desire.
This is very wrong. I shouldn’t feel this way when he’s been nothing but a danger to me.
“What are you doing out here?” I ask, trying to shake off the fire spewing from his hand and engulfing me.
“I wanted you to follow me.”
I study his face, trying to find the truth, but with so many shadows, there’s nothing but the beating of his heart against my touch.
“That doesn’t sound like me.” I’m breathless, downplaying how him being this close to me has even my wolf stirring.
He laughs softly, his other hand going to the side of my face, cupping my cheek, his thumb dragging across my lower lip.
Something feels off with me as I just stand there, barely knowing this Alpha, clenching my thighs together from the way he plays with me. I shouldn’t let him touch me, not after his earlier rudeness.
“If you didn’t want to follow me, you would have stayed in camp,” he tells me, and just like Crius, he’s full of ego. But when he leans in and his breath is on my cheek, I lose all ability to think logically. The warmth of his proximity is a toxicity that swallows me. He whispers in my ear, “I have a proposition for you.”
My free hand grips the tree behind me as I brace to hold myself up, my back against the trunk, unsure why he makes me feel like I’ve lost all ability to think straight.
“What do you mean?” My question comes out sounding sultry even though I hadn’t meant it to.
His fingers trace across my jawline and dip over the front of my throat, soft, yet I sense the power in them. How one small twist of his wrist and he’d choke the life out of me. Still, I can’t move my legs to get out of his way. The chaos that is Nikos consumes me, his presence like a poison seeping into my veins.
He presses in close to me once more, our chests smothered together, and my breath catches in my throat.
His cheek brushes against mine, his mouth on my earlobe, and a moan escapes my lips.
“You and I go to find the witch coven alone. We ditch the rest of them, and that way we’re quicker. No drama, and we get out of these woods faster. How does that sound?” His words are hot against my neck, and it takes me a few moments for their meaning to sink in.
I push against his chest to separate us, but he doesn’t budge, only brings his face up in front of mine. What he’s saying scares me, because here I thought the four of them were a unit and trusting, yet Nikos offers to leave them behind. What am I missing?
“What do you get out of this?”
I have no loyalty to any of these men, but I also want to know the devil I’m playing with.
He shrugs nonchalantly, as if he wants to make me think this is a topic he just thought of, except that’s not the case at all. “It’s the right thing to do, and I’m not doing it to trick you. Once we’re out, I will get your sister back to you.”
I blink at him, so lost, so confused.
“I thought you and them were loyal to each other.” I twist my head back to the camp, then back at Nikos.
“We’re friends, yes, and they may not know it, but I’m doing this for them. They will kill each other before we reach the coven with their bickering and competitiveness, so I want to help get this done for them.”
He wants to impress Ragnar by being the hero? Is that what this is all about? His hand reaches over and lands on my shoulder, distracting me for a moment.
“What exactly is your intention with the witches? What does Ragnar want? To negotiate with them? To kill them?”
“You’re a kind Omega—maybe too kind for this world, Narah—and I’m offering you a way out of dealing with wild Alphas. Have you not seen the way they look at you?”
“I’ve seen the way you look at me too.” I realize then his trick to distract me from my question worked.
His mouth splits into a wicked grin that should scare me, but when his hand combs through the back of my hair, fisting it and tilting my head back, I can only look at his lips and the promise of what they offer.
My head demands I push him away and remember who the Alpha in front