” I muttered again.
The words sounded desperate now.
Raw.
Because that was the truth buried underneath all of it.
Not fear for myself.
Fear for her.
Fear that one day she’d look at me the way the Forest Ridge Clan did.
Like I was something wrong.
Something dangerous.
Something unworthy of love.
The Bear snarled violently at the thought.
Mine.
And God help me… that just made everything worse.