Ifucked up.
This thing inside of me that was on overdrive forced me to do things that made it hard to recognize myself. And I had no idea how to control it. Nor did I think I wanted to. I didn’t regret my actions. It was better the Omegas see Teresa was off limits and claimed by me, one of their own now, than for them to think she was up for grabs.
The moment Garrison bumped into my girl, red filled my vision. I’d never had a short temper. I’d always been a patient man, but that flew out the window when it came to Teresa. My chest heaved heavily as it rose and fell, and I glared at Garrison and his friends before they scuttled out of the dance area. The DJ started to play something more upbeat, the bachata I’d requested long forgotten as the tempo turned into something more pop.
I turned, ready to see fear or anger in her dark eyes, but the moment out gazes connected, something inside me, that nocturnal beast Teresa had unlocked, the one who didn’t give a fuck, snapped his way into control at the same time relief pounded through my veins.
She wasn’t afraid of me or angry. Teresa was clearly turned on.
The thing inside me, the predatory animal I saved for the field, took her hand and pulled her through the crowd of people, my footsteps illogically calm while my heart raced and blood flowed south.
Claim.
Take.
Conquer.
Own.
The words repeated in a chant in my head as I forced myself to take the stairs one at a time while everything inside of me was yelling at me to toss her over my shoulder and take them three at a time. But I couldn’t. Couldn’t risk her fighting me. The thought of her fearing me twisted my stomach like it had that night in the library less than a week ago.
I might not stay at the Omega house, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have a room there. My father had made sure it would be available for me if I ever decided to change my mind. And thanks to dear old Dad, now we didn’t have to walk across campus to get some quiet time with her.
I turned right at the hall, ignoring some of the people hanging outside one of the rooms, then made a left and didn’t stop until I reached the far end of the hall. On autopilot, I pulled out my key ring and unlocked the door. My eyes shut as the soft heat of her body brushed against me as she stepped into the room. Her soft scent enveloped me, and my teeth gritted together, trying to keep some hold of my control. I stepped into the almost bare room to find her standing in the middle of it, behind the bed.Our bed, if I had anything to say about it.
I hadn’t hooked up with anyone since coming to U of D. I wasn’t the kind to play the field even if my teammates and brothers tried to get me to. That meant the bed here and backat the athletics building would be for her and only to share with her.
Teresa, my stubborn and seriously sassy girl, surprised me. Her eyes were on everything but me—the walls, the small trinkets my grandmother and mom had left on the dresser, the pictures on my nightstand. Hell, even her shoes seemed to be more interesting than the man who stood in front of her waiting to feel her eyes on him.
That’s when it hit me like a damn ton of bricks!
My strong, full-of-grit-and-sass-and-attitude girl, the same one who set me a blaze from the inside out just by being irrevocably herself, was nervous.
“Look at me, Teresa.” I hardly recognized my voice with the dark scratchy note in it. Her eyes rose from the ground and slowly made their way up my body, lingering a little too long on my chest. “There’s my girl.”
She didn’t smile.
She didn’t smart off with some sarcastic remark.
No, my woman, my everything, simply bit down on that plump bottom lip of hers. “Come here,” I ordered, crooking my finger at her. My lungs stalled as I waited for her to give in and do as she’d been told.
And to my fucking shock, maybe both of ours, she did.
Teresa’s footsteps were small and slow, almost like a lamb knowing it was going up to slaughter. My hands clenched at my sides, aching to reach for her. To touch her. When her gaze fluttered up, I saw the mischievous gleam in them. Like she knew drawing out the moment was a sexy form of torture for the two of us. When she was within my reach, she stopped. I didn’t reach for her like everything in my body was yelling at me to.
“You upset with me?” I asked, my voice now almost hoarse. Her lips parted then closed before she shook her head no. “Turned on?” I brazenly asked, done with trying to play the goodguy or the bad guy and ready to lay it all out for her. It was time she met the man she was getting when it came to me. The tip of her pretty, pink tongue poked out and swiped at her bottom lip, making sure to glide over the spot she’d bitten down on.
“Yes.” Her confession was soft and so low I almost wondered if I had imagined it, but then she spoke. “Seeing you down there…” Her skin broke out into undeniable goose bumps as she shifted, the skirt of her dress dancing, and I wondered if she pressed those lusciously thick thighs together to find some relief.
“I mean, it was a little much.” Her lips twitched. “He bumped into me by accident.”
“He touched what’s mine.”
“Yours,” she repeated, not in question but as a fact because that’s what it was.
She was mine. Completely.
“Mine. You are mine, Teresa. I told you I’m used to going after what I want and not stopping until I get it.”
