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“Because you’re the alpha.”
“Correct,” he said curtly. “I’m the alpha.”
He turned his back to me, throwing a few more things into his duffel bag. The muscles of his back shifted under his tight black t-shirt, and the familiar anger-lust mix that only Stone aroused heated my thighs.
I stomped to him, tugging on his shoulder to make him face me. “Don’t be a condescending asshole, Stone.”
Stone let me turn him, whirling to face me. The anger that flashed across his face made my stomach tighten into a cramp so intense that it hurt.
But I held his gaze, determined not to back down even though my heart raced and my muscles almost trembled with the tension. The air between us thickened until the silence felt suffocating.
"I'm not trying to be," he said. "Believe it or not, it doesn't actually please me to always piss you off, Amelia. I want to make you happy."
"Then take care of yourself. You need to let people help you. You need to listen." Liam's face rose in my mind, and I added, "Especially to Liam."
I wanted to press myself up against him and feel the firmness of his body beneath my hands. I wanted to fight with him, and then kiss him in the same breath. But I held myself still.
"I listen," he said, which was maddening. "But once I've listened, I make my own decision. That's my responsibility as alpha."
I rolled my eyes. "But none of the rest of us get to make our own decisions."
"Believe me, Amelia, I feel pretty damned trapped by what I need to be. None of us get what we want. That's just life as an adult." His voice was crisp.
I was not being lectured about what it meant to be anadultby a man who threw the occasional temper tantrum--murdery temper tantrums, at that.
"That's just life when you lack imagination," I shot back. "Let us help you, Stone. Let us take care of you too."
Stone studied me for what felt like hours, though it was really only a few seconds. His blue eyes were piercing yet gentle as he looked at me, and slowly he moved closer until our faces were only inches apart. He reached out and brushed my cheek with his hand, and my entire body heated with the attention.
"Does that mean you forgive me?"
Disappointment welled in my stomach. I shook my head. "Not that easy."
"Too bad." He moved away from me, and I shivered at how cold I felt when he walked away. "I'll make sure to come home so I can continue to grovel."
I stared at him for a second in shock. This man’saudacity.
"You haven't begun to fucking grovel, and it's really pissing me off, actually," I shot back. How fucking dare he imply he might die out there? Unforgiven, leaving me with regrets? "I don't owe you an apology. You still haven't made things right."
"I am keenly aware." He slung the duffel bag over his shoulder and headed towards the door. "But I'll make it right, Amelia. I promise you that."
"Oh? How?" My voice came out acerbic.
"I'll kill everyone who threatens you." He turned to face me, his eyes bleak. He looked like death personified in his black clothes, with his built body and icy gaze. "And you can have your own house. You can be free of any pack. Of me. You can raise Dylan in peace. I will give you that."
His voice rang with sincerity.
Except...
What if my dreams had changed?
What if a house, away from him and Cole and Shaw and Liam felt... empty?
He obviously intended the words to fix things, to promise me what he thought I wanted most, so I should've been nicer.
Instead, I said, "You stupid dickhead."
His eyes lit like blue flame. The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
