Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Anthony eyed him for a long moment, his expression difficult to read. “Is it just me? Or do other alphas’ Voices work too?”
Michael frowned. “I don’t know.” He actually wasn’t sure what answer he would prefer.
“Then we should test it,” Anthony said. “Do you have any alphas among your staff?”
“I’m not going to ask my servants to use their Voice on me,” Michael ground out. “How do you think it would look? With the way servants gossip, it’ll be all over social media within an hour.”
“Right,” Anthony said, a wrinkle forming between his brows.
Why did he stand so damn close? Michael’s skin prickled, every instinct screaming to push the other alpha back.
“Have you seen a doctor?” Anthony said.
“I’m fine,” Michael bit out. Get out of my personal space, damn you. “Why?”
Anthony cocked his head to the side, his gaze roaming over Michael’s face. “It’s possible there is something wrong with you physically. I mean, I was poisoned by an alien toxin with unknown properties. It completely screwed with my biology and triggered an unplanned super rut.” A muscle ticked in his cheek. “If I knotted you, my fluids got in you. The toxin could’ve been in my semen. There’s no telling how it might have affected you.”
“I’m fine,” Michael said, with less certainty this time. “It’s been weeks.” But it was tempting to blame his recent obsession with ass play on the alien toxin. Very tempting.
“There are plenty of slow-acting diseases,” Anthony said with a frown. “I have trouble believing that you’d become susceptible to another alpha’s Voice just after being knotted once. It shouldn’t work like that.”
“Not once,” Michael said tersely.
Anthony blinked. “What?”
“Not once,” Michael ground out, looking away. More like four times. His hole clenched around nothing, self-disgust twisting in his gut even as his pulse throbbed in his cock.
“Ah,” Anthony said faintly. A beat passed. “Then you should definitely see a doctor.”
Michael let out a harsh laugh. “I’m not telling a doctor that I’ve been knotted by another alpha.”
“They would sign an NDA.”
Michael grimaced, shaking his head. “It doesn’t change anything.” It would still be mortifying. No alpha would want to admit something like that.
Sighing, Anthony laid a hand on his arm.
Michael flinched.
The air became thick with tension.
“Are you scared of me?” Anthony said after a moment, removing his hand slowly.
“Of course I’m not scared of you.”
“Then why can’t you look me in the eye?”
Michael forced himself to meet his gaze. His face felt far too warm. “Would you be able to look me in the eye if our roles were reversed? If you had to take my knot?”
Anthony’s expression grew pinched, his scent flaring sharp and aggressive at nothing more than a hypothetical. He drew a long breath, visibly fighting for control. After a moment, he forced his scent back to neutral. The sheer willpower it took was staggering to witness.
“Look, I want to help you,” he said, blue eyes steady on him. “It’s my fault that you’re in this situation, and I want to fix it. Tell me how to fix it, and I will.”
Michael’s stomach knotted up with a feeling that wasn’t quite discomfort. He found himself blinking dumbly at the other alpha, unsure if Anthony’s wanting to take charge of the situation pissed him off or not.
“It’s not something you can just fix, Ant,” he said with a grimace. “I can’t help the way I feel around you lately.”
“So you are scared of me.”
“No—not really—I don’t fucking know, all right?” Michael raked a hand through his hair in frustration. “You trigger my instincts when you get this close, and not in a good way. Mostly I just really want to shove you away and beat you up, but...”
“But?” Anthony prompted.
Michael ran a hand over his face, barely able to look the other alpha in the eye. “But there’s a part of me that wants to bare my neck and whine like a bitch when you’re this close.”
The silence was so complete a dropped pin would have been heard.
Michael had never felt so mortified.
“Does it arouse you?” Anthony asked, his voice perfectly neutral, unreadable. Goddamn spy.
Michael let out a laugh. “You said you could smell it. Don’t make me say it. I told you it fucked me up.”
There was silence again before Anthony broke it.
“Do I arouse you?” Blue eyes peered at him with a strange expression—something between curiosity and discomfort. “Do other alphas arouse you or is it just me?”
Michael swallowed. “I feel more aggressive around other alphas, too, but you seem to be the only one causing the other reaction.”
Anthony nodded slowly. “Makes sense. Your body remembers submitting to me.” His brows knit into a deep frown. Then, Anthony stepped even closer, so close their shoes nearly touched.
“What are you doing?” Michael said, his heart pounding against his ribcage.
“I think we should just retrain your body and instincts,” Anthony said calmly. “Avoidance isn’t the solution here. You must get used to having me close without associating it with submission.”