Rise of the Dark Alpha

~ SASHA ~

The man befuddled her. There was no other word for it. She'd gone from happily walking into a normal night, to crossing worlds. She'd gone from walking to the bathing pools to be brave in one way and a coward in another, to grinding herself against the love of her life in the hot water.

And she'd gone from doubting every word that came out of his mouth, to certain they were destined to be together forever.

He could turn her head—and her heart—on a dime. It was so unfair. But she was too tired to fight it.

"Can you… come back to my house?" she asked quietly, embarrassed. Knowing he'd hear the unspoken invitation in it.

"Absolutely not," he said, though his voice was heavy with regret. "If anyone visited and smelled me at your place… let me explain this, Sash: Because choosing a mate is such an important decision for a Chimera, there's a bunch of… rules around it. Some of them don't apply now because we're both adults and you're human, but in my world, the decision to mate is taken really serious. Most Chimera never do it until their mate is already chosen and they've been through the rituals. Then they leave together—kind of like a honeymoon—to try and get her pregnant.

"But the thing you need to understand is, there's a whole process they went through to get to that point. He had to fight off the other male's attention to keep her for himself. Then he had to display for her and she had to accept him—and that all happened publicly. So every male in the vicinity knows and can scent that they've chosen each other.

"And that's not even covering how the hierarchy comes into play, and making sure that every male that was supposed to have a shot at her has had their chance.

"If a male in the Chimera were to sneak into a female's home, or steal her away, and mate her before they'd been through that, it's like… it's like he stole her chance to make sure there wasn't someone else better suited for her. And stole the other males' chances to make sure they aren't the one for her.

"Doing that is a betrayal. A violation—to her, and to the other males. The few who've done it have been cast out, or killed. I have to keep my hands off you—I have to stay away from you until I've earned the right to display for you. And then when I do, you have to make me fight for it. Show attention to some other males at first, as if you're trying to decide between us. And when you do accept me… play hard to get. Make me win you. Don't just throw yourself into my arms… no matter how tempting it might me," he added with a chuckle.

Sasha slapped his chest, but somehow it turned into a stroke and they both stopped breathing for a moment at the beauty of the sensations they felt when they were skin to skin.

"So, I can't touch you until you've fought through all these guys?" she asked wistfully.

He shook his head, his eyes still on the place where her palm rested on his pec. "No, and even once they're forced to acknowledge me, you can't give me any special attention. You can talk to me then—even flirt. But you can't single me out."

"But… we've already mated!" she pouted.

"Yes, but they don't know that," he said. "Not really. Not in a way they understand. We have to walk through this, Sash. For them."

She shook her head and ground her teeth. How was it possible that after being torn apart for so long, they were forced to keep their distance anyway?

"How long is this going to take?" she asked quietly, letting herself float up against him again so her breasts pressed against his chest.

Zev cleared his throat and lifted one hand from the water to stroke the side of her floating breast with the backs of his fingers. "A week, at the most," he croaked.

A week? Sasha wanted to cry. "And you're certain you can beat all these males?" she asked quietly—fearfully—Yhet said it normally takes months to do this."

"Well, sure. But it's also usually someone who hasn't done it before—and who doesn't have the allies I have. I'm already only one male away from being ranked—at which point the wolves will have to acknowledge me. Though some will try to refuse to do so until I've beaten Lhars."

At mention of his brother, Sasha winced. "How bad is that fight going to be? You two seem so similar."

Zev looked at her sharply. "You've been talking to Lhars today?"

She shrugged uncomfortably. "Yhet and I ran into him in the forest. Then he came and sat at our table. Kyelle said I couldn't ignore him because he's an Alpha."

Zev gave a low growl. "Ran into him, my ass. He's following you."

Sasha frowned. "No, I only saw him that one time—"

"Just because you didn't see him doesn't mean he wasn't there. My brother is cunning and very intelligent. Don't underestimate him, Sash. And don't give him any reason to think you're interested. He's a dog with a bone if he's encouraged."

Sasha's stomach swooped when she thought of the way she'd acknowledged him in the forest with Yhet—just completely forgotten to be aloof—and the smug smile he'd had at the dining table when she was polite to him.

"What would make it encouragement—just so I know what to avoid?" she asked carefully.

"Just don't… sparkle at him," Zev grumbled.

"Sparkle? What?"

"That thing you do, when you smile and you look up at guys when your chin is down. It's… you have no idea how sexy you are, Sash. If you make him think you're happy he's around—even if you don't say the words, but just make him feel like you like that he's close by—he will not give up."

Sasha blinked remembering her words the night before.

It's good to see you, Lhars.

She swallowed hard. "I don't know about sparkling," she said nervously, "but the only person I want to be sexy to is you, Zev."

"Do humans always talk about it as sex? Or is that a joke between you?" The voice, warm, but very quiet, appeared somewhere in the bushes at the bank of the pool.

*****

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