Page 118

Irrelevant.

Doesn’t Rhett risk his life most shifts? Don’t I?

Wouldn’t Rhett happily trade me for an Omega in his pack? It’s Angel’s dream.

I raise my hand to lightly lay it over where Rhett’s is still possessively clutched around my throat. “My choice. Or am I yours to control?”

Rhett lets go like I have burned him. He stumbles back.

We stare at each other.

“You understand,” Rhett says like he is struggling to get out each word, “that choosing to take off that patch could risk your life?”

“So does a cyclone or a fire. We don’t run from them.”

“You did.”

Hurt flashes across my face.

I prowl toward Rhett. “I didn’t. I ran toward you, Angel, and our Omega. I am not choosing to die. I am choosing to save the life of our Omega.”

“You don’t know this will work.”

“I beat the cyclone.”

“You got lucky.”

“Then I’ll get lucky again.”

“Don’t do this,” Rhett gasps out in a choked whisper. He grabs me by the back of the neck, dragging me until our foreheads touch. His chest is rapidly rising and falling. “Don’t leave me. Don’t you fucking dare…please, sugar, don’t…”

My chest aches. Confused emotions tumble through me.

I cling to him, breathing hard. “Help me? I need to do this. But help me, so I don’t leave? I don’t know if I can hold back with our Omega and…”

I don’t know how to describe how it feels when my feral nature takes hold. But Rhett was there in the cave at the creek with me. I trust him because he tamed me then, and although he is frightened that he controlled me, he doesn’t understand that it makes me feel safe I have found someone who is dominant enough that they can.

Rhett’s expression steels. “Then I’ll hold you, sugar. I’ll hold you and I’m never letting go.”

“Then I won’t be going anywhere.”

Rhett drags his fingers over my lips like he doesn’t want to release me, but finally, he sighs and pushes me back.

I don’t break his gaze, as I reach to pull aside my hair, revealing the rut patch at the back of my neck, where the Omega’s beautiful butterfly is tattooed on hers.

I take a deep breath, teasing at the patch’s edges.

I wince, tearing it off.

The skin underneath is tender and tingles.

Instantly, pressure uncoils inside me. My pulse kicks hard. A storm of pheromones hits me.

My senses sharpen, until even the breeze feels too intense.

My cock hardens unbearably.

I whine.