“It’s wrong.”
“I know,” he repeats, pushing my still-damp hair from my face. “But if you don’t, you might really fuckin’ hurt yourself. I’m not sure what to say to make this better.”
“He’s gone, Tate,” I remind him. His intense gaze meets mine as he cups both sides of my face, looking down at me.
“I don’t want to force you to do this, but if I have to, I will. I’ll just wait till you can’t take it anymore. But please, baby. Please let me help you, what can I do?” he begs. His own eyes well up with emotion, and there’s nothing but pure, honest devotion written on his face. Something I’ve been wanting to see. I hate that the first time I see it is at this moment.
“They need to pay,” I tell him. I’ve never been a vengeful person. But right now if someone gave me a fuse, I’m pretty sure I would light it and kill every single Wraith without an ounce of remorse.
“If I promise you revenge, that I plan on taking the Wraiths from the fuckin’ top, would you let go?” he asks.
“I… I don’t know how I can. He didn’t deserve this.”
“He really fuckin’ didn’t. Let me take care of you, Lily. I promise when your heat’s over I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Or keep you from whatever you don’t want to know. If you want me to handle all of this and keep you blissfully unaware, I’ll do it. But I can’t sit on the other side of that door and listen to you cry in pain. I can’t fuckin’ do it.”
“You’ll tell me everything?” I ask, wanting confirmation.
“Everything. I’m not holdin’ back anymore when it comes to you.”
“You’ll make them hurt?”
I don’t know if I’m feeling bloodthirsty because of the pain or because of the hurt they caused me, but I need to know. I need to know that the soft side of Tate I’m seeing now isn’t going to be what the Wraiths see. I need the side of him who killed a man for hurting dogs, who stood up to his father for me. I need the man who has no remorse to handle my retribution as much as I need the gentle Alpha in front of me to take this pain away.
“I’ll make them suffer for everything they’ve ever done to you,” he vows, affectionately rubbing my cheek without aggravating the scar.
“Then make it go away,” I tell him confidently as his lips meet mine.
I’m finally kissing Lily,and it’s under the worst possible fuckin’ circumstance I can imagine.
Her lips feel soft and precious beneath mine. It’s truly everything I could have ever imagined.
As much as I’m enjoying the kiss, along with the way she smells and the nearly desperate way her hands are clawing at my hair, I can’t help but resent this moment.
Our first kiss wasn’t because I finally told her how I felt or because I don’t give a fuck anymore. It wasn’t because she cornered me after a night of partying to tell me she doesn’t care what my father thinks and that she’d risk it all to be with me.
No, it’s a kiss forced out of desperate physical need that was ripped out of her by my enemy. It’s a kiss I demanded of herbecause I’m not strong enough to sit on the other side of the door and let her suffer for something she didn’t do. Something that I have my own guilt over, even though I didn’t hold the gun or create the situation.
I haven’t felt pain like this in a long fuckin’ time, and I hate it. There’s a deep fuckin’ wound inside of me that’s been festering for years, and this kiss rips it wide open. I’m not sure I’ll survive the damage left behind.
Nothin’ has ever felt this good while hurtin’ so fuckin’ much.
Lily wipes the tear that embarrassingly falls from my face, but she doesn’t speak. I’m thankful she’s the only one here to see this moment of weakness. I haven’t cried since I was a child, and maybe it’s because it’s the last time I ever truly let myself feel something, but looking down at Lily, it’s like I’m feeling every fuckin’ emotion I’ve kept bottled up for nearly two decades. Her own tears long dried up as her basic Omega nature comes to the forefront. She’s nearly panting with need and yet, she’s still trying to comfort me.
I don’t deserve her. I’m not fuckin’ deluded enough to think that. But I’ve wanted her. Ever since that first night I came back to that godforsaken compound, my want for her has only grown.
I’ve been tip-toeing around this attraction and desire in an attempt to save her. I’m a fuckin’ fool. My staying away has only caused her more pain. I should have known she needed more protection. I should have been the one protecting her fromhim.
I try to push away my thoughts of Leon and what I could have done for him too, because if I think too hard about it, I’ll break down.
Lily can’t have a weak Alpha right now. She needs me to be strong enough for the both of us.
“Alpha,” she breathes, it’s a mix between a plea and a beg.
“What do you need, darlin’?”
“You.”
She’s not gentle as she fists my hair and pulls my face back down to hers. I’m the only one in the house with her. Hell, I could very well be the only Alpha to service her heat if Cash doesn’t reign in whatever fuckin’ monster the Wraiths unleashed from within him.
