Enraging the Alpha

Ch. 10: Affection

JEWEL

I stood in the shadows, watching as the moon ceremony shifted into a bonding ritual. He'd already marked her. I'd known that. She was his luna, but this made it so much more final. I wasn't the most important person in his life anymore. I hadn't been for quite some time. I never would be again.

I crossed my arms, cold despite the summer night air. The only constant in our lives was change, and valley wolves adapted. We persevered. That was what kept us alive, but this...

He was mine. My person. My constant. The only thing I had. My vision blurred as I watched them join hands, sealing both their fate and mine.

"You love him." Bear's deep voice rumbled low behind me.

I jolted and turned, finding his hulking shadow looming downwind. How long had he been standing there? My jaw clenched, and my hands fisted. Of course he would show up just as my world was crashing down. Another gift. Another slap in the face. Another thing she could use against me. Even now, my wolf was submitting to her will, urging me to reassure him there was no other man but him.

"So what if I do?" I said.

He growled low in his throat, and a wave of heat flooded my abdomen. My decision to dance had been solely focused on Brooke's reaction, but if she'd felt threatened at all, she hadn't shown it. Bear, on the other hand...

I looked back at the fire, watching as Huck did the mating dance, claiming her for all the pack to see.

"Is he the reason you rejected me?"

I swallowed hard against the knot in my throat. No. Huck wasn't the reason. He was one small part of a world of shit, and I was tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of losing. Tired of always doing without. Gravity increased, the pull strengthening as if the goddess herself was reading my thoughts and expressing just how much she didn't care about them. "And what if he is?"

A twig snapped as Bear drew closer, and then I felt his heat as he stepped into place behind me. So close. One step back was all it would take to press my body against his. A cool breeze blew over my skin—still bare and covered in clay. I hated how badly I wanted him. I hated the goddess for giving me things just so she could rip them away. I hated how much my stomach hurt watching Huck leave me over and over again. I hated that my mother was murdered by a man just like the one behind me.

I hated that it didn't matter, because the goddess always got her way.

He still hadn't answered my question. He hadn't said anything at all. He just stood there, and the tension was so thick, it was like being underwater.

I took a slow breath in through my nose. "What do you want, Bear?"

Again, no response. We both knew the answer. It was the same thing I wanted. It was what the goddess wanted.

"Do you want to touch me?" I pressed.

"Yes." His voice was strained.

A slow heat bloomed in my belly, rivaling the rage that had been building since my birth. What was I fighting for? I had no control over my life. If I did, it sure as hell wouldn't look like this.

Bear's fingers lightly brushed my arm, sending a jolt of electricity rocketing through my chest.

Well, maybe it would look a little like this. "That feels good," I breathed.

A shuddering breath left his chest, and his touch trailed up to my shoulder. He gathered my hair and moved it aside, exposing my neck.

Yes. My wolf sighed, and I sighed with her. He'd barely done a thing, and I was ready to submit. To give in. To allow myself the pleasure, despite knowing the pain to follow. I stepped back, pressing my ass against him.