Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
MAX
Two heartbeats of lust-soaked fear passed before my back hit the wall, held down by the overwhelming heat of his body.
“Did he touch you?”
Thunder struck, closer this time. I tried to squirm away, but it only made him press against me harder.
“What the hell—”
“The heat teacher,” the Masked Man snarled, blue eyes blazing in the gloom. “Did he touch you? Did he put his hands on you?”
Oh. Oh.
Gwen, you’re a fucking genius. She was getting a gift basket. A giant gift basket.
With a confidence I hadn’t felt earlier, I shrugged, even though the omega in me liquefied beneath his hands on my waist. “He has a name, you know. Owen.”
He tracked the way my mouth moved around the other alpha's name like a leopard poised to pounce on a gazelle. “Is that so?” he murmured, deadly and low. His gaze never left my mouth.
I shivered. Fucking hell. If I’d thought there was something wild about him before, it was nothing compared to the way he looked at me now. Feral and crazed and desperate and hungry.
Sweat beaded along the edges of the mask, and his eyes were bloodshot. Had he not slept in the last three days?
His hands drifted up either side of my ribcage, pulling my shirt with them. The cool leather of his gloves ghosted against my skin, giving me goosebumps. He leaned down until his masked nose pressed against my neck, right where my heat pheromones concentrated.
“I’ll ask one more time.” He inhaled deeply. “Did Owen touch you?”
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the name was a slur, judging by the way he spat it.
And then I remembered the omegas, and the suppressants. I remembered the way I’d felt for the last three days, waiting for him to text, call, or hell, even show up in the middle of the night—anything would’ve been better than the silence.
My gaze flicked up to meet his. “Yes. He did.”
It wasn’t technically a lie.
The wind howled as the storm picked up outside, whipping tree branches against the house and lashing sheets of rain on the windowpanes.
His eyes flashed with the lightning.
He leaned in once more, and my eyelids fluttered shut when he nudged my chin up with his nose, baring my neck.
His hot breath lingered at my pulse point, teeth pricking through the mask.
Then he dragged the tip of his nose down to where my neck and shoulder met, ghosting those canines over my scent gland.
Right where he’d bite me, if we accepted the bond.
He groaned, and buried his whole face in the crook of my neck. Every muscle in his body tensed, flexing against me, almost like he was trying to meld us together as one. His hard cock strained against my stomach, already seeking entrance.
Let him in, my omega cooed. Let our alpha feast. Open up, and he’ll give us everything we’ve ever wanted.
In answer, the Masked Man growled and dragged his thumbs over my stomach, below my belly button, right where my womb waited, empty and aching to be swollen with his cum.
Easy, sweet omega, his alpha seemed to say, dark and dangerous and so, so right. Just relax, and your alpha will make it so good for you. I’ll make you mine forever and ever.
I gasped and tipped my head back further, completely submitting to him. It was so primal and base; I would’ve died of embarrassment if it didn’t feel so fucking good to give in to him.
My cock twitched, filling with blood. That long-lost and yet deeply familiar ache inside me bloomed, yearning for what only my alpha could give.
“Where?” he murmured, mouth moving against my neck. “Where did you let him touch you?”
I gulped and grabbed his shoulders. There was something I was going to say—a reason I had for seeing the other alpha, but I couldn’t remember it with his teeth at my throat, even if there was a mask between us.
“Doesn’matter,” I slurred, pulling him closer to grind my hips into his. “Just—”
“Where, sweet boy?”
I whimpered, unable to resist him any longer, and held up my wrist. “H-here.”
Wrapping his hand around it, so gentle despite the fire in his eyes, he took a deep inhale from my scent gland and snarled. “You let him scent-mark you.”
“It was a test,” I replied, breathless. “To see if we were compatible.”
Less talking, my omega purred.
I shoved my face into his chest and closed my eyes, drinking in that delicious, calming scent. He wore the full outfit, including dark pants, a hoodie, a jean jacket, and of course, his mask. It was all so familiar by now; it felt like safety and smelled like home.
Light years better than Owen.
“Why?” he asked, hooking my other wrist in his hand and scenting me there, too.
“You know why,” I whined, tugging my arms away but unable to shift his grip. “Stop teasing.”
He nipped my earlobe in response.
My eyes flew wide open with a yelp. “Hey!”
A bare, stubbled cheek rubbed against mine in apology. I peered up to see he’d hooked the bottom half of the mask over his nose, so his mouth and cheeks were exposed.
Holy shit.
“Tell me why you wanted to see if you were compatible with another alpha,” he commanded, low and dangerous dangerous dangerous.
Not to me, but to the poor doctor who had no idea what he’d stepped into when he offered me his wrist.
