Chapter 21 Entanglement
Lira
He held my neck and pinned me on the wall. The impact sent a shiver down my spine as my back hit the cold surface, the air escaping my lungs in a gasp. His grip wasn’t tight enough to choke me, but firm enough to remind me of his strength, his control.
“Trust me, you don’t want to die in my hands.”
All I could hear from him was Menace. Danger. Intimidation.The Alpha in him bled through his tone, hoarse, dark, and full of warning. His eyes, those stormy blue depths, glimmered under the low light like shards of ice. The room was filled with his scent, a scent that belonged to him alone, commanding, addictive, and strong enough to moisten the area between my thighs.
I felt a tremor run up my spine, and I let out a shaky breath. My pulse thudded violently beneath his palm. A part of me screamed to stay silent, to shrink back into the familiar shell of submission I’d worn for so long. But another part of me, the one that had suffered enough, refused to yield.
I had had enough.
I opened my mouth and let the words spill.
“Trust you?” I spat, my words dripping in bitterness. “How do you expect me to trust you when you think I’m a dispensable property you own. I may be your mate, but I’m not your property.”
His eyes widened slightly, surprise flickering across his face. It was rare for anyone to challenge him, let alone me, the weak link, the one who couldn’t even do something as natural as shifting. He looked taken aback by how blunt I was, but he remained silent. So I continued.
“You told me you cared about me, and then turned your words around and called me a whore. Even now! You think I went to Rowan for attention. Are you so blind and stuck up in your ego that you can’t see that my body only yearns for you?”
I was taken aback by my own words. by how much truth I was willing to shamelessly reveal, because I was very much intoxicated with desire.
The silence that followed was eerie, deafening, enough to choke on. My voice trembled, but my gaze didn’t waver. I wanted him to see my pain, to feel the weight of every word I hurled at him.Just as he had done to me.
I opened my mouth to continue pouring out my heart, to tell him how much his rejection had broken me, when suddenly he crashed his lips on mine and kissed me. It wasn’t gentle. It was fierce, a show of his dominance and claim over me.
My body reacted instantly. It betrayed me, melting into him even as my mind screamed at me to stop. I returned the kiss with equal fervor, our lips colliding in a mixture of desperation, anger, and longing.
Fiery passion erupted within me as our lips moved and fought for dominance. An obvious lost battle for me The world outside ceased to exist; there was only the sound of our ragged breaths and the erratic beat of our hearts. I gripped the collar of his shirt like it was the only thing keeping me grounded.
I didn’t know it then, but he was my life. My mate. My everything, no matter how complicated things were.
His hand found my waist, pulling me impossibly closer until not even air existed between us. We were drawing each other’s breath with our tongues. Heat coursed through me, pooling low in my stomach. I felt his arousal pressed against me, and the realization drew a soft gasp from my throat.
“Lira, I’m sorry.” he breathed, his words brushing my lips before he kissed me again. “I don’t think you’re a whore.” More kisses followed, soft, desperate, filled with regret. “I am sorry I was harsh to you.”
He kissed my cheek, then my jawline, trailing down my neck with a tenderness that made my chest ache. Each touch sent sparks racing across my skin. His lips hovered by my ear when he whispered another apology.
“I’m sorry I tainted the time we spent together in the forest.” His voice cracked as he sucked gently on my earlobe, his arms tightening around me like he feared I’d vanish. “I’m sorry I let you go with Rowan, and that I’ve been an asshole.”
I almost giggled when he said the word, almost.
“I’m sorry I didn’t defend you at the Charity Ball.” His lips brushed my throat again, hot and possessive, and my mind started to blur, losing its grip on his words as pleasure pulsed through me.
“I’m sorry that I’m just coming to check on you now.” He paused when he reached my cleavage, his forehead resting against mine as he searched my eyes. “I’m sorry for everything, Lira. Do you forgive me?”
“No.” The word slipped out before I could stop it. My tone was steady, though my insides were a storm of conflicting emotions. My heart screamed forgiveness, desperate to let him in, but my mind refused to crumble so easily.
I’d been too soft all my life. Too easy to break.
Not anymore.
I may be an omega unable to shift, but that didn’t make me worthless. If I truly were, the Moon Goddess wouldn’t have bound me to Alpha Kael. He would’ve rejected me the moment he found out.
“No?” he repeated, though his expression was blank, a mask hiding whatever war raged inside him.
“You can’t expect me to just forgive you because you apologized.” I took a slow breath, choosing my next words carefully. “You’re going to have to prove it to me.” I leaned closer, letting my voice drop into a whisper that trembled with both challenge and desire. “You’re going to have to show me how sorry you are.”
His eyes darkened, but it wasn’t anger this time, it was desire. Raw, consuming, sinful. He smirked, and for a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
Alpha Kael was handsome in indescribable ways, he looked as if he was sculpted with sinful perfection. The smirk tugging at his lips gave him a boyish look that almost disarmed me.
“You sound so sexy when you’re like this,” he murmured, pressing his forehead against mine. “I hate to say this, but it’s going to be hard to prove that I’m sorry, that I care about you.”
I stepped back and scoffed, folding my arms. “Then why are you still here? Why did you come in the first place? You thought I was going to be so easy to please, huh?”
“Lira…” His voice was low, strained, threaded with exhaustion.
“What?”
“What I mean is…” He raked a hand through his hair, exhaling. “It’ll be hard to prove all that to you with your mother around. We can’t have her knowing that we’re in an entanglement and going on about it without considering her feelings.” He sighed again, the Alpha façade slipping for a moment. “And we really shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t even be here.”
I scoffed at his words: an entanglement, really? “Then why are you?”
“Because I fucking care about you, Lira. I couldn’t stop thinking about you, and I found myself here. I just need you to understand.”
But I did. I understood all too well. And lord help me, I wanted to be selfish.
My mother had protected me all my life, loved me fiercely, but lately… she wasn’t the same. She hadn’t defended me when I was humiliated at the ball. She hadn’t come to comfort me afterward. And now, even with daylight streaming through my window, she was nowhere to be found.
Alpha Kael’s eyes softened, and for the second time today, I saw the cracks in his armor, the weight he carried, the guilt gnawing at him. We were both tired. Both hurting.
“I don’t care about anything else,” I whispered, stepping closer until my breath mingled with his. “I only care about you proving to me that you want me.”