Indignance wafted from her, and Vonn knew he'd unsettled her, breaking through her careful reserve. She opened her mouth to ask the obvious question but quickly thought better of it and snapped it shut.
But having managed to get her to talk once, Vonn wasn't about to lose his grip on the upper hand. "Your stance was too practiced, your nerves too calm," he continued casually, as if they were discussing the merits of synthetic motor oil.
She pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes, her posture going stiff with the effort of not responding. At this rate, she'd probably bite off her own tongue. Vonn was just about to give up on her when she snapped, "For all you know, I trained at a gym. It's not rocket science."
"Yeah, the moves, maybe," Vonn conceded. "Practice anything long enough, and I expect you'd get decent at it. But that's not what we're talking about."
He waited, enjoying her consternation more than he should have before finally relenting. "Standing your ground as an alpha rushed you? Getting up again when you were obviously hurt? That sort of shit only comes with intense military training. And then there was…the look."
Vonn put a little emphasis on the last word for drama, and sure enough, she took the bait.
"What look?"
"You know, that thing you do with your eyes, like they've got lasers in them. It's intense as shit." Vonn knew he sounded like he admired her for it, and maybe he did, but she didn't need to know. "I've only ever seen it in the eyes of beta soldiers as they mindlessly sacrifice anything and everything to carry out their meaningless orders."
Bam. The woman's jaw tensed as she took in a harsh breath, fury sharpening her honied scent.
"You've fought beta soldiers?"
"More than I ever wanted to. I didn't go looking for trouble, in case you're wondering. They brought it right to our doorstep."
"What happened to them?"
What did she think? "When they started shooting at me, it seemed pretty clear that it was a me-or-them situation." He shrugged. "I'm still here."
"You killed them," she said after a pause in a cold, flat tone. A new note entered her tone, one he hadn't detected in a while and one he didn't welcome. There was a reason alphas rarely reeked of revenge—if betas stuck to the code they were so damn proud of, they wouldn't have any need for it either.
Alphas knew the rules and enforced them consistently—and as a result, rarely broke them. When they did, they knew what to expect. But for all their high and mighty proselytizing, the betas’ leaders seemed to be the ones who broke their own laws with the most abandon. They sent their soldiers in to do the dirty work in secret, and then wondered why alphas delivered such swift and brutal justice.
But Stacy—he was getting used to the name—didn't seem to have figured that out yet. Astonishingly, for such an obviously smart woman, she still seemed to be laboring under the illusion that the orders she followed without question were always motivated by honor.
Still, the idea of her plotting revenge was so absurd that Vonn couldn't help but be amused. "Come on, you're not really planning on killing me, are you?" he said as he made the sharp left turn onto his property. "You know you wouldn't stand a chance."
But the scent of her rage only grew stronger.
"Oh shit." He laughed. "You really are."
She twisted in her seat to glare at him. "You might be big, but that's nothing new to me. You're just a man, not some—some immortal god. I've made you bleed once, and I'll do it again."
"Maybe," he allowed. She might even be right, though he very much doubted he'd ever underestimate her again. "But you should know it's going to take a hell of a lot more some fancy footwork to keep me down for good."
That earned him a disdainful glance. "I've heard that more times than you can imagine."
Vonn believed her, and not just because of the spell her scent was casting over him. She'd lasted a hell of a longer in a Boundaryland fight than any other soldier to come before her.
But that didn't tell him why she'd been sent.
"So now that we have established that I should consider you a lethal threat, you have nothing to lose by telling me what you're doing here."
"I already told you," she gritted out. "I'm here to trade medical supplies."
Vonn's house came into view at the crest of the hill, a wood-sided L-shaped cabin with a stained oak door centered between two big square windows and a stone patio out front. He felt the soul-deep satisfaction that always filled him when arriving at the place he had built with his own two hands. "I thought we already established I can tell when you're lying."
"But I'm not lying. Technically, that's what I've been doing here this whole time."
"I don't give a shit about the technicalities." The fact that betas always expected alphas to be fooled by lies of omission was, in Vonn's opinion, just one of many examples of their arrogance getting in the way of their reason. "I want to know why you're here."
"That's too bad," she said. He couldn't tell if she was impressed by his home, or thought it was a pile of shit, or had even noticed it. "I want to leave the Boundarylands as soon as possible, but wanting something doesn't mean you get to have it. It's one of the first things we betas learn in basic training. It's called discipline—you might want to look into it."
Damn it. Vonn was starting to prefer this woman stone silent.
"Tell me why you're here." This time it was a command, all sense of humor gone.
Given her omega nature, dormant or not, she should have reacted to the sound. But instead of the show of submission Vonn expected, she only glared at him.
"What will you do if I don't? Kill me,
