Party

Party
Dante Scout POV

"Talking is not what I am here for." Vinorca moaned, this time painfully, her wet folds moistening against my slit.

Something clogged my throat, my dick throbbing in my hand, ready to be pushed inside her. Is this what I want?

The question churned at the back of my skull. Scaring her with sex was one thing—even almost having sex had felt justified when she was in the right state of mind. But this felt like too much, knowing she was in heat, not in her senses.

Her lust-filled face stared up at me, and my gut twisted. This was not what she would have wanted if she were herself.

What are you doing? We are literally on the verge of our rut, and that too with our mate, Lufi howled inside my head.

Could I even blame him? Because this was exactly what we both wanted. Even though I hated her, hated what her parents had done, I still fucking wanted her.

"Earth to Dante." Vinorca's voice cut through my thoughts. "Do something." She pushed herself forward, trying to work my tip inside her, but it slipped sideways.

Something totally snapped inside me.

Wrenching back, I stood up, nearly tripping over myself in my haste to put some distance between us.

"Sleep, Vin. You'll feel better soon." Stepping closer, I pressed my hand over her wet lashes and let my pheromones bleed out, slow and thick, pulling her under before she could say or do anything else.

How the hell had I not thought of this before? Literally seconds from burying myself inside her.

Her small snores came quickly. I stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind me.

‘I fucking hate you,’ Lufi seethed, as if he wanted to kill me.

‘Doesn't matter.’ I turned on the shower, cold water soothing my muscles, my hard dick still pressed against my stomach, aching painfully.

‘Why, Dante? Give me one reason why you did it.’

‘She was in heat,’ I replied.

‘Are you losing your head? Of course she was in heat; that's why she was so eager to have us. Or else you made sure we got nothing.’

I shut the mind link and let myself sink into the cold water. He thought I didn't want my own mate. The girl I had always considered family from the very start. The girl I had been fated to since I got my wolf.

I couldn't even laugh at Lufi. This had all shattered because of Vinorca's own parents. When I first found out she was my mate, I had wanted to claim her, but I held back. I wanted her to have her wolf too, so she could feel everything the way I would. She had been only ten. I was eighteen.

Then our parents died, a few months after I finally got my wolf and learned that she was my mate. The pain of having my mate right in front of me and being unable to do a thing. The pain of losing my parents. The pain of knowing that the people I had loved like my own were the ones who had destroyed my life.

I was glad they died. Or else Vin would have hated me even more, because her parents dying by my hands could never feel like anything less than dragging her through hell.

Gripping my shaft, I jerked it once, hard. Vinorca's face flashed behind my glazed eyes. I rolled my thumb over my tip and stroked faster. Today was not the day, but soon enough, claiming her would not be a question at all.

Within seconds, ropes of cum sprayed across the bathroom floor.

Next day…

"Alpha, what's your plan for the upcoming party?" Finn, my beta, asked. I was already feeling more of a grouch than usual.

I took a sip of my coffee. "What plan do I need? I'm the Alpha. I'll just attend it." As if I didn't know exactly what this conversation was really about.

"You need a date. All the pack elders and other pack Alphas will be there with their mates or dates."

I rolled my eyes. The sheer stupidity. "Then arrange someone. It's not like any woman would turn down the opportunity."

I had spent my years taking care of war business. This was my first party since becoming Alpha. I was a virgin, not some ugly weakling. Women and men alike would crawl for even a single night with me. Finding a date was the least of my problems.

"Dante, you're making this needlessly difficult. What about Vinorca? She is your mate."

If he weren't my beta and childhood friend, that statement would have ended with his head on the floor. He knew I wouldn't touch him. "Finn, save the comedy for another day. You know I'm not taking her anywhere."

Vinorca was a hidden variable in my life until I decided exactly what we were and what shape that would take. "Alpha, you already helped her by sorting things out with her university principal so my sister Amy would stop bullying her, so why not?”

I stared into my half-empty cup. "You're upset that I got involved with your sister's business?" It didn't even make sense as a complaint. I knew how principled Finn was. He would never back Amy, blood or not.

"We both know if I'd caught even a whiff of what she was doing, I'd have been the first to set her straight. My father spoils her too much," Finn grumbled. "Now stop steering away from the point. Vinorca is your mate. Taking any other woman to this party is not going to end well."

"Finn, I don't scare easily." I smiled. "Arrange a date for me. Your sister might be a good option; she knows how to carry herself at events like this."

It was cruel. I knew that. But I wanted to see the girl who had spent so long bullying my mate put in an uncomfortable position. I wouldn't harm her; she was Finn's sister. But she needed a lesson or two in keeping that sharp tongue and those wandering hands of hers in check.

"Not happening. She's coming with me.”