Chapter 36 Willow
Willow
He wants to claim me. The realization slams into me, a freight train cutting through the haze of pleasure still crawling over my skin.
Finn isn’t playing. He isn’t toying with me the way I thought. He’s dead serious. He wants me marked. He wants me his.
And that’s a problem.
I know what happens when an alpha marks me. I lived through it. I survived the wreckage when it fell apart. Landon didn’t just leave—he shattered me. Took everything that bond was supposed to mean and tossed it aside. Left me bleeding with nothing.
I won’t do it again. I can’t. Even if Finn is a beta. Even if he swears it would be different.
His teeth graze my jaw, lips dragging down my throat, chasing the hammer of my pulse. I go rigid. He feels it. Knows it. His intent burns against my skin, and it’s as if his emotions are already bleeding into me.
He pauses, his mouth hovering just over the spot where Landon’s mark used to be. He’s not dumb. He knows exactly what I’m thinking.
His fingers tighten on my waist. “I’m not him, Willow.” His voice is low.
I swallow hard. “I know that.”
“No, you don’t.” He brushes his nose against my throat, inhaling deeply. “Or you wouldn’t have tensed up like I’m about to claim you only to abandon you.”
My stomach twists. His lips ghost over the sensitive skin at the curve of my neck, nibbling, teasing, not quite marking—but thinking about it.
I grab his shoulders and push. “Finn.”
His entire body goes still.
Then—heat. Anger.
Not the kind that makes me afraid. The kind that makes me want to push him just to see what he’ll do. Slowly, he exhales through his nose, his grip tightening on my waist before he spins me, pressing my back against his chest.
My palms slap against the window, breath catching when I realize what he’s doing—what he’s threatening. He presses against me, the hard line of his cock hot even through his jeans against my skin.
I can see my apartment. My bedroom. My bed. The guys. If they were watching—if they were looking—they’d see me.
Finn’s hand slides down my stomach, pressing lower.
“I could take what I want,” he says, lips brushing the shell of my ear. “You want me to. I could bite you, make sure you’re mine before you leave this apartment.”
My pulse pounds. Because he’s not wrong. He could. A slow, teasing grind of his hips has me biting my lip to keep in a sound I shouldn’t make.
“But I won’t.”
The admission makes my chest tighten—because I believe him.
Even when he’s coming undone, even when he’s on the edge of losing control, Finn never crosses the lines he could cross. That should scare me more than anything. Because it means I trust him.
I start to turn, to meet his gaze, but he curses, hands flying off of me as he steps back.
“They’re looking for you.”
I blink, dazed, as my eyes follow his line of sight. Across the way, in my apartment, they’re moving.
Graham is in my room, searching. Carson and Hunter are at the still cracked window, peering out, scanning the street. Finn’s jaw ticks as he steps away, raking a hand through his hair.
“Go, little fire,” he says. “Before your alphas ruin the moment.”
I hesitate. And he sees it. His lips curl, head tilting as his eyes darken.
“You don’t want to go, do you?”
I force myself to turn away, swallowing the heat burning low in my stomach. I don’t answer. Because we both already know the truth.
I don’t want to go. But I move toward my clothing anyway. My panties are missing. I don’t have time to worry about them, though, and quickly pull on my jeans, socks, and shoes.
I should leave.
I have to leave.
But my feet refuse to move.
He watches me with knowing eyes, his expression unreadable, and his body still humming with tension. His gaze flicks past me, out the window again, where they are searching for me. His lips twitch.
“They’re worried,” he muses, tilting his head. “Desperate to find you. They are going to burn the whole city down if you don’t appear soon.”
I swallow hard, gripping my own arms, grounding myself.
He steps closer, just enough to make me feel his heat, but not enough to touch. “They’re good alphas. You can trust them.”
I blink at him. “What?”
He hums, watching me too closely. “They’ll take care of you.”
There’s no jealousy in his voice. No bitterness at the thought of them touching me, kissing me, owning me in ways he doesn’t.
He’s stating facts. I stare at him, heart thudding, but he just smiles.
“I know you, little fire.” His fingers trail up my bare arm, slow, teasing, deliberate. “You’re going to need alphas eventually. Strong ones. Ones who can protect you from the bad things.”
I suck in a deep breath, but he keeps going.
“I’m not the bad thing, Willow.”
He leans in, pressing a kiss to my throat this time, not my mouth, not the places I expect. Slow. Worshipful. And it feels as if he’s already claimed me in his own way.
