The Alpha Behind The Mask-Chapter 93: Rejection
โOliverโs POV
โI stared at her, my heart hammering against my ribs. My wolf was clawing, pacing restlessly in my mind, howling for me to take what she was offering. ๐ฏ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ก.๐๐๐ถ
But I forced myself to move, catching her wrists and gently pulling her hands away from my face. "No," I rasped, my voice thick and strained. "No... Aurora, you are not yourself. Youโre overwhelmed. Your head isnโt clear."
โShe didnโt pull away. Instead, she leaned in and kissed me againโnot a soft kiss, but one that was deep and demanding. Her hands came back to my face, holding me there.
"I have never been so sure of anything in my life," she whispered, her voice uncharacteristically steady.
โMy wolf purred, a low, vibrating rumble in my chest, urging me to stop talking and start acting. But I couldnโt. I was terrifiedโthis would be her first time.
And more than that, I was haunted by the ghost of myself. The way she had behaved earlier, the way she had looked this morning... I knew she loved Raymond. Even if she hated him right now, she loved him. And she didnโt know that Raymond was the man currently holding her in the front seat of a Ferrari. If I took her now, would she regret it when the truth eventually came out? Would she feel like I had tricked her into my bed twice?
โ"Why donโt you just think about it for a moment?" I suggested, my grip on her waist tightening as I tried to keep my own desire in check.
โ"Goddammit, Alpha Oliver!" she snapped, her frustration boiling over. She shifted on my lap, the movement nearly shattering what little control I had left. "I have thought about it. I want you. Or do you just... do you not want me?"
โI let out a pained laugh. "God, you have no idea how much I want you. I want you so much itโs painful. But you donโt seem to have a clear head, Aurora, and I wonโt be the man who takes advantage of that."
โI looked into her eyes, pleading with her to understand. I wanted our first time to be about usโnot a distraction from the pain another version of me had caused her.
"My head is clear, Oliver," she whispered, her voice filled with a desperate sort of certainty. "I want you. I want you right now."
โBefore I could breathe, her hands moved, fumbling for the buckle of my pants. The touch sent a jolt of pure, unadulterated electricity through my spine, nearly snapping my control. My wolf was roaring now, demanding I pin her back against that leather seat and never let go. But I caught her hands, my fingers firm but trembling as I forced her to stop.
โI shook my head, my chest heaving. It felt like I was tearing my own heart out just to reject her, but I couldnโt let her first time be a reaction to the trauma Raymond had inflicted. "Not like this, Aurora," I forced out. "Please."
โThe silence that followed was suffocatingly heavy. Her face went through a kaleidoscope of emotionsโshock, embarrassment, and finally, a cold, hard shell of rejection. She frowned, pulling her hands from mine as if my touch burned her. Without a word, she climbed off my lap and back into the passenger seat, folding her arms tightly across her chest and staring out the window.
"Please take me back."
โI wanted to explain... to say more, but the words stuck in my throat..so I just nodded and started up the engine.
The drive back to the packhouse was agonizing. I took deep, steadying breaths, catching flickers of raw pain in her eyes every time I glanced at her. I had tried to protect her, but I had only succeeded in making her feel unwanted on top of everything else.
โWhen we reached the packhouse, I barely had the engine killed before she was out of the door. She didnโt wait for me. She marched straight to the elevator and headed for the top floor, leaving me standing in the driveway.
โI followed ten minutes later. When the elevator doors opened, I found her already submerged in her work. Her back was straight, her eyes fixed on the computer screen, her fingers flying across the keys with a mechanical precision that told me she was shutting the world out.
โI walked over to her desk and quietly placed the Ferrari keys on her desk. She didnโt look up. She didnโt even blink. I stood there for a moment, wanting to say somethingโanythingโto bridge the canyon Iโd just dug between us, but the words died in my throat.
โI retreated into my office and sank into my chair. But I didnโt go into work. I just sat there in the dim morning light, staring through the one-way glass that looked out onto her station. I watched herโthe tension in her shoulders, the way she bit her lips to keep it from trembling, and the way she resolutely ignored the office door.
โI sat in the heavy silence of my office for hours, my gaze never truly leaving Aurora through the one-way glass. I wanted to go out there. I wanted to kneel by her desk and beg her to understand that my rejection wasnโt because I didnโt desire herโit was because I cherished her too much to let her use me as an anchor for her grief.
โSuddenly, a sharp, painful feeling sliced through my mind. It was a mind link, raw and filled with panic.
"Alpha King! Please... we are under attack!" It was Alpha Miller of the Silver Brook pack, a small territory on the eastern fringe. "Vampires... theyโve breached the borders. There are too many. My people... we canโt hold them!"
โI stood up instantly, my chair skidding back against the floor.
"Hold your ground, Miller," I commanded through the link, my voice booming in his head to give him strength. "I am sending reinforcements now, and I am on my way. Do not let them enter the pack."
โ"Thank you, Sire... thank you," he gasped before the link was cut.
โ
