“You made it home, didn’t you? You won’t always be able to rely on other people to save that pretty little ass.”
“What about my sister?” I asked, watching him as he followed me slowly.
“Luna is being taken to the medical ward you were held in, where Brander can help her.”
“So, I’m safe?”
“Not even a little bit, woman.”
“Oh, well…” He captured me by the arms, stopping my words as a violent tremor of need rushed through me at his touch.
“The entire pack of alphas is watching us as I speak. You will turn toward them and expose your shoulder to me and submit, understand? If you don’t, I walk away, and you spend the rest of your days running and fighting them because Dimitri just broke his fucking word, and it cannot be undone now. Turn,” he snapped, and I did.
I pushed my hair away, giving him my shoulder, which he took, moving the thin strap from my skin as his mouth lowered, and he kissed over the delicate curve of my throat. His breath made my nipples harden with arousal. The moment his lips touched my neck, I whimpered with a violent need. Knox slid his lips back to my shoulder, pushing his teeth through my flesh painlessly, and I moaned, instantly rocking my hips with need.
This bite was different; it was slow, methodical, and it felt like he was marking me for ownership. His hands slid down to my gown, pushing it up, before slipping his hand into my panties as the alphas emerged from the shadows, watching him claim me. I exploded violently, coming undone with two simple strokes as he held me there against his rock hard body slowly running his fingers through the wetness of my core.
He’d made me undulate against him as he pushed his teeth down further. He was hard beneath his sweatpants, and I wanted him in the most basic fucking way a woman could want a man.
“Knox,” I whispered breathlessly.
Somehow I was able to make the name sound like a benediction to the gods of old. Like the heavens had opened up and touched me, but it was Satan, and I’d given him the keys to my paradise to play within my garden.
“Shut your mouth, or this turns dark real fucking quick, woman.” He made a pained noise in his chest, and then the rattle started.
It wasn’t the normal little one, it bordered on a loud purring noise and then turned into a deafening rattle that echoed through the streets until the alphas knelt down and bowed. Dimitri bowed before Knox, his naked body bare and exposed, and yet he was on his knees with his head bowed in a show of respect to Knox.
I turned, rubbing my jaw against him as he pulled his fingers out of my panties and then shoved them into my mouth when I opened it to speak. I sucked against them, feeling him tensing behind my back as my tongue worked circles around them until he withdrew them. He continued rattling until something within me followed, low at first, building until it escaped, and he chuckled against my neck.
“That’s my good girl, Aria. Now make your pretty pussy stop begging me to fill it. There is only so much pheromone influence I can withstand, and you’re pushing my fucking limits. This beast is fucking starving for you, little lamb.”
His rattle lowered but didn’t stop. The wolves lifted from the ground, slowly backing away as they watched him with me. I exhaled, leaning into his body. I wanted to stop my body, but it wasn’t like there was a valve I could just shut off. Knox waited for the alphas to slip into the House of Alphas before he stepped back, releasing my shoulder. His mouth brushed against his deep bite, licking it, causing it to tingle, and I knew without looking that he’d healed the flesh with his saliva.
“Get inside, Aria. Your sister is fine, she’s being tended to. You’re safe again.”
“Why do you keep saving me if you hate me?” I asked, watching as the tick in his jaw hammered, and his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
“Get into the house, woman.”
“You saved the women from being brutalized by the House of Alphas, and you keep helping me. You could have made me dominate Dimitri, but you didn’t. You aren’t the monster you want me to think you are.”
“No, I’m way fucking worse.”
“I think you do good things because you’ve been hurt. I think you’re still in pain, and I wish there was a way to take that pain away from you.”
“You know nothing about pain, Aria.”
“I know enough to see it in your eyes,” I countered, and his teeth elongated as black claws slid from his fingers. “I’m not a fucking martyr, but if killing me brings you some kind of peace, do it.”
“Get the fuck in the house!” I watched as his eyes filled with embers. “Get her into the fucking house, now!” he snarled, but it came out on a powerful purr, and before I could argue, Lore hefted me over his shoulder and booked it. I lifted my head, staring as Knox expanded his arms and lifted his head, rattling until it felt like the earth was shaking. Car alarms sounded as car windows shattered, and the power did a rolling blackout, keeping whatever was happening hidden in the darkness.
“You got a fucking death wish, Aria?” Lore snapped, shoving me into the house as he followed me, closing the door behind him. “Good God, you could have fucking died, and what a waste of a damn talented throat that would have been.”
“What?” I asked, and he scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably.
“I just mean that when a man tells you to run, and he means it, fucking run. Don’t stand around oozing that scent, because right now everything inside of him wants to toss you down and go to pound town. I mean barebones, soul destroying I-can’t-get-deep-enough-into-that-tight-pussy-let-me-break-her-to-get-there kind of fucking.”
“That’s deep.” I frowned as he nodded his platinum head, turning burning amber eyes on me.
“So fucking deep,” he chuckled. “You got anything to eat? I’m hungry.”
Chapter 46
Aria/The Creature Within
I sat on the balcony, letting the cool air calm me as the ache in my shoulder burned. It burned, the same way as I was burning from within, and yet I couldn’t stop it. I had tried everything, and nothing worked. I grabbed the railing as a wave of heat shot through me, and I moaned as it ripped me apart inside. Staring down at my hands, I gasped, releasing the railing where it had caught fire. I grabbed the large cup of water and splashed it on the wooden railing.
“That can’t be a good sign.” I lifted my gaze to the mansion across the street before slowly looking toward Knox’s house, noting the light and silhouette that stood within the room on the top floor. I hissed, shaking my head as I dispelled the image of Knox in his room, taking off that fucking shirt, while showing that dick off in those gray sweatpants that failed to hide his impressive package.
Damn, he was built, and if that wasn’t enough, he was the most virile, pigheaded asshole because he knew it. The man knew he was the epitome of male sexual perfection, and he strutted and paraded it around unabashedly.
Smoke rose from my hands, and I exhaled, jumped to the ground, and then peered up at the balcony, which was three stories up. Oh wow, that wasn’t okay! I could have died!
“Holy shit, why would I do that?” I squeaked, up until my body started toward Knox’s mansion. “No, absolutely not! You don’t get to do this to us,” I growled, shouting at the creature within me, but my feet were moving, and they were moving toward Knox’s house. I dug my feet in, tripping mid-step, and righted myself, rushing forward. “I better not wake up next to him naked!”