What was that?
Faith had no idea. All she knew was that some deep, primal part of her wanted—needed—to experience it again.
Her hips moved against him again, almost as if on their own. Her arms stretched out across the ground for leverage as she bucked.
She tried to convince herself that she was only trying to free herself, but it was a lie. Even the alpha seemed to know better.
He seized her hips in his hands and forced her to stillness. Faith's lips trembled as frustration spread through her body. She clenched her teeth in a desperate effort to contain her moans.
The alpha gazed at her with humorless intensity. His mouth set in a hard line; his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Say my name, and I'll give you what you want."
Faith bit her lip and shook her head. She wouldn't do it. She'd sooner die.
Except…the unmet yearning inside her felt like a kind of death, evidence of the numbness that had taken over her life until she had crossed the border into this land and encountered this alpha.
She already felt as though she would die from the overwhelming need that was tearing her apart from the inside out.
"You're the devil," she tried, but her voice sounded unfamiliar and weak to her own ears.
The alpha raised an eyebrow and moved his hand back between her legs, so close to her panties that his fingertips brushed against the sodden fabric.
"A devil, maybe," he conceded. "But that's not what I want to hear."
Faith's back arched as he slowly traced the pads of his thumbs back and forth against her cleft, pushing the fabric of her panties ever so slightly inside her, then glancing lightly—achingly lightly—against her nub. She'd never given that part of her anatomy much thought, but now it seemed to be the source of the heat that threatened to turn into a firestorm and consume everything in its path.
She wanted more…so much more.
The problem was that Faith didn't know what would satisfy her craving.
But the alpha did.
He knew, and he'd promised to give it to her…and all she had to do was say his name.
Abruptly, he withdrew his hand. "You want me to touch you there again, don't you? You want to know what it would feel like if I drew little circles on it with my thumb?"
God, yes. That's exactly what she wanted. She wanted to feel that.
She needed to feel that.
But she couldn't. It wasn't right. And it only proved this alpha was evil for deliberately tempting her this way.
Faith drew in a deep breath, forced her body to rigid stillness, and prayed for resolve.
The alpha countered by slipping his thumb under the elastic of her panties, teasing the lips of her privates. The touch was soft—a whisper, a promise of all that she could have if she would only turn her back on her upbringing and say his name.
Faith bit the inside of her cheek so hard she tasted blood. God wasn't answering her prayers. He wasn't delivering her from this temptation, and she could feel herself being dragged under by the alpha's promise of pleasure.
Sexual pleasure.
That's what Faith had felt when she'd bucked against him. It wasn't something she had ever experienced before. The church taught that its very existence was sinful.
And given her current state—spread-eagled on the ground, writhing beneath a creature twice her size for another taste—it was hard to disagree with them.
He leaned in close, his breath hot against her ear. "Say it, Faith."
She couldn't.
She wouldn't.
"Say it."
The alpha flicked his thumb. The breath left Faith's lungs in a rush.
"Troy."
Chapter Six
The alpha reacted instantly.
He seized the top elastic band of Faith's plain white cotton panties with both hands and ripped them in half before tearing them from her body. Faith shivered as the icy air rushed in, cooling her heated skin.
If she could feel the wind against her, then she was exposed. Troy could see her nakedness, something no man had ever witnessed before.
She tried to push the hem of her dress down, driven by instinct to regain some modicum of modesty, but Troy wouldn't allow it. He hiked the skirt all the way up over her hips to her belly, baring every inch of her legs…and what was between them.
"It's too late to hide," he said, his voice half whisper, half growl.
Faith wished the sound of his voice didn't affect her so deeply. There was something about the deep timbre that seemed to reach all the way inside her, making her want to believe every word he said, to put her trust in him.
Of course it did, the last shred of reason shouted in her head, trying to wrench her attention away from the sensations assaulting her. That was the sound of seduction, just another one of the devil's tools for making betas believe his lies.
Except…Troy had said she wasn't a beta anymore. He had said she was one of the fallen.
An omega.
Before Faith could feel the sting of shame, Troy pushed her knees even farther apart and made good on his promise.
The pad of his thumb touched that spot again, the one that made her feel like she was drowning in a sea of liquid heat.
He didn't have to fumble or search, seeming to know exactly where to find it.
And exactly what to do once he got there.
Because he’s deliberately tempting you to evil, that warning voice in her head screamed, pleading for her attention.
This time Faith surprised herself by being the one to silence it.
She'd listened to that little voice her whole life. It had been present from her earliest memories, criticizing and shaming her. Sometimes the voice sounded like her mother, sometimes like her father--but it was always there, telling her what to think, what to do, and how to feel until her own will slowly faded away.
It had been a long time since Faith had even thought to desire something just for