“And if you want them too?” He exhales against my skin, lips brushing my pulse. “That’s fine. I’ll accept them into my pack.”
I shiver. His pack. A beta, who thinks he creates the pack. He’s crazy. Off kilter. I know all of that, yet still…I’m here.
His teeth graze my jaw, his breath warm and steady despite the way my body is burning beneath his touch.
“They’re good picks,” he murmurs. His lips hover just above my skin, his voice purring now. “But don’t forget, little fire…”
His hands tighten at my waist for just a second before he releases me.
“I’ll always be watching. From here—until we work out how to have me right there in the room.”
My stomach flips. His meaning is clear. If I need him, he’ll be here. If I want him, all I have to do is sneak away and find him again. And if I fall into bed with one of my bodyguards again, his eyes will follow every move of our bodies.
And God help me—I might do all of that.
I step back on shaky legs, my pulse racing, my body fighting against my mind. He watches me the whole time, his hands in his pockets, his lips curved just slightly.
“Go on, then,” he drawls, nodding toward the door. “Before your alphas break it down following the trace of your scent.”
I turn away, pressing my lips together, inhaling deeply as I grip the handle.
I shouldn’t look back.
But I do.
He winks.
And that’s the last thing I see before I step outside and head back toward my apartment—toward the three men who think they own me.
I make it out the back door of Finn’s apartment building without a hitch. The morning sun filters through the city streets, warm against my skin, but it does nothing to chase away the heat still simmering beneath the surface.
Finn is under my skin. His lips, his hands, the way he whispered, You’ll come back to me. It lingers, winding through my thoughts, curling around my bones.
I still feel the ghost of his mouth on my skin as I walk. I should be focusing on getting back into my apartment undetected. But my mind? It’s locked in that dimly lit space with him, pressed against the window, his breath hot on my neck.
I round the corner of my building and stop dead.
Fuck.
They’re waiting. Stepping out of the front doors, energy rolling off them in a wave that slams into me, fury barely leashed.
Hunter’s the first to see me. His nostrils flare, catching exactly where I’ve been.
Graham’s next—jaw tight, storm-gray eyes sparking with the promise of thunder.
Carson just stares, the pissed-off edge in his gaze saying he knew I’d pull something reckless, but he’s still furious I actually did it.
I freeze.
And then, in the same breath, they move.
Hunter closes in, every step predatory, deceptively controlled, but his eyes burn.
“Where the fuck were you?” he growls.
I lift my chin. “Out.”
Carson makes a sound, somewhere between a growl and a laugh. “Oh, she’s in a mood.”
“Really? And you just happened to use your fire escape to do that?” Graham growls.
“I can go where I want.” I cross my arms, standing my ground, but my pulse betrays me.
It’s racing as if I’m running for my life, not standing in the middle of a New York City street facing three overbearing alphas.
The second Hunter stops in front of me, I feel it deep in my gut—I’m not getting out of this.
Graham steps forward. “Do you have any idea how much danger you just put yourself in?”
“I wasn’t in danger.”
Hunter’s hand curls around my wrist. My skin sizzles where he touches me.
“Really?” His grip tightens, just enough to warn. “Because you smell like him.”
My breath stutters. I know exactly who he means. Finn. His scent tangled with mine, staining me with lust and bad decisions.
I rip my wrist back but don’t run. I plant my feet, even while my body betrays me.
Hunter moves.
A yelp tears out of me as he hauls me over his shoulder, effortless, an arm locking hard across the backs of my thighs.
“Hunter! Put me down!” I thrash, but he doesn’t budge.
“Not a chance,” he growls, marching right back inside the building.
Carson whistles low. “Damn. Should’ve brought popcorn.”
Once we are back in my apartment, Hunter sets me down, not-so-gently, in the middle of my living room, his fingers lingering on my waist before he forces himself to let go.
Graham slams the door shut.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” he snaps, pacing. “You snuck out. And went to him—”
“He didn’t hurt me!”
“That’s not the point, peaches,” Carson cuts in. “You let him get close. Again.”
I glare. “You don’t get to decide who I spend my time with.”
“The hell we don’t.” Hunter’s voice is pure command, his arms crossing over his broad chest, muscles tight with restraint. “Your dad hired us to keep you safe. And that includes keeping you away from him.”
I scoff. “So I’m a prisoner now?”
Graham doesn’t hesitate. “If that’s what it takes to keep you alive, then yeah.”
My stomach clenches.
They mean it. Every single one of them.