Page 25 of Knot My MC
We’re coming for you, Kiki.
CHAPTERNINE
KIKI
Lightning cracks, bright white veins snaking across the sky, ending in vicious tips. A loud boom chases the flash of light and rattles the windows. The clouds open and torrents of rain pour down, splattering onto the pavement.
I love storms, but not today. No, today it’s as though the world is mocking me. Sometimes I think humans forget we’re not invincible and mother nature only tolerates our arrogance for so long before she decides it’s time to remind us how vulnerable we all are. Another spark of light slices through the clouds, reminding me who’s really in charge. Just like Axel is trying to do.
I smell him before I see him; scent rancid and repulsive. Slipping away from the window, I return to my seat. The worn recliner is uncomfortable, but I refuse to sit on the bed. Axel slams the door as he re-enters, gait more agitated than it was before he left. The prospect who came to retrieve him had said the Hounds were outside. The window to this room doesn’t face the street and Axel’s command for me to stay in the room kept me from checking to see exactly who was outside.
The naive woman inside of me hoped it was Crow, Knox, and Jag, but the smarter side of me knows better than to wish for them to save me. They left me a long time ago and made it clear exactly how little they cared about me.
They never came back.
I don’t speak to Axel. I don’t ask if everything is okay when he begins to pace. I don’t meet his gaze when his head whips up and turns in my direction. I stare straight ahead at a crack in the wall, thinking of a way to get out of becoming his mate. Camila is all about tradition and upholding the results of the compatibility tests, but I wouldn’t put it past her to give me to Axel. She’d probably enjoy watching me squirm.
“Look at me,” Axel barks.
Goddamn him. I’ll never forgive him for commanding me like this. The single worst thing about being an omega is having the right to choose taken away.
My eyes cut toward him, not an ounce of affection in them. I let him see how much I hate him. Maybe once he realizes I won’t come easily, he’ll leave me alone. That’s a stupid thought. Axel has been playing this game for years, toying with me how he could while my father was alive.
Now that he’s dead… agony slices me in two and tears pool in my eyes. Sorrow clogs my throat and I begin to lose control, chest rising and falling as I fight to withhold a sob.No.
I won’t cry in front of Axel.
He stares at me, assessing me as I go from the verge of a panic attack to complete stillness. I blink, pride swelling within me when no moisture slips down my cheek.
You control your emotions, Kiki. Don’t let them control you,Dad’s familiar words float through my head, bringing me the strength I need.
“I won’t be your omega.” I lift my chin a little. “Even if Camila gives me to you, I’ll never be yours.” The law would make me his, but he’ll never get the omega he wants. He’ll never know love, at least not from me.
He scoffs. “We’ll see about that.” His eyes light with something sinister, and he steps toward me.
Then again, maybe this is exactly what he wants. I stay still. I won’t recoil. I won’t give him the satisfaction.
Stopping in front of me, he places his hands on his thighs and leans down until we’re eye to eye. “You’re going to go into heat for me.”
“I won’t.”
His lips twitch. “It’s not an option. Go into heat,” he says softly, but the alpha command is still threaded into his words.
My body goes taut, tension coiling, muscles tightening. “That’s not how it works.”
He can’t force me into it, can he?
“Are you sure about that?” He brings his face even closer to mine, inhaling deeply before saying, “Go into heat for me, sweetheart.”
Something deep within me pulses at his command. Obey, obey, obey. Give him what he wants. Please your alpha. Those thoughts race through my mind but they’re not my own. I resist, gritting my teeth and curling my fingers into fists. A few moments pass and nothing else happens.
He growls and grabs my face, his grip not tight enough to bruise but hard enough to hurt. “Go into heat!”
The scream strikes a chord of fear, and the same throb responds to his demands. But that’s it. My body doesn’t do as he commands; it can’t. I scoff at the realization. “You can’t force nature,” I hiss. He can’t control the storm outside any more than he can control when my body decides it’s time for my heat. “My heat isn’t yours to demand.”
Frustration lines his face and I fold my lips to keep from smiling in his face, delighted that there’s at least one way to resist him. It’s stupid to laugh in the face of the man demanding these things.
My dad is dead.
