Chapter 3: Jealous

He didn't speak to me. I think he could sense my anger during the car ride, my frustration. I sat there, my hands balled into fists, wishing I had the strength to do something. I didn’t want to be the princess, carted off to the highest corner of the tallest tower; I wanted to be my own knight in shining armor. I wanted my own sword, my own shield. I wanted to be something more, anything other than docile. But I wasn’t.

I wasn't weak, or small. I wasn't some frail child. I was the youngest of three, I knew how to hold my own in a fight, and I knew how to knock someone out with one punch. But, by nature, I wasn't built for fighting. I was five-foot-four, scrawny rather than lean. I had glasses and a low pain tolerance.

But I couldn't cry to mommy that Candy was pulling my hair anymore. I was in the real world, and I wasn't ready.

Hours passed as we rolled along the roads, twisting and turning, Through cities, towns, woods. Eventually, we rolled up to a massive house that I knew must have belonged to Nicholas. And now, I fancied, me by extension.

I eyed everything warily as the car slowed to a stop, the driver shutting it off and getting out. Bodies began to file out of the front doors, and I felt my jaw clench as one female after another trailed outside. There were males as well, but the ratio seemed to be five-to-one, and my instincts kicked in. They were all too perfect, tall and lean and golden, and I saw the way they looked at him, like a piece of caviar to be devoured. Inhuman instincts within me urged me to grab hold of him, stake my claim right there, but I fought back the urge.

"You stink of jealousy." He said cooly, opening the door and sliding out of the vehicle. I don’t move at first, prompting a glare from him, and after a millisecond of consideration, I figure fighting is futile. I’m in his kingdom now.

I emerge, and as soon as my feet hit the pavement of the driveway, his hand is on my wrist. It’s not some romantic hand-holding; it’s possessive. It says to everyone watching she’s my property, and my stomach is in knots at that knowledge. And yet, it tingles. Electricity runs up my arm, every nerve in my body on fire with the euphoria of his skin against mine. The wolf within me yearns to move closer to him, to take him right there, but the human piece of me holds back. All I have in this situation is my consent, and I had some assurance deep within me that he’d respect it.

The eyes burned into me, and I could sense their thoughts. I couldn't read minds, nothing close, but it was written on their faces. Nicholas had a mate. She's a juvenile. She's a tiny little thing, she isn't Alpha material. I saw jealousy painted on a few pretty faces, and that made something inside of me burn hot and angry. Nicholas was twenty-six; after a certain point, men just stopped waiting. I didn’t want to want him, but somehow I didn’t want anyone else to have him, either.

I tried not to blame him. But as a female approached, her smile friendly, I felt the urge to mark him. To sink my teeth in the first flesh I could and call dibs. I didn't though; I held my pride and what little morals I had anymore together, and I resisted.

"Congrats Nicky!" She squealed as she neared, jumping to hug him. He caught her small body with one hand, his other still firmly holding onto me, and that was when the wolf took hold.

A growl tore through my throat, angry and animalistic, but I caught her scent before I could move. Maple trees and honey, the same scent that dripped from him beneath the laundry soap. She resembled him, the same dark hair, the same fair skin, eyes green rather than black.

She was his sister.

Before I could fully process this fact, he stood in front of her, blocking me. He tightened his grip on my hand, his gaze warning, like an adult to a pup. "Calm the fuck down." He said, tone low, and I felt guilt and shame pulse through me. I'd almost attacked his kin. I hadn't controlled myself, and I knew I should have. But I didn't say these things, suddenly feeling far more stubborn.

"You almost killed my sister." I said, crossing my arms, feeling the corners of my lips begin to turn up at the start of a snarl. "I might despise you, but something inside of me doesn’t. And since it looks like you’ve fucked half the women here, I’d think it’s justified to be—”

I was cut short when he moved forward, hands gripping my hips and tossing me over his shoulder. I gasped, the breath thoroughly knocked out of me, and before I knew it I was pounding on his back, my legs flailing. Anger radiated off of him like a furnace, and I knew I'd embarrassed him. That wasn't an argument that should have happened in public. But part of me was glad that I'd pissed him off; a taste of his own medicine.

I got a scope of the house upside down and of what I could see around his side. Lot's of mahogany, fake flowers in vases. Someone had tried to make it home-like, but it wasn't. The flowers said it clear enough; pretend this is a real home, but it's all fake. It was a vase and I'd be trapped in it for eternity.

Down hallways, up stairs, down more hallways. Just when I thought I'd pass out from the blood rushing to my head, we went through a door and I was dropped on a bed. The comforter was soft and brown, and as I sat up, I realized the entire room was... brown. The floors, the walls, the pillows, the rugs - it was as though the world had been painted khaki and oak.

