Deadly Crush (Deadly Trilogy, Book 1) (26 page)

~ AIDAN ~

Tiffany screamed
when she received her imprint and I had to hold her in place, while the metal
seared her skin.
 
If she moved too soon,
it would just heal and we’d have to do it again.
 
It was painful to watch and even more painful
to listen to.
 
I thought the thing that
made it hurt the most was that the girl screaming in my arms wasn’t Jade.
 
But then, I couldn’t really see Jade
screaming.
 
She’d have put on a brave
face, and hid the pain, just as I had when it was done to me.

It
has nothing to do with love,
I reminded myself, as
Tiffany sobbed against my chest.
 
I held
her loosely, like I was supposed to, and rubbed her back gently.
 
It was better this way.
 
Love was an unneeded distraction.
 
Jade would be better off and so would I,
definitely, maybe.

It had been ten minutes since the branding
was done, and she still sobbed against me.
 
I didn’t feel the need, nor did I want to comfort the girl.
 
I knew she had already healed and there was
no pain, and knowing that made it all so much harder to stand still and hold
her.
 
I did it solely out of duty.
 
To keep up the appearance of us united.
 
Detachment
is better,
I thought, and rubbed another circle on her back.
 
This was what I needed to take back the
pack.
 
A partner, not a lover, not
someone I would worry about every second.
 
At least that’s what I tried to convince myself.

Marcy pulled Tiffany’s dress back up over
her shoulders.
 
“Come on, sweetie, let’s
get you cleaned up,” she said, taking Tiffany’s hand, and pulling her off of my
chest.
 
It should have sounded sweet, and
comforting.
 
Marcy always did, but right
then she sounded hollow.
 
She sounded how
I felt.

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen an alpha cry
before,” Jared said, strolling into my office.
 
“What did you do to her?”
 
He took
up a post beside Beck, leaning against the wall, and folded his arms over his
chest.

“She took her imprint,” I said, and dropped
down onto the couch.
 
I hadn’t expected
Jared back, not this soon, and I was more than a little stunned that I didn’t
really care that he was.
 
It was
done.
 
I lost her.
 
I had a mate now.
 
And even though I wanted to tear him apart, I
figured there wasn’t much point, and it would take a lot of energy that I just
didn’t have.

“You should have heard her scream,” Beck
said with a snicker.
 
“Where’ve you
been?”

“Jade’s,” he said, watching me closely as
if he was expecting some kind of reaction.
 
When I didn’t give it, he said, “Sorry I missed it all.”

I looked him over, taking in breath after
breath, looking for any difference in his scent.
 
I didn’t find any, and I didn’t know whether
to be happy about that or not.
 
He hadn’t
claimed Jade … yet.
 
I sighed.
 
“I’m not giving her to you, Jared,” I said,
after a moment, keeping my voice even.
 
“I’m not going to force her to mate.”

“My little kitten doesn’t need to be
forced,” he said, and winked suggestively.
 
“She’ll come to me willingly soon enough.”
 
He looked toward the door and called, “Jade,
anytime now.”

My stomach dropped at the sound of her
name.
 
I should have figured he’d drag
her back here just to rub it in my face, but honestly, I had never thought he
could be that cruel.
 
Clearly, I was
wrong.

Jade stormed into the room, and growled,
“Shut it, Jared.”
 
She swiveled around,
looking everyone over and then snarled, “Where is she?”

She looked wired.
 
Her brown eyes were rimmed with gold, and her
fists were clenching and unclenching rapidly.
 
She was fighting her inner-wolf; its scent was thick in the air and by
the looks of her, if she relaxed at all, she’d shift instantly.
 
I’d never seen a newbie with so much
restraint before.
 
But then, I’d never
seen one as strong as she was either.

“Jade, tread carefully,” I warned, looking
her straight on.
 
What the hell was she
doing?
 
I could have strangled Jared
right then.
 
How could he have let her
walk in here like this?
 
Didn’t any of
them give a shit about what happened to her?

“Tiffany broke pack rule number five,” she
said, marching up to me.
 
Her skin was
twitching and dark hair had already started to litter her cheekbones.
 
She put her hands on her hips and stared down
at me, scrunching her nose.

I sighed.
 
Why did she have to be so damn cute when she was mad?
 
“Jade, stop.
 
She’s your alpha now.”

“Are you even listening to me!” she yelled,
and stomped her foot.
 
“She’s not my
alpha.
 
She’s turned her back on this
pack.”

“Jade!” I stood up, and stepped closer to
her.
 
I was vibrating with anger.
 
Wasn’t it enough that she walked away?
 
Even if it was completely my fault, she ripped
out my heart without a second thought, and now she was on a one-way path to
getting herself killed.
 
“Dominic,” I
barked.
 
“Take her and teach her the
rules before she gets herself killed.”

Right then, I hated myself even more.
 
