Chapter 5
Challenge Accepted
Alexa
Gabriel is still giving me waves of pleasure.
His tongue roams and teases me with quick, deliberate licks that make my breath shudder.
My common sense dissolves. Any guilt or loyalty I’m so sure I owe Harlow vanishes in an instant, defeated by the aphrodisiac, by lust, by the cruel pull of the mate bond.
Even when I try to resist, something inside me refuses to push him away. I weaken under the terrible fate forced upon me. The only blessing this bond offers is physical pleasure, and it claims me.
I moan and tremble in his arms. His tongue keeps moving, relentless, until I crest again. The most intimate proof of my desire is taken by him with shameless hunger, the sound of it making my ears burn.
“Gabriel, please, stop,” I plead.
“Stop?” he drawls, his Montana accent low and steady, before his tongue circles my clit again.
“No,” I gasp, my body convulsing despite the protest.
“No?” he murmurs, and I hear the slow slide of his zipper, the faint thud as fabric falls to the floor. The sound alone builds anticipation inside me.
“Yes,” I cry out as he presses himself against me. The hard length of him, heavy and insistent at my entrance.
“Alexa, girl, it’s all right,” he whispers, his warm breath brushing over my nipples. “I’ll take care of you. I’ll move just how you like.”
When Gabriel’s body presses closer, I grip his arm. My eyes remain closed, and without sight, every sensation sharpens.
The wine. It has to be the wine.
Whatever Gabriel slipped into it burns through my veins, blurring the line between what I want and what my body seems to crave. If Harlow has left the room, at least I don’t have to see the betrayal in his eyes.
“That’s it,” Gabriel murmurs against my skin before sucking at my neck. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”
“Mm…” The sound escapes before I can swallow it.
His hands tighten around me, guiding my body as though I belong to him. Every touch pulls me deeper into the haze, and somewhere beneath the heat, a frantic voice keeps screaming that something is wrong.
Gabriel shifts between my thighs, positioning himself, and my stomach twists.
“No,” I whisper.
My fingers curl into his shirt. I want to push him away. I want to fight. Instead, my body remains trapped between the potion’s demands and the panic rising inside me.
I reach for Mythril in my mind, calling her name into the quiet of my thoughts, but she doesn’t answer. The aphrodisiac must have dulled her strength, numbed the wolf within me, clouded instinct and reason alike.
It twists emotions. Bends willpower. Leaves nothing untouched.
And that potion is rare. Dangerous. Not something anyone can simply buy or brew. I don’t know how Gabriel got his hands on it or how he slipped it into my wine, but he can’t have done it alone.
“Stop!” I manage.
The room erupts with a sharp crash. Gabriel is ripped away from me before he can go any farther. His body slams into the opposite wall, the impact rattling the furniture.
“Harlow!” My voice breaks as I stumble backward, struggling to stay upright.
Harlow stands between us. His chest heaves. His face is pale beneath the dim light, and a strange pair of glasses sits crooked across his nose. His fists are clenched at his sides. Something in his expression makes my heart seize.
Fear. Rage. Shame.
“Get away from her,” he says.
Gabriel straightens slowly, adjusting his shirt. A crooked smile spreads across his face. “There he is.”
Harlow doesn’t look at him. His eyes remain fixed on me. “Are you hurt?”
A sudden light floods the room. The lamps glow low but bright enough to reveal everything.
I open my mouth, but no answer comes. My body is still burning, my thoughts scattered beneath the potion’s lingering influence.
Harlow takes one step toward me. Something changes in his expression, as though the full weight of what has happened has finally landed on him.
“How long?” I ask.
His throat works. “Alexa…”
“How long have you been here?” The silence answers before he does. My gaze drops to the glasses on his face. “Are those night-vision glasses?”
Harlow removes them with trembling fingers and drops them onto the table. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
“Yes.”
“Same kind the waiters used to bring our food out here,” Gabriel says smoothly before Harlow can say anything else.
My head snaps toward him. Gabriel is already pulling himself together, fastening his trousers and straightening his suit as though nothing significant has happened. As though he hasn’t just shattered something inside me.
“What the hell is this?” I demand.
My hands shake as I pull my clothes back into place. The aphrodisiac’s haze has begun to weaken, but the anger replacing it burns hotter with every breath.
“I should’ve stopped him sooner,” Harlow says.
The words hit me harder than I expect.
Sooner.
Not immediately. Not before any of this happened.
Sooner.
Gabriel smooths a hand over his jacket. “There ain’t no need to get riled up. I was just proving a point.”
“A point?” My voice rises.
