Chapter 380: Making The Alpha Surrender (I)
Evaline:
"River!" I yelped as he lifted me, effortlessly, and slung me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing more than a bag of flour. The shock froze me for a full two seconds before mortification caught up. "Put me down! Right now!"
I could hear Oscar trying, and failing, not to laugh. Kieran had his head lowered, probably to hide whatever expression was fighting to break free.
"River, I swear, if you don’t put me down this instant-!" I started kicking, pounding my fists against his back.
He didn’t even flinch. His only response was a low, restrained, "You can scream all you want once we are upstairs, little star."
That nickname - soft, teasing, infuriating - made my face burn hotter than the sun.
"This is humiliating!" I shouted.
"Noted," he said dryly, climbing the stairs like he wasn’t carrying a furious woman flailing on his shoulder.
I could feel the servants’ shocked stares on my back as we passed. My pride shriveled. My hair was falling into my face, my heart thundering between anger and embarrassment. I tried to twist around to look at Oscar, but all I could see was his helpless expression and the faintest twitch of amusement on his lips.
I swore to myself that I would make them all pay for this later.
But right now - with River’s arm around my legs, his heartbeat solid against my stomach, his scent wrapping around me like the dark woods he was born from - I couldn’t decide whether I was angry at him... after all, i couldn’t ignore how my own pulse was betraying me.
By the time we reached the end of the first floor, he shifted his grip, opened the door to his bedroom with his free hand, and stepped inside before finally lowering me down.
The moment my feet hit the floor, I glared up at him, breathless and furious.
"You can’t just-!"
He closed the door. The click of the lock echoed through the room.
He said nothing - just stood there, his hands pressed flat against the door, his chest rising and falling as if he was wrestling his own temper.
I didn’t care.
"Who do you think you are?" I snapped, stepping forward. "Dragging me here like I’m some child who doesn’t know how to think for herself. Do you even realize how humiliating that was? In front of all the house staff-"
"Eva-"
"No!" I shouted over him, my pulse roaring in my ears. "You don’t get to cut me off again. I have had enough of you ordering me around, deciding what I can or can’t do as if I’m still your employee. I’m your mate, River. Not someone you get to command!"
His eyes hardened. "Then start acting like one."
That hit me square in the chest.
I froze for a heartbeat, anger and disbelief tangling in my lungs. "What did you just say?"
"You heard me," he said, his voice low, controlled, but shaking at the edges. "A mate doesn’t throw herself into danger when her family is doing everything to protect her."
I laughed - the sound cold and disbelieving. "Protect me? You call this protection? You don’t protect me, River - you cage me!"
"Evaline-"
"You keep deciding for me. You think you know what’s best, what I can handle, what I should feel-"
"I’m trying to keep you alive!" he thundered, his patience snapping. His voice filled the room, vibrating through the walls, through my bones. "You think I like stopping you? You think I enjoy saying no when every part of me wants to give you the world?"
"Then show it!" I threw back, my chest heaving. "Show it in a way that doesn’t make me feel like I’m just another one of your warriors following orders!"
His expression cracked for just a moment. But I saw it - the raw ache behind his eyes. Then it was gone, hidden under that icy Alpha calm. He took a step forward, slow and deliberate, and for every inch he moved, I stepped back, my anger and pulse tangled in equal measure.
"Evaline," he said quietly, "you need to calm down."
I barked out a laugh that was anything but calm. "Don’t tell me to calm down. You don’t get to silence me-"
"I’m not trying to silence you-"
"Yes, you are! Every time you don’t want to hear what I have to say, you-"
He moved.
One heartbeat he was across the room, and the next, his hands caught my wrists, his body closing in until my back hit the wall with a soft thud. And his scent wrapped around me like a spell.
"River," I hissed, trying to yank my hands free. "Let me go!"
"I’m not going to hurt you," he said, his voice rough, his breath grazing my cheek. "But you need to stop fighting me for one damn second."
"Then stop forcing me-"
"Evaline." My name left his lips as a warning, low and desperate. "Please."
But I couldn’t stop. The anger in my chest wouldn’t let me. "You can’t just - just pin me to the wall and expect me to-"
And then his lips were on mine.
The world tilted.
It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t soft. It was a collision - of frustration, of longing, of everything we had been holding back since previous evening. My protest died against his mouth, swallowed by the sheer force of the kiss.
He pressed closer, one hand sliding from my wrist to cup the side of my face, his thumb trembling slightly as if even he didn’t know what he was doing anymore. His other hand held me firm, trapped between him and the wall.
I should have pushed him away.
I wanted to.
I tried to.
But my body betrayed me the second his mouth moved against mine - demanding, consuming. The heat of him poured into me, and the anger melted into something else entirely - something wild, breathless, and dangerous.
When I finally pushed him back, it wasn’t to stop him... it was to breathe.
And then, before he could say a word, I caught his collar and pulled him right back.
This time, I kissed him.
Hard.