Filed To Story: Alpha's Regret: His Wrongful Rejection
Rosie raises her hand again to brush a strand of hair from her face, her sleeve falls, and my cock throbs.
“You’re wearing my watch.” It’s dangling from her narrow wrist.
Her pupils round, and her heart trips faster. An acrid whiff of fear turns my stomach. My wolf alerts, scanning for the source of her distress. He doesn’t understand that it’s me.
“It’s not a problem.” I raise my palms to calm her. “I want you to keep it. It’s yours.”
I hadn’t thought about it before this moment, but yes, that’s what I want.
A notch appears between her eyebrows. Hurt darkens the brown in her eyes to almost black. She yanks off the watch and thrusts it out without stepping toward me.
“Here. Take it back.”
“No. It’s a—I want you to have it. As a gift.”
Her face crumples. She’s clearly still struggling to hide her hurt, but that lush bottom lip is quivering. My oblivious wolf growls a warning to whatever is upsetting her.
“I’m not gonna fuck you for a watch,” she mutters to the boards.
“That’s not what I meant. I—“
But she’s already drawing her arm back. She makes to shove the watch in her sweater pocket, but half-way, she pauses. Her forehead wrinkles, her eyes flash, and she lets out a small, huffy snort as she pitches it overhand into the marsh. The reeds rustle, and there’s a faint plop.
I catch another whiff of fear, and her jaw drops. She’s as surprised as I am that she did it.
Why did she?
“That was uncalled for.”
She shrugs a shoulder, lowering her gaze again.
“Explain yourself.”
She presses her lips together, neck bowed.
Her show of submission irks me. It smacks of dismissal, not deference. It pisses off my wolf, too.
“You may look me in the eye.”
She shakes her head.
“Look me in the eye.” It’s an alpha command. I’m not in the habit of asking twice, not for anyone.
Her head remains bent. How is she resisting?
“Look me in the eye now.” I repeat the order, infusing the words with the full force of my rank. Even my father cannot help but comply when I use this voice.
She keeps staring at the boards, but her eyes flick back and forth. She’s realizing that she can defy me.
This isn’t good.
“Rosie.” I sharpen my tone.
Finally, she peeks up from under her black lashes.
“Thank you.” I incline my head, rewarding her compliance. For some reason, she doesn’t seem happy.
“The voice didn’t work on me,” she says. She’s not bragging—she’s adding two plus two.
“It doesn’t matter. I outrank you. You will do as I say.” I wince as the words come out of my mouth. I am never this heavy-handed, not even when her kind test my last nerve—like that stoner cousin of hers, risking his neck up in the gym rafters for a human female’s attention.
“If you say so.” She’s not sincere, but at least she’s still looking at me. “Are we done now?”
No. Not at all.
What do I say next?
Her delicate eyebrows arch a fraction of an inch.
I clear my throat.
She kind of grimaces.
My wolf begins to pace.
“Well, I haven’t got my watch back yet.” It’s the only thing I can think to say. I’m not used to this sort of conversation. Females do the talking until I’m done listening.
Reluctant embarrassment crosses her face.
“Sorry about that. I lost my temper.” She shoves her hands in her cardigan pockets until they stretch. “Sorry I took your stuff, too, I guess.”
I couldn’t care less about the watch. I’ve already ordered another.
Truth be told, the damn watch was the only thing that got me through last night without busting down her trailer’s sorry excuse for a door and carrying her off.
My head was fucked. Her scent was driving me crazy, and she was upset, and my wolf was as close to taking our skin without my consent as he’s ever been.
All I could do was squat on the ledge behind her trailer, sweating bullets and wrestling the wolf back. The more distressed she smelled, the worse he got. At some point, I figured I’d play her some music, and it worked. She calmed down and fell asleep, and my wolf chilled out.
I listened to her heartbeat until I left at dawn. I’m sure that when I become more used to the bond, I won’t be so messed up by her moods, but last night—it was new, that’s all. I’ll adjust in due time. As will she.
It’s good that she’s acknowledging that she did wrong by taking my things.
“Stealing is destructive to the community.” I know she’s been told a hundred times, but no matter how much we educate them, the scavengers can’t grasp it. Or won’t.
“Okay,” she says.
That’s how they always respond—with lip service. You can’t teach them, but you have to try anyway.
“You don’t have to steal things. You can earn them yourself.”
“Right.”
“It’s unfair to take what other people earn.”
“Uh huh.”
Her face shutters. She’s tuning me out, and now my temper’s flaring. There’s no sense in beating this dead horse. Her kind don’t want to learn.
I kick off my shoes, unbutton my jacket, and hang it on a piling.
“What are you doing?” She wrinkles her nose, curious. Some of the tension leaves me and my wolf. We didn’t like her telling us what we want to hear. We didn’t like her shutting her thoughts off from us with a blank face.
“Getting the watch.”
Rosie watches me peel off my socks and roll my pants, her gaze fixating on my calves. My leg hairs prickle. I’m so hard, I don’t know how I haven’t passed out with all the blood rushing to my cock. She’s within arm’s distance and totally vulnerable. If I took her, no one would tell me no, and she couldn’t stop me.
My wolf salivates at the idea.
That is the difference between him and me—he has no moral compass. I do.
I would never behave like a mindless animal.
I lower myself to the edge of the creaking board and dip my feet in the frigid, murky water, trying very hard not to think about what’s in it.