I should have forced her to submit.
 
I should have taken control.
 
Jared and Beck were watching her closely as
if they were just waiting for her to do something stupid now that her free pass
was over, and I couldn’t do anything to help her.
 
It was hard enough standing here, seeing her
in so much pain, and not being able to pull her into my arms.
 
Dammit!
 
What was she thinking throwing out random
accusations about an alpha?

“Let her speak, Aidan,” Beck said.
 
He pushed off of the wall and strode over to
her, a glimmer of curiosity shining in his eyes.
 
“Do you have proof?” he asked, when he was
standing in front of her.

“Erika, show them the video,” she said,
with more gentleness than I expected her to have with the girl that changed her
life.

~ JADE ~

Aidan watched the
video.
 
Twice.
 
And as he did, I started to lose
control.
 
Jared tried to help.
 
He rubbed my back each time a bone snapped,
and whispered random nonsense into my ear, as if he was trying to talk over my
father’s betrayal, but it didn’t help.
 
My inner-wolf had been trying to break out for hours now, and I didn’t
know how much longer I could hold her in.

“I want to challenge her,” I said, pacing
back and forth, before they could watch the clip again.
 
“Where the hell is she?”
 
My voice didn’t sound like my own anymore.
 
Each word that I said was slurred and
growled.
 
But if Aidan noticed, he didn’t
care, or if he did, he hid it well.

“Jade, you don’t need to,” Aidan said
coolly.
 
“She’ll be killed for
this.”
 
He looked at me with cold
detachment and I hated how much it hurt.
 
I wasn’t supposed to care about him.
 
He was a lying jackass.
 
I was the
one who walked away.
 
But I just couldn’t
help it.
 
Everything about him made my
body sing.

“Not good enough,” I snarled, using the
pain he’d caused me to fuel my determination.
 
“The games aren’t starting again.
 
I want to end this.”

Aidan cocked his head and looked me over,
and as he did, I knew I picked the wrong words.
 
He started to smile, a soft smile, and for a split-second, his desire
burned brightly in his eyes.
 
I was about
to take it back and try to rephrase it when Tiffany’s nasally voice pierced my
ears.
 
“I won’t submit to you.”

I pivoted, following the earsplitting
sound.
 
She stood in the doorway,
grinning at me.
 
Her carrot colored hair
was pulled back in a ponytail, and her light blue dress was dotted with what
looked like dried blood on the right side of her chest.
 
She was shorter than me by a few inches, and
thinner, too.
 
Instead of my soft
muscles, she was skin and bone.

I grinned as I took in my opponent.
 
“Yeah, you will or I’ll kill you.
 
You pick,” I said.
 
I stripped out of my clothes, quickly as the
first snaps of my bones rang out around me.
 
In a rush of steamy heat, I let my body remold, and my fur sprout from
my skin.
 
Shifting felt like a high; a
fast acting drug, one that I would never get enough of.
 
Energy pulsed through me, hot and cold and
blissful.

I growled and my lips curled back over my
gums, as I stalked toward her.
 
She had
her eyes closed, and her nose was scrunched.
 
The outline of her mark flickered to life with that soft white glow that
I had seen on Aidan’s chest.
 
Her bones
started to break, and her dress fell to the floor.

Tiffany’s wolf was a deep brown with
scattered flecks of white.
 
She backed
out of the office, growling, and I followed her into the gleaming white waiting
room.
 
My claws clicked against the
tiles, echoing around me.

I didn’t wait.
 
I didn’t want to give her a chance to make
the first move.
 
As soon as I was through
the doorway, I lunged at her, and my teeth found purchase in her hip before she
could fully jump out of my way.
 
I held
on tightly, throwing my head back and forth until a chunk of her flesh gave
way.

Maybe I should have waited.
 
She spun on me as soon as she was free, and I
felt her teeth tear into my side and then into my shoulder.
 
She danced back, snarling, and then came at
me again, biting into my hip.
 
Her
movements were fast and her bites, clean and effective.
 
In seconds, sharp pain shot from all over my
body.

I twisted, biting out at her.
 
She was fast, dodging out of the way before I
could get my teeth into her.
 
I
snarled.
 
The coppery scent of blood
wafted around me, mixing with an overwhelming scent that was spicy and bitter
and strong, and near crippling.
 
I backed
up a step, confused.
 
I didn’t know what
it was or where it was coming from.
 
It
made my throat constrict, and my knees shake.

She circled around me, growling and
snarling, and I shook my head, trying to clear the pain that coursed through
me.
 
Between her bites and that scent, my
body was screaming with agonizing, burning pain.

I focused on her, swiveling with her slow
circles.
 
Her chest was glowing, the
white light pulsing through her fur, and I was certain the scent was coming
from her alpha’s imprint.
 
Right then I
knew I needed to end this, before it consumed me.

