Chapter 28
Gabe
Every step away from the arena was excruciating.
Every moment felt like a hot blade slicing down my spine, a reminder of the price of my actions.
I was no pussy, but the million eyes that followed me and my mate could have kissed my ass.
They’d all seen my punishment, witnessed it, but all I could hope was that it was enough—to pay for my failures, for the ability to stay with my mate, to stay with the only family I’d ever had.
My body was a live wire of open nerves, but I couldn’t fall. Not here. Not when she was already looking at me the way everyone else already looked at me.
My little mate was dwarfed beneath my frame. I did everything I could to keep the weight off of her to ensure I didn’t crush her, but she didn’t falter. She kept her chin high, her expression a cool mask that didn’t crack until the elevator doors hissed shut.
I leaned my shoulder against the wall, careful not to let the raw meat of my back touch, as she moved out from underneath me and stood before me.
She didn’t say anything. She just stood there, her fingers curling around my bicep, and waited.
Her silver-spun hair was a mess of tangled silk, a chaotic halo against the elevator paneling.
The bruising circles beneath her eyes told of the stress I’d caused in the few hours we’d known each other.
Her lips were pressed thin, trembling just enough to show the cracks in the mask she wore for the crowd.
Unlike her reputation, she looked fragile enough to break, but her icy gaze was harder than any Alpha I’d ever faced.
I looked down at her touch, then her face.
The ice had melted, replaced by relief and ownership. I reveled in her attention. My breaths hitching as each inhaled pulled at shredded skin. The pressure built inside me and pushed against her; her power pushed back, a storm crackling deliciously around us.
My mouth went dry. I wanted to taste her, to feel her lips against mine.
But shame weighed me down. The things I’d done with Lilith had been aired before the twelve kingdoms. That shame, piled on top of the guilt for what I’d done this morning, shackled my arms, keeping me from reaching for the one who was supposed to love me and never abandon me.
The elevator doors opened, she moved beside me, and dipped beneath my arm.
“You offered yourself for punishment,” she said finally. She didn’t look at me as we moved out of the elevator and made our way down the hall of a ranked floor.
“I did.”
“I was a breath away from letting my wolf take over. You would have been the reason Ethan’s Gamma committed treason. All for looking at you like you were trash.”
My chest warmed knowing she wanted to go against him for me. I chuckled, my eyes closing briefly. “Like what?”
“As if you were responsible,” she whispered. “You were, but we didn’t like it.”
A low, breathless sound caught in my throat.
Felix stirred, bowing his head in recognition of the dark beauty of her loyalty.
She was willing to push back against her King for me.
The raw, desperate hope of keeping her settled heavy in my chest. My dreams of a love so strong we’d create a family and love each other were within my grasp. I was completely, utterly fucked.
“Terrifying wolf.”
Unlike the Alpha’s floor, this one was a tomb of glass and stone.
It felt like her—deadly, precise, and cold.
There were no photos on the walls, no clutter on the counters.
Just a tactical jacket thrown over the sectional.
It was a space designed for a woman who never stayed in the space too long.
A foreign scent sliced through the room—charred oak and benzoin.
My wolf, Felix, bared his teeth behind my ribs, a low snarl vibrating in my chest. Someone had been here.
Recently. The urge to claw that scent from the walls—to drown it in my own—overrode the agony in my back.
There was a blade on the table we passed, but the view outside was so dark I couldn’t see anything. The air here was thin and chilled.
We passed the living room, a space of cold marble and empty walls, and continued down the hall.
At the very back was her bedroom. It was a mesh of muted grays and sharp cleanliness.
The bed was made with military precision.
She led me toward a heavy, wingback chair near the window.
I lowered myself with a trembling control, leaning forward slightly to keep the raw, weeping heat of my back from touching the fabric.
Adrenaline was finally curdling into a dull throb that pulsed.
My jaw locked so tight it ached. My mate moved behind me and the weight of her gaze on the wounds felt good—a different kind of sting I welcomed—proof she cared. When she eventually stepped around me, sitting across from me on the edge of the chair, her eyes flashed.
