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Naya battled the anger, fear, and insulted pride that clamored for dominance. “I have fought as a warrior, if that’s what you mean.”
“When? How?”
“When I was younger. I fought alongside the Lox against resistance groups.”
“And you killed people?”
“I tried not to, but some won’t stop even if you incapacitate them.”
The beast nodded, looking over her head into the distance behind her. Naya got the feeling that he was one of those people. “Is this where you gained your trauma?” he asked, eventually.
Naya didn’t say anything for a long moment, weighing up whether to lie or not. “No. And I never said I had trauma.”
“No. I don’t think you know what trauma is.”
Naya glared at him, but said nothing. He was just trying to anger her. This had nothing to do with her people or her land.
“Tell me what you dreamed about,” he said. “And stop evading my questions.”
Naya snorted. “You’re going to have to get used to that.”
The beast’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
“Me evading you.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she clamped it shut. Why did she say that?
Displeasure distorted his face. Leaning forward, his hand moved on the outside of her cart, and her dome disappeared. The wind rushed in, and the beast stepped close, his giant form looming over her. The glint in his eyes held a threat so promising it made Naya’s insides numb.
“Was my last punishment not enough?”
“It was.” Everything felt shrunken next to him; her body, her voice, her will. But she held his gaze, refusing to break it.
He jutted his chin toward the vast sands behind her. “Then was my last threat attractive to you? Maybe you think I won’t do it.”
Naya’s breath caught in her throat. When she last ran, he’d threatened to break her hip. “I know you will.”
“And yet you are having thoughts about evading me.” He leaned over, bracing his hands on the edge of the cart, his face dark.
“No. I misspoke. We made an agreement and I intend to honor it.”
That still didn’t please him. His anger carried on his scent, turning it acrid and harsh. Even though the wind blustered most of his scent away, he was so close that Naya couldn’t help but be impacted by it. An Alpha’s aggression always put others on edge, and as an Omega, the urge to appease was strong. Still, Naya had no intention of displaying any submissive behavior in front of him. He might be her Alpha physically, but nothing more. They couldn’t be more different.
“Good. You can prove your commitment to our agreement.” He leaned in to touch the front of the cart again. Her dome reappeared, but this time it covered a wider boundary and he was inside it.
Naya stiffened and pushed back as far as she could, every inch of her body on high alert that she was trapped inside with him. “What—“ She swallowed the question. “Tell me how I can do that.”
The dome retained his scent, but its sharp aggression had changed, turned richer, heavier, needier. It tugged on Naya’s instincts, hooking the urges she’d when she’d first scented him and tried to drag them to the surface.
“Sit against that wall.” Using his chin again, he gestured to the opposite wall of the cart.
Naya moved over, eager to do whatever he wanted so he would leave the dome. His rousing scent was already influencing her.
“Get that cushion and sit on it.”
Once she’d done that, he leaned over the edge of the cart again. “Open your legs.”
Her eyes widened. “What… I-I thought?—“
“Your other choice is a broken hip. And I won’t allow that to heal.”
