C1

 Alpha's Claim, Omega's Surrender BOOK 2

Mars Reed POV

"What are you even talking about?" Grant growls, his thick shoulders tensing under the dark sheets of the pack lodge bed. His dark eyes narrow at me, looking completely blank, like my words are some riddle he cannot piece together.

"It means exactly what I said, Grant." I force the words past the tightness in my throat, staring at the collar of his shirt. Just the memory of those dark, purple marks marking the skin of his neck makes my chest ache with a dull, heavy heat. "You do not have to make up some grand story to protect my feelings. I see the marks. I get it."

Grant snaps his jaw shut, his sharp gaze cutting straight through me. "When have I ever scented or touched another wolf since I claimed you? Tell me, Mars."

He always acts completely chaste, keeping every single male and female in the Silverwood pack at a strict distance during pack business. He never lets anyone cross into his personal space. Yet here those marks are, glaring proof that he broke his own rule.

"How should I know when you did it?" My voice rises, the anger bubbling up until my hands shake against my thighs. His clueless look only makes me angrier. He is playing dumb, and it drives me crazy. "Look, it is your business, not mine anyway. You do not have to lie about being pure. We are done. I am your ex-mate now. I have absolutely no right to tell you who you can shift or sleep with in your own den."

Technically, I have no right to say a word. Even if the great Alpha Grant Walker takes a new wolf to his bed every single night, it is his right under pack law. But seeing those raw bite marks on his skin makes my stomach twist into painful knots.

"Wait a bloody minute!" Grant snaps, sitting straight up, his chest bare and glistening in the dim light of the den. "What am I lying for? I have not crawled into bed with a single soul besides you! That is the absolute truth."

"I told you I do not care!" I yell back, gripping the edge of my chair. "Why do you keep pushing it?"

"Because I have to!" his voice booms, rattling the wooden beams of the cabin. "You think I am going to sit here and let you call me a traitor to our bond? How wrong do you want to make me look?"

"Fine. You want to talk about it? Let us talk about it." I lean forward, my breathing heavy, my heart slamming against my ribs. I wanted to drop this. I wanted to forget that even if he runs into danger for me, he might be sharing his bed with someone else. But he wants a fight, so I will give him one. "That night you drank too much wolfsbane whiskey down at the border tavern, your beta brought you back to the Walker Ridge Estate."

Grant blinks, his mind working fast. "Right. I called your phone because my wolf was screaming for you. You told me you had no sweet words left for an omega like me. You told me I looked pathetic clinging to the old bond."

I did not think he would remember that night so clearly. My face burns. "Anyway, after you lost your mind to the drink, I actually came to the estate to check on you."

Grant freezes completely, his alpha aura flaring for a fraction of a second before dying down. His eyes widen as he locks onto mine. "You came to my den?"

"Yes!" I bark out, refusing to back down. "I felt sick for being so harsh to you on the phone. Your beta said you were losing control of your wolf, and I wanted to help soothe your fever. But then I saw it."

The memory of those deep teeth marks on his shoulder blade makes my claws want to slip out. "Did I say something to you that night?" he asks softly.

"No."

"Then what did you see?"

I take a deep breath, forcing my voice to stay level. "I saw bites on your shoulder. Fresh, deep bites. You are not going to tell me your beta did that to you, are you? And you definitely could not reach back there to bite yourself!"

Grant just stares at me. The silence stretches between us until his chest starts to heave. Suddenly, a deep, rumbling laugh breaks from his throat. His Adam’s apple moves up and down as he laughs so hard his entire body shakes, making his healing wounds from our last pack battle throb.

"Grant! What is so funny about this?"

"So you really think those teeth belonged to another wolf?" Grant teases, a slow, wicked smirk spreading across his face as he watches the heat rise up my neck.

My scent must be giving me away completely. The sheer jealousy rolling off me proves I am still completely hooked on him. Seeing me snap like this is making him look happier than I have seen him in months.

"And you still claim you are not sleeping around?" I grip the sides of my seat, almost shifting right there from pure frustration. "They had to be incredibly close to sink their fangs into your shoulder like that. You clearly took them right here in this bed!"

Grant nods, his eyes flashing a dangerous shade of gold. "You are completely right, Mars. Not just once, either. We did it multiple times. He was completely out of it that night, and I only planned to carry him safely to his room at the Pacific Crest Resort. But then he got his hands all over me and refused to let go."

I press my palms over my ears, shaking my head. "Stop! I do not want to hear the filthy details! He touched you and you just gave in? Where is your alpha pride?"

"It completely vanished the second he touched me. I could not stand my ground against him." Grant watches me turn away, seeing the real pain in my eyes, and his smirk softens into something intense. "Did it ever cross your mind, you stubborn wolf, that the person who bit me was you?"

"How could I..." The words die in my throat. I freeze, staring at him.

"The rival pack front, Westline Holdings, collapsed into dust the very next morning," Grant says, his voice dropping to a low, rough growl. "Did you honestly think some random hunter did that?"

My brain spins as I try to piece the timeline together. I remember running into a rogue alpha near Havencrest, Silverwood, who told me the Westline territory had been completely wiped out overnight.

"So... you were at the resort the night I passed out?"

"How else do you think those marks got on my skin?" Grant steps out of the bed, his bare feet hitting the floor as he walks toward me.

"The pack driver who pulled me out of the ditch that night... you sent him?"

Grant stops right in front of me, leaning down so his scent floods my senses. "Yes."

"And you ruined the rival pack's front company yourself?"

"Every single one of them," he growls.

"Grant, that is terrible. You found me vulnerable in that resort room, and you just..."

"Hold on," he interrupts, his hand cupping my jaw, his thumb wiping across my lower lip. "I did not take advantage of you. Like I said, you started the entire thing."

"Impossible!" I protest, my heart drumming against my ribs. Whenever I drink too much, I just crash and sleep. I have never attacked anyone like that.

"The trash at Westline Holdings put a heat powder in your drink that night, Mars. You were burning up. You were completely wild for me." Grant shifts his grip, his eyes darkening with raw hunger as his lips curve up. "I have never felt your teeth sink into me so deep. I admit, I let you do whatever you wanted to my body that night."

He leans closer, his breath hot against my mouth. I cannot even think straight anymore. The image of what we did flashes in my head, raw and completely overwhelming.

"Those bite marks... were all mine?"

"Every single one," Grant whispers, his fingers digging into my hair. "You kept begging me to go harder, to fill the heat, but you were shifting out of control. So you bit me to hold on."

"Stop talking," I gasp, my face completely on fire as I pull him down by his collar.