Shaky. Cold. Barely holding on.
And for a second… just a second…
I saw the moment everything I’d fought to keep hidden began to unravel.
Because now he knew.
And I wasn’t safe anymore.
DERRICK POV
The lucky to be still alive professor stumbled across the room making a beeline for the exit.
But I had another thing to make clear.
“Leo, one more thing,” I growled, voice low and sharp. “From now on, you’re going to pair Kai with me or Dalton. No one else is going to spar with her. I hope we’ll understand each other.”
He barely nodded, eyes wide, breath shaky. Then he turned and rushed out, like the coward he really was under all that fake Alpha bravado.
The door hadn’t even closed before I felt the sting.
A smack landed hard against my pec. Small, fierce hand. I caught the wrist without thinking, and turned my gaze toward the only person on this planet who could lay a hand on me without losing it.
Kai.
My reason. My obsession. My fucking oxygen.
“Are you serious?!” she shouted, but her voice cracked halfway through it. Weak. Shaky. Rattled.
Good. That meant she wasn’t completely numb to what just happened. She was still present, still wired.
I locked eyes with her, leaned in, and brought her wrist to my mouth.
Then I bit it.
Not hard enough to draw blood. But enough for her body to shudder. For her pretty lips to part. For that little moan to escape before she could stop it. Fuck, I lived for that sound. She tasted like summer days, smelled like heaven wrapped in chocolate, and I was one second away from ripping that damn scent-blocking pendant off her and finally breathing her in.
I licked the bite. Kissed it.
“Deadly serious,” I murmured against her skin. “No one touches what’s mine.”
“But me,” Dalton added from behind her, his voice the kind of silk that dripped with sin. He pressed against her, chest to her back, and slid a hand to her throat, not squeezing, just claiming. Holding. Controlling.
And she melted between us.
Goddess, help me, she melted.
“Now, little mouse,” I purred, mouth close to her ear and Onyx right behind the surface “I know we have some days until you turn eighteen, and we will behave. But you can’t go around putting an entire room of alpha heirs at risk. Right?”
Her mind was fried. Her lips parted. Her pulse raced beneath his hand, I could hear it, feel it. And Onyx howled in satisfaction inside of me. Our mate. Ours. Ours to tease. To protect. To ruin.
And she had no idea what was coming.
My mind flooded with images. Her, naked and flushed, writhing between us. Moaning for permission to come. Crying when we pulled away. Trembling when we finally allowed her release, only to start all over again.
“Because we’re at the point,” Dalton said, gaze meeting mine over her shoulder, “that we’ll kill without hesitation of whoever touches you next. Understood, babe?”
He winked.
That sharing thing?
Still weird.
But I got him. And he got me. And when it came to Kai, we were on the same page.
I kissed her throat, right where my mark would go, where her skin was softest. Dalton did the same on the other side.
Her knees buckled.
Fuck.
She was so damn responsive. So easy to read. And yet so full of secrets. Full of that wild storm she tried so hard to cage. But Onyx saw her. Felt her.
And he wanted to devour her.
Power pulsed through my veins. Claiming. Consuming. This wasn’t some high school crush. This was a bond forged by fate, carved in blood and bone. And when we finally claimed her, there’d be no going back.
“Babe, why don’t we go upstairs?” Dalton suggested, tone all velvet and heat. “I’ll turn up the water for your shower, and Derrick orders pizza?”
The fucker.
Smooth bastard knew exactly how to sound like the good guy. Like he wasn’t already thinking about joining her in that shower.
I arched a brow, then smirked.
“And while we wait for the pizza,” I said, eyes locked on hers, “I’ll give you a massage.”
Dalton shot me a look like I’d stolen his favorite toy.
I grinned wider.
Yeah. I knew the rules. And I’d circle them until both begged me to break.
Kai blinked up at me, dazed, breathing fast. Her chest rose and fell, and her cheeks were flushed. The skin where I bit her was already pink, the mark of my teeth still faintly visible.
I cupped her jaw with my hand, tilting her face to me.
“You did good today, mouse,” I said, voice rough.
Her eyes glistened. She looked like she wanted to say something, but the words got stuck.
So I leaned down.
And kissed her forehead.
Because if I kissed her mouth, I wouldn’t stop.
Not now. Not yet.
But soon.
And when that time came?
There’d be nothing left between us but skin, bond, and screams.
Upstairs, after she disappeared into the bathroom with Dalton trailing behind her like a smug asshole, I ordered the pizza.
Extra cheese. No mushrooms. Her favorite it seemed.
Then I stood there, gripping the counter with both hands, jaw locked, blood hot.
Onyx paced in my head, snarling, restless.
‘We should kill him anyway’
‘Leo’s not worth the trouble.’
‘He touched her. He pinned her.’
‘I know.’
‘You’re too soft. You let him leave.’
‘I let him crawl. He won’t try again.’
‘We should’ve torn his throat out. And we should kill the twins too. And Reyes. And I saw an alpha stare at her for more than ten minutes at lunch.’
I didn’t disagree.
I just needed Kai to see who we were before she saw what we could do. I needed her to trust me. Not fear me. Not yet.
There was a line I was barely holding.
But it was fraying. Fast.
Dalton came back out of the bathroom, damp curls stuck to his forehead, shirt wet from
steam. He tossed a towel on the chair and glanced at me.
“She’s okay,” he said. “Tired. Quiet. But okay.”
“Good.”
“You’re not.”
I shot him a look.
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