Chapter 5

 

Logan's POV

The heavy iron doors of the physical education building slammed shut behind us, echoing like a gunshot.

Before I could draw breath to scream, James hauled me into the narrow, dark hallway behind the bleachers. He shoved me back against the cold brick wall so hard my teeth rattled, crowding his broad frame directly into my space.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" James snarled. His storm grey eyes flashed with a dangerous, feral amber his Alpha instincts surging right beneath his skin. "Are you out of your mind? Walking around on the field with your scent leaking like a bloody beacon?"

"I took my inhibitors!" I choked out, my hands flying up to push against his chest. But my muscles felt like liquid lead. "I took double the dose this morning! I don't know why"

"Because you're in heat, Logan!" James growled, leaning in so close his sharp canine scraped the shell of my ear. "Your body is overriding the pills!"

The word hit me like a physical blow. Heat.

My mind scrambled to deny it, but deep in my gut, I knew he was right. My internal body temperature was soaring, my pulse hammering against my throat like a trapped bird. The suppressed instincts I had spent years shoving down into the darkest corners of my soul were breaking free, tearing through my artificial disguise like paper.

A wave of sickly sweet, heavy citrus and vanilla bloomed from my skin, completely washing away my fake Alpha disguise. My knees buckled. I would have collapsed onto the dirty floor if James hadn't caught my waist in a brutal grip, slamming his front against mine to hold me up.

The moment his heavy, sandalwood and rain Alpha pheromones hit my nose, my brain short circuited. My body traitorously softened against his chest. I hated him with every bone in my body, but my Omega instincts craved the protection of his scent. I buried my face into the crook of his neck, gasping for air, clutching his jacket like a lifeline.

I couldn't help it. The sheer dominance radiating off him acted like an anchor in the middle of a storm. Every cell in my body was screaming for him to envelop me, to hide me, to keep me safe from the rest of the world. It was humiliating. It was sickening. But in the grip of my first unsuppressed heat, logic had completely abandoned me.

"See?" James whispered, his own breath hitching as his arms tightened around me. "You're pathetic. You hate me, but your body is begging me to mark you."

"Shut up..." I whimpered, tears of humiliation burning my eyes. "Just... shut up..."

I tried to summon the strength to dig my nails into his shoulders, to shove him away, to prove that I wasn't just some helpless victim to my own biology. But every time I gasped for air, his heavy, intoxicating scent filled my lungs, turning my spine to jelly. He had me completely trapped, not just with his strength, but with the raw, primal gravity of his Alpha nature.

My heart hammered uselessly against my ribs as I felt the terrifying reality of my position sink in. If anyone walked down this hall right now, it would be over. My scholarship, my disguised life, my freedom everything I had bled for over the past three years would be burnt to the ground in a single second.

Then, the universe called my bluff.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor heavy, slow, and deliberate.

The heavy leather soles clicked sharply against the polished concrete, taking precise, methodical steps that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The sheer pressure of a suffocating, mature Alpha command rolled down the hall before the person even came into view.

"Well... well. What do we have here?"

A tall shadow blocked the light at the end of the hallway. Maxwell Macon James’s older brother and the university's head athletic official stepped into view. His cold eyes swept over the two of us, pinning us where we stood. He stopped a few feet away, his nostrils flaring as he took a deep, deliberate breath of the air.

A slow, predatory smile spread across Maxwell's face.

"Smells delicious back here," Maxwell drawled, his eyes locking onto my flushed face. "Tell me, James since when does your little rival smell like a ripe Omega in full heat?"