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“You need to get over it. Chaos and I are friends, nothing more.” And why the hell was I explaining myself?

Warrick snarled. “He left you unprotected, he’s the reason Azel got to you—”

“That wasn’t Chaos’s fault.” That was no one’s fault but my own.

He crowded me, until my back met the wall, and he dipped his head. “And that fucking knight has had what I want. He’s been inside you. He’s heard you come. He’s tasted your cunt. So, no, dove, I won’t get over it. You belong to me. I want to kill every male who has ever touched you.”

I stared up at him in shock. “Are you serious?”

The muscle in his jaw ticked.

He was serious.

He wanted me, yes, but once he was done with me, he’d move on to his next obsession, and I’d be left feeling like a fool. I wouldn’t allow myself to be another one of his conquests. Just another woman to warm his bed. He spoke of wanting me, never of feelings. The hellhound alpha didn’t know what they were. He didn’t care about me, he felt territorial over me for some messed up reason. That’s all.

“I’m not yours, Warrick. I’m not a possession you get to claim. And a lot of guys have touched me, so if you’re going on a killing spree, I’d suggest adding some rosemary to your Wheaties in the morning for an extra energy boost.”

His nostrils flared, and he leaned closer, his features changing, blending with his hound, a grizzly mask transforming his face. “Don’t push me. You tease and you taunt and I allow it. You are the only one I let do that. Anyone else I would punish. Right now Mad is chained to the floor belowground, trying to tear his own face off. I’m not in my right mind, dove, and if you carry on snapping at me, I might bite back. You don’t want that.”

I blinked up at him, my heart pounding, fear pulsing through me, but not the bad kind. It quickly turned to something else, something dark and unwanted, a yearning that I could never, would never, give in to.

I loved my mother, but she was an excellent example of why a relationship wasn’t something you jumped into, why you didn’t let lust rule your actions, and I had enough on my plate as it was.

I definitely didn’t need to throw a controlling alpha into the mix, or my bed, no matter how much the thought of reaching up and brushing my thumb over those snarling lips called to me, and no matter how much that wildness inside him drew me.

I didn’t do relationships. I kept my heart guarded, but there was something about Warrick, something that fascinated me, tantalized me, and that was reason enough not to get tangled up with him.

The casual relationships I’d had in the past…there’d been no risk, no feelings beyond friendship. Warrick and I weren’t even friends. I didn’t know what we were, but I was finding it harder and harder to resist him.

“You’re right. No, I don’t want that. I’m sorry,” I said and lowered my gaze. Challenging this male in any way right now was the seriously wrong move.

He growled again, dipping lower, his gaze searching mine. His eyes flashed red. “Don’t,” he said harshly.

I looked back up. “Don’t what?”

“Be scared of me.”

I couldn’t promise him that. He scared me in a multitude of ways, but physical harm was the lowest on the list. “Step back,” I said, making sure not to touch him.

He bared his teeth; his incisors had extended. “Dove…”

“Please, step back.”

The thunder of boots hitting the stone and packed earth floor echoed outside the door a moment before it was shoved open. “War, it’s Edric. Whatever’s going on with Maddox, it’s got him too. He almost took Fender’s head off then ran.”

“Fuck,” Warrick ground out.

This was not good. Not at all.

* * *

A short time later, after Warrick had sent any remaining women home, and some of his brothers after Edric, we were informed that the knights had arrived.

As if tensions weren’t already through the roof.

Four massive males were standing on the other side of the main gate when I walked out. Chaos, Rocco, Gunner, and Zenon. Roc lifted a hand, waving when he saw me.

I strode up to the gate. “Hey.”