I stand as patiently outside Auryn’s room as I can manage, but I suspect anyone who gets a glimpse of me can see my rage. Smell it on me.
The fuckers in the woods admitted to hurting her. They admitted to–to …
My fist is embedded in the wall before I realize I’ve thrown it, and a deep, bellowing roar echoes in the hallway.
Did I do that?
Emmett comes out of Auryn’s room with one leg in his pants and one leg out, hopping as he tries to finish dressing. His shirt hangs from his mouth, and he takes in my walled fist with wide eyes.
Em knows better than to ask. He knows better than to come within ten feet of me right now.
Auryn takes longer to come out, and I don’t guess I blame her. I interrupted her … business, dumped two severed heads on her floor, and started destroying the building. I’d probably be less than plussed at the thought of facing me right now.
She pokes her head out the door, takes one look at my fist–still buried in the drywall–and frowns. “Was there a bug?”
“Sure. Two of them. But I squashed ‘em good,” I grumble as I free my hand and shake the dust off of it. “Can I come in?”
“Could I stop you?”
I blink blankly at her, confused. “What do you mean? It’s your room; of course you could stop me.”
Some ghost of an expression crosses her face, something like surprise. Shock, maybe. Like the notion of having control over who enters her room is foreign. “Well. Okay. Come on in, then.” She pops back in, and I round the doorway, shutting the door as I enter. I’m about to ask her some very personal questions, and she might not want anyone overhearing.
Before she can say anything, I point to the bloody heads on her floor. “I know what they did, Auryn, but I need to hear you say it.”
Her cute little nose wrinkles up, and she kicks one of the heads with her bare foot. She’s put a shirt back on, but that’s it. “I don’t want to talk about that.” The air fills with that fresh lemongrass scent of hers, and she leans into me, rubbing my abs. “I could be convinced to talk about something else, though …”
Fuck. I guess Em didn’t finish his, er, job after all. I was hoping he’d get Auryn to cool off, rut the heat out of her, so I could have a level-headed conversation with her. From the smell of things, though, they didn’t fully do the deed, and now that the initial bewilderment of my arrival is wearing off, Auryn’s back to her omega roots, back to the haze and discomfort of her heat. She’s going to be hard to wrangle unless I give in, and knowing what I do now, it’s the last thing I want to do to her.
“Auryn, you’ve gotta focus. I need to discuss what happened to you at the Orion pack’s house. What they did to you.”
Rather than calming down, Auryn ramps up her efforts. She runs her hands over me, whining in the back of her throat and nuzzling my chest with her nose. “Please, Gage? You smell so good.”
This is … odd. Forward for an omega, especially one who’s not fully bonded to me yet. I’ve yet to rut her, yet to knot her. She shouldn’t be this eager. I wish Olly wasn’t busy. I could ask him to run some tests on her blood right now. I bet it’d show something … interesting. Or something. I don’t know. That’s his department.
I catch omegas. Bring them in. Occasionally take care of their heat for them. I don’t analyze them.
Before I can stop her, she hops up and wraps her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. I grab her hips and try to pry her off, but it’s no use. She rubs her hot, wet pussy over my crotch and somehow emits even more fragrant pheromones. It’s a wonder I can breathe right now.
“Auryn!”
I need to regain control of the situation–fast. Turning around, I press her back to the door and lightly wrap a hand around her slender neck. Not hard enough to hurt her, but hopefully enough that she comes around a bit.
“Auryn. You have to stop. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Please, Gage!” She grinds against me even more and tries to slide one of her hands down the front of my pants. “I know you want me. I can feel that you want me. Why don’t you admit it?”
Fuck. I can’t hide that from her, especially not with how physical she’s getting. “It’s not that I don’t want you, Auryn. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to do what those alphas on the floor did to you.”
She scoffs. “They’re not real alphas. They’re knotless fuckwads.”
Knotless? Huh? “Auryn, please. Tell me what they did.”
She gazes up at me and licks those plump, red lips. “If I tell you, will you fuck me?”
Shit. This is not how I want this. “Not if you say ‘no.’ I don’t care how far into your heat you are, the second you say ‘no,’ I’m out. Done. I’ll go back to my room and fuck my hand or find Diego and fuck him. I don’t do rape, Auryn, and if you can’t hold a simple conversation with me, then maybe you’re not enough in your right mind to even say ‘yes.’ Maybe I walk out either way.”
Her dark, dilated eyes flash with rage, and she scowls. “Fine. They fucked me. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
