Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3: Danger at the Door

Ilyana's POV

Braun had me pinned against the door with his mouth devouring mine like I was the very last meal on earth.

He was massive, radiating heat and smelled so intoxicating as his large hands slid up my ribcage, possessing and demanding as they grip my boobs.

His thumbs brushed firmly over my nipples, sending a sharp and shameful jolt straight down to my core while a needy and embarrassing groan escaped from my throat before I could stop it.

I was entirely ready to let him throw me onto that oversized king bed and completely fuck out every miserable memory of Boyce I had left.

But then, right as his tongue tangled with mine, the intoxicating haze cracked and one name stood out.

'Jasmine...'

My sweet innocent little peanut was fast asleep across town and here I was, playing half-naked roulette with a total stranger.

A sickening wave of guilt suddenly washed over me so cold and suffocating. What kind of mother was I?

I shoved hard against his muscular chest. “Stop. Stop it.”

Braun froze instantly and pulled back with his chest heaving and his dark eyes clouded with lust as he looked at me, confused with his hands slowly dropping from my boobs to his sides.

“I have to go,” I choked out, snatching my discarded shirt from the floor. My hands were shaking so terribly I could barely get my head through the collar. “I can’t do this.”

Disappointment flashed across his handsome face clearly but he didn’t reach for me and thankfully, he didn’t try to persuade me or act like a creep. He just took a deliberate step back, giving me space.

“I just...”

“Please... I need to leave,” I said quietly, refusing to hear him out as I frantically shoved my arms into my sleeves.

I bolted out the door before he could say another word with my boots echoing loudly down the empty hallway.

The freezing night air slapped me in the face as I practically ran out of the 'Grand Eclipse' lobby. I wrapped my arms tightly around my chest shivering as I hurried down the desolate pavement.

Who the hell was I just about to fuck?

Braun acted like some gritty ordinary pack member you’d find nursing a cheap beer in a dive bar but that math didn’t add up. Ordinary guys didn’t rent luxury penthouses on a whim and they definitely didn’t have that terrifying and commanding aura.

I replayed the scene at the bar in my head... how his demeanor had violently shifted the second those drunks started running their mouths about the Alpha King and the royal family. He had looked ready to commit actual murder over a passing insult.

'He has to be someone important at the palace,' I realized with my stomach dropping. A royal guard captain? Some stuck-up aristocrat slumming it in the city?

I didn’t have time to solve the mystery before a dark looming figure suddenly stepped out of a narrow alleyway completely blocking the sidewalk.

“Look who finally decided to show up,” a slurred and hateful voice sneered.

It was Boyce.

He reeked of whiskey and his anger, swaying slightly under the dim flicker of a broken streetlamp. His uniform was an absolute mess anf he had obviously been stumbling around the blocks searching for me.

“Get out of my way, Boyce,” I said, my heart doing a panicked and erratic flutter in my chest.

He laughed bitterly, reaching out and grabbing my wrist with a bruising and aggressive grip.

“You’re coming home with me right now. You think you can embarrass me in front of everyone and just walk away?”

“Let me go!” I yanked my arm but he held on tight with his fingers digging into my skin.

“Where exactly are you gonna go, Ilyana?” he mocked with his lip curling in disgust. “You’re flat broke.. you’re a pathetic weak omega that even your own family despises and you have absolutely no one and nowhere to go. Your only way of surviving in this world is to crawl back to our apartment and be my concubine.”

He yanked me closer with his foul liquor-soaked breath hitting my face.

“And you know what the best part is? I’m gonna make you watch. You’re gonna sit right there in the corner while I fuck Sara as my real mate.”

Blinding red rage wiped out every single ounce of my fear.

My free hand whipped through the air and 'cracked' across his face with everything I had.

It was a huge fucking mistake..

Boyce’s head snapped to the side and when he slowly turned back to me, his eyes flashed a feral and glowing yellow. He wasn’t holding back anymore.

“You dumb bitch,” he growled.

His fist slammed into my stomach like a lwrecking ball.

All the air gushed out of my lungs in a violent shriek and I doubled over, gagging but before I could even fall, he grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me back up, backhanding me brutally across the jaw.

The taste of blood instantly flooded my mouth asI hit the concrete hard, sobbing hysterically and curling into a tight and pathetic ball as his boot drove straight into my ribs. I tried to crawl away, completely defenseless with my weak omega wolf just whimpering helplessly in the back of my mind.

“Teach you some damn respect,” he roared, pulling his leg back for another kick.

But the kick never landed.

A blur of a dark figure shot past me in the peripheral and a crunch echoed in the alley followed instantly by Boyce screaming.

I forced my eyes open just in time to see Boyce’s massive body flying through the air like a discarded ragdoll. He slammed head-first into the brick wall with a sickening thud and crumpled to the ground, completely motionless.

Panic seized my bleeding chest. 'Oh my god. Is he dead?'

Boots crunched on the gravel as Braun stepped into the light with his long black leather coat swirling around him. He must have seen the drama from his hotel window and followed me. His large fists were clenched and vibrating with a terrifying rage as he stared down at Boyce’s limp body.

His dark gaze found me on the ground and his terrifying expression instantly shattered as he dropped to his knees and reached out gently to comfort me.

I flinched away, scrambling backward on the asphalt with my chest heaving with panic. “Please... don’t touch me,” I said, voice shaking. “I just... I need to go.”

I didn’t wait for him to argue. I forced myself up on my shaking legs and ran blindly into the dark night.

I don’t even remember how I found my way back to Natasha’s apartment block. I just pounded weakly on her door until she opened it and the second she saw my busted lip and my tear-streaked face she gasped, dragging me inside.

“Oh my god, Ilyana,” she cried, locking the door and wrapping her arms tightly around me. “What happened?”

I couldn’t speak and I couldn’t form a single coherent sentence. I just collapsed against her shoulder and cried my eyes out until I was completely hollow.

***

Early the next morning, I was dead to the world in Natasha’s spare bedroom, wrapped in thick blankets while Natasha herself had graciously taken the couch in the living room.

A loud and violent pounding on the front door abruptly jolted me awake.

'Bang! Bang! Bang!'

Jasmine immediately started screaming from the bassinet next to the bed and I groaned with every single muscle in my body screaming in agony as I sat up.

“Shh, it’s okay, peanut. Mommy’s here,” I whispered hoarsely, scooping her up and bouncing her gently until her terrified cries quieted down to soft hiccups.

'Bang! Bang!'

I heard Natasha’s tired and muffled voice from the living room followed by the click of the front door unlocking. Then multiple and loud aggressively angry voices erupted into the apartment.

I froze, clutching Jasmine tightly to my chest and crept out of the bedroom, staying hidden in the narrow hallway just out of sight.

I strained my ears, trying desperately to hear what they were saying but thanks to my garbage omega senses, it just sounded like an angry blur of overlapping shouts.

Someone was yelling violently and Natasha was yelling back with her voice laced with panic.

Then came a horrific crash... like wood being smashed to pieces.

I clamped a hand hard over my mouth to stifle a terrified shout. Natasha was in danger...!