“Me and Harlow are both your mates. You can’t fight the bond forever.” He tilts his head toward Harlow. “I told him you wouldn’t be able to resist me.”
Harlow’s jaw tightens.
“And he decided to watch,” Gabriel continues, amusement curling through his voice. “Though from the look of him, I’d say he enjoyed the show more than he wants to admit.”
“Shut up,” Harlow growls.
Gabriel laughs softly. “You were the one who promised not to interfere.”
My stomach drops. My breathing turns ragged. “You promised him?”
Harlow closes his eyes for a moment. “He challenged me. He said you wouldn’t be able to resist him because of the mate bond.” His voice is strained. “He said if I wanted to stay and see for myself, I had to promise not to interfere.”
“And you agreed?”
“I was angry.” His eyes finally meet mine. “And I wanted to prove him wrong.”
“But you stayed.” His silence confirms it. “You stayed and watched.”
“Alexa—”
I shove past Gabriel and head for the door. My legs feel weak, but I force them to move.
I need air. Distance. Anything that will get me away from that room and the two men who turned my helplessness into some kind of sick challenge.
“Alexa, wait!”
Harlow rushes after me. I push through the restaurant and into the parking lot. The night air hits my skin, but it does nothing to cool the storm raging inside my chest.
Harlow catches up and reaches for my arm. I jerk away before he can touch me.
“Don’t.”
He lowers his hand. “Alexa, I’m sorry.”
“Oh, you’re sorry?” I turn on him, my voice cracking. “I called for you.”
His face crumples.
“I told him no.”
Harlow looks away.
“I told him to stop.” My voice breaks. “And you were standing right there.”
“I know.”
I slam my palms against his chest.
“Then why didn’t you stop him sooner?”
He stumbles backward but doesn’t defend himself.
“You said you’d protect me.” I hit him again, tears burning my eyes. “You promised me. And you stood there while he drugged me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t fix this.” My hands curl into fists. “You don’t get to say that like it makes any of this okay.”
Disappointment crashes through me harder than anger. Gabriel manipulated the situation, but Harlow was there. He watched. He let Gabriel’s challenge, his jealousy, and all those ugly insecurities inside him matter more than the fact that something was wrong with me.
“I thought you’d refuse him,” Harlow says, his voice strained.
My eyes widen. “You thought I’d refuse him?”
“I thought the bond wouldn’t be enough.” His voice cracks. “I thought you would push him away. I kept telling myself I had to let you choose.”
“Choose?” The word comes out almost like a laugh. “He. Drugged. Me.”
“I swear I didn’t know.”
“No. But you knew something was wrong before I said stop.”
His face tightens.
“Yes.”
The answer hurts more than a lie would have.
“Then why?”
He swallows hard. “Because I was jealous. Because he challenged me, and I was too damn proud to walk away.” His hands curl into fists at his sides. “I was scared he was right.” Harlow looks down at the ground.
“Scared of what?”
“That the bond would prove I was never enough for you.”
The words hang between us.
“When I saw your body responding to him, I got angry,” he continues. “And jealous. And instead of seeing what was actually happening, I kept telling myself that maybe you wanted him. Maybe this was something you had to decide for yourself.”
My tears spill over. I shake my head, unable to make his explanation fit with what he allowed to happen.
“I know how that sounds.” His voice grows rough. “The bond was affecting me too. I could feel everything in the room, and Gabriel knew exactly what he was doing. He kept pushing at every fear I had.”
“Don’t blame the bond.”
“I’m not.” His answer comes immediately. “I’m not blaming it. And I’m not blaming Gabriel for what I chose to do.” His eyes meet mine again. “I let him get inside my head, and I stayed when I should’ve walked away. I watched when I should’ve protected you.”
His voice drops. “And when you said no, I still hesitated. That’s what I can’t forgive myself for.”
I wrap my arms around myself, trying to shield my skin from the memory.
“And then I heard you say stop,” he continues. “There was nothing left to misunderstand. Nothing left for me to hide behind.” His jaw tightens. “So I stopped him.” His eyes close. His shoulders sag.
“After he had already touched me.”
The words hang between us. My body trembles as the last remnants of the potion fade. Shame crawls beneath my skin, even though I know I never chose this.
Gabriel stole my control. And my body responding to that potion wasn’t permission. But none of that changes the image burned into my mind.
Harlow stood in the darkness. Watching. Hesitating. Almost too late.
“I can’t believe you,” I whisper.
I turn away from him, unable to bear looking at his face. My hands settle on my hips as I fight to steady my breathing. My lips press tight, but tears keep sliding down my cheeks. I inhale deeply then exhale slowly.