Page 7

Emmie

“Did you enjoy the show?” Romeo’s deep voice cuts through the night air.

Heat floods my cheeks, and I’m grateful for the darkness that might hide my embarrassment. “I was just getting some air.”

“Right.” He steps closer, and I catch the full force of the scent that covers him—the smell of arousal and his Beta that lingers on him—and it makes my stomach drop.

I want to vomit.

“It’s a free country,” I snap, hating how my body responds to his proximity despite everything. I tell myself it’s only because he’s an Alpha and nothing else. One day, when I’m brave enough, I’ll let my full scent run free and not be affected by him. “And I live here now, in case you forgot.”

A humorless laugh slips through his lips. “Trust me, I’m very aware of where you live. And I also never expected for you to be watching me from your window like some lonely voyeur.”

The cruel accuracy of his words makes me flinch. “I wasn’t watching you.”

“Liar.” Another step.

He’s close enough that I can see the silver flecks in his gray eyes, and the slight swelling of his lips from Cerise’s kisses.

“You couldn’t look away, could you? Couldn’t stop wondering what it would feel like if it were you against that wall instead of her.”

“You’re disgusting,” I whisper, standing on my feet and walking backward away from him.

But Romeo follows, stalking me with predatory grace until my back hits the trunk of a tree. He plants his hands on either side of my head, caging me in, his body radiating heat and dominance.

“Am I? Or am I just honest about what we both want?” His voice drops to a whisper that somehow carries more menace than shouting. “Tell me you felt nothing watching me with her. Tell me your Omega didn’t react.”

I can’t. Because he’s right, and we both know it. Watching him with Cerise had awakened something ugly and possessive in my chest. A fierce jealousy that had no right to exist. I had watched another woman receive an Alpha’s attention and had mourned the sight like I was a scorned Omega.

But I can fight it…him.

I’ve fought for my freedom, and Romeo Silver won't take that away from me now.

We stand in tense silence, the moonlight casting ethereal light across his face. He’s even more beautiful up close—all sharp angles and intensity, his gray eyes now dark but still burning with lust from his moment with Cerise.

“Why did you follow me?” I ask.

“I’m not following you.” He moves closer, closing the distance between us until his body is too close to mine. “This is my home. You’re the one trespassing.”

“The cottage…”

“Is on Silver land.” He encloses my feet inside his. He’s so close now I can feel the heat radiating from his body. “Everything here belongs to us. Including you while you stay here.”

Anger flares through me, cutting through the haze of attraction. “I don’t belong to anyone.”

He grabs me, one hand circling my throat—not squeezing—just holding me in place against the tree.

I don’t flinch. The touch is electric, sending shockwaves of unwanted pleasure through my body. But this isn’t his scent doing this. This is my Omega wanting what her body needs.

“You don’t understand how things work around here,” Romeo growls, his face inches from mine. Then he slams his mouth on mine. It’s violent and passionate all at once, his lips claiming mine with a hunger that steals my breath.

For one traitorous moment, I want to kiss him back, my Omega instincts overriding all rational thought. When he pulls back, we’re both breathing hard.

“I’m repulsed by you,” he says, but his dilated pupils and the hardness pressing against my hip tell a different story.

“Then why did you kiss me like I was yours, Romeo?” I demand, hating the breathless quality of my voice.

Instead of answering, he kisses me again, deeper this time, his tongue probing through my lips and sliding against mine in a way that makes my knees weak. His hands tangle in my hair, pulling slightly, and I can’t stop the small moan that escapes my throat.

He pulls back again.

“I’m repulsed that I want you, but I am your Alpha,“ he murmurs against my lips. “I hate that your scent drives me crazy when I already have someone.”

“Romeo.” Someone shouts. The sound rings out in the distance.

He tenses, pulling back slightly but keeping me pinned against a tree. “Don’t make a sound,” he warns.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you saying these things?” I whisper, confusion and desire warring within me. “If you like my scent—“

“Because I can,” he cuts me off, eyes hard even as his body remains pressed against mine.

The voice calls again, it’s closer now. “Just because I reject you as my Omega doesn’t mean I can’t use you.

We can both give each other what we need.

Cerise is a Beta, but I want her. You’re the Omega who can give me what she can’t. ”

Horror washes over me, clearing the fog of desire. “No,” I say firmly, my hands slamming against his chest, but he refuses to be pushed away.

