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“As much as I hate to admit him being right about anything, Neil wasn’t wrong when he said that you need someone who offers you dominance in a relationship. I can feel it when I’m with you, and I see it every time I get close to offering you something like that. You melt, and it’s the sexist thing in the world if I’m being completely honest.”
It was like the air was sucked out of the room. Suddenly, I wasn’t interested at all in the pancakes on my plate. Instead, I felt my heart break out into palpitations, and a bead of sweat formed on my brow. If embarrassment was measured on a scale, I was hitting a nine out of ten, easy.
I felt like I should say something to try and deny it, but as soon as I opened my mouth to argue, Gabe was growling.
“Whatever you’re going to say, I’m not interested. We’ve wasted too much time beating around this, and if we are going to be ready to complete our mating bond by the next full moon, we don’t have the luxury of playing games forever.
“Instead, we’re going to do this my way, which is honestly how I should have handled things from the start.You need dominance, and I need to give it to you. You think these feelings you have only go one way, Ella, but you’re wrong,” he said, leaning in and making me meet his eyes. “Being an omega has nothing to do with not being able to be dominant with you. In fact, because I am so in tune with your feelings, I can read you like a book. I can’t wait to start taking advantage of that.”
I shifted under his gaze but forced myself not to back down so easily.
“What exactly do you have in mind, Gabe?” I asked. “Whips and chains? Keeping me locked up like Neil did until the next full moon?”
A grin slowly spread over his face. “Not quite.”
Gabe leaned closer until we were almost touching. The skin on my arms prickled, mysteriously drawn to him. I found myself holding my breath, wanting to close the last bit of distance between us and run away at the same time.
“I’m going to provide you with what you need, and by the time the full moon is here, you’ll no longer be a virgin, and you’ll be begging me to mark you with my bite.”
I blinked. Not what I was expecting.
“And you think that I’ll sleep with you because… you’re going to boss me around?”
“That’s one way of looking at it.” He reached up and brushed some of the hair from my eyes. “As much as this color infuriated me, I have to admit it looks beautiful on you. And I’m glad that we got that small disobedience out of the way because starting now, that’s not going to fly.”
“It didn’t exactly fly before,” I pointed out. My ass was sore for at least a few days after the visit to the beauty shop.
Gabe gave me a wicked grin. “That was just the start, baby.”
Chapter 17
I tried to put my foot down and stay at Mariam's house, but Gabe wouldn't hear it. He wouldn't even let me sleep in his spare room or on the couch. If I wanted to go somewhere, he was right at my heels. It was overwhelming after being on my own for the past how-ever-many years. Thankfully, having dinner with my sister gave me some breathing room.
"How do you stand this?" I complained to Mariam at the alpha house later that evening. I was dressed in an outfit selected by Gabe, smelling of the perfume that he had sitting out for me. It had hints of cinnamon, which made me think of him. That was probably the point, come to think of it.
Mariam just laughed. "Gabe has always been a bit of a stickler for rules, but I think this is a side of him only you bring out," she said with an understanding smile.
I glared at her. "Seriously, is this what it's like between you and Trace? I don't remember Mom having her clothes hand selected by Dad. Or her not being able to go anywhere without him.”
"Sure, Trace tries to control just about everything, but itdoesn't always work out how he plans. And we'll never really know the ins and outs of Mom and Dad's relationship. What we saw was probably the tip of the iceberg”. Her smile faded. "I bet some of it has to do with Neil, though. I mean, the part about not letting you out of his sight."
My hands felt clammy. "You mean Jeremy hasn't found him?"
"I'm not sure if Jeremy's even looking, to be honest. I know that Neil’s been excommunicated from Dark Claw, but I'm not sure if there's an active search or anything. And until your mating bond is set, Gabe probably doesn't want to risk any more issues with him turning up."
I had to sigh. Yeah, that made a lot of sense.
"So that means soon things will let up, right?"
She shrugged again, but something in her expression said it was just as likely to never change.
Gabe kept me close to his side during dinner as if he thought I might try to bolt away into the night. I managed to slink away when my phone vibrated and snuck off into the hallway for some privacy.
I hesitated at the unregistered number before accepting the call.
"Ella." The voice on the other end turned my blood to ice. My wolf whined, unsure of what to do, and I, too, felt a strange combination of conflicting emotions run through me.
"What do you want, Neil?" I hissed. I glanced around the hallway, making sure that no one was there to overhear me.
