AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I glared up at him, but I still didn’t release his hand and sank my teeth even deeper until I felt something snap.
“You fucking bitch.” Arturo ripped his hand out of my mouth, doing even more damage to it, but his eyes were glowing now and I knew he felt nothing. Not anymore.
That deep red was so much more insidious in his face than Liam’s and he used that bloody and broken hand to shove my face to the side, crushing me into the tile. My bones creaked and tears filled my eyes when I realized just how powerless I was in this situation.
Had my father gone through something just like this?
Even as an omega, my father had been stronger than most betas. And bigger. But he’d always had that omega grace and the refined features that made me think of a warrior elf from one of those fantasy movies.
To beat a predator, you can’t be the prey, he liked to tell me during our training sessions. You have to become an equal. Become their predator. My father had shoved me to the ground the same way Arturo was now, just to prove his point.
Closing my eyes, I realized he’d been right.
I definitely couldn’t survive this as prey. Even as Arturo’s equal, I wouldn’t be able to stop him from doing what he wanted because I just wasn’t strong enough, and never would be.
So, I would do the one thing I’d promised myself I never would.
I would be worse.
The gun was a problem, but I ignored it, reaching up by instinct alone as I gave in to that terrible hunger I’d always shoved down, the one I saw in every alpha’s eyes when they realized I was an omega.
So, I would take his ability to look at me like he had every right to feast on me.
Digging my thumb into one of his eyes, I pressed down as hard as I could. It didn’t take much force, just the willpower to keep pressing when the organ popped and bloody gunk spurted everywhere.
His scream would bring Liam if he wasn’t already on his way. If nothing else, it would tell everyone in this fucking restaurant someone was being attacked.
The pain made him weak, and my gun clattered to the tile, but I didn’t reach for it. No, I reached for his other eye now that both hands were free and dug my thumb into it, ready to gouge this one out too.
“Lucy.”
The scent of sharp oranges and deep sandalwood hit me just like that door had earlier.
Relief washed over me. It was so strong my entire body relaxed and my arms dropped to the floor like a marionette whose strings had been cut as Arturo’s blood gushed onto my sweater.
I watched the Lopez heir glare at me out of his one good eye and knew this wasn’t going to end here. He’d run and tell daddy, maybe even his pack alpha, and they’d come asking questions I didn’t want to answer.
But that wasn’t something I could be bothered to worry about right now. Not when my body was in so much pain that I couldn’t move, but I was able to shift my gaze from Arturo to Liam.
Identical red eyes glared down at me, but these didn’t hold the same malice.
I didn’t have to say anything. Liam didn’t have to ask either. He just nodded and turned to look down at the bloody and ravaged alpha who was still hovering over me as if trying to decide if he should just kill me and get it over with, or face the real threat at his back.
Arturo had always been stupid so I couldn’t say I was surprised when he lunged for me, wrapping both hands around my throat and squeezing. But now that the scent of Liam’s pheromones were all I could smell, the shaking in my body was lessening and I managed to get my hand on my gun.
I would have laughed if this jackass hadn’t been choking me, because all Liam did was watch with his hands tucked into his pockets. Fury danced in his eyes but he nodded again and I pressed the barrel of the gun to Arturo’s gut.
Valor would protect me if I shot him right here in the middle of the fanciest fucking restaurant in the city. They might even make it all go away like it had never happened.
Arturo must have sensed the shift in me because he pulled back just enough to let me speak.
“If you don’t want a pack war, get the fuck out,” I warned.
His pretty face looked grotesque as he studied me with the one good eye he had left. “You turned down the name Daphne Lopez,” Arturo reminded me. “There will be no war.”
“Actually, she’s going to take the name Valor.” And with that insane declaration, Liam’s pheromones exploded outward.
I’d thought I’d known the full extent of them from before, but he’d taken suppressants, and this murderous intent in his aura was like nothing I’d ever felt before.
