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eight
I’dbeenpoundingthebags for almost an hour, trying to work out the heightened dominance I could feel coursing through me. Usually, an exhausting workout helped lessen it to a more manageable level, so I didn’t scare innocent people, but it just wasn’t fucking working today.
I could feel the dominance swirling under my skin, agitated and demanding. It wanted the same thing my alpha did. The bright-haired vixen from this morning.
No matter what I did, I couldn’t get her out of my mind. Everything in me felt pulled towards her and my senses were all attuned to her. Yet I had barely even spoken to her.
In the brief exchange we had, she’d clearly been less than impressed with me. Warning me away from the women in the kitchen. I appreciated the heads up about their situation. I would never want to make life harder for an abuse survivor. Yet, knowing she thought I was a danger to them, gutted me.
I gave the punching bag a vicious hit, shaking my head as it split down the side and sawdust poured out everywhere. I tried to hold it all in with my hands, but it was futile.
“Nothing a little duct tape won’t fix.”
I sighed before I chuckled lightly. Of course, Dio witnessed that. I’d never hear the end of it now.
“Come help me fix this up, asswipe.”
“Asswipe? Really? You may want to be nicer to me. I have a date with our girl tonight.”
My hands stilled on the bag, letting the sawdust fall everywhere heedlessly.
Dio has a date with Lexie?
I couldn’t breathe. I was excited for him and jealous as all hell at the same time. If she was interested in Dio, did that mean she didn’t want me? But he’d saidourgirl.
“Just breathe, Sam.”
I felt Dio come up behind me and wrap his arms around my chest from behind. The move always calmed me down. I didn’t know why, but I’d never wanted to examine it too closely. I just accepted the comfort.
“Tell me,” I breathed, trying to calm my racing heart.
“Lexie slipped me a note, asking me to meet her at the treehouse later. I don’t know where the hell the treehouse is, or what she needs, but I’m going to find out.”
“What’s with the ‘our’ girl?”
“Don’t even try to pretend you didn’t react to her exactly the same way I did. I saw you, Ifeltyou.”
“That shouldn’t be possible,” I growled as I shot him a dark look, but he was unfazed. Dio was used to my bullshit. He could see through it before my thoughts had even flickered into consciousness.
“Definitely possible, just illegal. But that shouldn’t faze you. You just stole a helicopter and risked a court martial to come find Maia. What do you care about rules?”
I pushed him away with a rough laugh. But he sobered up fast and looked at me with that serious look he rarely used, but meant he was about to unload a heap of reality on my ass. Usually something I didn’t want to hear.
“Yeah, I felt it, okay.” I cut him off before he got started. I felt my body tense as hope flared in his eyes. The feelings I had for Lexie had me all twisted up, but the thought that I might mess this up for Dio had me terrified.
“I’m not denying it.” I forced myself to look at him as I spoke. “It was like the entire world suddenly zeroed in on her. Nothing else existed, except I could feel you, right there with me. It felt like everything that mattered before suddenly didn’t. Claiming her, protecting her, was all that remained. I can still feel it now, pushing at me, demanding I sink my teeth into her. My alpha feels almost feral in his need for her.”
I grit my teeth, trying to keep myself under control.
“She feels like our mate.” Saying the word mate out loud rocked me to my core. Being gifted a mate wasn’t something I’d ever thought would happen to me, much less get to share one with my best friend. Or that we’d ever find her. It was like a dream. “Only she has no scent, and they said she’s a beta. It makes no sense, Dio. It’s messing with my head and my dominance won’t simmer the fuck down.”
I’d never felt so out of control. I knew I had issues keeping the fiery rage that thrummed through my veins at bay on a good day. Dio and Pala had been the only people who had ever made it cool down to a manageable level. Yet, I’m not sure even they understood how much anger and rage boiled below my surface constantly.
Now, it was ripping at pieces of me, wanting out. Raw determination was the only thing holding me together. I’d almost lost it when I noticed someone had hurt Lexie. When she’d kicked that alpha in the balls and I realized he was the one who had hurt her, I could have killed him on the spot, and probably would have if she hadn’t yelled to stop.
Dio usually pulled me back from the brink, but he’d been a cold, determined accomplice at my side. I rarely saw that side of him.
Lexie wasn’t weak, though. She was fierce. She shone brighter than the sun. I’d barely spoken to her and I already wanted her so badly it burned. Watching her stand up to me, her eyes blazing, had left desire sparking hotly through me. I could feel it, even now.
