Deadly Crush (Deadly Trilogy, Book 1) (20 page)

The deadbolt on the door clicked open, and
I swiveled to see Jade standing in the doorway.
 
She looked furious.
 
Her nose was
scrunched, her cheeks were red, and her body was trembling as she stepped over
the threshold and onto the porch.

“Jade, get inside,” I said.
 
Her inner-wolf was on the verge of breaking
out.
 
Her skin looked as if it was
slithering over her bones and the hair on her arms was coarser, darker.
 
She didn’t have the restraint yet.
 
I didn’t want her to fight again.
 
Not so soon.
 
Not until I worked with her a bit.
 
This morning I had been certain that she would have killed her
opponent.
 
If it hadn’t
been for Dominic drawing her attention …

“Shut up, Aidan,” she growled, not even
glancing my way, and she pointed at Trisha.
 
“You touch him again, and I’ll rip you apart.”

“Oh, is the little puppy coming out to play?”
Trisha said with a snicker, as she rose from her crouching position in front of
me.
 
She backed up a step and then
flicked her hands as if to say
Bring it
on.

I stood up and stifled a groan.
 
Seriously … all I wanted was five minutes of
peace.
 
I turned to Jade and folded my
arms over my chest, giving her a look that I hoped would make her turn around
and run back into the house.
 
I could
feel the warm burn of my alpha imprint, and I let my scent grow and grow.

She didn’t even notice.

“How old are you?” Jade snapped, and moved
to the railing, leaning on it.
 
“Like
forty?
 
Don’t you think he’s a bit young
for you?”

“He’s going to be mine, Jade.”
 
Trisha’s voice was strained, and her face
turned paper white.
 
She gave me a
leery
look, and it looked as if she was struggling to stay
on her feet.
 
“Aidan, you can’t interfere
like this!”

At
least my scent was working on one of them
, I
thought, before I pulled it back.
 
She
was right, even if I didn’t want her to be.
 
My interference could render anything that happened between them
void.
 
I moved to the side, leaning up
against the railing, and folded my arms.

“I’ll give you a chance,” Jade said, a
smirk spreading across her lips.
 
“Submit
now and I’ll let you walk away without a scratch.”

Holy
shit!
 
Did she really just say that?
 
I almost laughed.
 
She was falling into her new life faster than
I would have thought possible.
 
Jade’s
eyes flashed and then settled into a golden glow.
 
Her scent ramped up and more dark hair
sprouted along her neck.
 
My skin felt like
it was on fire.
 
It was a fight not to
move from my spot.
 
The sweet smell of
power was intoxicating, and all I wanted to do was pull her into my arms.

Trisha looked … nervous.
 
She was jittery, hopping from one foot to the
other.
 
She sucked in a deep breath.
 
Her knees were starting to shake, and her
shoulders were starting to sag.
 
“Submit
to a pup?” she asked, her voice quivering.
 
“A big demand for someone so young.”
 
Trisha looked at me, just a quick glance
before focusing back on Jade.
 
“Time for you to leave, alpha.”

“Nope,” I said, holding in my laugh.
 
Trisha looked as if she could barely keep
Jade’s gaze and yet she still seemed determined to go through with the
challenge.
 
Jade’s scent rocketed up
another notch, and my heart quickened.
 
“Not going anywhere.
 
I’ve put her
under my training.”
 
I shrugged my
shoulders, making it clear that there was nothing she could do about my
presence.
 
“Besides, you need a witness.”

Jade didn’t wait for me to finish my
sentence before she leapt over the rails on the porch and landed on the balls
of her feet in front of Trisha.
 
She
growled, a lethal sound, and her skin started to shudder.
 
“Last chance, old hag,” she said, snarling the
last word.
 
“He’s mine.”

Trisha sucked in a noisy breath.
 
She held Jade’s gaze for half a second before
she turned and ran down the driveway as quickly as she could.

“What the hell was that about, Aidan?” Jade
asked.
 
She tried to sound tough, but I
heard the laughter in her voice as she watched Trisha run down the street.

“I’m yours, am I?” I said, feeling a little
cocky.
 
I raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

Jade gave me an adorable dirty look.
 
“Don’t let it go to your head, jackass.”

“Of course not,” I said with mock
sincerity.
 
She rolled her eyes
dramatically, spun away from me, and marched into the house, leaving the door
wide open.
 
Three down, one to go, and then … you’ll be mine
, I thought and
smiled, as I followed her inside.

~ JADE ~

My veins pulsed
from his scent.
 
Its power pressed
against my bones and toyed with my muscles as I fought the urge to turn back to
him and pull him to me.
 
I had never
really believed the stories about alphas or about the imprint that helped
channel their scent.
 
Obviously, I should
have, but how was I to know that one day an alpha’s scent would have such a
powerful effect on me.
 
