Defy The Alpha(s) 2: Rebel Beast

"There was a difference between choosing someone every day and being told you were destined to choose them forever."

~ Rebel Beast

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Fear unlike anything Aria had ever felt gripped her, and she stumbled backward in her haste to put some distance between them. She moved too quickly, however, catching her foot against the chair behind her. Her balance gave way, and she would have hit the floor if Maverick hadn’t moved in a flash and caught her.

A sharp current rushed through her the instant his hand closed around her arm, so sudden and intense that a startled gasp escaped her lips. Aria went completely still. Her pulse quickened beneath her skin, and despite every breath she dragged into her lungs, she couldn’t seem to get enough air.

"You feel it, don’t you?" Maverick asked, his voice dropping into a low, husky tone that sent a shiver through her. "This crazy bond between us..." His words trailed off as his thumb moved over the spot where he held her, caressing her skin in a slow, sensual stroke that only intensified the strange current flowing between them.

Aria swallowed as heat rushed to her face. One part of her was screaming at her to run because she wasn’t ready for this kind of commitment. Yet another part of her wanted the exact opposite.

It wanted to stop fighting the attraction that had been tormenting her since Maverick first kissed her and surrender to whatever was pulling them together. Would it really be so terrible to live in the moment for once and forget about the consequences?

Held spellbound by the conflicting emotions raging inside her, Aria barely moved as Maverick leaned closer and whispered into her ear, "You can deny the bond for as long as you want, but you cannot run from it. The bond is final."

Those words fell on Aria with the finality of a death sentence. The attraction that had nearly persuaded her to surrender was immediately drowned beneath the terrifying realization that Maverick wasn’t offering her something she could simply enjoy tonight and reconsider tomorrow.

In his world, fate had already made the decision for them, and Aria had spent far too much of her life having other people decide what her future should be.

Aria lifted her face and looked him directly in the eyes. "Let me go, please."

Maverick stilled. He studied her for only a second before his hand fell away from her arm. He didn’t argue or try to convince her to stay. He simply stepped back and gave her the distance she’d asked for.

Aria didn’t waste it. She turned and practically fled from the room, leaving Maverick standing alone in the kitchen as he watched her go.

Everything was practically a blur as Aria ran into the elevator, pressed the button for the second floor, and endured the short ride down that somehow felt like it took forever. The moment the doors opened, she hurried along the walkway and practically shoved open the door to their suite, startling Alek and Dimitri, who had obviously been in the middle of an intense makeout session.

"Aria—!" Alek immediately pulled away from Dimitri, looking both flustered and embarrassed at being caught.

Had it been any other time, Aria probably would have joked that they needed to get a room. But right now, she simply stood there staring at them like a deer caught in headlights, her mind still trapped upstairs with Maverick and everything he’d just told her.

Alek’s embarrassment disappeared the moment she noticed the terrified look on her roommate’s face.

"Aria?" Her voice became cautious. "Are you okay?"

Aria didn’t answer. She hurried past them and disappeared into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Alek immediately went after her, but by the time she reached it, Aria had already turned the lock.

"What is going on, Aria?" She knocked several times but received no response.

Dimitri, who had watched the entire exchange from the living room, frowned. "That doesn’t look like it went well."

Alek turned toward him. "What didn’t go well?"

Dimitri glanced at Aria’s bedroom. "Just like us, Maverick and Aria are fated mates too."

"Oh, wow." Alek stared at him as the information sank in. "I guess that explains the tension between her and the professor. I’ve noticed it since we came here. There’s always been something unusually intense about the way they react to each other."

"Apparently, Maverick finally told her," Dimitri said.

"Oh..." Alek glanced back at Aria’s door as understanding slowly settled in. "That’s quite a lot to dump on someone. I mean, I know about the concept of fated mates, and finding out that the two of us..." She gestured between them. "...are actually mates is still kind of crazy to me. I’m open to exploring it because I like you, but Aria is different. She comes from a broken home, and anything involving relationships or permanent commitment is complicated for her."

"Maverick..." Dimitri breathed, suddenly realizing there was another person upstairs who probably wasn’t handling this particularly well either. "I need to go to him."

"Okay," Alek said without hesitation. "I need to check on Aria too. So go do your job while I do mine."

"God, I love you right now." Dimitri couldn’t help the words that slipped out as pride filled him.

The goddess had given him a mate who understood exactly what needed to be done without him having to explain it. To think he hadn’t recognized the signs from the beginning was almost embarrassing.

Alek went red in the face immediately. She knew he didn’t love her like that yet. They had only just started getting to know each other, and whatever existed between them was still too new to be called love. But hearing the words from him still sent a delicious tingling sensation through her that made it impossible to stop the smile on her lips.

"I should go..." Dimitri said, yet he made absolutely no move to leave.

Mate.

The little bastard of a wolf finally howled inside his head, making his presence known after being suspiciously quiet while Dimitri figured everything out on his own. Now the damn creature was practically wagging his tail in excitement, as if he deserved any credit for the discovery. They were going to have a very long talk after this was over.

Dimitri knew he needed to leave, but knowing something and actually doing it were two entirely different things, especially when Alek looked up at him with those flushed cheeks and slightly swollen lips from what they’d been doing before Aria interrupted them.

He reached for her face and kissed her, intending only to steal one quick kiss before forcing himself out the door. Except the moment their lips touched, something inside him flared to life.

The bond surged between them with such force that Dimitri’s fingers tightened against her cheeks, and the gentle kiss deepened before he even realized what he was doing. Alek made a soft sound against his mouth and kissed him back just as eagerly, her hands sliding up his chest and around his neck as his tongue met hers.

Whatever little sense Dimitri had managed to hold onto vanished with that response. His hands dropped from her face to her waist, and he lifted her effortlessly. Alek wrapped her legs around him without breaking the kiss, pressing herself against him as Dimitri carried her backward until her back met the wall.

Their mouths separated only long enough to drag in a breath before finding each other again, the kiss turning hotter and far less controlled. Alek threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him closer while Dimitri held her firmly against him, one hand supporting her beneath her thigh as the other tightened around her waist.

Alek ground against him, and the friction drew a rough groan from Dimitri that disappeared against her mouth. She answered with a breathless moan of her own, tightening her legs around his waist as he kissed her harder.

The bond seemed to magnify everything between them, making every touch feel more intense than it should have. Dimitri could feel how badly she wanted him closer, and judging by the way his body responded whenever she moved against him, he wasn’t doing much better.

His mouth left hers and traveled along her jaw before finding the sensitive skin beneath her ear, and Alek tipped her head aside to give him more room.

"Dimitri..." She breathed his name as his lips moved against her neck.

Things probably would have escalated much further if Alek hadn’t managed to remember that they both had something far more important to deal with. She reluctantly pulled his face away from her neck, breathing hard as she stared at him.

"Maverick."

Dimitri froze before closing his eyes in frustration. "Fuck."

He pressed his forehead against hers, neither of them making any immediate effort to untangle themselves as they struggled to catch their breath.

His voice still rough from the kiss, Dimitri said, "We seriously need to get those two together, because I’m going to lose my damn mind very soon."

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