Romeo’s smile is sharp and cold. “I want you to stop pretending this isn’t happening. Stop acting like you’re above the biology that’s driving us both crazy.”

“I told you no—“

“You turned me down because you didn’t want to be a secret,” he corrects, his thumb brushing along my jaw in a gesture that’s both tender and possessive. “But you didn’t say no to this.”

Before I can ask what ‘this’ is, his mouth crashes down on mine again.

The kisses he gives are nothing like the gentle exploration I experienced with Beck in Boston.

His are conquests, simple. Romeo’s lips are demanding, his tongue invasive, his teeth nipping at my lower lip hard enough to make me gasp.

He is claiming what he sees as his with such hunger that it steals my breath.

Romeo pulls back just enough to speak, his lips brushing against mine with every word. “This is what you want, isn’t it? To be claimed by your Alpha, to submit the way your biology demands.”

The words break through the haze of desire, reminding me who I’m with and what he represents. I plant my hands against his chest and this time I shove him hard enough to make him stagger back a step.

“You’re not my Alpha,” I say fiercely, wiping his taste from my lips with the back of my hand. “You’re just a selfish boy who wants to have everything without paying the price.”

Something dangerous flickers in Romeo’s eyes. “Careful, Omega. You’re walking a very thin line.”

“What line?” I demand, my anger finally overriding my fear. “The one where I’m supposed to be grateful for your attention? The one where I should accept whatever scraps you’re willing to throw at me while you play house with your perfect Beta girlfriend?”

“Cerise isn’t perfect,” he mumbles, and there’s something almost vulnerable in his tone. “She’s what I’m supposed to want. What makes sense for someone in my position?”

“Then have her,” I snap. “Stop playing games with me and commit to the girl who obviously adores you.”

Romeo laughs, but there’s no humor in it.

“You think it’s that simple? You think I can just choose to stop feeling this?

” He gestures between us, his expression twisting with something that looks like pain.

“Every time I touch her, all I can think about is you. Every time I try to claim her the way an Alpha should, my body rejects her.”

The admission hangs between us, but it’s unwanted. I don’t want to know about his relationship problems.

He stares at me. There’s conflict in his eyes. Desire warring with resentment, his need fighting against something that looks almost like self-hatred.

“That’s not my problem,” I say, though my voice lacks conviction. I need to try harder.

“Isn’t it?” He steps closer again, and this time I don’t retreat. “We’re scent matches, Jolie. Whether you like it, or not, my biology recognizes you as mine. And yours recognizes me as your alpha.”

“Biology isn’t destiny,” I quote from Professor Benson’s lecture instead of telling him the truth. I won’t complicate my life any further. “We have choices.”

“Do we?” Romeo’s hand comes up to cup my face, his thumb tracing the line of my cheekbone with tenderness. “Because right now, all I want to do is mark you, claim you, make sure every Alpha for miles knows exactly who you belong to.”

Heat floods through me at his words, my Omega instincts responding to the possessive promise in his voice despite my brain’s protests.

“And then what? Hide me away so you go back to Cerise and pretend I don’t exist?”

“Then I do whatever it takes to make this bearable for both of us,” he says quietly. “I can’t claim you publicly, Jolie. My family has expectations, obligations. Cerise comes from the right background, has the right connections. She’s what I’m supposed to want.”

“But she’s not what you want,” I retort.

“No.” The word is so quiet I nearly miss it. “What I want is standing right in front of me, and I can’t have her. Not the way I should. Not the way my Alpha demands.”

There’s genuine pain in his voice now, a vulnerability that makes my chest ache despite everything.

For the first time, I see past his cruel facade to the conflict underneath.

Romeo isn’t just being selfish. No, he’s trapped between his biology and his obligations, between what he wants and what he thinks he should want.

“So, what are you suggesting?” I ask carefully, not sure why I need him to spell it out once again.

His expression hardens, the momentary vulnerability disappearing behind his usual mask of cold control.

“I’m suggesting we be realistic about what this is.

You need an Alpha’s attention, and I need an Omega who can actually satisfy my biology.

We give each other what we need without the complications of a public relationship. ”

“You want me to be your mistress because you can’t knot your girlfriend,” I say flatly.