Thunder shook the house, and I remembered why I’d been there. “Because you didn’t want me,” I snarled, tears pooling in my eyes. “You’d rather have someone else’s heat. You’d rather let yourself die taking those stupid fucking suppressants than be with me.”
I fought him and got one wrist free to push on his chest. “And I’d rather die than be your last resort, so let me go, or I’ll—”
“Last resort?” he asked with a crazed chuckle, fingers circling my hand again to hold it to his heart. “If you knew even half the depraved things I’ve done while thinking about you, while watching you, you’d know you were never a last resort.”
I shook my head. “I don’t believe you. You wanted someone else. You didn’t want me.”
“I’ve always wanted you,” he hissed into the scant space between us.
“From the first moment I saw you. I almost took you that night in the alley, you know. I almost tossed you over my shoulder and stole you away so no one could ever touch you but me, or even look at you without knowing you’re mine. ”
Yes, my omega moaned. Let him carry us away. We’ll make a nest and invite him in and make pups together, and it’ll be perfect.
I squirmed, but he pressed his thigh between my legs, trapping my cock between us and holding me firm.
“You were so innocent. So wide-eyed and curious and beautiful. I wanted to know what you’d sound like beneath me, what you’d taste like.” He stopped abruptly, as if choked, and pulled my arm up to his mouth, gaze holding mine. “I will know what you taste like.”
And then he dragged his tongue up my wrist, right over my scent gland.
My jaw dropped, words sputtering. “What are you—you—”
He did it again and again, scent-marking me until the delicate skin was pink and glistening and I was so slick my shorts had to be wet-through.
“There,” he said after one more lick. “That’s better.” Almost like he couldn’t help himself, he grabbed my other wrist and repeated the act.
“You’re a beast.”
He shot me an alarmingly enchanting grin. I was transfixed. “Only for you, sweetheart.”
Only for me? Only for me? I scowled, wriggling against him, but he didn’t budge. “Don’t play games with me. You said you fucked—”
“I said I tried,” he cut in, voice cracking.
Caught off guard by the vulnerability in his voice, I halted, waiting for what he’d say next.
His eyes found mine, pleading like he had the other night. “I’d just dropped you off at the clinic. You were in so much pain, screaming for help. Before I left, you called out for me.”
I sucked in a breath. I didn’t remember that.
“But when I got close to you, you smelled like fear,” he continued with a whisper.
“The bond was overriding your senses, but you didn’t actually want me.
I tried to leave again, but the farther away I got from your room, the more agitated you became.
So they locked me in the room next to you to keep us both calm. ”
He stayed? For me? He’d been there the whole time?
Faintly, I remembered an alpha roaring down the hallway of the clinic. That was him?
Our chests synced, breathing like one living thing. “Then what happened?”
His jaw clenched. “An alpha in an uncontrollable rut is dangerous. I was a liability. There were other omegas in heat at the clinic who were open to a mutually beneficial agreement. They thought it best to try and calm me down.”
I nodded, looking away. He didn’t need to go on. “I understand,” I said.
And… I did. The more I thought about what Owen said, the more it made sense. The Masked Man didn’t try to break our bond on his own because of anything to do with me, but because it would be miserable—and life-threatening—to live that way, and he was trying to do the right thing.
I respected him for it, even if picturing him with someone else only a room away made me want to stick my head in a bucket of ants. My omega growled and lashed out at the image.
“No,” he said. “Let me finish.”
Cupping my jaw with one hand, he tangled his fingers in my hair with the other to bring my gaze back up to his. “I couldn’t stand the sight of them, Max. I hated the way they smelled. I threw them out.”
I stared. And stared.
“Do you know why?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.
I bit the inside of my cheek and shook my head no.
He leaned in, dropping his forehead against mine. “Because they weren’t you,” he whispered. “Since then, there’s been no one else for me. No one else I want or long for. Only you. Always you.”
My breath shuddered out. Gwen said I’d been left outside by the clinic’s front door. Why would she lie about that? Why keep this a secret? To spare me? Maybe she thought I wouldn’t want to remember?
To be fair, I didn’t want to remember. I wanted to forget it all and move on.
Until now. Until I had him—my lighthouse in the storm.
Lightning cracked outside, flashing through the gloom. “Why didn’t you just explain this to me before?”
He dragged a hand across his exposed cheek. “I know I’m not… not who you’d pick to share this with. You’re too good for someone tainted like me. I can’t give you what you deserve. I should’ve stayed away. I tried to stay away…”
My chest hurt. He hadn’t explained because of the awful things I’d said. The untrue things I’d said. They haunted me, and him, if the pain in his eyes was anything to go by.
Tentatively, he nudged the tip of my nose with his. “But I can’t. Not anymore.”
Even though the storm wailed outside, I had my lighthouse right in front of me, guiding the way. There was nothing to fear, because I finally knew what I wanted.
My body melted against his. “Then don’t.”