Why would I care,
when joining the pack was the most ridiculous and inane suggestion anyone could
ever make to me.

I had heard these stories all my life, but
really, I honestly never thought a scent could do this to me.
 
I should have figured it out this morning
when I saw that soft glow under his shirt.
 
He was trying to manipulate me then, and by the pressure I felt on my
skin now, he was doing it again.
 
And the
thing that freaked me out about it was the feeling that he was still holding
back, and part of me wanted to feel the full extent of his control.

But according to the stories, this was not
the sensation I should have felt.
 
It
should have been piercing and shuddering, forcing me to bow to him.
 
Painful even, if I tried to
fight it.
 
But Aidan's scent
didn't make me feel like that at all.
 
It
was a wild feeling.
 
Full
of desire and overwhelming confusion.
 
It centered me and tore me apart.
 
It spoke to the beast inside me like a song.
 
Slow and sensual, and then
fast and out of control.

I wasn’t sure what was happening to me or
what had come over me when I stepped outside.
 
When I’d heard that woman talk to him as if they were lovers, something
inside me just snapped.
 
And when I
opened the door to see her looking at Aidan as if she wanted to jump him right
then and there, I lost it.
 
I had never
felt jealous of anyone before.
 
Not like
this.
 
I might have felt a bit jealous
when Dominic left me for the pack, but that had been like a mosquito bite compared
to the blinding anger that had spiked within me when I saw her touching his
face.

I was shaking from the inside out and my
skin was moving, sliding over my bones in a fast rhythm.
 
My inner-wolf was begging me to let go of my
restraint and shift.
 
It felt as if that
was the only thing that could give me an ounce of relief from the torture of
seeing that woman so close to
my
alpha,
and from his invasive, mouthwatering scent which was demanding that I make him
mine.
 
I was changing.
 
I could feel it in my bones.
 
I was no longer the prey, but the predator,
and he was what my inner-wolf wanted to hunt.

It’s
natural,
Trevor’s reassurance played through my
thoughts.
 
He’s an unclaimed alpha.
 
But
this … this wasn’t natural.
 
I was losing
control.
 
A control
that I had fought so hard to keep.
 
It was the only thing that kept me safe from the wolves.
 
I had let it slip once with Erika and look at
where that got me.
 
But right at that
moment, I wanted to let it all go.
 
It
was as if something else was taking over.
 
Something deep within me knew, without a doubt, that Aidan was
mine.
 
My mate.
 
And I’d kill anyone who stood in my way of
getting him.

They
are your wolves now,
a small voice in my head
whispered.
 
My skin heated, burning like
wild fire.

My wolves.
 
My pack.
 
My alpha.
 
It scared the
hell out of me how possessive I felt of the things that I had spent so long
hating.
 
Of the pack that only a few days
ago I would have been happy to see vanish from this earth.

I focused on my slow steps, making my way down
the airy hallway.
 
The hardwood floors
felt cold and unforgiving with each step I took.
 
I could feel him behind me, following me into
the house, and I cursed myself silently for not locking the door.
 
I passed by the arched doorway leading to the
kitchen, and kept my gaze firmly on the staircase in front of me that would
take me to the sanctuary of my bedroom.
 
His scent wrapped around me.
 
It
was sexy as hell.
 
It fogged my brain and
made my skin buzz.

“You need to shift?” Aidan asked, shutting
the door behind him.
 
“We could go for a
run.
 
That will take the edge off.”

I took a deep breath, trying to clear my
head.
 
It didn’t work.
 
Aidan and his stupid scent worked its way
over and through me.
 
I turned slowly,
backed up a few steps until my heels hit the staircase, and then I dropped
down, taking a hard seat.

I looked at him.
 
His expression was full of humor and he
looked way too cocky, as if he knew exactly what he was doing to me.
 
A morsel of my sense came back to me, and I
gave him the dirtiest look I could muster up.
 
“That’s the third wolf that wanted to fight me in three days, and she
was also the second one that made it clear you were the reason for it.”

He chuckled, still wearing that cocky
grin.
 
“Your point?”
 
He stood in the hallway, looking pleased with
himself, his grin stretching further, and the corners of his eyes crinkled
softly.

“I’m not buying this jackass thing you’re
trying to pull,” I said with a groan.
 
I
tried to look away from him, but I couldn’t.
 
His laugh and his chocolaty eyes captured me, making my skin grow
warmer.
 
“I know you, Aidan.
 
This isn’t you.”

A strong wave of his scent hit me, and his
grin faltered for a second.
 
“You’ve
known me for two weeks.
 
You have no clue
who
I am.”
 
There was bitterness and challenge in his voice, coated with authority,
that made me want to crawl across the floor to him, and beg at his feet not to
be mad at me.
 
My body trembled with a
need that I didn’t understand, or maybe it was one that I didn’t want to
understand.

“I swear if you don’t tell me what’s going
on, I’ll walk away.
 
