Chapter 5: When I Chose to Disobey Him

THEA

A week.

It had been a full week since I moved into my best friend’s house. 

A week since I had that encounter with her dad... since I’d been on my knees in his room, tasting him, losing myself in the sheer, overwhelming size of him.

And since then? 

He had become a ghost.

Rowan started hiding from me.

It was deliberate, a calculated game of avoidance that only an Alpha could pull off so perfectly. 

He was out of the house before the sun even hit my windows, and he didn’t return until long after Liana and I had gone to sleep. 

He didn’t even give Liana a chance to ask about when we would start our internships at the company. 

Every time she brought him up, she just sighed, complaining that her "workaholic" father was drowning in pack business again. 

But I knew better. I knew he wasn't drowning in work; he was running from a girl half his age.

Being with Liana for the week was supposed to be a distraction. She was fun, loud, and full of life. She made me forget about Noah, the guy who had broken my heart.

But there was one person she couldn’t make me forget, no matter how hard she tried.

Her dad.

I couldn't get him out of my head. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him. 

I couldn't forget the sight of his abs... And the rest of him... the portable weight of his ass, the sheer, terrifying length of him down there... it was burned into my mind.

I wanted him. 

I wanted him so badly it felt like a physical sickness. 

But he had left me hanging. 

He made me taste him, and then slammed the door, telling me I was forbidden. 

He told me I was just his daughter’s best friend, an Omega who had no business craving an alpha.

I knew I wasn't supposed to want him. 

He was twice my age. He was the Alpha of our entire pack. If the pack members found out, the scandal would be legendary. 

They would tear him apart. They would call me a social climber, a seductress, or worse. 

It would destroy everything he had built.

Liana would never trust me again. She was the only person who had truly stood by me, and the thought of hurting her made my stomach twist into knots. 

That was why I tried to tell myself that Rowan was right. 

I told myself that what happened a week ago was a mistake... a one-time lapse in judgment that I needed to bury deep and never speak of again.

"Back to earth, Thea!"

Liana’s voice snapped like a whip, pulling me back to the present. 

I blinked, the sunlight hitting my eyes as I looked around the lavish living room. Liana wasn’t alone. She had called over some of her rich, high-society friends to come spend the afternoon swimming with us.

There were three guys and one other girl. 

I could tell by the way Liana was smirking at me that this wasn't just a casual hangout. She was trying to matchmake. She wanted to fix me up with one of these polished, wealthy wolves so I could finally move on from Noah.

"I told you I'm not swimming, Liana. I don't know how to swim," I said, feeling a sudden wave of shyness wash over me. 

I felt out of place among these people, who moved with such unearned confidence.

"You'll learn today!" Liana laughed, grabbing my wrist and tugging me toward the glass doors. She dragged me along behind the men, who were already strutting out toward the pool.

The pool area was practically a building of its own... a sprawling oasis of blue water, white stone, and lush greenery.

Two of the guys kicked off their shoes and dove in immediately, their tanned bodies slicing through the water. 

The third guy lingered behind. 

He was handsome, in a conventional way, and he had spent the last hour throwing signals my way. 

He’d linger a second too long when he looked at me, or find excuses to brush against my arm. 

I had been dodging him all afternoon, not because he wasn't attractive, but because my mind was stuck on a man who wasn't even in the room.

Stop it, Thea. Stop thinking about him, I scolded myself, my heart was heavy.

I gave the boy a polite, strained smile. He took that as an invitation, winking at me before jumping into the deep end. 

The splash sent a spray of cool water onto my skin. I instinctively crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling very exposed in my swimsuit.

"Thea, come on! This is fun!" Liana shouted, treading water and waving me over.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in my mind. It wasn't the soft, instinctual whisper of my wolf... this was something much more powerful.

‘Don't... Don't go in there with them.’

I froze. 

I looked around quickly, wondering if one of the boys had somehow learned how to project their voice, but they were all splashing each other, laughing and oblivious.

‘Don't join them. It's a command, Little T.’

The voice was deep, resonant, and hummed with an authority that made my knees tremble. I knew that voice. I would know it anywhere.

Rowan.

I slowly turned my head, looking up toward the main pack building that overlooked the pool area. 

There he was. 

He was standing on the high balcony, a dark silhouette against the afternoon sky. He was holding a glass of wine, his posture rigid and imposing.

 Even from this distance, I could feel the weight of his gaze on me.

He was home. 

He was watching me.

A surge of heat rushed through me.

Finally, he was out of hiding. Finally, he was looking at me again. I had to fight the overwhelming urge to drop everything, to run away from Liana and her friends and sprint up those stairs just to stand in his presence. 

I wanted to confront him, to demand why he’d been ignoring me, to ask if he’d thought about that night as much as I had.

But then, the water hit me.

Splash! Splash! 

I gasped as a wave of pool water drenched my front. I turned, wiping my eyes, to see the boy who had been flirting with me laughing. "Come on, gorgeous, we've been waiting for you," he called out, his eyes roaming over my wet swimsuit.

Before I could find my voice to decline again, Liana chimed in from the water. "Don't mind her! She’s just being stubborn. She’ll have no choice but to join us if I come up there and drag her down by her ankles!"

I took a step back, knowing Liana wasn't joking. When she decided we were having fun, we were having fun, whether I liked it or not.

I looked back up at the balcony, wanting to see Rowan’s reaction to the boys' attention, but the breath left my lungs for a completely different reason.

He wasn't alone anymore.

A woman had appeared beside him. She was stunning... tall, poised, and wearing a dress that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. 

She was the kind of woman an Alpha was supposed to be with. 

She leaned in close to him, her red lips curved into a seductive smile as she reached out and ran a hand over his bicep. 

She touched him with a casual intimacy that made my blood turn to ice.

And he let her. 

He didn't pull away. 

He didn't move. 

He just stood there, letting this beautiful stranger stake her claim while he stared down at me.

So that was it. 

All these days, he wasn't hiding; he was actually just busy with another woman. Just like Liana had said... her dad always had women drifting in and out of his life. 

I was just a temporary distraction, a little toy he’d played with for five minutes before moving on to someone who actually knew what they were doing.

My blood began to boil. A white-hot flare of jealousy and spite erupted in my chest.

‘Don't you dare... Little T,’ his voice rumbled in my head again. He was mind-linking me, his tone warning, almost growling. 

He knew exactly what I was thinking. He could see the defiance written all over my face.

Oh, you want to watch? I thought, directed toward the balcony. 

Then watch.