The man was many things, but not entirely stupid. He called my bluff, knowing I wouldn’t risk killing him at a crowded bar.
Venom chilled the air as I glared at him. The last bits of color in his cheeks drained away as he gripped the bar top for stability. I leaned in close, pressing my tongue into the points of my teeth. The sweet stench of liquor-tinged sweat hit me, and it only fueledmy bloodlust.
“You owe Dimitri Romanov thousands of dollars. He gave me free rein to do with you as I please and agreed to help me clean up the mess.” His body stiffened at the threat, not knowing it was a lie. I dug my knife in, tearing at the cheap threads of his shirt. “Now, come with me, or I’ll bury this knife so far into your gut that you will taste it.”
Teeth chattered as he gave me a weak nod. My nails dug into his forearm, maneuvering us through the devolving crowd in the club. I shoved him through the metal door in the kitchens out into a back alley, snickering as he stumbled.
I moved forward, stalking Sterling through the shadows until his back was pressed against a stone wall. The senator wasn’t small, but I was taller. I caged him in, pinning him in place. I plucked the buttons off his shirt with the tip of my knife, smirking when a trail of piss stained his pants.
“Please,” he muttered.
“Please,” I mocked. “How many times did your daughter beg you to stop? Did you ever listen?” My lip curled, and I continued. “Actually, she is stronger than you. I bet she never begged. She probably stood there and took it. Don’teverspeak her name again. Don’teverthink about her again.”
“I won’t, I?—”
Bone crunched beneath my knuckles as I drove my fist into his face. I didn’t care about half-arsed apologies from a weak alpha who wasn’t fit to lick my boots. Pain pricked along my fingertips, and it took every ounce of self-control to stop myself from beating him until he stopped breathing.
Blood splattered across the bricks as his teeth cut into my knuckles, opening gashes on the thin skin. I reveled in the pain, a feral sneer lighting up my eyes. Heavy breaths strained my chest as I wiped the mixture of his blood and mine from my hand.
Both his eyes were swollen shut, and shallow breaths fell from his cracked lips.
“Go home to your wife,” I said, shoving his limp and bloody body onto the stone. “And I’ll go home to mine.”
Except shewasn’t my wife.
Not yet.
I wasn’t a monster.
A demon, sure.
But I wouldn’t force her.
Someday, she would see that I was hers as much as she was mine. I wasn’t known for my patience, but for Willow, I’d wait a lifetime.
Ten
WILLOW
Something unrestrained and dangerous glinted in his eyes. My omega spurred me forward when I wanted nothing more than to run away.
It was too intense.Hewas too intense.
I was drowning in his scent—intoxicating and soothing and disarming. My stomach tumbled, and gooseflesh prickled along my arms.
I couldn’t help it. I perfumed.
A needy growl grew louder as he placed the bottle of vodka on the counter.
Despite every instinct telling me it was a bad idea, I closed the distance between us. Shallow gashes spanned his knuckles. I reached out, ghosting my fingers over the wound, but not touching.
I hated seeing him injured. I wanted to take care of him.
The backs of my fingers dusted over his well-kempt beard, the hair coarse against my unblemished skin. A raspy breath rattledin his chest as his eyes darkened, tracking my movements like a panther stalking its prey.
We were a duo of contrasts, and yet, I couldn’t help but contemplate how we would mold together. The tip of his tongue slid along his lips as the strong column of his throat bobbed. My hand fell from his face, moving to the silkiness of his tie, rubbing it between my fingertips.
It had been days since I’d seen him, and the memory stitched a fragmented part of me. I always knew I was broken. Unwanted and damaged. But how messed up did I have to be to be drawn to an alpha like Kaelen Finnegan?
