“We’ll be right outside,” Grason says as he reaches for Warren’s arm, tugging the alpha toward the door.
I don’t say a word.
I glare, not moving a muscle until the door closes softly behind them. The room goes quiet, and the tension shifts. It’s not gone, but contained.
Tansy’s breath is still uneven, coming out in shallow little pulls of air. Her body is rigid, arching forward likeshe’s trying to create some kind of space between us, but my arm stays locked around her waist, keeping her firmly pressed against my chest.
I close my eyes for half a second.
Don’t scare her more than she already is.
Slowly, I slide my hand from the back of her neck to rest flat between her shoulder blades. Open palm. But I keep my arm around her waist.
She shifts almost immediately, a subtle, careful movement. Instead of pulling away, she angles herself slightly toward me, the best she can with my arm still a band around her waist. Her new position gives me a clear view of the side of her face. The soft curve of her cheek, the long sweep of her dark lashes, and the vulnerable line of her throat.
My gaze drops, taking in the rest of her.
She’s drowning in one of my plain black T-shirts, the soft fabric hanging off one shoulder. The sight of it, of my scent all over her, is the only good decision my pack has made so far. It’s a primal satisfaction that cuts through my anger.
“I’m Cassian,” I manage. My voice is rough, low, unsteady. “You can call me Cass in private or alpha in public. You’re safe here,” I say. “No one here is going to hurt you.”
For a moment, she doesn’t move. Then, inch by inch, she lifts her head. Her gaze rises, lashes fluttering slightly as she finally looks up at me over her shoulder.
The second our eyes meet, something wild and possessive flares in my chest with an intensity I've never experienced before. And the longer I hold her, the more my body decides it’s finally time to wake up. My cock stirs against my thigh, a slow, thickening pulse of heat that’s impossible to ignore. It’s a visceral, demanding reaction, a primal urge toclaim what’s right here in my arms. But I’m in no condition to act on it.
Not with the infection still ripping through my system.
I’ll have to wait until I’m back on my feet, and Tansy isn’t so tense and overwhelmed.
“What—” Tansy pauses, swallowing hard, her voice meek as a mouse. “What are you going to do with me?”
The question hangs in the air between us, but I hesitate.
The truth is, I know exactly what I want to do with her.
I want to spread her out on this bed, bury my face between her legs, and fuck her until she can’t remember her own name. I want to claim her so thoroughly that no other alpha will ever dare to look at her again.
But saying that would terrify her, and the fear in her eyes is already a poison I can't stomach.
So I swallow the urge, forcing my ugly instincts back into their cage.
Then, I lie, “I don’t know.”
The Bedroom
Tansy
“I don’t know,”Cass says simply.
I nod like I’m okay with that answer, but inside it’s killing me.
I don’t belong here with a pack of wild alphas that would make such a permanent decision without their leader’s knowledge. I’m grateful Warren and Grason didn’t hurt me. I am. But the fact that they thought they could claim an omega without their pack alpha even awake is horrifying.
A pack that moves like that can’t be trusted.
I don’t belong here.
I need to be back at the academy, safe and stressed about normal things. I should be worrying about finals and rehearsals, counting the days until I walk across the stage and earn my degree. Not trapped in a stranger’s house, praying they’ll let me leave so I can go onwith my life.