I crouched down and pushed off with my hind
legs.
 
Sharp, hot pain slid through my
joints and muscles and I collided into her side.
 
We smashed breathtakingly hard into the
tiles, snarling and rolling together in a jumbled ball.
 
I bit her, tearing through her flesh over and
over, as we tumbled across the waiting room, a trail of crimson laying the path
behind us.

We hit the wall, and suddenly she was on
top of me.
 
Her razor sharp canines flew
at my neck, and I bucked under her, trying to throw her off.
 
Blood sprayed across the floor as her teeth
sank into the hollow side of my neck just above my shoulder, and she tore out a
chunk of skin and fur.
 
I kicked and
clawed at her, tossing her off, before her teeth could find me again and finish
me off.

I scrambled to my feet.
 
Blood dripped off of me, pooling at my paws.
 
I tried to growl, but it didn’t sound
right.
 
My breath shortened, wheezing and
gasping, and I trembled as I tried to keep my feet under me.

Tiffany stood in front of me, her scent
thickening in the air, and blood dripping down her muzzle and hindquarters.
 
I felt my scent pulse from me in a warm, hazy
burst, trying to mask hers.
 
She
staggered slightly to the side, before letting out a menacing growl, and my
body convulsed with a shiver.

“Jade!” Aidan yelled, and out of the corner
of my eye, I saw him struggle to get to me.
 
Jared and Beck held him by the arms, pulling him back.

I’m
going to die,
I realized, as my legs gave out from
under me.
 
I could barely breathe, and
dizziness was consuming me, turning the world gray around the edges of my
vision.
 
I’d known it was a possibility,
but I’d never really believed it would happen.
 
I fell to the floor.
 
I heard the
thud, but I didn’t feel it.

“Jade, don’t give up!” Aidan shouted
again.
 
There was pain in his voice, and
desperation that I had never thought I’d hear in him and it made my heart
quicken in painfully fast beats.

Tiffany landed on top of me, snarling down
at me.
 
I tried to roll out from under
her, but she pinned me, holding me on my back.
 
Her lips curled back, and some of my own blood fell from her mouth,
splattering on my face.

“Jade!” Aidan yelled desperately as
Tiffany’s muzzle came down at me, with bared teeth.
 
It was all happening so slowly.
 
I could feel her breath ruffling my fur, see
her teeth closing in on my neck, feel the cold of her wet nose as it got closer
and closer.

Someone let out a guttural cry, and heat
rushed through me.
 
My scent ramped up,
and my body burned, fever hot.
 
I bucked
again, rising up to meet her attack, and then my teeth were in her neck, and I
ripped out her throat.

The limp body of the brown wolf fell
against me, and a whimper burst out of me.

The silence was loud, as I kicked the wolf
off of me and shifted back to my human form.
 
I looked down at the wolf, hardly believing that the mangled body at my
feet was dead because of me.
 
My mouth
tasted of blood, and it chilled me when I realized that I didn’t mind the
taste.
 
Someone put a sweater over my
shoulders, and I was vaguely aware of my arms being pulled into the sleeves,
and the zipper tugging up to my chin.

I looked around, following the sprays and
splatter of blood that covered the walls and floor.
 
My body hurt and warm blood trickled down my
neck, soaking into the sweater.
 
My skin
began to tingle as it slowly pieced back together, and I found myself wondering
if I would have scars.
 
I knew it was a
stupid and irrational thought, and I almost laughed.
 
Almost.

“I am yours now,” Aidan whispered.
 
He placed a hand under my chin, tilting my
head and giving me a look that said,
Accept
it and deal with it
.
 
“And whether
you meant to or not, you made yourself mine.”

“I’m not a possession, you big jerk,” I
growled, still sounding more wolf than human.

He chuckled, a deep velvety sound that made
my knees go weak.
 
“Actually, yeah, you
are.
 
You’re my possession.
 
Mine.
 
To protect and love and have.
 
Mine.”
 
He grabbed me then,
coiling his arm around my waist, and pulled me tightly against the length of
his body.

“Get your hands off me, Aidan!” I shrieked,
but I couldn’t make myself move out of his arms.
 
I breathed in his scent, and I felt the smile
spread upon my lips.

He smirked down at me, and my heart pounded
loudly in my ears.
 
“Is that what you
want?
 
For me to let you go?”
 
His voice was just a whisper, his warm breath
brushing against my lips as he spoke.

I stared up at him, feeling some
multicolored emotion that was guilt and desire and self-loathing all rolled
into one, and tied with a neat little bow, keeping the confused emotions
clustered together.
 
“Yes,” I murmured.

He didn’t let go, and dammit, I was furious
at myself for being glad about that.
 
But
then his lips crushed against mine, roughly, greedily, and it was
intoxicating.
 
And for that moment, I
simply forgot that I wasn’t supposed to want him anymore.