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"Yeah, but —"
"No." The rebuttal reverberated up from deep in his chest, rich with command. His voice but with something added to it, somethingmore.
Where the fuck had that come from?
Zorah's lips clamped shut, her tired eyes taking on a hooded sultriness that registered as anything but innocence, and for once, she didn't argue.
In his next breath, a new musky sweetness mingled with her citrusy smell, and the complex mélange stirred him like a palm cupped to his groin; his dick gave an unsubtle nudge of interest.
"It's not safe," he added, reining himself in from whatever the hell was activating below his waist.
Jake fixed his gaze over her shoulder as his cock thickened with a determination wholly unrelated to the situation at hand. Yet he couldn't ignore the intoxicating scent in the air, the one that seemed to speak directly to his disobedient dick. Confined in his pants, it pressed against his damp shorts, chafing and bending at a weird, unfortunate angle.God-fucking-dammit.
He clenched his molars to keep from adjusting himself. Trying not to pop a boner in front of a girl. What was he? Fucking fifteen, again?
Zorah's eyes drifted away, and fresh color rose on her cheeks. Good lord, did she see him struggling to control his stupid dick? Could she scent his arousal?
Wait. Was he scenting hers? Was that what —?
Oh,shit.
"I've gotta go," he grumbled, not moving an inch.
"Okay," she said simply. And then she did the absolute worst thing she could've possibly done; slipped her little pink tongue out of her mouth andwether fucking lips.
Jake chomped down on his cheek, imprisoning a groan behind clenched teeth.
"Two nights." The words scraped over his parched tongue like nails on a chalkboard. "Two nights of sleep before our next lesson. Get some rest."
He turned on his heel and stalked back into the woods. Hopefully the reprieve would be long enough to calm his overly interested dick. If not, he didn't know what he was going to do.
CHAPTER 11
Jake
Hands on his hips, Colt paced the perimeter of the foundation, cleared and leveled and filled in with giant rocks. The Pack's Second had appeared midmorning, hauling a load of lumber and other supplies to the worksite, and none too soon. After all Jake's furious work on the structure — fueled in no small part by his resolve to keep his filthy mind off Zorah — the building materials were needed, even if the Alpha's presence wasn't. Not that Jake had a problem with Colt, in particular, he just wanted to thank him for the replenishments and get the guy moving so he could resume his brooding solitude.
"Thought we might see you at dinner the last few nights," Colt slid a questioning glance in his direction. "What with being the hero of the week and all."
"Not my scene." Jake paused in stacking some of the fresh lumber off to the side and wiped sweat from his upper lip.
"No, no problem." Colt cocked his head toward the cabin's framing. "Really impressive what you've done up here."
Jake scratched at the back of his neck, not sure how to respond to the unexpected compliment. "Yeah, well, you can get a lot done when you don't sleep."
Colt gave a noncommittal grunt and stooped to inspect the foundational logs Jake had cut down, debarked, and leveled into place. Compared to rebuilding the mess hall, this combination watchtower/dwelling was a small project. The plans entailed constructing a small, one-room dwelling and then building up from the roof to construct a crow's nest. If things kept moving along, Jake expected to have the exterior finished within a week. As he'd said, not sleeping freed up a lot of time, and up here all alone, he wouldn't disturb anyone with construction noise, no matter the time of the day.
Anyone like a fussy baby and her sweet nanny.
No other woman, Omega or Beta, or hell, even nohumanwoman before TheEnd, had ever preoccupied his mind the way Zorah did. No amount of physical labor could shake the hold she had on him merely by existing in the world. The whole thing made no sense. It was like someone took a piece of paper and sought to create the exact opposite of him in every way: she was young, he was old; she was beautiful, he was scarred; she was pure, he was damaged; she deserved everything, and he had nothing to give.
And yet. He wanted things from her.Lotsof things.
Jake picked through the new tools Colt delivered. "Did Hunt send you to check on me?"
"Naw." Colt tramped back to the empty horse cart and produced a knapsack. Sitting on a pile of freshly planed cedar boards, he opened it up and started unpacking sandwiches. "Volunteered. You hungry?"
The oddly succinct reply gave him pause. Colt, to his credit, never joined in some of the more egregious bullying, but he'd never been particularly friendly, either. Jake assumed the Second resented the incident with Kess as much as anyone in the Pack, so this sudden upswell of friendliness surprised him.