“A good mate would take you to the bath and help you wash down, but I’m not a good mate,” she said, her voice holding the anger reflected in her gaze.
“No need. I’m more than happy to do what you need first.”
“I didn’t ask.”
I didn’t expect her bluntness. The silence stretched, and my wolf whined at her distance.
“Lilith,” I started, but she hissed.
“Don’t say her name in my room.” My lips parted as the air thrummed with her power. I couldn’t look away from her. I wish I’d listened to Adea and stayed away from Lilith, but I didn’t like being alone. I would regret what I’d done this weekend for the rest of my life.
“I want you to know it was nothing.”
“I’m not interested in the list of those who’ve warmed your bed.”
My eyes dipped to the hearth before darting back to hers. “I’m trying to start this honest, but—” She tilted her head to the side, cracking her neck. Her eyes locked on mine.
“Fine. Let’s be honest. When was the last time? And what did you do with this stranger?”
The truth was more painful than the open, bleeding wounds on my back. The warmth still tracking a sticky path down my lower back, soaking into my waistband. “This morning. We… went all the way.”
I tried to save her from the pain, but as the temperature in the room plummeted, the air in my lungs turned to ice. I’d never felt this from anyone before. My mate’s aura threatened to crush the room. Then, her eyes closed as she laughed—a short, manic sound.
“You fucked her this morning,” she repeated. Her eyes opened, all traces of humor wiped from her features as she leaned forward until I could feel the heat from her breath. “It’s my turn. I had someone on his knees this morning, too. When I met you, my thighs wore the kisses of another man’s lips.”
I flinched back. Her truth hurt like a thousand lashes.
I would have taken them over this. A roar filled my chest and echoed in my ears as fury heated my blood.
My hands curled into the chair, tearing the material.
A demand for his name was on the tip of my tongue.
I wanted to find him and rip his throat out.
My shame was the only thing keeping my mouth sealed and my questions locked tight.
“We end it,” she said, her voice dropping low. “No one else. From this second, whatever lives you had outside this room are dead. Is that clear?”
“Agreed,” I rasped. The word was my signature on a contract I’d sell my soul for.
The tension between us finally exploded.
She moved first. In an instant, she stood before me.
I barely had to lift my chin to look at her.
She didn’t offer comfort, she crowded me—stepping between my thighs until I was forced to move back; raw flesh collided with the chair.
I clenched my jaw, grunting as I fought from crying out.
Lithe fingers grabbed the hem of her shirt and yanked it off.
My mouth went dry as my greedy gaze roamed over her body.
I had my share of women, but none compared to my mate.
Her breasts would fit in my hands perfectly.
Muscles tensed as she unbuckled the belt at her waist before she discarded it.
My brain went blank as her tactical pants fell.
She fell to her knees and I forgot how to breathe.
I wanted to reach out and touch her hair, but I didn’t want to stop her movements.
She unbuttoned my pants, her flint-gray eyes darted to my face as her hands disappeared beneath the band.
Air filled my lungs as she wrapped her fingers around my cock before pulling it out.
My lashes fluttered as she brushed my knot.
“Were you careful?” she breathed, refusing to look at me.
I’m always careful.
“Yes,” I choked. Her eyes flew to mine; lips parted. I could have come right there, but then she leaned forward and licked the drop of pre-cum from my crown. My hips bucked.
Fuck.
“Not with me.” She stood up and crawled into my lap, and I pressed myself willingly deeper into the hard back of the chair. The white-hot agony from my spine was nothing compared to the relief and need clawing at my chest.
She still wants me.
“Livia,” I murmured reverently. My hands landed on her hips as she straddled me.
I didn’t deserve to touch her, but I was always a selfish bastard. The world narrowed down to her peppermint and black coffee scent and her heat beneath my fingers.
She lowered herself, her heat encasing me, but she didn’t sink into me for comfort.
She dropped into a low squat over my thighs—muscles coiled, balance perfect.
The experience this posture spoke of was a swing to my gut.
