Page 26 of Alpha Claimed

"Well, that's how I feel every minute since I've met you. My head and my heart and my wolf want nothing else besides you. But for you, you feel that for more than just me. You feel it for the one person I loathe most. And that drives me to the brink of needing to kill him. Not wanting to kill him, actually needing it. You have no idea how hard it is to hold back. To not bite you. To not make love to you. To not… Look, I'm not trying to make you feel bad or pity me or any of that manipulative crap. I want you to know how hard it is for me as a Lycan, an Alpha, and a mate not to have already made you mine. And I just need to know. I need to know if you have slept with Ares. It won't change how I feel about you. I don't think anything could do that, but I need you to tell me the truth."

River looked at him with determination set on her face. "You think this is easy for me? I want those things, too, but I'm torn. Torn in my head and my heart. I understand that you and your brother don't have a good relationship. But I will not be a pawn in either yours or his pissing match. What's between you two is between you two. Not me. And if you want any kind of relationship with me, I suggest you not ask stupid questions. Jealousy doesn't in dear me. But to answer you, no. I have not slept with Ares."

Relief flooded Apollo. At least Ares hadn't beaten him to that.

He reached for her, but River stood. "I'd like to go back to the cabin now."

Apollo dropped his hand. "Of course."

They walked back to the bike, and Apollo handed her a helmet. She reached to take it, but when he hung on to it, she looked at him.

"I'm sorry for ruining our moment together."

She scowled. "Me too."

CHAPTERSEVEN

RIVER

River tossed and turned most of the night. After Apollo's question she needed some space. Not that she got any. There was the inside and the outside of the cabin, and that was about it. Despite being surrounded by woods, she couldn't have been alone if she'd tried. Apollo would have been there every second, dogging her steps and reminding her she'd kissed him and how conflicted that made her. She loved the feeling of his lips on hers but, at the same time, felt traitorous to Ares. She wondered if she would feel the same about being with Ares when she returned to the estate as she did about being with Apollo. If she didn't, did that mean she'd made her choice?

River sighed and sat up. Having locked herself in the room since returning, her skin itched to get out. She used to feel safe in confined spaces, but ever since her wolf's emergence, confined spaces only reminded her of the years of keeping her wolf in a cage. Never letting her out. Never letting her run free. And being so close to the woods only compounded the issue. Her wolf knew what lay beyond the wooden walls, and she wanted to go out and run through the trees.

River stood from the bed and looked at her phone to check the time before shaking her head and putting it on the nightstand again. Her phone died the night before. She cursed herself for the dozenth time for forgetting a charging cord. She would've asked Lachlan if he had one, but she didn't want to get him in trouble with Apollo. He'd gotten an earful the night before just for entering River's room to bring her food. If it hadn't comforted her to have him there, she would have sent him back to the estate for his own good.

River picked up her clothes for the third day and smelled them. Yuck. She needed fresh clothes, so she wrapped herself in a blanket instead.

River opened her bedroom door and found Apollo sleeping on the floor. Hands behind his head, he wore only a pair of sweats. Her wolf howled at the sight of his toned body. Every muscle stacked on the last, and though he wasn't as wide as Ares, he was in no way smaller. She couldn't help the flush of heat that rushed through her body. Her wolf paced, agitated that she had not yet been able to mate with either of her two Alphas. River's mind wandered, and she thought about running her hand down Apollo's rigid torso. About his heated mouth on hers again. His hands on her body.

Okay, she needed to cool down.

Apollo opened his eyes and stared at her without moving. Heat flushed River's cheeks, but she didn't look away.

"Does that scent you are giving off mean you forgive me for being a jackass?"

"Why don't you come here and find out?"

She couldn't believe the words left her mouth, but as soon as they did, a small smile quirked up the corner of Apollo's mouth.

Like a prowling tiger staring down his prey, he got to his feet and stalked toward her. River backed up until she hit the wall. Apollo's eyes never left her face, and he caged her inside his arms and leaned into her. But before his lips could touch hers, she stopped him.

"Are you really sorry?"

Apollo growled. "Eternally."

"Prove it."

Apollo's eyes went black, and he traced a finger down her throat. "How?"

She shrugged. "You're the Alpha of Alphas I'm sure you can think of something."

Apollo looked down the hallway toward the living room, pulled her into her room, and shut the door, locking it—not that any of the other men would dare enter.

He picked her up and lay her on the bed, making her body pebble with desire. He stared at her for a long minute, knelt beside the bed, and pulled her towards him. River quaked with anticipation.

Delicately Apollo unwrapped the blanket from her leg, and starting at her toes, he kissed and nipped her skin, placing languid sucking kisses on her heel, her ankle, her calf. And with every kiss, her wolf grew needier.

River threw her head back and moaned as he worked his way up to the back of her knee and then unwrapped her thighs and kissed up the inside of her leg.