Page 70 of Knot What She Seems
His hand slides across the table and over mine, and the touch scalds me in the most intoxicating way. Fire surges through my blood.
I yank away as if it’s scorched, shaking my head. “Well, if it is true, that sucks for you. I don’t believe in mates, and I don’t believe in scent matches. You’re giving your power to the wrong girl.”
It is absolutely not comforting when Luka slides back in his seat with a smug expression on his face. “Oh, I think we are. Alpha Team X likes to win just as much as you do, little omega. And we don’t like it to be easy. We love a good fight.”
Fuuuuuuuck.
We eat in complete silence after that, and then I practically sprint out of there, but there is absolutely no chance that he missed the way slick gushed down my thighs after that statement.
I’m in big trouble.
24
BRYLEE
“Again.”
Ridge’s commanding, imperious voice seems to echo from every direction, despite him standing directly atop of me. Maybe it’s because the gym is practically empty at this time of day. Maybe it’s because his presence seems larger than just one alpha is capable of. Maybe it’s because I’m infuriatingly in tune with everything he does.
Either way, he’s all I can hear. All I can focus on. All I can see.
The overhead lights glint annoyingly off his golden hair, which is plastered to his forehead. I glare up at him and then shakily rise to my feet, ignoring his outstretched hand. I learned my lesson the first time I took it and he flipped me to the ground.
“Never trust your opponent,” he had said, a perpetual scowl tugging at his lips.
“Even you?”
“Especially me.”
Now, an hour later, I’m still getting beaten to a pulp—but at least this time I have the dignity to get up on my own. My thigh muscles ache at the edges as I stand.
“You were faster this time,” Ridge says. The twitter of a bird outside the window punctuates his statement with a happy trill, and I pause.
Am I mistaken, or does that almost sound like a compliment? I don’t know if the intimidating alpha has ever praised me before.
I clear my throat and take a step away, folding my arms over my chest and averting my eyes from the way his sweat-soaked T-shirt clings to his chest. I’m playing a dangerous game being this close to Ridge in my Teddie disguise. One wrong move, one wrong word…and he’ll know everything. As it is, I had to douse myself in suppressors in preparation for this meeting.
I lower myself into a crouch and take a deep breath, filling my lungs to prepare myself for the inevitable takedown. We’re working on defensive maneuvers this morning, though I’m beginning to believe that Ridge is simply looking for an excuse to put me on my ass. Heaven knows that the only thing I’ve “learned” is what the mat smells like when my nose becomes intimately acquainted with it.
Ridge comes at me, and I stealthily sidestep his attack, lifting my arms just in time to block his assault. His fists crash into my arm bar and, even with the suit padding, my bones rattle from the impact. One second later, he lowers himself, kicks out, and I jump to avoid his sweeping leg.
Holy shit.
This is longer than I’ve ever lasted before.
Giddy euphoria bubbles in my chest, and a slow smile tugs at my lips?—
Ridge’s shoulder catches my chest as he tosses me over him.
I land on the ground with an audible “thump.”
Motherfucker.
Ridge stands over me, his chest heaving, his eyes angry. “You need to be better than that if you have any hope of surviving this world.”
“Why the fuck do you care if I survive?” I snap as I push myself to my feet, disappointed and angry at myself but also lashing out at him. I shift my weight away from my weaker ankle and lean on my good one as I try to shrug my shoulders, but they pulse with pain from that last landing, and movement only makes it worse. I need water, a warm bath, and a massage—actually, I need all three in no particular order. Sometimes, I hate being royalty. Other times, I miss the benefits of living in a palace with hundreds of staff who dote on me.
“Because Bry—” Ridge cuts himself off quickly, his lips clamping together. With a growl, he stalks toward the far side of the gym, where he left his bag.
