She frowned and took a quick step towards me.
I flinched. Her movement was unexpected, and my senses seemed to be on hyperalert.
Cole stilled.
“You’re scared of me now?” she asked.
I laughed humourlessly.
“I’ve been scared of you since we met,” I told her.
She seemed genuinely upset by what I had said, shock and disbelief flashing across her face.
“It can’t be that much of a revelation,” I said.
“If you’ve been so scared of me all this time, why do you keep testing me?” she asked.
Cole was right. I hadn’t been able to stop myself from challenging her. I’d never pushed Ashford as I had her. It wasn’t that I felt safer with Cole. I understood the danger. I’d heard the rumours, and I’d watched her rearrange the face of a man for what? Being rude? Ashford was nothing compared to Cole, and still, I just couldn’t control myself.
“I don’t know,” I answered with a shrug. “Maybe I’m just dumb,” I suggested.
Cole growled and walked towards me, standing over me.
I ducked my head, unable to look at her. My body hummed with the need to submit, to protect myself. My instincts were all over the place.
She gripped my jaw and pushed my head up.
“How you speak about yourself reflects on me. I never want to hear you referring to yourself as dumb again,” she told me.
“Okay,” I answered automatically. She released me frustratedly.
“Don’t do that,” she said, stepping away from me.
“Okay,” I answered again.
“Stop it,” she warned, her voice gruff with a growl that rumbled with her words. “I mean it,” she said, stepping back towards me again.
My heart hammered in my chest. Instinct and fear thrummed through me. She stopped in front of me, her hand on the armrest, her other hand pressed into the couch on my other side as she bent forward, making us face to face.
“I don’t want you weak. I don’t want you submissive. It makes me sick,” she told me.
“What do you want then?” I asked.
“I want to be tested,” she said, her voice low and sultry. She leaned closer, dipping her lips to my ear. “I want to put you in your place, and I want you towantto be there.”
A shiver ran down my spine, and the muscles in my back protested with a dull ache.
The scent of her pheromones drifted around me, like the remnants of perfume left on clothing. Subtle, enjoyable, the type that made you want to press your nose against fabric and take a deeper inhale.
“You want a willing omega,” I said.
That’s what they all wanted. Porn was full of screaming, moaning, begging, so-called omegas. It was the ultimate locker-room boys-talk fantasy.
“That’s what every alpha wants,” I told her.
Cole growled.
Her scent increased, and I leaned back against the couch, trying to preserve the untainted air.