My gaze finally settled on Nicholas, and I immediately curled backwards. His face was painted in fury, and I could see the animal in those black eyes. He wanted to put me in my place; I was no Alpha just yet, still just some little Delta girl. The animal inside of him wanted me to submit, it wanted me to bow down and apologize. The wolf within me saw an Alpha, but it saw its mate, and it didn't want to be below. It wanted to be seen as equal to him, it wanted him to show it some affection. Show it that this feeling was mutual.

I let my gaze drop to the bed and my hands moved together, nails picking at the nail polish as anxiety pulsed through me. The wolf, like it or not, wasn’t loud enough. The rational human within me saw my life for what it had become: I had no choice, no decision, no free will. I had to do what it took to survive here.

"I'm sorry." I finally said, teeth clenched tightly, and risked a glance upward. He stood down a bit, the Alpha in him content. I dropped my gaze once more, clearing my throat. "It was my instincts, taking over. The animal got jealous, it’s— hard to control. I'll apologize to your sister properly, if you'd like." I offered, feeling the tension simmer down. I felt calm enough, reassured enough, to glance up at him.

He stood there, conflicted. His fingers massaged his face and a sigh escaped his lips, trying to think it through. "Natalie doesn't care. She's my sister, she's used to getting over things. But this can't keep happening - we have a lot of females in this house, to protect them from any unmated men who want to get some. They're needy, affectionate - you can't jump every female who touches me." He told me, voice strict, like a parent scolding their pup. Part of me didn't like it; he was older, but it didn't mean I was a child. But part of me liked the idea of him bossing me around, not in an older manner, but in an Alpha manner. And anything he said was in an Alpha manner.

I opened my mouth to argue, but he held a hand up to silence me. "I know you can't help the jealousy shit. That's why I need to mark you, and you can mark me. This whole jealousy thing will stop, I've seen it for myself. You'll have me locked down and claimed, and I'll have the same."

A groan of frustration escaped my lips, and this time, I was the one rubbing my face. I took my glasses off, tossing them to the side and glancing up at him. He was blurry, no definite edges between him and his surroundings. His face was just a mass of fuzzy colors. But even blind, I could recognize him and the power that burned within him.

"Protect them from unmated males?" I inquired, tone laced with sarcasm. I was walking the line and I knew it, but the animal didn't care much about the line. She'd take a punishment to get her point across. "Half the women out there looked at me like they wanted me to just disappear. How many of them have you slept with? I'm not going to blame you for not... waiting. You're not a teenage boy, you're an adult, and I get that. But you can't blame this part of me for being jealous, and you can't blame it for wanting to lash out when other females want what it feels like it owns." I don’t like it. I don’t like this piece of me that wants him, the piece of me that wants to pull him down onto the bed beside me and tear his clothes off with my teeth.

He was quiet, then. He was guilty. He knew exactly why I was upset, and he knew I had good reasoning to be. Finally, he cleared his throat. "I thought you died. Or you'd chosen someone else. It hadn't occurred to me that you might just be young, Alpha couples are usually close in age.” He sticks his hands into his pockets, turns away and paces a few steps as he speaks, before turning back to face me. “Yes, I've... been around the pack once or twice. But if you'd just let me mark yo-"

"Stop." I said, now angry. The tides had changed and I found myself already sick of this argument; I knew damn well this would continue to be an issue until I gave in, but I wasn't just going to cave like that. "I don't know you. I know nothing but the stories about you. You mark me and you own me. You're in my head for the rest of my life. I need to understand who you are before I give up my choice. Let's do it how they do in normal packs, get to know each other.” I wring my hands in my lap, feeling the dangerous line I was walking, trying my best to stay on the right side of it all. “I can’t promise I’ll love you, Nicholas. But I can promise that if you give it time, I'll give you a shot. At the very least, we can be friends. You let me chose this, and I'll forget everything I've ever heard about you and learn who you are, really."

I thought it was fair, a compromise. I wouldn't treat him like a monster, all he had to do was treat me like a person. It was easy, it could be so easy.

He stood there, face growing harder, emotionless, the more he thought. After a solid minute of uncomfortable silence, he cleared his throat and regarded me with a very Alpha-like expression. "Get to know me, and you'll find that every story you've heard is true.” The hope I feel inside of me dies as he speaks, replaced by my thundering heartbeat. “You have one month to try to fall in love with me, and after that, I won't be able to stop the wolf from marking you. The next full moon, he gets what he wants.”

I feel my eyes wet with tears, but I don’t cry. I’m too proud for that. I swallow it back instead, purse my lips to keep them from quivering, and straighten my shoulders. “I’m trying to give you a chance.” It’s one last lifeline, one last chance.

"Fall in love with the truth, or understand that you can't." He concluded his decision, leaving my heart heavy and full of dread. His gaze skirted over me once more, gears turning behind his eyes, before he turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him with a quiet click.