sunrise, begging for it, unable to stop. That's a promise."
The fear in Darcy's scent spiked to raw terror. Up until this moment, she'd thought he was the most dangerous thing in these woods.
She had no fucking idea.
As moments ticked past, Zeke stayed rooted to the spot, unmoving, watching her process this new information, seeing her cycle through fear to determination. She might be reckless, and she might be foolish, but she wasn't a coward.
"Why don't you want to awaken another omega?" she demanded. "What happened to the first?"
Zeke’s mouth tightened. It figured that she'd get stuck on the one thing that didn't matter, and that he probably shouldn't have admitted. "That's none of your business."
"The hell it isn't," Darcy said, her eyes bright and calculating now, coming a step closer. "If I am what you say I am—"
"An omega." He'd force her to hear it, even if she refused to say it.
"If I am…that—then I deserve to know what the fuck you did to her."
"I didn't do a damn thing to her," he retorted.
"Really?" Darcy was obviously unconvinced. "Then where is she? I thought that once you guys screwed an omega, you never let her leave. Or do you have her stashed around here somewhere? Do you have another shed hidden in the forest? Did you bring me here because you're planning to start a harem?"
Fury rose up inside Zeke, but he didn't mind. Anger had its uses, chief among them giving him something to focus on other than that old, buried pain—the embers of which she was doing her damnedest to stir up all over again.
"If I wanted you as my omega, there wouldn't be damned thing you could do to stop me," he said through gritted teeth. "I wouldn't wait to get you in my bed. I'd take you right here, right now. I'd fuck you so hard you wouldn't remember your own name."
Darcy blanched, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of admitting he'd scared her. "Is that what you did to this other omega? Is she right there in your house, too weak to run away?"
For fuck's sake.
Zeke didn't owe anyone an explanation for something that had happened over a decade ago. But he wasn't going to have his pride dragged through the dirt, either—especially not by a temperamental pink-haired spitfire with a death wish.
"That omega is no one's concern. Not mine, and sure as shit, not yours."
Something in his tone must have tipped her off to the deep well of pain inside him because her scent shifted from anger and curiosity to sympathy.
"Something happened to her, didn't it?" she asked.
"You don't know shit."
"Maybe," she admitted, her tone softening even more. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings."
He'd heard the same empathy in her voice on the road this morning when her concern over his injuries had made her set aside her own situation. Her focus on him made Zeke uneasy.
This time he didn't bother stifling a derisive snort. Hurt his feelings? That was a fucking joke. "I don't need your pity."
His words didn't have the desired effect. In fact, she edged a little closer, like she was approaching a skittish dog.
It made Zeke want to break something. Even after his clear warning, she was still playing with fire.
Maybe she couldn't help herself. Just as she hadn't been unable to turn away from watching him at the lake.
Just as she couldn't keep from calling out his name as she made herself come.
"Not one step closer," he growled.
Darcy froze. In the middle of the small clearing, moonlight shone through the treetops, silvering her face and making her eyes shine with compassion.
"Did she do something to you? Is that why you're so prudish?"
Zeke sighed and gazed up to the heavens. He could think of a thousand ways to silence this exasperating woman—some using his tongue, some using his cock.
"I'm not a prude. I thought I made that clear when I said I could fuck you into the damned ground."
"Fair enough," she conceded, though he could tell she wasn't convinced. "So that's why you won't come near me? Because you're stuck on another woman you can't have? I mean…that's kind of sweet."
Her voice had taken on a dreamy quality that Zeke didn't like one fucking bit.
"No. It's because awakening my first omega almost cost me everything. She stabbed me in the back, and I'd rather throw myself off a damned cliff than go through that again."
Darcy looked startled, her smile slipping. Good. He was finally getting through to