I looked at her, my breath hitching at her beauty.
The realization hit me hard: she’d done this before.
With someone else. With him. A jealous growl tore from my throat.
I hated it. She looked down at me as I looped an arm around her waist. She lifted off me and I yanked her down on my cock, hard and punishing. Felix snapped his jaws beneath the surface, jealousy moving us.
But I wasn’t the only one filled with envy.
Livia’s wolf snapped back. She leaned forward, her weight shifting with that annoying balance, even as I bounced her hard.
Her fingers reached around my torso, her nails digging deep into the exposed gashes on my back.
I hissed, a mix of agony and pleasure tearing through me.
The pain grounded me in the reality that she was here—she was mine—and she was as jealous as I was.
She’d been with someone else this morning—both of us had been—when we should have been lost in each other.
But her violence meant she gave a fuck.
Our bodies slapped against each other. I held her close as I thrust into her. It wouldn’t be enough until my knot was buried deep inside her. The sounds of us claiming each other echoed down the hall.
“I’m yours,” I growled. A shudder wracked her frame as her hips found a frantic, doubled rhythm. I leaned in, needing to be closer no matter how badly her nails tore into me. My breath was hot against her neck. My canines lengthened, grazing her skin.
I held her, desperate, aching to be so deep she couldn’t tell where she ended and I began. I need to make her forget about him. I need my marks on her neck, my hickeys all over her body.
“Livia,” I moaned as she began to take my knot. Her hand slammed against my chest and she lifted. Her eyes flashed.
“No,” she hissed. “You won’t knot me the same day you fucked someone else.”
I jerked back from the rejection. Felix’s howl bubbled in my throat. The need to claim her warring with the cold reality of her words. “And my mark?”
“I won’t take that either,” her voice breathless even as she denied me. Her pussy clenching me. The only thing that mattered was that she stayed. I buried my face into her neck as I gripped her hips, yanking her down, holding her still as I drove my hips upward.
“I’ll mark you from the inside out then,” I growled; the friction of her weight against my knot was enough. Her arms wrapped around my neck, holding me close as I took what she allowed.
She threw her head back and cried as her pussy spasmed around me. My knot was desperate for her to squeeze me, but her pleasure was all that mattered. I came harder than I ever had in my whole damned life. I licked her neck, peppering kisses, and leaving little marks as our bodies slowed.
It was over too soon. My forehead resting against hers, our breaths mingling in ragged puffs as I filled her. I stayed buried within her as long as she allowed, my hands trembling where they gripped her hips. The scent in the walls still mocked me, but I’d soon replace it with mine.
Her hands slid from my neck as she moved off me. She pressed a brief kiss to my temple. “I’m going to shower. You should go.”
“I’m going to grab my stuff,” I rasped. “I’ll be back.”
“Okay. I’ll see to your wounds when you return.” Then the bathroom door closed, and the spray of the shower began—a sound meant to wash me off her. My wolf and I growled.
I didn’t care that I was half-naked and bleeding. I just needed to get back quickly and mark our space with my scent.
She was stuck with me. I’d make it up to her.
I’d make her like me.
I pushed open the door to my room. A floral scent hit me and I knew who was here before I saw her. Lilith was sitting on my bed in lace. She’d used her access key, trespassing on a life that ended the second I saw my mate.
“Gabe,” she purred, spreading her thighs. “I thought—” her words cut off as her nostrils flared. Livia’s scent clung to my body.
“You need to leave, Lilith. Before I let my wolf show you exactly how much I don’t want you here.”
She didn’t flinch. Her eyes flashed with pain, and she scoffed as she straightened.
“Everyone thinks she’s fragile like china,” she whispered.
She stood, lace fluttering. “But I know what lies beneath. She’s a heartless, cold-blooded killer. She uses men like dogs.”
Maybe she was, but from now on, I’d be the only one. Hers.
“Shut up,” I growled.
“She’ll throw you away the second you stop being useful. You’re trading warmth for a life of misery.” She stepped toward me. “I would have taken care of you.”
“Get. Out.”