I’ll leave town
without another thought of you or your stupid pack.”
 
I tried to stand up then, to prove a point
that I knew I wouldn’t be able to follow through on.
 
I failed miserably, my knees were shaking too
much to hold my weight, and I plopped right back down.
 
I was lost to him.
 
Completely and irrevocably
lost.

That shook him.
 
His jaw dropped a little, as he looked me
over.
 
His nostrils flared as he sucked
in deep breaths, searching for what, I didn’t know, but on the fourth one, his
smile returned.
 
“Mmmm, I love a
challenge,” he said.
 
His voice turned
deep and husky.
 
“You’re making this so
much more fun, sweetheart.
 
You and I
both know you’ll submit to me.
 
You’ll be
mine.”

“Excuse me?” I snapped, trying to hide the
surge of pleasure that unraveled in my stomach.
 
Submit to him!
 
Be his!
 
My body came alive and my inner-wolf stirred.
 
But just as quickly as the pleasure came,
fiery rage burned it away.
 
“You’re just
digging a bigger hole, jackass.”

He chuckled and took a slow, teasing step
toward me.
 
“I can smell it, Jade.
 
Your inner-wolf is practically salivating for
me.
 
And you’ve had your eye on me since
the first day we met.”

“A little full of
yourself?”
I scoffed, hating how right he was.
 
I managed to stand up and step closer to
him.
 
He was only a few feet away, but
the distance felt like miles.

“I could put you on trial for your
disobedience,” he said.
 
“But I’m feeling
a little generous.
 
Submit now and I’ll
consider letting you off the hook, and maybe I’ll even pretend I didn’t notice
that Dominic and Marcy helped you defy me.”

“You’re threatening me with my friends?” I
asked, as the spark of anger from before reignited within me.
 
My muscles stiffened, and my face burned with
heat.

“Submit to me or let them fry.”
 
Fire flared in his eyes.
 
It was dangerous and intense, and it suddenly
hit me that I knew nothing of the man that stood before me.
 
I was also certain that he meant exactly what
he said.
 
I had been right.
 
He had been holding back.
 
He’d been keeping the alpha authority at bay
with me, but what I saw in him now, scared me to death.
 
My anger froze.
 
He moved closer, backing me into the wall,
and released a trickle of his scent, enough to make me want to throw myself at
him and run from him at the same time.
 
“I have them in custody as we speak.”

I said nothing, not wanting to provoke him
and knowing that if I opened my mouth, it would only make things worse.
 
His scent was fogging my brain and blurring
my vision.
 
I wanted to melt against him
and run away as fast as I could.
 
He
smiled faintly.
 
It was clear that he
knew the effect he had on me.
 
He started
to move away, receding toward the door, and as he did, I felt stripped to the
core.

“Aidan, wait,” I said a little desperately.
 
I didn’t want him to leave, and I hated
myself for it.
 
The further he got from
me, the more I shook.
 
That man was mine.
 
Every part of me knew it, wanted it.
 
“Let them go.
 
I’ll do what you want.
 
Just leave
them out of this.”
 
After the words were
out of my mouth, I felt sick.
 
I didn’t
know whether I was saying it to get him to stay or if it was for my friends.

He stopped and gave me a sexy half
smile.
 
“Will you submit, Jade?”

Yes!
 
I wanted to scream it, but
the word wouldn’t come out.
 
I didn’t
know what to do.
 
It was as if he was
speaking in another language.
 
My body
was shaking as my inner-wolf and my human side battled against each other.
 
One wanted me to stay strong and claim him as
mine, and the other wanted me to drop at his feet.
 
And I couldn’t figure out which one wanted
what, or which one to listen to.

He must have taken my silence as a
rejection, because he started to turn from me again.
 
“Aidan, please don’t go,” I whispered.

“Submit to me.”
 
His husky voice wrapped around me, demanding
and gentle, a confusing mix, and for a second I couldn’t breathe.
 
My lungs just … stopped working.
 
His eyes were full of desire and longing.
 
If I had to guess, he and his inner-wolf
wanted me just as much as I wanted him.

“But Dominic told me not to back down to
you.”
 
I didn’t know what else to
say.
 
I’d had boyfriends before, but not
one of them did this to me.
 
Not that he
was my boyfriend … yet, but every part of me wanted him to be.
 
It felt as if I was being torn down the
middle.
 
His intense gaze was as if he
could see through me, into my head, my soul.

He laughed.
 
It was a cool sound, one that held little humor but no malice.
 
“It’s your choice, Jade.
 
You will give in sooner or later.”
 
He held my stare for another long minute, as
if he was waiting for me to say something, and when I didn’t, he shook his head
with clear disappointment.
 
“I’m going
out.
 
Do not leave this house without
permission.
 
My number is on the
fridge.
 
And by the way, you’re not
smarter than me.”